I am the sort of reader who doesn’t mind short stories. Each chapter was a delight.

I liked this collection of short stories written by LM Montgomery, the author of the Anne of Green Gables series. Tales of hardship, poverty, honesty, humility and courage all woven together to enlighten and inspire the reader. Each of the eighteen stories is approximately 8 pages, which is long enough for character development but not so long that one can't finish a short story when time is sparse & fleeting.

I look forward to reading her other collections of short stories.

Definitely one of my favorite Montgomery collections. Each story was funny, moving, or uplifting. I couldn't ask for more.

I liked all but 4 of these.

Although like with most if not all short story collections, I most definitely have my personal favourites amongst the eighteen featured thematic tales of so-called achievement presented by compiler and editor Rea Wilmshurst, L.M. Montgomery's Against the Odds is without a doubt also one of my all time most special comfort reads, with certain stories like Bessie's Doll, At the Bay Shore Farm, The Fillmore Elderberries and especially the final story, The Strike at Putney having been read more than twenty times by me (and that is a conservative estimate at best). For even with the at times rather heavy duty messages and preachiness, MOST of the stories encountered in Against the Odds are still and for all intents and purposes delicately and delightfully descriptive, evocative and clearly demonstrate that L.M. Montgomery has imbued her characters with common sense, a general and strong love for both fair play and willingness to admit one's faults, as well as a sense of irony and humor, and as these are all and sundry tales and anecdotes of overcoming the odds, also of course an often iron clad will to succeed, to prove oneself (no matter what obstacles might come one's way, no matter if friends, family and even society are at best skeptical and sometimes rather openly hostile).

And the only minor (but still important) caveats I do offer with regard to Against the Odds and the main reason this book is a three and not a four star read for me, is that there are two specific story offerings that I have personally and always found more than a bit problematic (and yes, also rather majorly and personally aggravating). Now the gender issues and stratifications present in In Spite of Myself are indeed a bit frustrating (although of course also a product of its time so to speak), but what has always bothered me most with this particular story is the simple fact that the first person and masculine narrator sounds both inauthentic and so constantly whining and complaining that it kind of totally ruins the ambience and renders how he and his cousin Augusta find that they are in fact simpatico and meant for each other rather mundane and actually a bit of a major let-down as well (for Gussie at least in my opinion could do so much better), and while I do not in any way actively despise In Spite of Myself, I just continuously find the male narrator grating and pretty much a tedious bore.

And with the second story of Against the Odds that I consider to be rather problematic and actually really quite majorly personally uncomfortable if truth be told (How We Went to the Wedding), well, the general theme of two women, of two cousins traveling alone by horse and wagon across rain-soaked and flooded prairies to reach a wedding, to attend the one girl's best friend's nuptials, while this all is in fact wonderfully uplifting, and much of the story in fact reads both evocatively, and with much entertainment, humour, diversion, sorry, butt he oh so blatant racism and bigotry that L.M. Montgomery almost constantly displays in How We Went to the Wedding against First Nations, against Native Canadians as a whole, this just makes me cringe and really, truly does make me actively despise How We Went to the Wedding to such an extent that I really cannot stand reading it. And while as mentioned, I have read most of the stories featured and presented in Against the Odds many and multiple times, I have only managed to read How We Went to the Wedding but twice and do now tend to actively avoid it during my regular rereads (but all that being said, I still do very much and yes most highly recommend Against the Odds, but with a further and also strong suggestion to definitely consider reading editor Rea Wilmshurst's excellent and astute introduction only AFTER having perused the stories, the featured tales, so as to avoid possible spoilers and/or having her analyses and musings possibly affect how one reads and approaches Against the Odds, in other words, to read the introduction as an afterword instead).

