Two things I remembered from my childhood reading of this book that always stayed with me: Emily being forced to promise not to write fiction as a condition of being allowed to go to college and her turning down the opportunity to go to New York (which seems even more foolish and serving the prejudices of small town readers today). This book is such a page-turner (I remember all of LMM’s books keeping me up very late) even if the attitudes of the characters sometimes frustrate me.

Ah! 10 stars! Absolutely delightful read, IMO!

I believe I can identify better with Emily of New Moon than I did with Anne of Green Gables, but I also believe that may be due in part to the fact that I read both series first as an adult! Perhaps I would have felt differently if I'd discovered them when younger... (And what was wrong with my local small-town librarian that no one directed me to these books/this author?!? For shame...)

If you enjoy character-driven slice-of-life novels, this should satisfy you!

Of course you know and love Anne of Green Gables. But what about Emily of New Moon? Emily is a new find for me, and she is a delight, even more Anne-of-Green-Gables-ishly forthright than Anne herself. Emily knows, above all things, that she wants to be a writer, and she sets out to do that. Her Aunt Elizabeth throws a rock in her path when she allows Emily to attend high school in a nearby town only after making Emily vow to stop writing fiction during her time there. Emily does so, very reluctantly, but she keeps a journal of her time in Shrewsbury, noting all her adventures there.

Emily is a fascinating character, and her passions for writing and for her friends along with her struggles with the censure of others make this a good read.

بزرگ شدن امیلی تو این جلد قشنگ حس می‌شد

At one point this was my least favorite Emily. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Look at this opening line!

Emily Byrd Starr was alone in her room, in the old New Moon farmhouse at Blair Water, one stormy night in a February of the olden years before the world turned upside down.

The pacing is choppy and the storyline perhaps overly anecdotal, but this is an appreciation, late though it may be.

Of Cousin Jimmy: “No one can be free who has a thousand ancestors.”

Of iconic L. M. Montgomery locals:

“She swears like a trooper, I’m told. Mrs. Mark Burns was in the doctor’s office one day and heard Ilse in the parlour say distinctly ‘out, damned Spot!’ probably to the dog.”

“Dear, dear,” moaned Mrs. Ann Cyrilla.

“Do you know what I saw her do one day last week - saw her with my own eyes!” Miss Potter was very emphatic over this. Ann Cyrilla need not suppose that she had been using any other person’s eyes.

Of Mr. Carpenter the critic:

“There is a place for satire - there are gangrenes that can only be burned out - but leave the burning to the great geniuses. It’s better to heal than to hurt. We failures know that.”

“We all see life through an illusion - even the most disillusioned of us. That’s why things aren’t convincing if they’re too true to life.”

Not of Mr. Carpenter the overly personal, though:

“Mr. Carpenter sneered at my ‘liking for slops’ and told me to go and read the Elsie books! But when I was coming away he paid me the first personal compliment I ever had from him. ‘I like that blue dress you’ve got on. And you know how to wear it. That’s good. I can’t bear to see a woman badly dressed... After all, if you know how to dress yourself it won’t matter if you do like Mrs. Hemans.’”

Nooooooo.

This is even an appreciation of Aunt Ruth, who comes through in the end, and turns out to be supporting the church and lending money to half the businessmen in town. Of Miss Royal, and her dog. Of Perry and his scrapes.

And - of course - of Emily:

...a pig-headed person is one who is too stupid to see or understand the foolishness of a certain course and insists on taking it - insists, in short, on running full tilt into a stone wall.

No, I am not pig-headed. I accept stone walls.

But I take a good deal of convincing that they are stone walls and not cardboard imitations. Therefore, I am a little stubborn.

It’s italics combined with cutting insight. How could you not appreciate her? She’s harder to love than Anne - more combative, more sharp-tongued, less warm-hearted. Fiercer, in a way, with equally good manners but rougher edges nevertheless. She’s complicated and exciting and difficult, and oh, how I appreciate that. Montgomery did a wonderful job crafting a young artist who’s flawed and slightly isolated and just a little touched with genius:

As if his question “What will you give me for a dream?” had been a magic formula opening some sealed chamber in her brain, she saw unrolling before her a dazzling idea for a story - complete with its title - A Seller of Dreams. For the rest of that night Emily thought of nothing else.

This is not an appreciation of Dean Priest, who is The Worst from the very moment he shows up, and only gets worse in this book. “I hate to hear of your tomorrows - they cannot be my tomorrows,” says the man who went to school with Emily’s father to this sixteen year old girl.

Mr. Carpenter was delighted with my Woman Who Spanked the King, and told me it was excellent; but when Dean read it he smiled and said, ‘It will do very well for a school essay, but -’ and then he smiled again. It was not the smile I liked, either.

One of the saddest sentences in the English language comes in Emily’s Quest, courtesy of one Mr. Priest. That’s up next.

