I don't have the book in front of me, but my recollection of this recent reread is that it's one of the strongest of the series. It takes something Montgomery does well--the coming of age thing--and really transforms it due to the wartime setting. Rilla starts the book off as the spoiled boy-crazy baby of the Blythe family, and really does grow up before our eyes. I love when he finally starts to care for the little war-baby after mostly finding him annoying at first.
And then there's the heartbreak of Jem's dog . . . sigh. That really sticks with me.
I remember when I first read this, I didn't know too much about World War One. So a lot of the references to what was going on in the war kind of went over my head : ) It was fun re-reading it and understanding a lot of those references. Like how at the beginning of the book Susan is reading the newspaper, and skips right over the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand because she thinks it has nothing to do with their family.
Yeah, I agree this is a particularly strong one in the series. Montgomery is quite good at the coming of age stories. Plus the ending is pretty romantic : )
Kenneth is definitely dreamy! I keep trying to figure out how old Susan is, and I am very glad they don't dwell on the fact that Marilla passed away. Even the tiny mention made my heart hurt.
Rilla's transformation is one of the more interesting that Montgomery has written about a female character, I think. The diary entries are a nice way to show all of that.
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I don't have the book in front of me, but my recollection of this recent reread is that it's one of the strongest of the series. It takes something Montgomery does well--the coming of age thing--and really transforms it due to the wartime setting. Rilla starts the book off as the spoiled boy-crazy baby of the Blythe family, and really does grow up before our eyes. I love when he finally starts to care for the little war-baby after mostly finding him annoying at first.
And then there's the heartbreak of Jem's dog . . . sigh. That really sticks with me.
I remember when I first read this, I didn't know too much about World War One. So a lot of the references to what was going on in the war kind of went over my head : ) It was fun re-reading it and understanding a lot of those references. Like how at the beginning of the book Susan is reading the newspaper, and skips right over the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand because she thinks it has nothing to do with their family.
Yeah, I agree this is a particularly strong one in the series. Montgomery is quite good at the coming of age stories. Plus the ending is pretty romantic : )
Kenneth is definitely dreamy! I keep trying to figure out how old Susan is, and I am very glad they don't dwell on the fact that Marilla passed away. Even the tiny mention made my heart hurt.
Rilla's transformation is one of the more interesting that Montgomery has written about a female character, I think. The diary entries are a nice way to show all of that.
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