Series: Anne of Green Gables #2
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Narrator: Laurie Klein
Playback: 9hrs 19m
Genre: Classics, YA, Children, Historical
Publisher: Books in Motion
Book description: When twelve-year-old Anne Shirley came to Avonlea, she quickly won everyone’s heart. Now, she’s five years older, almost a woman, and about to embark on a new adventure: becoming the teacher in her old Avonlea school. It’s an exciting year as Anne struggles to win over all her students, welcomes two new members to her family, and feels the first stirrings of love.
Review:
This is a nice and quick read. It follows Anne, she is older, she finished her basic schooling, and has the option to go forward and study to become a teacher. For some reason with that premise, I thought she would be older, she was in fact only sixteen!
Almost at the start of the story, we get the introduction of the twins Davy and Dora. I was very annoyed by them and the shenanigans they got into. I saw the correlation we are meant to do - Anne when she first arrived at Green Gables, but this time I did not connect to them. Both twins were annoying to me, they are very different but I could not be taken in by them.
Davy is a handful, asking impossible questions, getting into trouble, and purposefully harming his sister or destroying things simply because he thinks it will stir trouble. Dora is quiet and well-behaved. Anne and Marilla love Davy more something they repeat several times, the reason eludes me. Why would they have a preference for the boy? They do not voice it, I felt it made no sense, had they at least interiorly wished to have a young man to help with the farm work once he's older, at least that would make a bit of sense for them to bear the hellish child. But they never even hinted that's where their logic took them. Good little Dora is respectable, obedient, predictable and boring (directly their opinion); she just doesn't need as much attention and direction as Davy does, and thus is less lovable. Again this felt like a jab to me, why would she be less important or lovable simply because she's not an unruly child?
It would serve Anne and Marilla right if the nice child ends up rebelling, running away without marriage first, or ending up pregnant to scandalize society because she figures out that the troublemaker was more appreciated for no other reason than because he's trouble.
Overall it was an enjoyable read, it's character based, we follow Anne as she struggles to decide whether to follow her heart to become a teacher, fight for equality and strive towards education or do right by Marilla in her time of need. She manages to figure out a way to continue towards both of her ambitions, raising the children and giving back and helping other children that have no one to take care of them. She was also an orphan it makes sense she is greatly affected by other children in similar situations. And at the same time she becomes a teacher, she struggles with her ideals:
Before starting she has a very rigid opinion on what a teacher can and cannot do- Once she becomes one and is struggling with her personal affairs and difficult children at class she becomes flustered and fails in her own ideal.
It seems very realistic, there is a huge leap from your ideal and reality even if you are in your dream job. We also start to see Anne mend her relationship with the boy we have been shipping her with since book one.
The audiobook was awesome, it made the experience more enjoyable. Highly recommend it in this format.
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Classics
YA/Children's books
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