The Story Girl

L.M. Montgomery was one of the reading staples of my early adolescence, and I tore through every book I could find by her. Although nothing could ever supplant the "Anne" books as my favorites, I loved all her novels, and returned to them many times. When I started a Montgomery group on another website, I decided to re-read her entire oeuvre, and began with The Story Girl.

Episodic in structure, the book relates the adventures of a group of cousins and friends one summer on Prince Edward Island. Narrated by Bev King, looking back from his adulthood, it offers a charming, and frequently sentimental, view of the idyllic days of childhood. When Bev and his brother Felix come to stay at "The Home of Their Fathers" in Carlisle, they are show more quickly accepted into a close-knit circle that includes their cousins, Felicity, Cecily and Dan King, neighbor girl Sara Ray, hired boy Peter Craig, and of course, their cousin Sara Stanley, also known as "The Story Girl."

Adventure and misadventure follow one another, from Peter's inauspicious beginnings as a church-goer, to the children's dream-journal competition. Woven throughout are the marvelous tales of the Story Girl, whose magnetic personality and beautiful voice - charming enough to make even the multiplication table interesting - create many moments of genuine enchantment.

As always, I enjoyed The Story Girl immensely, and was struck by Montgomery's unerring sense of childlike wonder, her understanding of being a young person caught in a world of grown-ups, who were always "so strangely oblivious to the truly important things in life." Both innocent and wise, the children consider many profound questions, from the nature of God to the difference between Methodists and Presbyterians (always of concern in Montgomery's work). Their unintentionally humorous remarks, from Cecily's observation that "A common man would be queer, but when it's a minister, it's eccentric," or Peter's claim that fighting for a principle was like "praying with fists," can always elicit a sympathetic chuckle.

But although her characters were as endearing as ever, and her descriptions of the countryside just as beautiful, I was far more conscious of a sense of melancholy than I had ever been before. Perhaps the recent revelations of Montgomery's struggle with depression, and her eventual suicide, made me more sensitive to the pathos in her work. However that may be, my awareness of the darker undercurrents in The Story Girl only enhanced my appreciation. Truly a worthwhile read. show less

I am of age to have grown up with the 1985 Anne of Green Gables miniseries and the 1990s series Road to Avonlea, so it is always a pleasure to (re)visit these places and characters.

This book introduces Sara Stanley, the titular Story Girl, who has the incredible ability to share a story and transform herself and the world around her in doing so. We also meet the King family - Uncle Alec, Aunt Janet, Aunt Olivia, Uncle Roger, Dan, Felicity, Cecily, and Felix, and other familiar faces like the hired boy Peter Craig, Sara Ray and her oppressive mother, Jasper Dale (the Awkward Man), and "the witch" Peg Bowen.

This novel is narrated by Beverly King, here the brother of Felix and cousin of the others, and recounts the very special show more summer/autumn season spent with the greater King family in Carlisle, PEI. Though there are plenty of differences between the book and the TV series, it was hard *not* to picture the actors when reading about the characters, feeling the warm, happy feelings from that point of childhood, and seeing all of the things that *did* eventually make it to TV. It is an absolute delight to read, and such a wonderful place to spend time in. When the world is mad, bad, and difficult to know, it's very comforting to know that turn-of-the-century PEI is still there for us, filled with the innocence of childhood and fast friends/found family. show less

The Story Girl is not one of L. M. Montgomery's stand-out works, but it's a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Sara Stanley is the Story Girl, the maiden with a golden voice and unusual dramatic powers that spellbind her audience. She and her cousins Dan, Felicity, and Cecily welcome their cousins Felix and Beverley to the King family history and mythology when the two come to stay with the family. The story, which is more a loose collection of episodic tales and memories, is narrated by Beverley and captures the insular, magical world of a childhood.

As usual, the characters are well written, distinct, and believable, especially Dan, Felicity, and Sara Ray, the tearful neighbor girl who, despite being something of a nonentity, still show more manages to be amusing. Montgomery has the gift of creating a full character in my mind with just a few sentences. Many never appear onstage but are only known through the conversation of the children. It's quite well done.

