tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post23055084447478715..comments2023-09-22T02:24:42.144-07:00Comments on a light inside: Currently Reading: Emily Climbs and Emily's QuestJenna St.Hilairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16528611770211261141noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-4657412541452888762012-01-09T14:00:47.461-08:002012-01-09T14:00:47.461-08:00Montgomery's ability to capture beauty AND bro...Montgomery's ability to capture beauty AND brokenness is what makes her books so long lasting and her characters memorable. Teddy WAS a ninny; people often are. Ilse WAS selfish and prideful...yet she isn't a villain. Pat might hold onto things too tightly and for the wrong reasons, and there are many tales of disappointments woven into the stories that are "sunny." I like them better for it.jana.kayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15304013263511877920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-2475527766245604582012-01-07T12:03:28.808-08:002012-01-07T12:03:28.808-08:00Haha! I appreciate the warning, Laura. If I read i...Haha! I appreciate the warning, <b>Laura.</b> If I read it, it may turn out to be one of those books I love and hate at the same time. There are a few in existence.Jenna St. Hilairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04474588706124865006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-81912053657876910762012-01-06T15:43:42.033-08:002012-01-06T15:43:42.033-08:00LMM and her husband might have done better under o...LMM and her husband might have done better under other circumstances. What seems to have really got LMM and her husband were the (almost literally dozens) of bromides and other sedatives prescribed by various doctors and subsequently taken all together and in huge amounts, with wine and brandy, by the couple. Rubio suggests that quite a lot of Ewan's later psychosis, and Maud's depression and anxiety, was really bromide poisoning and withdrawal symptoms (which were then treated with more bromides, and so on). It really is a wonder she managed to get anything done after 1930. The Rubio biography is good, but extremely exhausting because of things like this. <br /><br /><b>Jenna,</b> I shouldn't have assumed you wouldn't like Pat! You might. <i>Mistress Pat</i> is even more of a misery-fest than EQ, though, BE WARNED.Lauranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-76633172038723156932012-01-06T12:47:34.140-08:002012-01-06T12:47:34.140-08:00Carrie-Ann, so glad you enjoyed Anne! The first th...<b>Carrie-Ann,</b> so glad you enjoyed Anne! The first three books and Rilla are my favorites, although I love Anne's House of Dreams too. I can't pick! Anyway, they're great. :)<br /><br /><b>jana.kaye,</b> thanks... fascinating thoughts on Emily and Pat. I may have to read the latter just for the character herself.<br /><br /><b>Maria,</b> LOL. Glad you liked it. And I know--I loved Dean; he seemed like someone I would have enjoyed, maybe even fallen for in another life, and I felt bad for him. Teddy was so beautiful that I couldn't hate him, but he did cause me way too much angst. I was not pleased.<br /><br /><b>Arabella,</b> I knew Montgomery was depressed and that her marriage wasn't happy, but I hadn't known that both she and her husband were bipolar. There's hardship enough for anyone! As you say, it's a wonder that she wrote as much happiness as she did.Jenna St. Hilairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04474588706124865006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-30891600447903531832012-01-06T06:45:51.731-08:002012-01-06T06:45:51.731-08:00The comment @9:49 was me, Arabella, as well.
Mont...The comment @9:49 was me, Arabella, as well.<br /><br />Montgomery was a bipolar depressive who married a bipolar depressive and the marriage was pretty awful. For the most part she had an unhappy life and the wonder is that she was able to write as much sunniness as she did. The earliest Anne books and stories come out of what must have been a more hopeful time for her before her marriage.<br /><br />I read the first book in a two-part biography that came out sometime around 1990. It was so depressing I never read the second book. My admiration to those that were able to complete both. But the first book did help me understand the themes of relationship she wrote about, often repeatedly.<br /><br />--ArabellaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-33079016155443670612012-01-06T04:53:08.582-08:002012-01-06T04:53:08.582-08:00P.S. Laura, I'm staying tuned for the rest of ...P.S. Laura, I'm staying tuned for the rest of your review.Marianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-29656171570713989012012-01-06T04:52:02.040-08:002012-01-06T04:52:02.040-08:00Great review, Jenna! Your analysis did not disapp...Great review, Jenna! Your analysis did not disappoint. I remember rooting for Dean Priest as well because I was so disgusted with Teddy. What a ninny. I hate him to this day. <br /><br />Thanks too to Arabella and Laura for the added insights and biographical background on L.M. and Pat of Silver Bush, which I disliked for similar reasons. Knowing that L.M. Montgomery herself was suffering helps me forgive her entirely for writing such dark, awful stuff when I wanted daisies and buttered sunshine. In hindsight that seems like it should have been obvious to me, but I read most of her works as a child and again as a self-absorbed adolescent.Marianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-88612744564415887952012-01-05T19:25:15.544-08:002012-01-05T19:25:15.544-08:00Oh, Judy Plum's the best and, to me, the one l...Oh, Judy Plum's the best and, to me, the one likable character! But I agree that Pat isn't an old soul, she's neurotic, and Mary Rubio's description is perfect. I've read that Emily is most autobiographical, but am not sure about Pat--maybe Montgomery's longing for PEI?? Or, like Anne's poor story, a promotion for floor wax?