Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2775949 in Books
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 312 pages

Customer Reviews

The definitive study of how Anne of Green Gables came about.
I recently made a trip to Prince Edward Island and picked up a number of books related to L.M. Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables. I actually had passed on this one because I saw that Amazon had such a fantastic price on it. Anyway, as an Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery junkie, I've read practically every book on Maud and her work and this one is by far the best. The research in this book is positively amazing. Kudos to the author for digging so deeply and for taking the time to be so complete and thorough. However, I don't want people to think that this is some dry scholarly book, on the contrary, it is almost impossible to put down. Not only does the author dig up facts, she analyzes them with exceptional insight and brillance. She knows her subjects backwards and forwards. At times during the book, one could almost sense the presence of Maud Montgomery herself. It is as though she whispered her secrets to the author who then revealed them to us the readers. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Anne or Maud. It is as close as a book can come to being perfect.

A Biography of the Book, not the Person
I was disappointed by two aspects of this book. The first was the dramatic style of writing by the author. Just write, we get it.

The second was that I expected a biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life, but I really didn't get a sense of who she was. This book ends near the publication date of "Anne," so I don't know anything about Maud's marriage, move west, birth of her 2 sons (I don't even know their names!), and when she and her husband die.

This is more of a scholarly look at the life of the book, instead of it's creator, so I was disappointed in that. There are also some allusions to lesbianism, but they're unfounded. No facts are brought to bear on that allegation. It just seems too "fashionable" to publish some "dirt" on this pastor's wife. It's speculation - looking back on 100 years of history - and I didn't like it. (The same thing was said when the author alludes that Hans Christian Anderson was a homosexual.) If you're going to make such statements, at least provide me with FACTS, not speculation. It's tawdry.

Anne
This author did some serious & indepth research. She looked at a lot of the period magazines Maude would have read and/or have published in for clues as to where she got her inspiration. She looked at some of the popular models of the time period. She compared Anne to similiar types of stories. She examined Maude's unpublished journals. A lot of research was done. This was all very interesting. Reading the aspects of Maude's unhappy early life that may have contributed to Anne was interesting.

What I did not find interesting or appreciate was the author placing her own sexual ideas onto Maude and/or Anne. The author tried to make an unsubstantiated case that Maude was a lesbian; and that Maude also made Anne & Diana's friendship into a lesbian relationship. This really angered me. There is no proof, current or historic to support this. Apparently the author has some personal axe to grind. It's like she wanted Maude to be a lesbian, so the fact that she had many close friends & her marriage was unhappy made this all ring true when it did not. It ruined an otherwise interesting & well researched book.