Is everyone else familiar with Anne of Green Gables? I feel like it's one of those books that most people did read as a child so not entirely sure how I missed it (especially with the red hair bit. I guess my family was more a Pippi Longstockings kind of place.) So anyway, story of Anne.
Siblings Marilla and Matthew decide they want to buy an orphan boy to help out around the house, cos this was 1900 or whatever, and that was a thing you could do. Not only could you do it, but you could do it and NOT be the villain of the story. #WhatIsWrongWithYouHistory When Matthew gets to the train station to get the boy, he finds this scrawny girl instead and what the hell, that's not what he ordered. But since he's super shy and doesn't want to cause a scene, he decides to let his sister deal with it, so he takes Anne home.
During the ride back to Green Gables Anne will NOT STOP TALKING but since Matthew hates talking, this works out for him and she wins him over. She goes on and on (and on) about her fantasies and how happy she'll be and the homes she lived in before. But Marilla sees this girl and decides nope, back to the orphanage with her. Orphanages have generous return policies.
But Anne manages to win over Marilla too, even though Marilla goes through the hassle of taking her all the way back to the orphanage which must have been terrifying for Anne. Marilla puts her on probation to see if she'll be a pain or if they'll keep her. (I know, different time, but seriously, past, what the hell?)
Surprise, they keep her and then the book is a series of Anne screwing things up cos she keeps daydreaming, getting into fights with people cos they point out she has red hair, making friends, refusing to turn down dares if someone calls her chicken, all kinds of wacky (for 1908) adventures.
Anne is a fun character. She's sweet, obsessed with all things "romantic", really into having puffy sleeves, is super dramatic, super insecure about her appearance which sure, causes her to lash out a few times, but sometimes her reaction was deserved. Mostly not though. I wanted to yell "chill" at Anne pretty much every page. I also wanted to hug her so I guess it balances out but seriously, chill. Also maybe take a breath every once in a while. There'd be full pages with no paragraph breaks that were just Anne talking and talking.
I actually bought the entire Anne set cos the full thing for Kindle (all 12 books or whatever) was under a dollar and it seemed silly to only buy the first book. It's like a Columbia House deal, except without the scam later. We shall see if I get to the others.
It was nice book and one I'm sure I wouldn't have picked up had it not been for book club so #ExpandingReadingHorizons.
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Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables. Doma Publishing, 2014. Kindle. Originally published 1908.