Against the Odds is another collection of Lucy Maud Montgomery short stories and like many of the other anthologies, its stories all follow an overarching theme. While other collections have focused on stories of matrimony, orphans and lonely people, or on letters and journal writing, the common thread in Against the Odds is triumph over adversity through pluck and determination and often times a little cleverness. Because this was a common theme in Louisa May Alcott books and stories, I kinda felt like this book was a collaboration between two of my favorite authors. The writing and the characters was pure Montgomery but there were very Alcott-ian touches that I appreciated. Some of my favorite stories included:

The Fillmore Elderberries
A young boy, haunted by the reputation of his ne’er do well father, is unable to secure work to support himself and his widowed mother. Finally he agrees to take on a field overrun by elderberries. Although he is being underpaid and the work is hard, he promises to see the job through to the end. In keeping his promise and doing the job well, he proves himself to be hardworking and trustworthy.

Bessie’s Doll
Tommy is a poor boy has two joys in his life, one in his friendship with Bessie, a lame girl who lives nearby and the other in looking at the beautiful flowers in Miss Octavia’s garden. Miss Octavia is convinced that he is lingering near her garden to do mischief and so chases him off whenever she sees him. When he is not looking at the garden, he brings Bessie to look at beautiful doll in the window of a local store. While neither child could possibly afford the doll, Bessie falls in love with it and grieves for it when it is sold. When Tommy saves Miss Octavia’s garden from being ruined by frost, both he and Bessie are given their heart’s desires.

The Genesis of the Doughnut Club
This is one of the stories that has a particularly Alcott-ish tone. An old maid who had been keeping house for her brother out west, is facing the prospect of having to move back east when he passes away. She is dreading it, partially because she will be viewed as a burden there and partially because she has taken a group of boys under her wing, to guide and care fore, and she hates the idea of leaving them. With no other options open to her, she decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner for all her boys before she leaves. An unexpected guest at the feast is impressed by her cooking and offers her an opportunity to stay in the place she loves and keep taking care of her boys.

At the Bay Shore Farm
Two sisters are both very excited about an upcoming picnic until a summons from their Grandmother means that one of them will have to miss the event. Although she desperately wants to catch a glimpse of her hero, a famous author, one of the girls unselfishly volunteers to go so that her sister can see a dear friend who had moved away and would be visiting for only that one day and is rewarded for her deed in the most satisfactory way.

Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind
A teacher is faced with a school out of control. A member of the school board is of the opinion that women shouldn’t be teachers and his sons, emboldened by this fact, has started a campaign of disobedience and mischief. When the teacher, armed with Kodak camera, takes a photo that would be of interest to several people in the community, the man and his sons have a change of heart. I thought this story was particularly fun because of how such a modern hobby (and with such a recognizable brand of camera) played such a prominent part in it.

A Substitute Journalist
A young man is assigned two stories for a local newspaper. Although his heart is really in another field, the young man doesn’t have the opportunity to enter that field and is hoping that if he does a good job on these stories, he will have permanent place at the newspaper with which to support his mother and sister. However, he misses his train and is unable to make his second interview. Although she is unfamiliar with how to interview a politician, his sister takes his place and conducts the interview.

The Strike at Putney
This was the best story in the collection, at least in my opinion. The ladies of Putney Church have arranged for a famous missionary to come and make an address. Because the church was not expected to be used that evening and because of the size of the expected audience, they request to use the church for their event. But the men of the church refuse them because the missionary in question is a woman and women had no place speaking in church. As a result, the women go on strike. All teas and socials (necessary fundraising events) cease. The women who took charge of cleaning the church and bringing flowers for the weekly service resign. The organist and the ladies of the choir refuse to sing. Their theory was that if a woman is unfit to speak in a church, then women should be considered unfit to work in one. The men, quickly get the point. As the granddaughter of a lady minister, I found this story to be especially funny and thought that it illustrated an important truth – that the well being of a church is dependent on the good will of the volunteers who keep it running.

Fun! A lot of very similar tales, as always, but a couple of standouts. Although they were predictable, I found a lot of charm to "In Spite of Myself" (or whatever that story was called) and the final story about the strike. "How We Went to the Wedding," meanwhile, was a whole other adventure tale on its own. Ignoring if at all possible (cringe) the wildly ignorant stuff about "Indians," this was a good story and very different from anything else of hers I'd ever read. No wealthy benefactors or long-lost relatives, no love interests, just a couple of women making a long trek and the various adventures that befell them on the way.

Perhaps the least sentimental and most fun of Montgomery's short story collections that I've read so far.

