I prefer getting “past the preliminaries”, as my Grandma said. Anne establishing her home was over, with the bitchiness of discipline. Buddy-readers Kerri and Leeanne agree, “Anne Of Avonlea” felt safe. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s imagery still weaves elegant scenery and Anne is her optimistic, compassionate self.

I groaned when a naughty boy was introduced and a quiet girl, whose personality was underestimated. It was outrageous not to pine for their Mom at 6. At 47, I discuss mine nonstop, who went to Heaven this year. Jarring notes piled-up. If Maud had cut the chapter about an ill-fated lunch, I would have given this novel 5 stars too. It stretched patience thin. Davy fell onto pies and broke a borrowed plate, which Anne’s friends would never have left on a staircase. I am aware isolated generations call lunch by a “D-word”. It drives me bonkers but one can skip occasional cringe words. That chapter must have rehashed it 40 times!

Just like we don’t depict killing in animal picture books, Anne is known to love every tree and bird. She would not volunteer pets to be killed for that damned lunch! Bird deaths occurred thrice more. Without that awful chapter, I would have skimmed a few sour notes.

The rest of the book was beautiful, dreamy, joyous, and I love that Anne is equal partners with Marilla by 16. New friendships, including with two more cantankerous folks, are as triumphant as always. I laughed a lot, at honest to goodness humour. My favourite is:

“Mr. Judson Parker is going to rent the road fence to a medicine company to paint advertisements on”! For once in her life Gertie Pye made all the sensation she desired. If she had thrown a bomb among the complacent Improvers she could hardly have made more.

I can't even put into words how much I adore this series<3

Review January 2021: I closed this book with a smile on my face. It's not my favorite of this series, the pace is definitely a lot slower compared to book 1 and 3 but I love it all the same. Also that quote I mention below still stands as my favorite.

Review June 2017: I remember reading this book at 12 or 13 and being underwhelmed by it. And then re-reading it two or three years later and just wanting to skip ahead to book #3 because it did not have enough of the romance between Gilbert and Anne that book 3 has.

But upon a slow re-read now, I realize that this book is fantastic on its own. Anne at ages 16 to 18 is wonderful. She doesn't chatter so much as she did when she was younger but instead her stories are more elegant and lovely and I love how romantic she still is but at a different level then her at 11 years old. We get the introduction of Paul Irving, Miss Lavender, Charlotta the Fourth, Davy and Dora and Mr Harrison. We get to read about Uncle Abe and his prophesy, Anthony Pye and Anne's Jonas day and the Avonlea Village Improvement Society (which is NOT for the improvement of people btw). And then the ending, which has one of my favorite paragraphs of all the books.

“For a moment Anne's heart fluttered queerly and for the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert's gaze and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. It was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted, giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps. . . perhaps. . .love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath. ”

Anne of Avonlea drinking game:
Take a drink of your tea/soda/plum wine every time
-Anne's grey eyes are mentioned
-Marilla is sarcastic
-Paul Irving says "you know"
-Paul Iriving refers to his "little mother"
-Diana's weight is mentioned
-Anne or Marilla express their preference for Davy/speak unkindly of Dora because she's "too good."

The character of Davy just about ruined this book for me. I kind of hated him. His sister, Dora, is a sweet, mild-mannered, overall good kid. And so Davy takes great joy in tormenting her endlessly. But Anne and Marilla just write this off as him being "mischievous," never taking into consideration how awful this must be for Dora.

Davy even locks his sister alone in the dark in a neighbor's barn, just because he thinks it would be funny to make everyone worry(!?). When Dora is finally found, she's been crying for hours. The end result of this episode? Anne and Marilla say they love Davy more because he needs them more. No, Dora needs them to protect her - from her brother. And they utterly fail.

Anne's "scrapes" in the first book were because she often acted before thinking, or had a quick temper. But Davy's actions are thought out and deliberate, and he does them because he likes making trouble, making his sister cry, and getting a reaction out of people. Very, very different, imo.

In addition, this book felt a lot more sickly-sweet and moralized more. It wasn't nearly as good as the first (isn't that always the way?), and I don't think I'll continue on with the series, even though I did want to see Anne and Gilbert get together.

《هو الحق》
- ما هر جا باشیم باز هم زندگی را خودمان می سازیم. دانشگاه رفتن فقط کارت را کمی ساده می کند. گستردگی یا محدودیت مسیر ما بستگی به کیفیتی دارد که به آن می دهیم نه جا به جایی که از آن خارج می‌شویم. اینجا... یا هر جای دیگر... زندگی همواره غنی و پر بار است، فقط باید یاد بگیریم که چطور دریچه قلبمان را به روی این همه نعمت و ثروت باز کنیم.

Finally, after a lot of huffing and puffing, I am done with Anne of Avonlea, the second book of the Anne of Green Gables series. Sadly, the book didn't entirely live up to my expectations, but I think I am more to blame for that than the book itself.

Long ago, I had watched the old Anne of Avonlea movie of 1987. So somewhere, I had expected the book to be exactly the same story. But now I realise that the movie might have been based on some subsequent Anne book(s) because most of the things that occur in the movie aren't even in this book's timeline. Well, time will tell!

