I loved this book! The various family tales in here were intriguing to read about, and I especially liked the character of the old aunt who started this whole mess ;)

This is an excellent use of all the would-be side characters in other LM Montgomery stories. It's wacky and takes us barely deep enough into the characters to see the humour in their wild situations. In a few ways it's a product of the time it's written in, but overall an enjoyable read.

Enjoyable read apart from the racism on the last page it leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Ahoy there mateys! I adore this author and featured her in me Broadside No. 18. So image me surprise when I read Matey Briana’s review of this book:

"Before Aunt Becky dies, she tells her clan that she’s going to leave a cherished heirloom jug to one of them–but they won’t know the beneficiary until one year after her passing. Even worse: she’s not going to tell them how she’s deciding who gets it, so they’ll have to be on their best behavior just in case she’s instructed someone still living to decide who gets it in a year. Shenanigans ensue as everyone competes for chance at the jug. It’s a ridiculous-sounding premise when you say it’s a novel about people fighting over a jug, but the book is magic and one of Montgomery’s strongest works. It’ also the only one written with multiple points of view."

The problem – nothing other than I had never heard of this book! Embarrassing but true. So I got a copy and read it. The blurb does sound ridiculous but this is a fantastic book which really does highlight the talent of L.M. Montgomery. I absolutely loved all the quirky characters and story. It was endearing and fabulous. I am so glad to have gotten to read this one. Literally the only downside (a big one) was the very last paragraph which used an awful racial slur that was so unnecessary. So the last thought of the book was distaste. But the rest of the book is a gem. Makes me want to reread the Jane and Emily books. Arrrr!

Montgomery has such a way with words, from scathing snarky comments to glorious prose about nature. And it's often a joy to read, though I did have a few struggles with this one, despite liking it a fair bit.

Firstly, it reads a bit differently. We basically bounce around in narration from character to character to character to character to character. At the beginning, sometimes it's just a sentence about one character only to have the next five sentences about 5 OTHER characters. There's a lot of names being thrown around and honestly, it was hard to keep track of who was who, unless they were one of the main...10?? For all that it bounced around though, you did feel like it was a complete story in the end.

I had to roll my eyes at so many people here. So many of them were so stupid, and all regarding love. It was slightly frustrating because it was almost hard to believe any of them really in love, they were so fickle or dumb about it. Which made it hard to root for anybody. Most especially Gay I would have liked to bop over the head. Probably Hugh and Jocelyn I most rooted for, and even they to some degree needed a head bopping.

I expected so much more from the stupid jug. I mean, the more it went, the more I knew nothing would come of it, but still, I was promised things, and it was pretty duddy.

Also, dear heavens, I would like to see a family tree for these two families because good grief. Is the whole damn island just these two families intermarrying???? (I know it's not, but it sure seems like it )

But all that being said, it was really genuinely a pleasure to read. Qualms aside, it mostly worked and Montgomery's writing is just so

I'm going to enjoy this book a lot more the next time I read it. This time, I was so terribly worried about how some of the storylines were going to turn out that I simply had to finish it as fast as possible, which was not exactly relaxing. Next time, I will be secure in the knowledge of whose storylines turn out happily (and nearly all of them do), and I can just laugh at all the sarcasm and acidic wit, and at all the completely ridiculous human foibles they're aimed at.

The title makes me think of the old Sir Walter Scott quotation, "Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive." Which I'm sure it's meant to. What's interesting is that most of the deception practiced in this book is self-deception. I laughed aloud quite a lot over this book. Montgomery reveals a sharp and biting wit similar to Jane Austen's as she lays bare the ridiculous things people are capable of thinking and doing. I suspect I will laugh more next time I read it, as I said, because I won't be so worried about what will happen to everyone!

My second book by L.M. Montgomery. I enjoyed it, though not as much as her The Blue Castle.

انقدر بهم چسبید که حد نداره:))
پیشنهاد می‌کنم بعد مدتی خوندن کتابای سنگین و ... یکم با قلم نویسنده‌هایی مثل مونتگمری به ذهنتون استراحت بدین..

4,75
ازون کتاباس که از تموم شدنش ناراحت شدم و موقع خوندنش واقعیت و اطرافمو از یاد برده بودم
واسه همین انقد واسم دلچسب و شیرین بود
توصیفاتش هم خیلی دل انگیز و گوگولی بودن

This book is an absolute character soup with numerous banal subplots centered about the completely asinine question of who gets an old, ugly heirloom jug. Yet, it is brilliant. In appreciating art, I have always had a soft spot for those works that take things to such extremes that I am forced to love what I would normally hate. In A Tangled Web, L. M. Montgomery succeeds in layering so many different characters that they become part of the setting, and unlike in the similar character stews (like, say, in the works of Jane Austen) you are not only not expected to keep track of them all, but to do so would ruin the effect Montgomery wishes to achieve. The same is true with the jug; to question why the various Darks and Penhallows so covet it is to miss the point.

In short, A Tangled Web is well worth a read; the prose is exemplary and injected with just the proper amount of levity, so even after the book concludes with the telegraphed anticlimax, you are more than happy at having read it.

I think I first read this book when I was 14 or 15, and--oh! how I loved it. I still remember how hard I laughed, that first time, at Aunt Becky's levee. And I was so charmed by all the intertwining stories of love and loss and pride and hope and agony and such. Montgomery's Anne books will always be my favorite of hers, of course, but this became a very close second almost immediately. That was more than twenty years ago. And I've re-read it a few times since then, with (iirc) the same delight. But this time when I read it, I felt...older or something. Impatient. The melodramatic, overly-sentimental, sweeping language began to grate on me a tiny bit. I wanted to hurry everyone into their little conclusions, not wanting to watch the sunsets or hear the wind moan this time. Maybe it's just my mood lately. Maybe it's my age now. In a way, this will always be a favorite; I can never not love Roger...Joselyn...Drowned John...Margaret...Ambrosine and that ridiculous ring...Brian...but the flowery language and High Romanticism did wear on me a little this time around. I've had this ranked 5 stars ever since I added it to Goodreads, but I've put it to 4 stars today.

Very much in the vein of the Montgomery short stories, but they fit the form of a novel because she’s telling about six of them at once, and they’re all intertwined. I think the jug is a contrivance, frankly (and I think the ending makes that clear) and that means the book feels inconsequential. Especially because Montgomery has told all these stories before.

I suppose this would be three stars - perfectly average - but it loses a star for the racist last page. It’s honestly shocking.