Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Title: Anne of Green Gables
Author: L.M. Montgomery

Read by: Laurel Schroeder

Publisher: Spoken Realms

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 48 minutes
Source: Review Copy from Audiobook Jukebox – Thank-you!

Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite novels of all time, and the 1980’s mini-series is one of my favorite shows of all time.  L.M. Montgomery also ranks as one of my all-time favorite authors.  I trolled bookstores for years looking for any books of hers that I did not own.  Throughout the 90’s they slowly released short story collections.  I believe I have the entire L.M. Montgomery collection in paperback now waiting for Penelope to read and for me to re-read.  I wish they were in hard cover!

Although I’ve read the entire L.M. Montgomery collection, I have never listened to any L.M. Montgomery audiobooks.  I was happy to be able to review this audiobook of Anne of Green Gables.  It’s been quite a few years since I’ve read the novel so it was wonderful to immerse myself back into the world of Anne.

Anne Shirley is a 12-year old orphan.  Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are siblings looking to adopt a boy to help Matthew out with the farm work.   Anne is sent by mistake, but they find themselves unwilling to send her back, a decision they never regret.  Anne is full of imagination and soon becomes bosom friends with neighbor Diana Berry and rivals with Gilbert Blythe.  Anne often gets herself into scrapes and she is very dramatic which is highly amusing.  She’s also a hard worker and moves from being a 12 year old to going on to Queen’s Academy for high school.

Listening to this tale, I remembered again why I love this book so much.  Montgomery has vividly drawn the characters and the entire community of Avonlea very lovingly.  The characters are three dimensional and I could relate with them or think of people I know like them.  I love that there is a lot of humor in the tale to make me laugh. 

This was a good audiobook to get me occupied on my long drive to Milwaukee for work.  I must admit though that I had a hard time getting into this narrator’s version.  She had a strange lilt at the end of each sentence that drove me silently insane for a while.  Then I slowly grew used to it and to her acting of each character and I had a fine time listening to it. 

One part of the story I found kind of strange now as an adult is when Anne first starts school and her teacher, Mr. Phillips, is always flirting over the top with a student, Prissy. Marilla tells Anne not to question the teacher, but this seemed really inappropriate to me.  How times change!

Favorite Quotes:

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

“Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.”

“True friends are always together in spirit.”

“Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them-- that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.”

Overall, Anne of Green Gables is as much of a delight to read as an adult as it was when I was a child. I loved it and it is an intriguing story to listen to on audio.