It's been a difficult few weeks and I needed to be in a simpler time, so I sat down with Anne of Green Gables on my Kindle. I seem to remember that my late mother loved this book. I can see why.
Anne Shirley is a redheaded 11-year-old orphan when we meet her. Brother and sister, Matthew and Marilla, have a small farm, called Green Gables, on Prince Edward Island, Canada. They decide to adopt an orphan boy to help Matthew with the farm work. Instead, when the orphan arrives, it's a girl. Who won't stop talking!
She's so excited about coming to a real home. She's excited about everything and full of wonder. In the short ride from the station, she begins to captivate Matthew. Marilla isn't happy and wants to return her and Anne is devastated. But they decide to keep her.
Anne has a knack for mistakes: putting liniment in a cake instead of vanilla (not really her fault since Marilla had put liniment in the empty vanilla bottle), or getting her best friend drunk because she mistook wine for cordial (also not her fault because Marilla had moved the cordial bottle). It was her fault that she accidentally dyed her hair green. But, as Anne says, she never makes the same mistake twice and she'll soon run out of mistakes and become a good girl.
Anne's imagination and delight and enthusiasm are contagious. To me, anyway. I found myself untypically trying to look on the bright side of things. She doesn't miss the littlest flowers or insects. She loves the sound of the wind in the trees and thinks it would be wonderful to be a bee living in a flower. She imagines a haunted wood and scares herself and her best bosom friend forever, Diana, so badly that they can't walk through the wood, which they'd walked through almost every day, anymore. She imagines castles and knights and all things romantic.
Anne grows from a freckle-faced child into a smart and lovely teenage girl. Matthew and Marilla are proud of her. She's won their complete and total love, even if Marilla is reluctant to show her.
If you need a break from the bad news of today, both worldwide and personal, go visit Anne at Green Gables.
I love this book and always identified with Anne - with my red hair and freckles, but I never did want to dye my hair. I'm sure you'll enjoy the other books.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine you would identify with her. I'm eager to get back into Anne's world, but I don't want to overdo it. It's nice to know there's a refuge waiting for me.
DeleteI have never read this book. I know so many people have such affection for it but I managed to not hear of it until well into adulthood. Was this a first time read for you or did you read it as a kid?
ReplyDeleteI think this was the first time I read it. I'm so old now :) that I can't always remember the books I read as a child. I'm wondering if I ever read Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, too. I grew up knowing about them, but I can't remember reading either of them.
DeleteLOL I hear you! I never read Rebecca. I was a Little House, Nancy Drew and Swiftly Tilting Planet fan. Oh, and Black Stallion. :)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't wait to learn to read so I could read Nancy Drew myself instead of waiting for the kindness of my older sister. I never read many of the Little House books, non of the Swiftly Tilting Planet, but I read all of the Walter Farley books and any other horse books I could find. Don't tell anyone, but I often thought I was a horse and could be seen galloping around the neighborhood. In fairness, some of my friends at school also thought they were horses. Currently, one of my grandnieces thinks she's a cat. Meow.
DeleteAll time favorite for sure! I read it as an adult. Went to the children's section of the library and got every book in the series. Now I own the whole set, hoping my granddaughter will read them. She likes fantasy though :( We did watch the Anne series on TV with Megan Follows together and she loved it. I adore Matthew and every time I get discouraged/despair I hear Marilla telling Anne, "to despair is to give up on God."
ReplyDeleteEven though there was sadness and trouble in this book, it managed to be hopeful and uplifting. I loved Matthew, too. I've never seen any of the TV or film adaptations and I'm not sure I want to. I have images in my mind that I don't want to change. I'll download the books to my Kindle as I decide to read them. I'd like to read another before the end of the summer.
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