Before Green Gables
If anyone asks me my all-time favourite book my answer is always, "Anne of Green Gables". This is the book that I credit with beginning my love of reading. My second and third place books are, "Pride and Prejudice" and, "Gone With the Wind".
After reading all these books, I wanted to know more of what happened to the characters. In each case there have been additional books written to provide an answer to that. In Anne's case, the books were written by the same author and they ended up following Anne from 11 years of age to when her sons go off to fight in World War 1. I love them all. The best part is that they're all written by the same author and there's a real sense of cohesiveness about them.
The other two books have also had sequels and prequels written about them. I have read several, "Pride & Prejudice" sequels that are just terrible. I didn't really care for, "Scarlett" but my parents gave me a book called, "Rhett Butler's People" for Christmas this year and I absolutely loved it.
Recently, Stef told me about a new book being released called, "Before Green Gables" by Budge Wilson. It took me a while to get my hands on a copy but I finally did and finally got it read. Not surprisingly, I was disappointed.
I first learned about Anne Shirley when I was 6 years old and we went to PEI on vacation. We went through Green Gables and I didn't fully understand how we were able to go through the house of someone who wasn't real. My mom took us to see a high school version of the musical and that's when I fell in love with Anne. Since then I've read the books so many times that I feel I know them inside out. I read the set my mom had literally to pieces.
This new prequel was fully authorized by the Montgomery heirs. It covers everything that happened to Anne from the beginning of her parents' marriage until she arrives in PEI, waiting for Matthew to pick her up at the train station. The thing is, everything that happens to her is tragic. It's not nice to read about her parents dying when she's 3 months leaving her with no family in the world, or her being taken in by the family of an alcoholic, or by her being worked like a slave by either of her foster families. It's just sad.
What disappointed me the most, however, was Anne's personality. The fun of the original books is that Anne is always getting herself into funny scrapes (telling off Mrs. Lynde, getting Diana drunk, breaking a slate over Gilbert's head) but nothing even close to that happens in the new book. She just works like a slave and has a couple of imaginary friends (one of whom is a little overused in the book, I think).
I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad I got it from the library and didn't buy it myself. I think it would have been nearly impossible for someone other than Lucy Maud Montgomery to write Anne the way I see her. This was a good book, but it didn't feel like "my Anne" to me.
After reading all these books, I wanted to know more of what happened to the characters. In each case there have been additional books written to provide an answer to that. In Anne's case, the books were written by the same author and they ended up following Anne from 11 years of age to when her sons go off to fight in World War 1. I love them all. The best part is that they're all written by the same author and there's a real sense of cohesiveness about them.
The other two books have also had sequels and prequels written about them. I have read several, "Pride & Prejudice" sequels that are just terrible. I didn't really care for, "Scarlett" but my parents gave me a book called, "Rhett Butler's People" for Christmas this year and I absolutely loved it.
Recently, Stef told me about a new book being released called, "Before Green Gables" by Budge Wilson. It took me a while to get my hands on a copy but I finally did and finally got it read. Not surprisingly, I was disappointed.
I first learned about Anne Shirley when I was 6 years old and we went to PEI on vacation. We went through Green Gables and I didn't fully understand how we were able to go through the house of someone who wasn't real. My mom took us to see a high school version of the musical and that's when I fell in love with Anne. Since then I've read the books so many times that I feel I know them inside out. I read the set my mom had literally to pieces.
This new prequel was fully authorized by the Montgomery heirs. It covers everything that happened to Anne from the beginning of her parents' marriage until she arrives in PEI, waiting for Matthew to pick her up at the train station. The thing is, everything that happens to her is tragic. It's not nice to read about her parents dying when she's 3 months leaving her with no family in the world, or her being taken in by the family of an alcoholic, or by her being worked like a slave by either of her foster families. It's just sad.
What disappointed me the most, however, was Anne's personality. The fun of the original books is that Anne is always getting herself into funny scrapes (telling off Mrs. Lynde, getting Diana drunk, breaking a slate over Gilbert's head) but nothing even close to that happens in the new book. She just works like a slave and has a couple of imaginary friends (one of whom is a little overused in the book, I think).
I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad I got it from the library and didn't buy it myself. I think it would have been nearly impossible for someone other than Lucy Maud Montgomery to write Anne the way I see her. This was a good book, but it didn't feel like "my Anne" to me.
posted by Sue Matthews at 2:44 PM
1 Comments:
Good to know. I will remove this from my "to buy" list and put it on the "to borrow" list.
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