And I did not expect this.

Perhaps because of its rather pompous title – or because of Montgomery's almost mythic descriptions of climbing to the alpine path that so beautifully runs through her entire authorship, I imagined this to be a rather solemn book about characters who had to fight, tooth and claw, to achieve their dreams.

Instead, it was a collection of lighthearted and rather silly tales about people who tricked their way into marriages or jobs or who stumbled on a stroke of luck. There's actually very little achievement in this book, and more coincidences. But that's what makes it fun.

However some of the stories are horribly dated and betrays a prejudiced world-view – and I would take this into consideration when starting the book.

3.5 stars. I always enjoy reading her books. There is something so comforting about her stories, they seem so wholesome and real. While these lacked depth and were sometime repetitive thematically, it was still a nice fun read.

A pleasant collection of short stories. I wish the world was such a delightful place filled with good people whose problems could all be solved through cleverness or the intervening hand of some rich benefactor. The underlying racism, sexism, and social elitism that permeated the stories reminded of how far we have come.

Normally, I enjoy these collections of LM Montgomery's short stories, and I have read all of them but one that I know of (Across the Miles) and these books usually get good ratings from me. This one... well, i will explain that in a second.

Those familiar with the author's work will know that some of the attitudes presented in her stories are backwards or racist (use of the word squaw, among several other disparaging comments about Native Americans) but given the time these stories were written, that's not very surprising (1870's-1920's) Same goes for the view on women, especially with LM Montgomery's earlier stories, in the 1870's-1880's where women going to college was still a relative novelty and even then, the degrees available to women was quite limited. Boy I sure am glad I don't live in these times!

With a understanding of history and context, these stories can, and are, enjoyable so I don't hold these against the author. Many of the stories here are actually good and very enjoyable, particularly when the main character wins against the odds due to his or her own hard work and perseverance rather than luck. Some of the stories are like traveling back in time, such as the one where two cousins travel by themselves for two weeks across desolate areas of the country just to get to a wedding (a trip that would have taken only several hours by car today!)

So why two stars? Because of one absolutely shitty story - A Question of Acquaintance. In it, a doctor is held hostage by some asshole's bulldog.

The poor man was trying to help out his neighbor (where the asshole was staying because the neighbor was either his aunt or cousin?) because he chased some pigs out of his yard and saw them head into his neighbor's yard, so he went into the neighbor's yard to chase the pigs out of there as well. This results in him being held hostage in the neighbor's garage by a bulldog that belongs to said asshole.

The doctor had never met the asshole and he had no reason to - the asshole was playing music at three in the fucking morning. Of course the doctor is going to hate the asshole, sight unseen - what normal person wouldn't be pissed off at someone playing music at unholy hours?

The asshole just proves his assholeishness further by having his piece of shit dog chase the doctor up a ladder in the garage, so the poor old man is stuck up on a beam ALL GOD DAMN FUCKING DAY in his pajamas because the asshole wants to "teach him a lesson". The stupid piece of shit dog stays at the bottom of the ladder all day while the asshole sits outside, a smug piece of shit, knowing fully well who the doctor is but pretending he doesn't know who the doctor is, just to fuck around with him (while the asshole is fucking his daughter!) The doctor also has a very, very important appointment that evening and tells the asshole as such, but does the asshole care? Nope.

The doctor is reasonably frightened, and he recalls how some other man was killed by a dog who tore out his artery or something, and the bulldog growls at him every time he tried to come down the ladder. The poor dude is stuck on the beam for something like 8-9 hours, and only by the fact that he had a newspaper in his pocket was he able to extricate himself out of this precarious situation. If not for the newspaper, who knows how much longer the poor man would have been stuck up on the beam.

I don't know what the god damn fuck LM Montgomery was thinking when she wrote this or why she thought it was cute. Threatening someone with a dog, if they're not threatening you, is a complete dick move, and there is no excuse for this shitty story. I've been a fan of LM Montgomery for years, but this story actually made me lose a huge chunk of respect for her. Fuck bully breeds and the people who think they're cute or that it's cute to scare people with them.

Like all of these, some are better than others but there's some really fun stories in this one.