[BOOK REVIEW] Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Title:  Anne of Green Gables


Author:  L.M. Montgomery

Genre: Middle Grade / Friendship / Childhood


Year Published: 1983


Number of Pages: 382 pages


Date Read: 2/14/2015

Publisher:  Grosset and Dunlap

Series: Anne of Green Gables #1


Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Some Mischievous Behavior)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”

Now, I will admit that I was actually introduced to “Anne of Green Gables” through the animated TV series that used to come on PBS and I remembered liking this TV series when I was little.  Now, I finally had the chance to actually read L.M. Montgomery’s all-time classic book “Anne of Green Gables” and I was surely not disappointed with the results!

Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert wanted to have a child who could help them around the house, so they decided to adopt a child from the orphanage and they wished that the child was a young boy.  Unfortunately, when Matthew went to the orphanage, he realizes that the owners of the orphanage had made a mistake and gave him a young girl named Anne Shirley instead of a young boy.  Even though at first, Matthew and Marilla tried to take Anne Shirley back to the orphanage, they soon grew to love the young girl as Anne Shirley is unlike any other little girl they had ever came across.  It turns out that Anne Shirley has a vivid imagination and she expresses her love for life through her poetic statements that would make anyone fall in love with her instantly.  The town of Avonlea will never be the same again!

Now, I had heard about this book for years now, but I never had the chance to really read this book due to me spending so much time reading other middle grade books.  Now, I finally got the chance to read this book and I will admit that this book has been nothing but pure love and creativity!  L.M. Montgomery had done a brilliant job at writing this book as the narrative is extremely poetic and flowery and I just find myself falling in love with all of the characters from Avonlea!  I honestly think the best part about this book was the characters themselves as they all brought something different and interesting to the story.  Anne Shirley is honestly one of my most favorite young heroines of all time as she is constantly shown as being optimistic in her goals and the fact that she always makes everything in her life seem so dramatic in a good way really made her into a truly interesting character.  I also connect so much with Anne Shirley because I used to have a vivid imagination when I was little and I would usually try to reenact my imaginations in real life, just like how Anne has often done so in this book. I loved Anne’s relationships with her fellow students, especially with Diana Barry as it shows how close Anne is towards Diana and I love how they are willing to be together throughout their lives as it shows how inspiring their friendship is!  I also enjoyed Anne’s rivalry with Gilbert Blythe as it was interesting seeing Anne still harbor resentment towards Gilbert when he called her “carrots” and pulled on her pigtails early on and yet as the story goes on, you start seeing Anne going from hating Gilbert Blythe to having some feelings for him.  It really makes me excited to see where Anne and Gilbert’s relationship will go after this book!  I loved how L.M. Montgomery made the narrative so beautiful to read as I really felt a connection with Anne’s journey from being an imaginative young girl to being a grown and mature young woman and there were so many quotes in this book that were so memorable, such as this little gem:

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

Overall, “Anne of Green Gables” is easily one of the most beautiful books I had ever read and I definitely cannot wait to check out the rest of the “Anne of Green Gables” books in this wonderful series!