L.M. Montgomery was very very good at several things, and one of those was keeping a secret from her readers, building suspense until she finally decides to reveal all – which is always done in a satisfying manner. And she never does it better than in A Tangled Web – through the petty jealousies and deep passions and squabbles and allegiances of the tale of the Darks and the Penhallows runs one of the best tantalizers I've ever seen: why did Joscelyn leave Hugh the night of their wedding and refuse to ever return to him? I don’t know if the reality of what happened quite lives up to the anticipation – but it’s believable, in its way, and arranging for the situation to be resolved requires some excellent plotting. And the anticipation is delicious. I love the character Oswald Dark – what a being he is. Were I to indulge in fan-fiction about L.M.M., I think I’d center on him. But … there is a fly in the ointment, which I'd forgotten until I came to it - how could I forget that last line of the book? Avoid if possible. It’s an unnecessary stain on a lovely book, and a true sign that while a lot of things have changed for the worse since L.M.M. wrote, not everything has. Even given the ointment's fly, this is one of my favorites among L.M.M.'s books. Five stars despite that line.

I cannot believe I didn't like this book the first time I read it. It's full of everything good in an L.M. Montgomery story, from humor to romance to judgmental families. ;) I really, really, REALLY like this book. <3

یک شاهکار دیگه از مونتگومری عزیزم:)
روحت شاد زن، روحمون رو شاد کردی!
انقدر فضای داستان جذاب و خفن و کلاسیک و قشنگ بود و انقدر داستان های عاشقانه ش جذاب بودن که دلم نمیومد بخونمش تا تموم شه. عزیز بود.

من این کتاب رو در یک روز خوندم و از خوندنش لذت بردم. اما واقعیت اینه که سبکش با چیزی که از نوشته های لوسی مونتگمری میشناختم فرق داشت. در عین حال که انتظار ظهور یک شخصیت قوی و خاص مثل آنه یا امیلی رو داشتم، در کمال تعجب دیدم که از این سبک متفاوت که شخصیت های مختلفی حضور داشتن و مسیر داستانی خودشون رو طی می کردن هم بدم نیومد!

طبیعتا به دلیل تعداد زیاد شخصیت ها و حجم کم کتاب، فرصت پرداخت عمیق به ماجراها نبود ولی در همین حدی که بود رضایت بخش بود. بین امتیاز سه و چهار مردد بودم که درنهایت به دلیل ترجمه ی عالی و پانوشت های مفید تصمیم گرفتم امتیاز چهار بدم!

I felt that there were too many characters to keep up with. I think that this book would have been better as a series of short stories.

I cannot, in good conscience, give a book with gratuitous cat killing more than one star. The death was so unnecessary, malicious, and cruel, and it was a nasty surprise on the page. The only reason it happened was to pile anguish on an already anguished character, and I cannot stand for that.

I'm fairly sure that LMM wrote this novel with her tongue firmly in her cheek - how else to explain the four generations of intermarriage in one family, the ridiculous fight over an earthenware jug, and the constantly tended torches of instalove? - but it wasn't all that fun, even without the animal deaths (yes, there is more than one, but at least the other one was an accident). I didn't really like any of the characters, or feel like I could root for them to have happy endings. SO MANY of these people decided that they fell in love instantly, at first sight, and carried flames of passion for their idealized OTL, to the point of wrecking multiple lives. It was just plain tedious to read, over and over again.

One for the completionists only, IMO. And track down your copy from the library if you can!

A Tangled Web is a sentimental favourite for me. The story revolves around two branches of the same clan - the Penhallows and the Darks. The matriarch, Aunt Becky is dying, and everyone gathers at her request for a final meeting. Aunt Becky is sharp and gives them all a very hard time; they take it because they all want to inherit her antique jug. (In our family, it was a particular lamp that was the source of rivalry and plotting). Aunt Becky leaves the name of the lucky person in a sealed envelope to be opened some months after her death. In that time of waiting, the family goes through many changes, until they all arrive at the day of the announcement with significantly different perspectives.
There were a few romances - Gay and Noel, (young, foolish love), Donna and Peter, (older, foolish love), Joscelyn and Hugh (a broken affair that needed to be settled), Margaret and Pennycuik (a comic romance between a spinster and a bachelor, who are balancing their 'last chance' at matrimony against their innermost feeling that they don't want to get married), and most satisfyingly, the deep mature love between a smarter Gay and Roger. I love Gay's story of a naive first love followed by the inevitable pain of the 'wise up' to real life, and the finding of a true soulmate. I loved Margaret's story as well - she who balanced the social pressure to be a Mrs. against her secret joy in her freedom. Montgomery makes you care about the characters, and I was engrossed in Gay's and Margaret's life as they unfolded.
The sour note was the relationship between the two 'Sams' - played for comedy, it was more than a little wearisome, sexist and racist. The final paragraph of the book could be deleted with no loss, and considerable gain. It was that final paragraph that lowered my rating by one star. Yes it was a different era, got it, but now is not the same as it was - edit that paragraph out, and you have a wonderful book of recognizable people, falling in and out of love.

A Tangled Web is the perfect title for this book! It was stories of many different people in an extended family woven together with Montgomery’s typical charm and snark. I will say the very last page of the entire book had a blatantly racist comment that definitely should have been left out.

I forgot about the abundant swearing for a LMM book and racist ending but the humor is still brilliant.