An pal of mine has a theory that you're either a "A Little Princess" kind of person, or a "A Secret Garden" kind of person. I'd argue that the same "2 kinds of people" rule could be created for Anne versus Emily. Me? I'm totally a "A Little Princess" girl, and while I do dearly love Anne, I'm so much more of an Emily. Which is interesting. B/c I think Little Princess-Anne and Secret Garden-Emily would more naturally correlate. Clearly, I'm an enigma. Even more clearly, I'm also thinking about this WAY too much....

I read the Emily-books for the first time when I was about 10 years old. And while I didn't understand them fully, I loved them dearly. I remember how my heart ached, whenever I had to return Emily to the library, and once I actually forced my father to photocopy some of the chapters in Emily's Quest, because I couldn't bear to part with them. For days, I slept with my favorite chapters under my pillow – which now seems strangely similar to something Emily would do.

Emily always seemed so devastatingly real to me. She leapt off the page with all of her quirks, her writing fits, and her strangely accurate teenage-journal. The journal which I've later learned was based on Montgomery's own.
Apparently Montgomery was copying her journal from her own teenage years, while she was writing the Emily-books. She actually lifted several passages from her own journals, putting a bit of herself into Emily. Perhaps this is why, Emily always seemed more like a friend than a fictional character to me.

“There isn't any such thing as an ordinary life.”

Emily Climbs is the tale of a child growing into a young woman. It is surprisingly recognizable, as Emily, opposed to so many others fictional heroines at the time, is receiving an education. She is sent off to high school, and while she is under the supervision of her horrible aunt, she has a bit of freedom to roam about as she likes. This of course creates painful lessons, heartbreak, disappointments, quarrels –and ultimately, victories. Emily is on her way to becoming the writer she always dreamed she would be.

While I do adore this book, I've always found it to be the weakest part of the series. Perhaps because its main purpose is to lay the groundwork for Emily's later writing career. Or perhaps because it lacks romance and retains a much more sensible focus on everyday life. In this volume, Emily is forbidden to write fiction – and in consequence, it is much less fanciful.

Looking back, I've never given much thought to the character of Dean "Jarback" Priest. I've always thought of him as a mentor for Emily; as a child I merely regarded him as a friendly old man. Upon rereading the series, I found him to be something much more sinister and eerie. Not because of his infatuation with Emily, but because of his longing. He is a desperately lonely man his later actions are acts of desperation.
Once again, I can't help but notice the similarities between Montgomery's own life and Emily's. Many have speculated that Dean is a reincarnation of Montgomery's own husband, who she married out of friendship – and who ended up trying to sabotage her writing career, and demanding her constant care of his fragile mind. While Emily certainly doesn't fare as bad as this, the similarities are there. Dean becomes more and more sinister; posessive, pitiful, jealous, sabotaging Emily and her work. Not from evil; but from desperation.

“He was so lonely that he laughed at himself.”

Overall, this is such a lovely book and such a personal and insightful account of the life of an aspiring writer. Emily's tale is first of foremost a tale of an artist, trying to find a way to express her inner life. And only after this, is it a tale of love and laughter. I guess this I what I didn't fully understand as a 10-year old, and why this book seemed boring to me. Now, I appreciate it for what it is: a beautiful account of a writing process. Of words and dreams and hope ... and love.

This was a hybrid read for me – part audio, part print, whatever was easiest at the moment. Flew through this one.

The qualms I had with the first book were blessedly not present here – there were no drowned or poisoned kittens, less unnecessary cruelty towards Emily, and the uncomfortable nature of Dean Priest’s interest in Emily was scaled way down.

What we did get here were some vivid and memorable scenes (locked in the church!), a lot of fun school details (reminiscent of Anne of the Island), some unexpected humor from Aunt Ruth, and some interesting growth in Emily as a writer. Looking forward to the final book.

Rereading these aloud with my kid really throws into relief the dreadful relationships between Emily and some of the other people in her life. Dean continues creepy, though he’s mostly absent as Emily is going through high school. However, she reports that he has started to insult her writing - it’s never entirely clear to me whether Montgomery wants us to dislike him as thoroughly as I do here. Mr. Carpenter is a fine critic right up until the end where it becomes clear that he feels ownership over Emily as well, and that he has his own conviction about what she ought to do with her life. The ugly rumors that spring from being stuck overnight at the “Old John House” with Teddy, Perry, and Ilse really point up the terror of the small town rumor mill, only vanquished by the standing together of family. Sexual harassment is much more present, and there’s a lot more vicious bullying.

We do lose track a bit of the school part of the book in Emily’s final year, which is too bad, as those school-story bits are pretty compelling for younger readers. But then, these are definitely showing the start of YA lit as its own genre.

The darkness that starts to be more apparent in Mongomery’s post WWI work is much more visible to me in as a grownup than it ever was as a child. But it’s not invisible to my own child as we read. We are getting better at teaching kids more directly about sexism, narcissistic actions, and addressing small-mindedness.

L.M. Montgomery's Emily series is, for me, not in the same class as Anne of Green Gables but it is still a very pleasant and enjoyable read. Like Anne, Emily is feisty, intelligent, appealing and liable to get into scrapes. In Emily Climbs she progresses through her teenage years. Her single minded desire is to be an author and we see her having some small successes in this ambition. She shares important moments in her life with close family and friends and struggles to sort out her feelings towards several young men.
I very much enjoy the way this author writes and although I do not feel that Emily Starr has the same magic as Anne Shirley, her story is still great fun to read.

