Anne of Green Gables - Book Review

Hello! This is Dawn, here with a book review of the classic Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. 

Mathew Cuthbert, a shy old bachelor, gets a start when, upon arriving at the train station to pick up the boy he was adopting to help him maintain the farm, nobody is waiting on the platform except one small person with red hair, wearing the most awful clothes you ever saw. And this person is a girl.

The Station Master verifies everything; no boy got off the train at this station, only this girl did – and what was more, she was waiting for Mr. Mathew Cuthbert.

Mathew had never been more bewildered. He had always had a horror of females, except his sister, Marilla, who he lived with. He couldn’t bring himself to tell this girl that there had been some mistake, and that she must leave on the next train back to wherever she came from. No, he’d better bring her back to Green Gables, and get Marilla to sort things out.

On the way back to Green Gables, the girl told him all about how she is so delighted that she will finally stop being Anne of Nowhere in Particular, and become Anne of Green Gables. She related about how she is an orphan, and had been living in an orphan asylum. Everything had been very dull, but she spent her time by imagining things about the other orphans.

By the time they get to Green Gables, Mathew has heard so much about the girl’s imaginings, wishes, and hopes, that he finds himself persuading Marilla to have them keep the child. And many adventures follow.

I loved this story for many reasons, the major one being its lovely protagonist. Anne Shirley is the perfect main character, an imaginative, lovable, well-meaning, creative girl with a knack of getting into the most awful scrapes. Anne believes she is ugly, but to me she is extremely beautiful, with her thick, wavy red hair and freckles – just how I wish I look.

This story is written in a lovely, flowery way. It is loved by children as young as seven, and perfect for nine to fourteen-year-olds – although I certainly can’t picture anyone growing out of it! I have read it over and over again, and when I lost the book I had to find some other way to read it, so I looked it up on the Internet and found myself reading it online. I can be completely definite that I will still be reading this book by the time I am over a hundred!

Nobody can look up from the last page of Anne of Green Gables without a thirst for more – but don’t worry, there are seven more books!