Believable prequel to the Anne series. Lovely.

This is a difficult review for me to write. I so wanted to love this book, and yet somehow, I didn't. I am still trying to sort out why, so bear with me.

As I have said (many times) before, Anne of Green Gables is my favourite novel of all time, and the entire series is one that I reread yearly. It's not that I think they are the greatest things ever written, but they were a big part of my childhood. Also, I really do think that L.M. Montgomery was a very talented author - her books are charming and touching, and Anne is a unique character. We see her grow from a skinny little eleven-year-old to a mother of six children, and even though she obviously matures, the qualities she possessed as a child are still evident in the adult. These qualities - her bookishness, her descriptive way of speaking, her vivid imagination, and her ability to make ever so many mistakes - form a character who I know and love as though she was an actual person in my life.

So, when the heirs of L.M. Montgomery commissioned a prequel to Anne of Green Gables as a marking of its 100 year anniversary, I was apprehensive. Would another author be able to capture the essence of Anne? Would she be faithful to the original, or would she take liberties with the story? Most of all, did I really need to read about Anne's life before Green Gables - if Montgomery did not feel the need to write about it, then do I need to read about it?

However, I had seen some favourable reviews of Before Green Gables, and so I went ahead and bought it, and read it. Am I glad - not really. Will it ruin my enjoyment of the "Anne" series - definitely not. Was it a faithful prequel - well, I guess it depends on the reader.

Before Green Gables is not a bad book. In fact, there were parts that I really enjoyed. I loved seeing Anne's parents, and understanding from where her personality came, and the ending - Anne's journey to Bright River, where she would meet Matthew Cuthbert - was fantastic. The rest was....well, just ok. An Anne fan, someone who has read the series once or twice, would probably enjoy this book. For me, an avid L.M.M. reader, and someone who can quote large passages of her books, Before Green Gables just missed the mark.

Wilson's Anne was still intelligent, still a book-lover, and still spoke using words far too advanced for her age. However, she wasn't quite the imaginative, curious girl that I have come to love, and her affinity for getting into "scrapes" was totally missing. As well, Wilson did not explain some of Anne's ideas - for example, Anne wanted Marilla Cuthbert to call her "Cordelia" - a name that Anne found much more romantic. Nowhere in Before Green Gables is the name Cordelia mentioned - where did Anne first hear this name?

Anne's speech was off too. Her love of words was evident, but Montgomery's Anne loved to talk - never stopped talking, in fact - and this wasn't really a quality of Wilson's Anne.

Essentially, I think Wilson was more concerned with writing about Anne's story than writing about Anne's personality. The plot followed Anne from birth right up until the moment she stepped off the train in Bright River, and Wilson certainly wrote a story full of tragic episodes. She created an intense contrast between Anne's life before Green Gables and her life after, and I definitely felt pity for Anne - but that unfailing spirit, that ability to use imagination in times of trouble, well, that was missing.

So, if you read Anne of Green Gables as a child, you will probably enjoy learning about Anne's early life. If, like me, you are an Anne extremist....well, then I wouldn't recommend Before Green Gables. ( )

Can a gifted and spirited young soul shine in spite of a terrible home environment? I was curious to learn how the author would describe Anne Shirley's birth and orphaned childhood and end up with the lovable and spunky girl we all know from Anne of Green Gables. I'd say that Budge Wilson has done a good job writing in the style of L.M. Montgomery. A few scattered items in the writing indicate a 21st Century author unlike L.M. Montgomery. However, I'm not complaining since I am a 21st Century reader.

The first characters we meet in the book are Anne's parents before she was born. They are portrayed as having the combination of personalities that were obviously inherited by their daughter-to-be. The reader learns what wonderful parents they would have been had they lived. Then the reader receives the devastating news that the little three month old orphaned Anne ends up in a dysfunctional foster family.

I know this story is fictional. But I want to believe that it is possible for at least some children to persevere and thrive in spite of disadvantaged environments. Perhaps this book will inspire a young person somewhere to be like Anne. Actually, her example can inspire adults as well. The description of her joy of attending school for the first time is a good reminder of the joy we should all seek from learning new things.

This books supports the rule that there is always a mentor or role model somewhere in the lives for those who transcend disadvantaged environments. This story can serve as a reminder of the influence that unrelated adults can sometimes have on the lives of children and young people by simply offering encouragement and being a role model. ( )

Most of us already know the story of Anne Shirley. She is the titular character in the novels Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, and Anne of Ingleside. I read the Anne books when I was about 9 or 10 years old. Published earlier this year, the centennial anniversary of Anne of Green Gables, Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson, the story of Anne's life before she came to beautiful Prince Edward Island to live at Green Gables with Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert.

Before Green Gables begins shortly after the marriage of Walter and Bertha Shirley, Anne's loving parents. This was one of the best parts of the story for me. Anne's parents were deeply in love and devoted to each other, and that love spilled over to Anne when she was born. She had a very happy life for the three months she spent with her parents in their little yellow house, before Walter and Bertha succumbed to a powerful infectious fever sweeping their town.

