Not As Impressed With Anne of Avonlea

I'd read the first Anne book a couple months ago thanks to my friends who kept pestering me about how brilliant Gilbert Blythe is. And yes, he is brilliant, but I'm beginning to fear that the version of him that I love is the one from Anne With An E. However, I'll probably get one book further into the series before making any definitive decisions regarding which Blythe I hold more closely in my heart.

I began reading Anne of Avonlea at the start of the fall semester this year, but I didn't finish it until a couple days ago. Terrible, I know. I could blame it on how busy the semester was with my eclectic mix of film and computer science classes - I wouldn't be lying - but the real reason the book took me so long to read was because honestly, I found myself a bit bored with it all. The author L.M. Montgomery remains brilliant at creating lovable characters who feel like they're real; she brings the town, its folks, and its stories to life. But there isn't much dramatic tension in the novel as most things are spectacularly happy all the time, and so I found myself less enamored of the world and its characters than I had been when reading Anne of Green Gables. I hate to say it, but my main fear at the moment is that when I finish the series, it'll be because I've forced myself to rather than because I crave each book the moment I finish the one before it.

Despite its issues, I did end up enjoying my slow, meandering return to Prince Edward Island. At first I had been reluctant to accept the new cast of characters, but the addition of persons like the old neighbor with the parrot and Miss Lavender were actually quite sweet. There definitely isn't nearly enough Gilbert in this book - and gah, he's all soft and no angst - but all in all, this wasn't a horrible book by any means. I do believe I might've enjoyed the series more if I had read the books when I was younger, but I'm still determined to finish them all someday. And besides: maybe a slow meander isn't the worst way to experience such a vast and endearing story world like Anne's.