Anne of Windy Poplars
I've been greatly enjoying the Anne books, but man this one got tedious. I wonder how much of that is because it was published later. It's more of a return to Anne's younger days, and you need a heavy dose of nostalgia to swallow it.
The book covers the three years of Anne's engagement to Gilbert, when she's teaching school in a new community and he's finishing his schooling to become a doctor. The narrative alternates between letters she writes to him and the familiar third-person narrative of Anne's day-to-day activities. The book is divided into three sections, one for each school year, with summers and holidays (when Anne is with Gilbert) mostly skipped over.
Because the focus is on Anne in a new environment, almost none of the Avonlea characters are present. There are a couple of brief visits to Green Gables, with appearances by Marilla and the twins. But for the most part this is an entirely new cast of characters. It was frustrating to not see any of the characters I've come to love over the past three books.
Even more frustrating was the constant introduction of more new characters. There was a very definite pattern to this book: Anne meets someone. They dislike her or have some other problem. Anne solves that problem. The character is never heard from again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. It got tedious.
I think the next book at least gets back to the things I've liked about the series without painting Anne as some perfect saint, blessing everyone she comes in contact with. And I know a lot of people say that the books about her children are the best of the entire series. So I'm going to soldier on. After a bit of a break.
The book covers the three years of Anne's engagement to Gilbert, when she's teaching school in a new community and he's finishing his schooling to become a doctor. The narrative alternates between letters she writes to him and the familiar third-person narrative of Anne's day-to-day activities. The book is divided into three sections, one for each school year, with summers and holidays (when Anne is with Gilbert) mostly skipped over.
Because the focus is on Anne in a new environment, almost none of the Avonlea characters are present. There are a couple of brief visits to Green Gables, with appearances by Marilla and the twins. But for the most part this is an entirely new cast of characters. It was frustrating to not see any of the characters I've come to love over the past three books.
Even more frustrating was the constant introduction of more new characters. There was a very definite pattern to this book: Anne meets someone. They dislike her or have some other problem. Anne solves that problem. The character is never heard from again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. It got tedious.
I think the next book at least gets back to the things I've liked about the series without painting Anne as some perfect saint, blessing everyone she comes in contact with. And I know a lot of people say that the books about her children are the best of the entire series. So I'm going to soldier on. After a bit of a break.
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