After the death of her parents, Anne is taken in by Joanna Thomas, a woman hired to help Bertha around the house when she was pregnant and after Anne was born. Mrs. Thomas took Anne into her already crowded home partly out of respect for Bertha Shirley, and partly because she was hoping to receive some of the Shirley's furniture. Mrs. Thomas' eldest daughter Eliza was thrilled to have Anne, and treated her much like her own daughter. Things were nice for Anne as long as Eliza was there, but when she is 5 years old, Eliza goes to marry Roger, leaving Anne all alone in the loud, angry house.

Anne spends the next few years working harder than any little girl should have to work - scrubbing floors, washing dishes, making meals, washing diapers, taking care of the younger children - all the while, living in an uncertain and explosive environment. The only bright spots in her life are going to school, meeting Mr. Johnson - "the Egg man"/"Word man", and Katie Maurice, Anne's imaginary friend.

When tragedy strikes the Thomas family, a 9 year old Anne is again uprooted and sent to live with the Hammonds. Though Mrs. Hammond is kinder to Anne than Mrs. Thomas ever was, the work is just as hard, and Anne finds herself again in a very busy household. Mrs. Hammond has six children - 2 sets of twins among them - all under the age of 4, and another due in May! She's able to go to school and quickly looses herself in her teacher's stories of Prince Edward Island. Mr. McDougall was born and raised on P.E.I. and has lots of pictures to show the class. Anne also finds a new imaginary friend in the hills surrounding old Miss. Haggerty's house. Her name is Violetta, and she answers Anne with her echos.

Less than two years later, Anne is packed off to the Hopetown orphanage after Mr. Hammond dies. In the asylum, Anne is simply miserable. Though she is no stranger to hard work, she practically shuts down her every emotion, afraid to let anyone or anything in. After four months however, her luck begins to change, and she is sent to P.E.I. with Mrs. Spencer to live with the Cuthberts. The book ends with Anne's arrival at the Bright River station.

I really enjoyed this book, but if you don't like reading and crying at the same time, I can't recommend it for you. It was such an emotional experience for me in fact, that after the first night, I discovered I couldn't read it just before going to bed. The story and characters kept me up at night thinking and imagining so much that I had to change my reading schedule around and read just in the mornings and afternoons.

Despite the harshness of Anne's early life, she touched everyone she came in contact with in profound ways. She was the only person in the Thomas household who Bert Thomas liked, and therefore the only one who could really get through to him. She also brought love into Mr. Johnson's life in the form of Miss. Harrisson, her first teacher. She even made old Miss. Haggerty - a woman who never wanted or even liked children - love her. Anne's spirit is a truly amazing and almost indestructible thing. Anne is incredibly precocious and I don't see how anyone could possibly help falling in love with her.

I adore the way Anne finds a sense of wonder about everything in the natural world around her. Her unbelievable thirst for knowledge and her hope and dreams for her future completely sustain her through the hard times in her life.

As for my criticism of the book, there's not much to say. One thing I found tedious especially toward the end of the book, was Anne's recounting of all the wrongs in her life. By the end I was so ready for things to get better for Anne, that I just wanted to forget all the bad stuff.

I love a story that can make me feel so much for the characters that bawl like a baby, so the fact that this book can be pretty depressing at times is not really a negative in my book. I mean, we knew her life was pretty bleak before she came to P.E.I. - there's not really any surprise there.

The writing is really quite good and gutsy (to take on a character as beloved and well-known as Anne.) Wilson is not L.M. Montgomery, and it's important to remember that when you pick up Before Green Gables, but in my opinion she does an amazing job with her subject. ( )

What was Anne Shirley's life like before she came to Green Gables? Budge Wilson, with the authorization of the L. M. Montgomery estate, has given us the answer. Before Green Gables was written as part of the celebration of the 1ooth anniversary of the publication of the first Anne Shirley book.

***Note: The following paragraphs contain minor spoilers. For only my recommendation, skip to below the asterisks.***

The book starts with Anne's parents and her birth and follows her as she lives with two families before being sent to the orphanage from which she was rescued to live with the Cathberts. The book ends as Anne steps off the train to meet her new family.

Wilson does a good job capturing the spirit of Anne and of telling us how Anne's active imagination and quirky vocabulary came into being. Unfortunately, Anne's childhood was filled with hard work and few chances to play. She was unappreciated and unloved by the adults who agreed to take her into their homes. The story was depressing and often unbelievable. For example, Anne was working at an age when most children are barely walking and was using an adult vocabulary when most toddlers have trouble putting a full sentence together.

Anne was able to find some happiness by creating make-believe friends and by imagining a better world. Every once in a while, a loving adult (teacher, neighbor) helped stimulate the girl's active mind and tried to give her hope for her future. Sadly, none of them did anything substantial to change Anne's horrible circumstances.

* * * * *

The audiobook was read by Renee Raudman. I found her overenthusiastic style to be a bit much for me. Perhaps the earnestness would appeal to a young audience, but it was sometimes grating, and I would turn the book off.

Despite the book's problems, I recommend it to Anne Shirley fans simply because it covers the missing years. I especially liked the descriptions of Anne's parents. I suggest that you read rather than listen to it, though.
http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/2008/1... ( )