Pat of Silver Bush by l.m. montgomery

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

That Judy! She's a wonder and comic relief! This is not altogether a happy story, there is death, grief, disappointment, suffering and occasionally stupid choices, but there is always Silver Bush, looming bright and comforting, stretching its arms to welcome you. Pat loves her place to pieces, and hates change (guilty

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uchihamadi

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Originally published in 1933, Pat of Silver Bush was one of L.M. Montgomery's later titles, and although not the equal of the classic n Anne of Green Gablesn, or the romantic n The Blue Castlen, it nevertheless has a charm all its own. The story of Patricia Gardiner, whose attachment to her family home at Silver Bush runs deep, it is at heart an exploration of the nature of change - both good and bad.

"If I went to heaven I'd want to get back to Silver Bush," declares Pat at one point, and no statement better exemplifies the theme of the book. Devoted to her family, her home, and the domestic rituals of her childhood, Pat is resistant to any change. She mourns the loss of every tree on the property, secretly wonders why her mother would want another child (although she is soon reconciled to the existence of her new baby sister, Cuddles), and wishes passionately that she and her siblings could live together indefinitely at Silver Bush, rather than growing up, getting married, and moving apart.

This leitmotif serves to unify a book that is far more episodic in structure than many of Montgomery's other novels, and seems a reflection of the author's own conflicted feelings on the subject. It is, unfortunately, rather overdone during the first half of the book, with Pat almost a caricature, but the wonderful prose, and the humorous characterization of Judy Plum, are enough to carry the reader through to the second half, by which time Pat is somewhat matured.

Read for the first time as an adult, Pat of Silver Bush will probably never rank among my favorite Montgomery titles, and I cannot help but wonder whether it is just one of those books that needs to be read during youth, in order to achieve the full effect. However that may be, I did enjoy it, am glad to have filled in this hole in my Montgomery knowledge, and look forward to reading the sequel, n Mistress Patn!

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DanteArigieri

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I was afraid to start this novel at first, even though I'm a great admirer of L.M. Montgomery's work. As a teen I had read all the Anne books, and I've reread a few in the series a few times since then. I have read Emily of New Moon, The Blue Castle, and Kilmeny of the Orchard. I did not enjoy Kilmeny at all, and whenever I read an L.M.M. novel that I've never read before I get a little scared that it's going to be like Kilmeny.

My first observation upon getting into the novel was the lack of depth given to many of the characters surrounding Pat. With the exception of Judy Plum, no one was an even remotely well-rounded character. Sid, whom Pat was so passionately attached to, so much so that she said he didn't need a wife, that she would take care of him forever and they would live at Silverbush forever, had little more than a few sentences given to him, and very little dialogue.

The same was true of Pat's parents, and her other siblings, and her best friend Bets. Jingle received a little bit more attention, but there were great gaps in his story.

It occurred to me that this story was written at a time when L.M.M.'s own sons were grown up, so she had the experience of raising children, and what it's like to be a mother, and to see firsthand how siblings interact with each other, but she still seems to write from her own childhood prespective of having been raised by neither parent, but by elderly grandparents, and having no siblings. It's as if she has no idea how parents/children/siblings relate to each other in the writing of Pat of Silverbush.

The ending was not satisfactory for me at all. I understand what L.M.M. was trying to say, that not all happy endings have to do with finding the love of your life. I also understand that L.M.M. herself became very attached and was very passionate about the homes she lived in in her lifetime. But for me there was something missing in the ending--not that she had to accept Jingle's love and give him hope for the future, but I guess just to not be so close-minded about her future prospects.

All in all, I enjoyed reading Pat of Silverbush, and I might try reading Mistress Pat at some point in the future, but I don't think it will be one of the L.M. Montgomery books that I will read multiple times.

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JoergeJoeMama54

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I am not a fan of the writing-in-dialect style that Montgomery chose to use for Judy throughout; otherwise the storytelling was pretty good and the characters relatable. I wouldn't call it LMM's finest effort but on the whole it was not bad.

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adam_hehexd

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I just reread this, probably for the first time since being a teenager, or at least in my early 20s. I was curious what I'd think of it now...

