Exucse me while I sob over this. Anyone else reminded of crappy fanfic when they think of the things done to these characters when Sullivan writes them instead of following what Montgomery did?
I hated Rilla of Ingleside.
Her sisters go off to war. Rilla stays home, flirts and moans. She’s such an insipid whiny character that I felt no sympathy for her.
I also hated how that book brought readers away from the timeless, vaguely dreamlike quality of L.M. Montgomery’s earlier works. The intrusion of war saddened me a lot.
I think you’ll be shocked at how like it is. Quite shocked.
I don’t remember if there was any resolution. I say it was plagiarism, but what ever became of it all I don’t know.
Well, I see your point, but she was 14 when war broke out. What do 14-yo girls do? Yep, they flirt and whine (and buy expensive green hats when they shouldn’t)! The book is about how she grows up from a whiny, selfish child into a woman.
Indeed. I think she matures nicely throughout the book.
I ran to the library to get the book…I’ve read about 10 pages and I’m already :eek: .
I happened to see the prequel book vison mentioned in the new books section…I grabbed that one, too, for giggles.
Darn – it’s that close, huh? I’m going to pick up The Blue Castle tomorrow!
I’ve got both on hold at the library! I’ve never read a Colleen McCullough before.
I saw Before Green Gables in a book catalogue, and whined and complained for two days about it. Her life before Green Gables was miserable! She had no friends and was practically a slave! Don’t fricking try to cheer it up!
I love the Anne books. I read the whole series aloud to my very patient husband. The first and Rilla are my favourites. Rilla does start off as a whiny little self-centred kid, but she’s the baby of the family, and spoiled. She’s fifteen at the start of the war, all her brothers leave to fight, she does without a lot of luxuries, grows up, and raises a newborn without a whole lot of help (remember the bit about wanting to go to a party, but only taking an hour or so away from Jims at a time?). I think she’s a lovely character.
The bits about terrorizing Whiskers-on-the-moon because he’s a pacisfist are interesting and scary, though.
Sorry to hijack. A new Anne movie should be burnt, spat on, and then the studio ground should be razed and salted.
And The Ladies of Missalonghi is good.
I loved the Ladies of M. And then several years later saw that the same author had written some books about Ancient Rome. To the best of my knowledge, the only thing that the two books have in common is the author. The Ancient Rome book was interesting but not really to my taste–too serious, too complicated. The Ladies of M. is fluff. Enjoyable, but fluff. Never heard of Blue Castle.
I’ve read The Thorn Birds, and a couple others, I think…this one is really different from anything of hers I’ve read before.
Lissla Lisslar, are you serious that you read ALL the Anne books ALOUD to your husband? What an amazing thing to do! Did he like them?
I agree with what everyone has said about Rilla’s character development. I found her to be very interesting from that standpoint. One of the themes of the book was that the young ladies all grew up sooner than they should have had to…doesn’t Anne even make a comment to that effect?
As an aside, I remember reading Rilla of Ingleside along with The Singing Tree, which is about a Hungarian family and their troubles during WWI. It was interesting, because Rilla does tend to romanticize war a bit (or at least the idea that some ideals are worth dying for), while The Singing Tree emphasized the idea that war is terrible and that all are united in their suffering (the family takes in both German orphans and Russion prisoners of war). As a child I was overwhelmed with this profound revelation of these two books - I remember writing a book report to that effect and feeling very proud of myself for coming to this conclusion. 
Colleen McCullough made her fortune, and her reputation, with The Thornbirds. I cordially loathed that book, and found her books about Rome to be a tussle to get through. As for The Ladies of Missalonghi, it is so much like The Blue Castle as to make you wonder how she thought she’d get away with it. I thought then, and still do, that she thought Montgomery’s book was forgotten. About all she did was move the characters from PEI.
I looked up Colleen McCullough and discovered that she was the author of the Thorn Birds, but I’ve never read that either. Should I? I’ve always gotten the impression that it’s best to be about 15 when you read it, so I figured I missed my chance.
That’s one reason I find Rilla so interesting–it was written right after the Great War, right? And it’s so much a product of its time. The ones at home are desperate to believe that all this horror is somehow worth it, and that a better world will result, and the boys are going off full of idealism. Knowing now what that war led to–and how completely pointless and futile it all was–it’s strange and painful to read. But I’m sure that Montgomery really felt like that–Gilbert is expressing her hopes about a new world being born.
That’s why I was so horrified by the plot of Anne 3–it seems to me to be a betrayal of the story. It’s far too modern, and ignores what people were really doing (besides screwing with the timeline). Rilla has important lessons for us, IMO, and not just the ones Montgomery meant to put in.
I just couldn’t relate to Rilla at all. She basically has no schooling after she reaches fourteen. Anne Shirley graduates from college. Emily of New Moon also chases academic glory.
Rilla’s sister’s lives just sounded so much more interesting to me. If I remember correctly they went to England to study and assist in the war effort. I’d rather have read a novel about Nan and Diane and their adventures in WWI England.
I think we skipped most of Rainbow Valley and some parts of Anne of Ingleside, but all the others were read in entirety. I remember we were working on Anne of the Island on our honeymoon. He liked them very much, and they’re a joy to read aloud- some books just don’t sound good. I’ve read a lot of my favourite books aloud to him. (Counting) Deerskin, Beauty, The Lantern Bearers, The Blue Sword, Spindle’s End, Anne series. I’m sure I’m missing a couple.
The Anne books are really funny. Montgomery wasa wonderful social observer, and her characters are great.
The Thorn Birds was OK…I read it once when I was on vacation, but otherwise, not sure I would have made it through. My mother loves the Ceasar books, but that’s a particular area of interest of hers…I’ve never been able to get through them.
That is so cool.
That is my most fond memory of my first husband – he liked me to read to him. I love to read aloud and he wasn’t picky about what I read him, so I got to pick my favorites. Ones I remember (this was a long time ago; we were married in 1983 and only together for a year and a half): The Princess Bride, all of Narnia, the Earthsea Trilogy. We were just starting on Pern when we split up.
I own the Ladies of M., but I’ve not read it yet. The Blue Castle is one of my all-time favorites though! I’m also a big fan of A Tangled Web until you get to the last page. I know about different times and all that, but what a weird note to end a great book on.
I do love the Anne books, and Rilla was a favorite of mine all through my teen years. I don’t like it as much now that I’m grown up, but I still think it’s great. House of Dreams might be my favorite right now, but it always changes. I will admit though, I’m a bigger fan of Emily than of Anne. I don’t know why, but I just get her better.
A prequel to Anne is a dumb move on so many levels. People will eat it up though, I guess. Look at some of the nutty stuff being done with other beloved series (like Little House). And that third movie – wow. How did they ever get Megan & Jonathan to agree to do something that awful?
I got the Blue Castle today and it turns out I have read it! So now I guess I’ll re-read it so I can read the other one.