Oh, how exquisite! Is there another writer quite like Maud? Her voice is unmistakable, and the charm of her own memories and experiences is not to be missed.

Kattava tietoteos kanadalaisen kirjailijan Lucy Maud Montgomeryn elämästä ja teoksista. Kirjan alussa on Montgomeryn itsensä kirjoittama lyhyt katsaus omasta urastaan ja kiipeämisestä "alppipolulla". Hän on monessa suhteessa samanlainen kuin sankarittarensa, jotka kasvavat suvun ankarien matriarkkojen hoivissa, joutuvat tekemään uhrauksia elämässään mutta jotka eivät koskaan unohda päämääräänsä, oli se sitten kirjailijaksi tai näyttelijättäreksi ryhtyminen. Kuten Vihervaaran Anna, myös Lucy Maud elätti itseään opettajana pikkukouluissa odotellessaan läpimurtoa kirjallisella uralla. Cavendishin pikkukylä jossa Lucy Maud asui isoäitinsä kanssa on selkeä Avonlean esikuva. Tuskin kukaan muu on tehnyt Prinssi Edwardin saaren Kanadassa yhtä tutuksi lukijoille ympäri maailmaa. Itsekin rakastin lapsena Anna-kirjoja ja halusin punaiset hiukset vaikka Anna vihaakin omiaan kirjassa ja toivoo että ne muuttuvat kastanjanruskeiksi. Marillan hahmo peilautui omaan isoäitiini ja kun kirjoista tehtiin tv-sarja, Marillan näyttelijä jopa muistutti ulkonäöltään isoäitiäni! Ainoa pettymys kirjoissa itselleni oli Annan avioituminen Gilbertin kanssa, kuinka tylsää onkaan mennä naimisiin koulutoverinsa kanssa, jonka on tuntenut lapsesta asti. Annan avioelämä ei minua kiinnostanut, sen sijaan Annan lapsista kirjoitettu kirja Sateenkaarinotko on lähellä sydäntäni. Lapsena sitä tietysti on kiinnostunut kertomuksista jotka kertovat muista lapsista. Sisko Ylimartimo on jäsentänyt kirjassa Montgomeryn kirjat ja henkilöt ja niiden vastineet todellisessa elämässä, samoin rakennukset jotka ovat olleet esikuvana fiktiivisille kodeille. Kirja aiheuttaa halun tehdä tutkimusretki Prinssi Edwardin saarelle! Montgomeryn tie kirjailijaksi oli pitkä ja kivinen ja kiihkeänä luonteena hän ahdistui erilaisista asioista kuin muut ja tunsi esimerkiksi kaiken kauneuden ympäröivässä luonnossa todella voimakkaasti. Avioliitto pastori Ewan Macdonaldin kanssa oli ennemminkin velvollisuus kuin rakkausliitto. Viimeisinä vuosinaan kirjailija oli väsynyt ja onneton. Hänet on haudattu Prinssi Edwardin saarelle rakkaaseen Cavendishiin.

I loved it! But perhaps it was too early in life to wrote an autobiography....she ended so abruptly with her trip to Europe and announcement she was moving to Toronto with her husband. But her charming writing style continued to...well...charm me, Haha! Loved hearing a bit about her childhood, and her plight to become a novelist. And I haven't actually read The Story Girl yet, but upon learning it's her favourite of her own books, I'm eager to pick it up! Good to read if you're an Anne/L.M. Montgomery fan!!

Too short and clearly a serial published later as a single work.

Her stories from her childhood and the teen years *were* Emily (of New Moon)! It was heartening to see how she wrote from the earth--that she stands so firmly in her own history of people and place is what makes her novels so enchanting.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sweet book. Montgomery's writing is as entertaining here as it is with her fictional works. An extra special enjoyment was that I was able to read this book while on Prince Edward Island and could look up from a description of her beloved island and view the same landscape beautifully before me.

I love reading about Lucy Maud’s life in her own words, of the struggles and triumphs in her literary journey. And it was fun to read about her UK travels and follow along with Google Maps - I almost feel like I was with her.

The Alpine Path is a short look at the life of the author L.M. Montgomery, in her own words. I found it to be rather heavy on the first part of her life and very scanty on the latter part, and would have liked to see it more balanced, but I understand that she was trying to protect her troubled marriage from scrutiny. I found "Kindred Spirit" by Catherine M. Andronik a little more complete along those lines, without being an expose. At any rate, I enjoyed this book as I have everything else this author has ever written. I am indeed an "Anne fan."

Interesting series of articles by author.

2024: After reading this I am bot supersized and not to learn that Montgomery was the real life Anne is so many ways! I so wish I could have known or met her.

This is a very fun, quick autobiographical account of Montgomerys career which I thought was a great look into her story through her own eyes. It really felt like a cozy conversation with an old friend by the fireside. She is so enjoyable to read in any form!

A delightful account of this much-loved author's early life written in her own wonderful words. I bought this book at the Book Store located on the site of Lucy Maude Montgomery's Cavendish home. I felt like I was sitting in her home chatting with her over a cup of tea as I read about her determination to become a published author. The Alpine Path refers to a line in a poem she loved as a young person and is a metaphor for her uphill climb to achieve her goal.

L M Motgomery said, "I wrote it to encourage some other toiler who is struggling along in the weary pathway I once followed to success." There is so much I could relate to in this book, even though the words were written over 100 years ago.

I especially enjoyed her descriptions of Prince Edward Island and how her environment inspired her writing. "Were it not for those Cavendish years, I do not think Anne of Green Gables would ever have been written." Her love of nature and her imagination is evident, " When I have lived with a tree for many years it seems to me like a beloved human companion."

She ends by stating, " The Alpine path has been climbed, after many years of toil and endeavour. It was not an easy ascent, but even in the struggle at its hardest there was a delight and a zest known only to those who aspire to the heights." She went on the write 15 more books after writing these words in 1917. No wonder she is my hero!

After reading a biography of Montgomery last month, it was interesting to see what aspects of her life she thought were worth mentioning in this sort-of autobiography. Originally published as a series of articles for a magazine in 1917, my edition didn't break this into chapters of any kind. While enjoyable to read, this was just sort of Montgomery rambling about her childhood and some of her inspiration for various stories. At this point, she still had many more books to write, so there aren't any thoughts on a couple of my favorite books, like The Blue Castle, Jane of Lantern Hill, or the later Anne books. Still, this was an enjoyable read that I think I liked better because I had already read her biography and had a better framework for this rather rambling writing style.

This publication did not feel like a story of her career, or a story of her life, but an attempt to do a little bit of both but never fully committing to either. She does cover her struggles with publishing her first novel, but quickly glazes over publishing others in passing; in a similar way as she describes having to care for her grandmother and glazing over ending it; or focusing too much on honeymoon diary entries, while barely mentioning having met the man before marriage (while with a little research post-reading I easily learned she had been engaged for the five years leading up).
I'm not sure why she did it this way; if it was a self-bias, editing, trying to prevent and limiting gossiping, what she or editors thought would be interesting, I could only begin to guess, but was simply a let down to what I had hoped would be a grand look into a great authors life.