Review: Chronicles of Avonlea (novel)

Anne of Green Gables is well-known. Its sequels are more obscure. And most obscure of all are the short story collections L. M. Montgomery wrote about the village of Avonlea.

Chronicles of Avonlea is a book of twelve short stories set in and around Avonlea. It was first published in 1912, although some of the stories were written before L. M. Montgomery started Anne of Green Gables. She simply changed a few details to make these stories fit in. Some of the stories are adapted in the series Road to Avonlea, and a few events are referred to in other Anne books.

The plots range from an elderly woman who longs to hear an old friend sing, to an uncomfortable walk home leading to a quarrel finally ending. Romance plays a part in most of the stories. But not the sort of romance you might expect; instead of being about young people falling in love, they're about grown-up and middle-aged people getting married after overcoming obstacles like pride, disagreements, and a controlling older sister.

I have to admit, when I saw the title Chronicles of Avonlea I thought it would be about Anne, Marilla, Rachel Lynde, and other characters who appear in the Anne books. Instead it's about characters who are rarely or never mentioned in the main books. Anne herself hardly appears at all, but she helps bring about the marriage of one couple and attends the (highly unusual) wedding of another. I can't decide if I like the glimpse into new people's lives or if I'd like to see more of the characters I already know.

One of the stories comes perilously close to the sort of mawkish sentimentality common in Victorian and Edwardian literature. Strange, because L. M. Montgomery generally avoids falling into that trap. The rest are full of her brilliant descriptions, ability to let you know a character within minutes of their first appearance ("If they merely announce that they are going to peel the potatoes for dinner their hearers realize that there is no possible escape for the potatoes."), and humourous lines. (Mr. Leonard's "I'm very sorry for the Baptists" comment is my favourite 😆) Two stories in particular stuck in my mind long after I finished the book -- "Each in His Own Tongue" and "The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's" -- for very different reasons!

This book isn't quite as good as any of the Anne books. But it's heartwarming and entertaining, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Gutenberg.

Rating: 8/10.

Review: Anne of Avonlea (novel)

I had no idea what to review today. Even when I sat down to start writing this one I didn't know what it would be about. At last I decided to review this book.

Anne of Avonlea is a 1909 novel by L. M. Montgomery, the first of many sequels to Anne of Green Gables. (Incidentally, it was also the first Anne novel I ever read.) It's been adapted into a 1975 miniseries and a 1987 film.

The story picks up shortly after the first book ended. Anne Shirley has just become the teacher at Avonlea school. We follow her lessons, her struggles with some pupils and parents, her friendships, and the inevitable scrapes she gets into. Along the way we renew our acquaintance with many of Avonlea's residents and meet some newcomers. There's just one problem: the writing often falls into the trap of gooey sentimentality that Anne of Green Gables avoided.

L. M. Montgomery only wrote this book because readers demanded more about Anne. Unfortunately it shows. Some of the characters, including Anne herself, aren't quite as memorable as they were in the first book. Gilbert hardly appears at all, which has the unfortunate side-effect of making Anne's developing love for him come almost out of nowhere. (Anne of the Island, the third book in the series, shows their romance much better.) The newcomers range from the distinctive and comical, like Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, to the flat and underdeveloped, like Miss Lavender and Paul Irving.

All I can remember about Miss Lavender is she's a kindred spirit who calls all her maids Charlotta. Paul is basically a male version of eleven-year-old Anne, but not nearly as interesting. The subplot involving Miss Lavender marrying Paul's father is sweet but doesn't stick in my mind as much as some other romantic subplots L. M. Montgomery wrote.

Much of the book is more like a series of connected short stories than a novel. There's Anne and her friends' attempts to improve Avonlea, and Anne teaching the students, and Marilla's struggles with the twins, but all of these feel like plots on their own instead of all part of the same story. At least all these subplots have enough entertaining moments to keep the reader interested. The incident of the cow in Mr. Harrison's field and Anne's trouble with the henhouse roof are the scenes that stick in my mind the most 😄

Anne of Avonlea isn't quite as good as Anne of Green Gables. It would probably be possible to skip this book entirely without missing much. But it has its good points in spite of its flaws, and I enjoy it enough to reread it on occasion.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Gutenberg.

Rating: 6/10.

Review: Anne of Green Gables (novel)

Real life has been pretty bad lately, so I reread one of my favourite novels to cheer myself up. Of course I decided to review it when I finished it.

Anne of Green Gables was L. M. Montgomery's first novel, published in 1908. It's the first in a series of nine books. Over the years it's been adapted into films, anime, cartoons, musicals, and TV series.

I'm sure everyone knows the plot. Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew decide to adopt an orphan boy. Instead they get an orphan girl: Anne Shirley, who'd rather be called Cordelia, who really doesn't like her red hair, and whose imagination baffles everyone and gets her in trouble frequently.

Words cannot describe how much I love this book 😄 It's so sweet and comical, yet there are sad moments too. Matthew's death breaks my heart every time I read it 😭

Anne herself is the sort of character I wanted to be like when I was a child. Her imagination is my favourite thing about her, closely followed by the consequences of imagination colliding with reality. Her midnight walk through the Haunted Wood is painfully relatable. I've experienced the same thing late at night after reading ghost stories 😨 And the incident of the hair dye is one of those scenes I love so much I read again and again 😄

It's easy to see which parts of this book L. M. Montgomery reused in her later works. Marilla is rather like Aunt Elizabeth from Emily of New Moon, but she undergoes character development much earlier and becomes much nicer than Aunt Elizabeth ever did. Matthew is very like Cousin Jimmy, and Miss Stacey is a much less peppery Mr. Carpenter.

Other characters aren't as immediately recognisable. Diana is much sweeter than Ilse. Gilbert has much more personality than Teddy, and his friendship and growing romance with Anne are shown much better than Teddy's and Emily's. Then there's the inimitable Mrs. Rachel Lynde, who reminds me a great deal of Miss Pole from Cranford, and who very quickly learns never to mention "carrots" around Anne 😆

Enduring popularity isn't always a sign that a book is good. But in this case, Anne of Green Gables absolutely deserves all its renown. Like all really good children's books it's not aimed only at children. No matter how old you are, you'll find something to enjoy in this book.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Gutenberg.

Rating: 10/10.