Anne of Avonlea details Anne's life from ages sixteen to seventeen. She is literally at the threshold of womanhood, but has not yet abandoned her girlhood. She looks at life with the same carefree attitude, she is still on the lookout for "kindred spirits", and she is as imaginative as ever!

There are some very interesting new characters who make an appearance in this book: The Harrisons, Ms. Lavendar (sic), Paul Irving, Charlotte the Fourth, and a little incorrigible guy named Dave. The old favourites are also present and equally lovable.

I found most of the first half pretty rambling and repetitive. Dave's antics seemed to be the same in every alternate chapter. Anne's silly goofs & blind idealism continue. Most of all, the recurring elaborate description of trees and streams and other elements of nature gets on your nerves after a point.

But enter Ms. Lavendar and you see the book transform. The second half of the book is entirely charming and thrilling, so by the time you reach the end, you have a sigh of satisfaction rather than relief. No regrets reading the book at all if the end is great!



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J’aime tout dans ce tome 2. Anne s’étoffe, la vie à Avonlea est charmante, il y a du romantisme et de l’humour. Les nouveaux personnages sont parfaits et j’aime passionnément la manière dont l’autrice fait traverser la vie à sa petite protégée. Tellement hâte de lire la suite.

This was enjoyable, but not as engaging and interesting as the first book. As I was reading, I didn't actually find myself becoming intrigued or looking forward to anything. Nothing seemed to be really going on with Anne, and really just was a book based on the passing of time for Anne.
There is something that stood out for me, that I can kind of forgive, due to the time it was written in 1909, but still, it's utterly unbelievable. Poor Diana was seen in a bad light, mostly to to with her weight, and what surprised me the most was the fact that Anne never once reasssured her that regardless of her weight, she is still wonderful, and really her weight means absolutely nothing.
I do very much love Anne overall, even though she was rather flat in this book, I am hoping the rest of the series will improve for me.

Non bello quanto il primo a mio parere, ma mi è piaciuto vedere Anna più adulta e tutte le strambe vicende in cui è stata coinvolta. Il finale mi ha fatto scendere la lacrimuccia, sono felice, proprio felice! Devo leggere il terzo che prevedo feels a non finire!

Reread for a reading vlog: https://youtu.be/Z-1p0hIp-Ng (watch for both a spoiler free and spoiler filled review of each of the eight books in the series - spoilers are all clearly marked and easily skipped!)


Written review to come ❤️


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O primeiro livro da série arrebatou-me e, confesso, comecei a ficar um pouco desiludida com o início deste segundo volume, talvez por também estar com a cabeça no sítio errado. E a edição, meu Deus, Minotauro, está péssima! Deixaram carateres na impressora, colocaram vírgulas ao desbarato, usaram termos que em nada tinham relação com o resto da frase, houve gente que "interviu", diálogos em que as personagens se tratavam por "você" e na frase seguinte já se estavam a tratar por "tu", troca dos nomes das personagens, enfim, estive a ler um livro com um lápis na mão, o que não é bom sinal, pois não sublinho livros, e aqui sublinhei e acrescentei vogais e consoantes, enfim, não sei se o prazo estava apertado, mas a revisão claramente falhou nesta obra.
Problemas de edição à parte, o meu coração voltou a bater pela Anne, por favor não traduzam o nome dela, é tão mau, até porque mais nenhuma personagem tem o nome traduzido e isso de traduzir nomes próprios é, para mim, muito estúpido!
Dizia eu que o meu coração voltou a bater pela Anne e pelas suas aventuras, agora já mais adulta, madura e com outras responsabilidades, mas ainda a manter uma imaginação maravilhosa e uma certa inocência que me continuam a encantar. Fiquei curiosa em saber a continuação desta aventura agora que a menina Shirley vai para a universidade. Sim, eu já sei mais ou menos como continua a história, mas não perdi a curiosidade, que talvez seja forte o suficiente para encetar a box set com todos os livros da série, que adquiri em novembro de 2017!


Talvez, afinal de contas, o romance não entrasse na vida das pessoas com pompa e circunstância, como um cavaleiro, talvez deslizasse para o nosso lado como um velho amigo, com modos delicados, talvez se revelasse numa aparente prosa, até que um raio de iluminação atravessasse as páginas, traindo o ritmo e a música , talvez... talvez... o amor de desvendasse naturalmente de uma bonita amizade, como uma rosa de coração dourado deslizando para fora da sua vagem verde

I've read Anne of Green Gables many times over the years (this one's my favorite Anne of Green Gables), but it's just now that I decided to continue with the series. I'm so glad I did, because I was really missing out!

In Book 2, Anne is now 16 yrs old and is a teacher at Avonlea School. Anne is still as cheerful and optimistic as ever, and isn't too old to get into all sorts of trouble. Lots of new characters were introduced in this book, but Matthew was terribly missed.

It was so nice to catch up with Anne again! I really enjoy Lucy Maud Montgomery's writing style and creativity. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.