The Blythes Are Quoted

I really wanted to love this book. I read the other reviews so I had some idea of what to expect but it was still much darker than I bargained for. I really wish I had left the Blythe family alone after Rilla of Ingleside. There was a lot of darkness in that book as well but it still left off on a hopeful note. This one just depressed me. I am going to do my best to forget it and remember the happy, loving, hopeful family I always knew and loved before.

I love this last book by L.M. Montgomery, but I've read most of her books. This one follows the first eight Anne novels, but it's a book of poetry and short stories. In fact, I had read the first story in one of the Avonlea books. You wouldn't understand the commentary following the poetry in this book unless you knew who all the Blythes were, but you might still enjoy the short stories. I enjoy period pieces and I like the way Montgomery writes. This book was supposed to have been given to a publisher the day Montgomery died, but was not published in its entirety until around 2009. I'm glad it was, because I was able to visit with Anne's family again.

Good

This recent discovery for Anne devotees proves a treasure-- not least that the likely reason that the book didn't gain the immortality of its predecessors when it was first published in the early 1940's is that Anne, still reeling from the losses of "war to end all wars," expresses pacifist sentiments. Inmates at a local women's prison and I read the 8-volume series with one another aloud, rapt, and then I discovered this.

The lost works of LMM are well worth the purchase!

She loves the Blythes from Anne of Green Gables to the children's individual stories. This is a collection of stories that she found just as endearing.