leynes's Reviews > Anne of the Island

The spell is broken. You guys know how much I loved the first book in this series but its sequels annoy and bore the shit outta me. I loved Anne as a character in the first book because she has flaws, gets into silly scraps and has so much to learn. In Book 2 and 3, she is just insufferable. She has become such a Mary Sue. Everything comes natural and easy for her, every-fucking-body worships and loves her, every man she interacts with proposes to her, everyone wants to be her friend, she's everyone's favorite, she's the best in college, she's a gifted writer, her looks are captivating ... yada yada yada. I can't take it anymore.

To give you some examples of Montgomery's ridiculous heroisation of Anne: I shit you not that every fucking character loves Anne the best out of all people. "Phil adored Anne and Priscilla, but especially Anne." Ruby tells Anne on her fucking deathbed (she's dying of consumption) that she always liked her the best out of all of her school chums. When Charlotta the Fourth returns from Boston, she tells Anne: "I haven't seen anyone in Boston that's equal to you." Anne is such a special snowflake that even Rusty, the cat, who usually hates all (!) people, LOVES Anne. I cannot deal with tomfoolery like this. I am done.

On top of that, Montgomery's writing feels much more (out-)dated in Book 2 and 3 than it did in the first book. All of a sudden she has become this hyper-Christian and moralising writer. Her work reads more like Christian propaganda, and I found it insufferable. Anne has become so moralising and patronising herself, I could literally picture Montgomery sitting at her desk thinking to herself how well she did with infusing her (Christian) lessons and values into her young readers. Big yikes. Book 2 and 3 read as if Montgomery was writing a pamphlet on how a proper woman (aka wife) should be.

“Phil, you're not really frivolous,” said Anne gravely. “Way down underneath that frivolous exterior of yours you've got a dear, loyal, womanly little soul.”

Does that sound like the fun little girl we all came to love in the first book to you? Anne, what the hell? What has happened to you? Oh yeah, you had to grow up. Ugh.

Apart from Phil (WHO IS TRULY ICONIC) I also didn't enjoy any of the new characters. To give you some examples of Phil's iconic behaviour, here are some of her outlooks on life/being a woman: "I really hated the thought of being married for a few years yet. I want to have heaps of fun before I settle down." (as you should!) and "Being in love makes you a perfect slave, I think. And it would give a man such a power to hurt you." (she sure knows what's up!). The reason why I liked Phil so much is that she felt how Anne felt in the first book. Fun, independent, iconic. Funnily enough, I loved her romance with Jonas Blake ("It is impossible—but I'm horribly afraid it's true. I'm happy and wretched and scared. He can never care for me, I know.") a lot more than the shenanigans of Anne and Gilbert.

One thing I cannot excuse, however, is when the girls try to chloroform Rusty the cat and it's all played for shits and giggles, as if that's not animal torture and a literal crime?? I was so confused.

I hated how Anne let Roy Gardner on. He truly deserved better but he was a useless character bc it was clear from the start that Anne would end up with Gilbert. Didn't care for Miss Lavendar and Davy in Book 2, so no surprise that I didn't warm to them in this one. There's decidedly too little of Diana Barry in this book. And Rachel and Marilla are still my faves (I love that they are flat mates now!) but I also would've loved to see more of them. Their scenes were the best!

The last chapter was sickly sweet but it fuelled me with some energy. Gilbert is decidedly too good for Anne ("I asked you a question over two years ago, Anne. If I ask it again today will you give me a different answer.") but I am happy that they ended up together. Nonetheless, I was quite bored that the two of them were basically serving Laurie & Jo throughout this entire book (with Gilbert's first proposal and Anne's rejection of him etc.). Like, we get it. And it got so much worse when Anne only realised that she loved Gilbert when he was literally dying of an illness. Like, bestie, wake up? Where have you been for the last five years? You cannot tell me that Anne didn't have an inkling before, it is so clear that she was in love with Gilbert from the very start.

However, I hate that Montgomery basically insinuates that it is a woman's place to get married and have children. Diana gives birth to her first child, and Jane Andrews marries a Winnipeg millionaire. I feel like it would've been the bolder choice to have at least Gilbert move on to marry Christine and have Anne ending up on her own (... not permanently, but at least for the time being of Book 3 and 4). All in all, I feel like the gang grew up way too fucking fast. I'll forever cherish Book 1 and their childhood merriments, but basically straight up beginning with Book 2 it was "you're an adult woman now, so get it together and find a husband now". I'm not saying that that wasn't the reality for most women of Montgomery's time but Book 1 felt so progressive and daring, whereas the rest of the series is so mainstream/run-of-the-mill and tame. I'm afraid Anne has lost her charm.