2021:
I have the same reaction to this as before. Each time I am more impressed and enchanted, although it's a rather colder, darker world than some of other LMM novels. I was more annoyed this time by the clan trying to get Gay to marry Roger. Although I love his character--he is one who has few lines but makes a big impression--I almost want Gay to not end up with him just to spite the clan. Sure, we should listen to and consider our family's opinions on who we marry, but at the same time it's ultimately up to us, and a lot of happy marriages are not approved by the families. So I'm very irritated that the clan ended up being right. Why couldn't Noel have seemed like an okay or even upstanding guy to everyone but then turned and jilted Gay, surprising the common opinion of him?

The racism of the Sams also bothers me more now than in the past. I guess that kind of ignorance was funny then, but it isn't now. And maybe LMM was trying to show how ignorant and wrong those attitudes were, but it didn't come across that way. I really could do without those parts. The Sams are funny enough already.

What an amazing book, though. LMM showcases her incredible range of character creation.

******
Superb. Absolutely superb. The characters live and step right off the page, leaving me thinking about them after I've closed the book. I like Gay (though she's a weensy bit pathetic and one-track minded) and Roger and Margaret-and even Drowned John, though I wouldn't want to meet him in reality.

All the 'damning' does get a little old-it's almost like LMM was trying to show that she could write something 'realistic' and 'grown-up'- but it doesn't interfere with my delight in the story, nor does the racism of the Sams (though it's a little disconcerting). It's without doubt one of my favorite LMMs.

The thing I like most about A Tangled Web is that when I read it I feel that no matter who I am or what my circumstances are, everything will turn out alright and the dreams I have may come true. There are so many characters in it with their hopes and desires, and I love how she ties up their threads. There's such a broad spectrum of humanity that I think everyone could find herself in at least one of the characters.

I guess every LMM book brings me to feel that everything will be okay, giving me lots of hope and optimism, and that is why I'll revisit her work again and again.

* The cover drives me mad-is it Donna and Peter or Gay and Roger?? I can't figure it out. The woman looks a little dark to be Gay, but on the other hand she has a sad expression that tells of keen suffering, as would fit Gay. Anyone reading this have a guess?

Thank goodness I finished!!

It took me forever to wade through all the names of the families. It got interesting though a little over half way on, but i still don't know who all the family members were. Definitely a darker grown piece (if you're comparing with Anne of green gables). But amusing enough with family drama.

To była dzika jazda od początku do końca, humor Montgomery i jej zadziwiająco ostry język są tu wykorzystane w pełnej krasie i zabiłabym za ekranizację tej powieści. Mini-serial najlepiej. HBO contact me, please.

Darkowie i Penhallowowie żenią się między sobą, przekraczając granice chowu wsobnego i kazirodztwa. Stanowią prowincjonalną arystokrację pewnego rodzaju, a przynajmniej za to się uważają. Głową rodziny jest ciotka Becky, wiekowa dama, która ma dość życia, urządza ostatnie spotkanie rodu i mówi wszystkim bez ogródek, co o nich myśli. A klan słucha w pokorze, bo każdy chce dostać w spadku jeden przedmiot - wiekowy, bezwartościowy dzban, który łączy się z mitem założycielskim rodziny. Becky nie żałuje sobie ostatniej złośliwości - tajemnica spadku zostanie wyjawiona rok po jej śmierci, co oznacza, że jeszcze przez rok każdy ma rzekomo szansę go dostać. Albo sprawa jest rozstrzygnięta i nieważne, co zrobią. Daje im szereg wskazówek i wytycznych (albo nie, bo może nazwisko już jest w kopercie), co do których powinni (lub nie) się stosować, żeby mieć szansę w tym wyścigu.

I zaczynają się kłopoty. Zasadniczo mamy bohatera zbiorowego w postaci klanu, ale kilka postaci dostaje więcej miejsca w fabule niż inne. Są to:
Jocelyn, która z nieznanych przyczyn porzuciła swojego męża, Hugo, w noc poślubną i wróciła do domu matki tak jak z niego wyszła - w sukni ślubnej i welonie.
Donna Dark - młoda wdowa, zakochana od pierwszego wejrzenia (z wzajemnością) w Percym, rodzinnym podróżniku, pochodzącym z gałęzi rodu zwaśnionej z jej własną (Romeo i Julia tej opowieści).
Stara panna Margaret, która marzy o własnym domu, ale jest biedna, chociaż bogata duchowo.
Gay, młoda dziewczyna, obiekt westchnień Rogera, lekarza rodziny i groomera, zakochana w Noelu Gibsonie, bezwartościowym w oczach klanu.
Wujek Pippin, który definitywnie nie jest hetero (w rej roli Alan Cumming).
Penny Dark, który też nie jest hero (asexual icon) i o tym nie wie (myślę Fred Armisen).
Mój ulubiony bohater, czyli Oswald Dark, nazywany Moon Manem, bo jest zakochany w księżycu.
Mały i Duży Sam, zawodowi comic relief.

Zabiłabym za drzewo genealogiczne dodane do książki.

Zasadniczo to komedia, wiele romantycznych wątków, zadziwiająco głęboka proza i od dawna nie byłam tak pod wrażeniem warsztatu i talentu Montgomery - chyba od czasu, kiedy pierwszy raz czytałam "Emilkę ze Srebrnego Nowiu". Genialna powieść, którą polecam wszystkim fanom komedii romantycznych, powieści dla panien i zjadliwego humoru.