There are some funny episodes here. Much of the humor comes from the children's musings on God and practice of religion, based on their incomplete understanding. In one chapter they purchase God's picture from an enterprising fellow student; in another they are truly terrified that it's Judgment Day and the world is about to end. And speaking of the supernatural, there's also the persistent mystery of Peg Bowen, Carlisle's "witch" whose powers are both scoffed at and feared by the little band. Montgomery leaves the question of Peg's witchhood open (but I incline to the belief that she merely uses the reputation to her advantage in a narrow world).

At times Montgomery treads a bit too close to the line between sentiment and sentimentality (especially for a male narrator), which would prevent me from recommending this as an introduction to her novels. The nature descriptions are lovely, though, and have probably done more for tourism on P.E.I. than anything else... I'd love to go there someday! show less

When Bev and Felix King are sent to live with their aunt and uncle following their father's transfer from Toronto to Brazil, they find themselves warmly welcomed by their cousins and the rest of the social circle that revolves around the King farm in Carlisle, Prince Edward Island. Amongst the cousins, they meet Sara Stanley, the Story Girl whose silver tongue makes every story she tells utterly compelling. Over the course of the spring and summer, the King cousins get into various adventures and scrapes that only children on a farm can manage.

No matter the central character, Montgomery weaves a world that is full of the magic of long summer days and gorgeous landscapes. I did find it interesting she went with a first-person narration show more in this novel and that her narrator is a boy as Montgomery is so intertwined with her heroines in my mind. However, I found Bev's narration completely believable. It was also fascinating to finally encounter the source material that inspired the Canadian institution that was the television show, Road to Avonlea, and compare the differences. I'll be curious to see how the character development continues in [The Golden Road] and again compare and contrast with my memories of the show. For those readers that have already fallen in love with Montgomery's writing style. show less

Written by the same author of the Anne of Green Gables series, The Story Girl is a quaint period piece, rather than an ongoing classic like Anne is. It's still an enjoyable read. I picked this up on a visit to Prince Edward Island, the setting of most (if not all?) of L.M. Montgomery's books.

I have just finished and my inner child really liked it. I felt like I was friends with these children. I saw SG bring the characters of the stories to life*; I had all these thrills, sorrows, joys, & adventures; I tried together with them to figure out our own interpretations of all that the adults were telling us.

I have always liked episodic little adventures and warm family stories... this reminds me of a few others of my favorites, [b:The Golden Name Day|945276|The Golden Name Day (Golden Name Day #1)|Jennie D. Lindquist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1401996767l/945276._SY75_.jpg|930211], [b:Thimble Summer|421641|Thimble Summer|Elizabeth show more Enright|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1315596307l/421641._SX50_.jpg|840256], and [b:Roller Skates|984168|Roller Skates|Ruth Sawyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348023335l/984168._SY75_.jpg|1327018]. They've felt like wonderful real lives to me. They're very innocent, but with the sensibility in the background of the coming of autumn/ the parents/ puberty and adulthood.

*Remember, these children had no tv, not very many books, and very little live theater.

I'm thankful to Gundula and the group Children's Books for convincing me to read this. I will read the sequel now.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/21009395-january-and-february-2020-l-m-mont... show less

If you liked Anne of Green Gables or Emily of New Moon, you should like this story, because the main character, Sara (Story Girl) has a big imagination and great personality. The story is not narrated from her POV though, it is narrated by her cousin Beverley King, and happens through the span of a summer as Beverley and his brother Felix go to live with their cousins while their dad goes to South America for his job (Mom is dead)

LM's writing is old-fashioned, but then that is to be expected of all her books, where boys and girls were given different standards and goals in life. Because of this, a couple of things bugged me, but I reminded myself that this book was written about 100 years ago, and times have changed since (thank show more goodness) It's still a fun book to read. show less