Delightful story of teen Emily, finding her voice and finding her way. A really sweet book, very enjoyable.

MY OPINION: ******

I love this book. I don't quite know how many times I've read it (definitely eight or more times). This has always been a childhood favorite of mine and continues to be one of my favorite books of all time.

I just finished reading the third book and have yet to review this one so bear with me if I accidentally mix up some of it.

Emily Starr is a proud girl. I don't think there is any other way to describe her. She has more pride in her body than any other person I've met or read about in my life. She comes from the Chosen People (aka the Murrays) and comes off as aloof and almost arrogant. However, she has her own quirks and idiosyncrasies that make her seem different and unique compared to every other person. I loved her passion and determination throughout the entire series. It's one of her best qualities.

Emily is a writer. She always has been and always will be despite rejection letters, discouragements, and disapproval by her own family and nearly everybody around her. However, in her desperation for an education at Shrewsbury High, she agrees to a compromise with her Aunt Elizabeth to not write anything untrue for the next three years. Now, me personally, being a strictly fictional writer (save essays for school), I don't know how she did it. I would have gone mad not being able to write stories and novels. However, she learns in the end that this was good for her character and helped her grow as a writer overall.

She attends Shrewsbury High with her friends and soon learns of the hardships of society. The older students, particularly Evelyn Blake, are snooty and formidable and quite honestly cruel. She speaks to Emily sweetly and kindly but she's really being condescending and rude. I applaud Emily for her forgiveness and ultimate kindness towards Evelyn because I don't know if I would have reacted the same.

Emily is forced to live with her draconian, strict, almost cruel Aunt Ruth. Aunt Ruth is downright despicable at times. She's one of those people who always has to ask "why" to every single thing you do, even if you have no legitimate reason. She's suspicious and accusing and often calls Emily 'sly', and is known to sniff at every sentence.

Throughout this book, we start to see Emily move from childhood to girlhood to womanhood. In the beginning, she is still a child. However, from beautiful words from her childhood friend, Teddy Kent, and different encounters and maturation, she starts to change from a child to a woman, despite it being against her family's will. Nobody wants to see their child grow up, but grow up they will, and Emily does it subtly but wonderfully.

She starts to realize that something has shifted in many of her relationships, most particularly with Teddy Kent. He started off as a childhood buddy, a playmate, someone she was only friends with, but soon longing glances and quite heart-wrenching words are exchanged and we start to see how they're moving from friendship into something more, despite Emily's attempts to push her feelings down. In this book, she doesn't quite realize what is happening between her and Teddy.

If you don't know, Teddy Kent was my childhood love. He was the first fictional character I ever adored (and still do) and I love this boy with a passion.

Emily soon starts to gain recognition (and money) for her writing and this allows for her family to realize that her "scribbling" isn't for nothing. I really loved that for her. Towards the end, Emily is faced with a decision that could change her life, and we see where her heart and loyalty lies in.

Ilse Burnley is a friend that we can only dream of. I wish I had such a close, unbreakable, life-lasting friendship like Ilse and Emily had. I love Ilse. She is a madcap, rogue, hilarious being and everything she does is for a reason.

Perry Miller is making his own way in life and I was quite proud of him. I speak of these characters like they're my own and at this point, I've read it too many times to not have some attachment to them.

Many will try to compare Emily with Montgomery's famous Anne of Green Gables. However, they are two very different characters. I personally love Emily more (sorry, Anne) and am more attached to this series in particular. However, I think of them as two separate entities, not as the same character from the same mold with the same personality. Both are imaginative but they have their dreams, hopes, wishes, and losses.

Dean Priest was an interesting character. To be completely honest, I found Dean creepy. I used to like him when I was younger, but now as I'm older, I see the strange possessive qualities that he had over Emily, who was 13-15 in this book, mind you, while Dean is 38 or something, old enough to be her father. I found it almost revolting when he spoke of her like he wanted to marry her. It was disgusting to be completely honest. However, his overall character is unique. He is smart and cynical, hardened to the world due to his bullying and constant put-downs about his one shoulder being higher than the other. (I would like to note that Dean Priest is not a pedophile or anything like that as some other reviews have mentioned. I simply think that his obsession with Emily was just slightly creepy. However, these were different times and I'm guessing age gaps weren't AS big of a deal as they are now).

Montgomery also adds a slight hint of a supernatural element in there that carried through from the first book that I found quite interesting.

All in all, I love this book. It is fairly lengthy and descriptive at times, going into long, blocky paragraphs about the trees and the sunsets and the mountains or whatnot. However, I love this book with all my heart. I would recommend it to readers looking for a innocent, beautiful, classical young adult read.

Main Character: Emily
Sidekick(s): Teddy, Ilse, Perry, Dean, Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Laura, Cousin Jimmy, etc
Villain(s): Maturation, Evelyn, Aunt Ruth (at times), rejection, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: The majority of this book was all very real to life.