Reading this one was a little weird--it was never one of my favorites as a kid and I didn't reread it multiple times, but I have seen the movie/miniseries based roughly on this book many times--and the changes are really interesting. The other movies are very faithful to the books, but the movie version of this one mashes various little girls into one, invents a love interest, takes scenes from earlier books (notably the firecrackers in the school fire scene), etc. Some things are the same--Anne and her amateur actresses, and her cold and troubled coworker (who I believe is her boss in the movie). And the Pringles are rpetty much the same in both.
A major difference in this book is how much of it is in Anne's own words, in her letters to Gilbert, as opposed to the regular narrator. Her narrative voice is just as bubbly and funny as she is.
And of course--the cat! This is the cat I was thinking of in one of our earlier cat-related discussions. Rebecca Dew may seem to hate it, but she goes crazy when she thinks the sisters have given him away.
I do wonder why the movie felt the need to create the dashing father of a student who wants to marry her--and left out her college years and Roy Gardner entirely. Or have I missed a movie somewhere?
I think the movies actually did a good job of taking the more "movie friendly" traits of several characters and making them into a more manageable story for a film.
I am like you - I would usually skip over this one to hurry up and get to Anne's House of Dreams - which I love. Re-reading it was so great, though! I, too, love the letters. It's fun to get a sense of her internal voice since most of the time all we know about Anne's personality and voice comes from other people's reactions to her.
I also like that she has to work a little to make the Pringles understand her charm. Makes her a bit more believable - no one can be loved by everyone.
The character of Ms. Brooke breaks my heart, too. I am so happy they never just leave off talking about what happens to her. Montgomery is so good about dropping random references to characters from way back. Little touches like that are what make this series so special!
Yeah, I love the letters too. Hearing her voice is great. And I love how L.M. Montgomery would "omit" the really gushy stuff for you. Leaves me imagining what was in those parts. Though I always kind of want to see the letters from Gilbert.
Wordnerdy, you didn't miss a movie somewhere. It is definitely a smashing together of several books in that film. But at least it sticks with the basic plots, unlike the very last one they made. I really hate the last movie.
This book made me obsessed with wanting to live in a tower room when I was a kid. It just sounded so cool!
I love that she wins the Pringles with a mistake! She actually meant to do something nice, but they interpreted it as her being calculating and mean.
Okay, I know this is Anne of the Island, but I totally forgot to comment last time on one of my favorite parts of the entire series. I love when she writes that story, and Diana sends it to the baking powder contest! And it ends up winning. I just love how you can totally understand why Diana thought she was doing something wonderful for Anne, and you can totally understand why Anne is mortified. Okay, now back to Anne of Windy Poplars...
I am definitely going to skip the last book after you said that. I was a little scared to watch it after I read that they combined several stories that happened to Anne's children not her in the books.
Averil never sounded like a girl's name to me for some reason. That was always what stuck with me during the baking powder story part. I always wanted to read some of Anne's published "sketches," too.
The movie is awful. They mess up the time line and have Gilbert fighting in World War I instead of their children. And they try to make it really dramatic. Like she goes over to Europe to find him when contact is lost between them.
And the last book is really dramatic enough without all that crap!
I wonder why they did it that way, instead of having the characters be married and going through their actual woes. They must have known it would annoy the fans and the few minutes I've seen were pretty awful.
I heard something about a lawsuit between the film producer and the heirs of Montgomery---something about how he couldn't use the original books anymore. I may be wrong on that. But still why bother then? Rilla of Ingliside is definitely dramatic enough on its own, and it does a pretty good job of showing how hard it is for those left at home during a war.
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Reading this one was a little weird--it was never one of my favorites as a kid and I didn't reread it multiple times, but I have seen the movie/miniseries based roughly on this book many times--and the changes are really interesting. The other movies are very faithful to the books, but the movie version of this one mashes various little girls into one, invents a love interest, takes scenes from earlier books (notably the firecrackers in the school fire scene), etc. Some things are the same--Anne and her amateur actresses, and her cold and troubled coworker (who I believe is her boss in the movie). And the Pringles are rpetty much the same in both.
A major difference in this book is how much of it is in Anne's own words, in her letters to Gilbert, as opposed to the regular narrator. Her narrative voice is just as bubbly and funny as she is.
And of course--the cat! This is the cat I was thinking of in one of our earlier cat-related discussions. Rebecca Dew may seem to hate it, but she goes crazy when she thinks the sisters have given him away.
I do wonder why the movie felt the need to create the dashing father of a student who wants to marry her--and left out her college years and Roy Gardner entirely. Or have I missed a movie somewhere?
I think the movies actually did a good job of taking the more "movie friendly" traits of several characters and making them into a more manageable story for a film.
I am like you - I would usually skip over this one to hurry up and get to Anne's House of Dreams - which I love. Re-reading it was so great, though! I, too, love the letters. It's fun to get a sense of her internal voice since most of the time all we know about Anne's personality and voice comes from other people's reactions to her.
I also like that she has to work a little to make the Pringles understand her charm. Makes her a bit more believable - no one can be loved by everyone.
The character of Ms. Brooke breaks my heart, too. I am so happy they never just leave off talking about what happens to her. Montgomery is so good about dropping random references to characters from way back. Little touches like that are what make this series so special!
Yeah, I love the letters too. Hearing her voice is great. And I love how L.M. Montgomery would "omit" the really gushy stuff for you. Leaves me imagining what was in those parts. Though I always kind of want to see the letters from Gilbert.
Wordnerdy, you didn't miss a movie somewhere. It is definitely a smashing together of several books in that film. But at least it sticks with the basic plots, unlike the very last one they made. I really hate the last movie.
This book made me obsessed with wanting to live in a tower room when I was a kid. It just sounded so cool!
I love that she wins the Pringles with a mistake! She actually meant to do something nice, but they interpreted it as her being calculating and mean.
Okay, I know this is Anne of the Island, but I totally forgot to comment last time on one of my favorite parts of the entire series. I love when she writes that story, and Diana sends it to the baking powder contest! And it ends up winning. I just love how you can totally understand why Diana thought she was doing something wonderful for Anne, and you can totally understand why Anne is mortified. Okay, now back to Anne of Windy Poplars...
I can't believe we never talked about the baking powder story!!!
I am definitely going to skip the last book after you said that. I was a little scared to watch it after I read that they combined several stories that happened to Anne's children not her in the books.
Averil never sounded like a girl's name to me for some reason. That was always what stuck with me during the baking powder story part. I always wanted to read some of Anne's published "sketches," too.
The movie is awful. They mess up the time line and have Gilbert fighting in World War I instead of their children. And they try to make it really dramatic. Like she goes over to Europe to find him when contact is lost between them.
And the last book is really dramatic enough without all that crap!
I wonder why they did it that way, instead of having the characters be married and going through their actual woes. They must have known it would annoy the fans and the few minutes I've seen were pretty awful.
I heard something about a lawsuit between the film producer and the heirs of Montgomery---something about how he couldn't use the original books anymore. I may be wrong on that. But still why bother then? Rilla of Ingliside is definitely dramatic enough on its own, and it does a pretty good job of showing how hard it is for those left at home during a war.
And that little Dog Monday is just screaming for a movie adaptation!
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