I still get a cozy feeling from it. Part of that is because of the strong ties you get to a book when you read it in the impressionable mid teen years! And part of it was the beautiful descriptive writing. Yes, I still find it lovely. Though perhaps I'm more aware of its sadness than before.

I do now see a few shortcomings too, though. Pat and Judy Plum, and perhaps Jingle, are the only fleshed-out characters in the book. We are told that all of Pat's family is precious to her, but they seem a little shadowy as people. I realized that I went half the book without any clear idea of whether Pat's brother Joe was a small boy or a strapping teen. Even Bets, Pat's very best friend, has hardly any dialogue and seems no more than a beautiful wraith.
That said, Pat herself and the cook/maid/second mother Judy Plum are pretty vivid and enjoyable.

This book does beautifully capture the warmth of a happy home. And the nostalgia level is strong, for better or worse. This makes sense when you add in some context from L.M. Montgomery's own life.

The Pat books were written later in her life, when she was caring for a mentally ill husband and trying to do the best she could as a minister's wife, far from her beloved PEI. I think that she felt like a shadow of her former self, and these later books were an outlet for her terrible homesickness. The tragedy of L.M. Montgomery's life is that she didn't get the secure and stable home that most of her heroines end up with. Perhaps this is why she writes so poignantly about, what was for her, the unattainable.

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PurpleMagic

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

It took me about a quarter of this book to really get into it, because at first I didn't particularly care for Judy Plum, Pat herself wasn't very interesting, and the rest of the family seemed to be glossed over. The main interesting part of the narrative was Judy Plum's stories, but I wasn't sure how much I cared for them. But as soon as Hilary Gordon, "Jingle," entered the book, I fell in love with it just like the rest of Montgomery's novels. He made Pat into a real and interesting person, and he himself was complex and intriguing.

Pat's love for her house, Silver Bush, seemed unrealistic to me when she was little, but as she grew, I could understand it and sympathize with it more and more. And now I love Silver Bush fiercely just like Pat did. I enjoyed how Montgomery told the story of a whole family, including both parents and plenty of siblings---so different from Anne, Emily, and Jane. I enjoyed how Pat was her own unique person, but somehow she didn't seem as strongly developed as Anne and Emily...but then again, I still have the sequel to read! I loved her physical description---like an autumn chrysanthemum with an imperfect, but distinctive beauty.

As always, Montgomery wrote with strong sensory detail. And as I read farther, all the characters, major and minor, became so interesting and alive. This was a beautiful book to read on my way to Prince Edward Island!

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nnadel27

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I almost feel bad giving this book such a low score. Almost. There's no doubt in my mind that I don't like it. I didn't like Pat, her family, or the story. But, at the same time, I know where L.M Montgomery is coming from.
L.M. Montgomery is my favorite author of all time, bar none. Every book that I've read by her (with the exception of this one and Anne of the Island, I never really got into the Anne series as a whole) is one my list of favorite books of all time. So I was disappointed when I got this book for Christmas and did not like it. I was so upset by how much I didn't like it.
After doing a little research on L.M. while reading The Blue Castle (great book), I found out that she extremely depressed in her later life. This was one of he last books and I can only assume that she was thinking like Pat and created this character out of that. Montgomery wanted nothing to change, and so much did. It made me realize where she was coming from when she wrote this book. I still didn't like it, but I understood it now. So, this is definitely not the worst book I've read, but I still can't give it a very high rating.

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sullynathan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I forgot I even owned this! Well, what can I say--it certainly wasn't up to par with the Anne series, but it shined in its own right. Main character Pat, however, was insufferably sensitive and cheesy for the first half of the book. Yes, you love your home of Silver Bush. Yes, it is the best place in the whole wide world. Get ooover it! >:O And the character of "Judy" was practically like the poor man's Irish version of Susan/Rebecca Dew! I can't believe I'm saying that about an LM Montgomery book, but that's what I remember feeling at the time. It did improve in the later half, though, and I ended up enjoying it much more. Overall, not bad.

I should probably read the Emily series eventually, before it's too creepy for me to be checking them out at the library.

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Pat of Silver Bush #1

Pat of Silver Bush

l.m. montgomery

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Patricia Gardiner

Pat Gardiner

Judy Plum

Jingle Gordon

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l.m. montgomery

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