<br /><br /><b>Carrie-Ann</b>, just discovering Anne...I didn't discover her until around thirty, and I think I appreciated her more than I would have at a younger age. Apart from the Anne books, I love The Blue Castle, and Jane of Lantern Hill. Some of the short stories are great, too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-50354269782895545722012-01-05T09:49:43.135-08:002012-01-05T09:49:43.135-08:00Jenna, I think that though Pat is definitely confl...Jenna, I think that though Pat is definitely conflicted, you would appreciate her sensitive soul and magical imagination...as well as the inimitable character Judy Plum.jana.kayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15304013263511877920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-91873140906048985602012-01-05T09:47:45.091-08:002012-01-05T09:47:45.091-08:00I do love Anne, but I love Emily and Pat, too. I t...I do love Anne, but I love Emily and Pat, too. I think maybe Luci was sick of being so "pleasant." Emily and Pat did get their happy endings, but Montgomery spent more time on the tragic parts of their stories. I do have to say I have far less sympathy for Emily because she IS so prideful that she bears more responsibility for her tragedies than Pat probably does.jana.kayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15304013263511877920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-23449869619570926742012-01-05T07:10:42.947-08:002012-01-05T07:10:42.947-08:00Thanks for this review, Jenna. From the sound of ...Thanks for this review, <b>Jenna</b>. From the sound of this, I'd likely not really enjoy the <i>Emily</i> books. That's not to say that I won't ever read them, but given how many stacks of books I'm keen on that would take me multiple lifetimes to work through, they're not at the top of my to-read list.<br /><br />Truth be told, I'd not read any of the <i>Anne</i> books--a serious gap in my childhood reading! On account of your enthusiasm for them on your site, I ordered the entire set as a gift to myself this Christmas, and stayed up until 1:00 a.m. last night reading <i>Anne of Green Gables</i>. :o) How utterly delightful! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of them during winter break between semesters.Carrie-Ann Biondihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09769201617294313094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-5147704900584839732012-01-04T17:44:13.737-08:002012-01-04T17:44:13.737-08:00Arabella, I definitely thought of L.M.'s strug...<b>Arabella,</b> I definitely thought of L.M.'s struggle with depression reading these books. Again and again I thought of it.<br /><br /><b>Laura,</b> that is fascinating--just fascinating. I had no idea she didn't feel like writing a romance; it makes me almost wish she'd felt free to write the books without building that expectation from the beginning. Good friendship, such as Emily's with Dean, is satisfying in its own right; just not when the reader is counting on a properly happy romantic ending. As it is, you're absolutely right about the book not doing its job. Those long absences of Teddy's are just annoying.<br /><br />It's hilarious to think of the Ilse/Perry resolution as Montgomery's way of sticking her tongue out at the convention. I can picture that. And yeah, I only ever forgive Ilse at all because of her upbringing. It's interesting to hear how much of herself Montgomery put into these books.<br /><br />So, you can always come back and talk more! You could also start that blog you've talked about. :)Jenna St. Hilairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04474588706124865006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-33882702596151059522012-01-04T17:24:57.479-08:002012-01-04T17:24:57.479-08:00Arabella, you've hit on exactly the reason I l...<b>Arabella,</b> you've hit on exactly the reason I like <i>Emily</i> and <i>Pat</i>, which is how inescapably personal they are. (Jenna, I feel pretty safe saying you probably won't like the <i>Pat</i> books *at all* -- as LMM's biographer Mary Rubio notes, Pat is basically a depressed, exhausted, and permanently homesick 50-year-old woman written into the body of an 8-year-old girl and then forced to grow up from there-- but I've developed enough of a fanatical Montgomery attachment that I cherish it anyway for being just that).<br /><br />Regarding the abrupt conclusion of Emily/Teddy: I think this might have been a far more satisfying book if Montgomery had been more invested in the "romance" portion of the book. As it happens, she was thoroughly fed up with the conventions of "girl's books" under which she felt herself to be writing, and would really have preferred not to "marry Emily off" at all -- leaving the Emily/Teddy story unresolved or resolved with friendship, and focusing instead on Emily's writing career. That's one of the ways this series could have gone. Another-- if she were truly invested in E/T -- would have been to spend more time and attention on the relationship. As it is, we're sort of left writing mental fanfiction about why Ems and the Tedster are so stubborn and weird about everything, and while it's possible to mentally fix it up so it all makes sense, the book isn't really doing the job that it should be with regard to the whole What The Heck Were You Thinking Question. And that's in large part because Maud didn't at all feel like writing a romance at the time, but thought she had to (I think the resolution of Ilse/Perry is pretty clearly an instance of her sticking her tongue out at this perceived obligation to romance) <br /><br />Ilse is pretty hard to deal with in EQ, isn't she? It's hard to believe she would just drop the T-bomb on Emily like that with zero prior warning. But then, I tend to forgive Ilse a lot, just because her upbringing was such a negligent-indulgent emotional rollercoaster that she does pretty well, considering -- another chunk of autobiography; Maud's absentee father resembled Douglas Starr only in her mind.<br /><br />I have SO MUCH to say about these books, but it's dinnertime! So glad to see the review!Lauranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-89827551586370790642012-01-04T12:12:49.108-08:002012-01-04T12:12:49.108-08:00Oops--the above was from me, Arabella.Oops--the above was from me, Arabella.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-40914667914608258562012-01-04T12:11:35.164-08:002012-01-04T12:11:35.164-08:00A fresh reminder of why I disliked the depressing ...A fresh reminder of why I disliked the depressing Emily books and dumped them. There's a similar pattern in <i>Pat of Silver Bush</i> and sequel <i>Mistriss Pat</i>--a heroine's rather agoraphobic house worship trumps her true love for even longer than a decade. I think the Emily and Pat books best reflect Montgomery's struggle with depression. The Anne and other books, including short stories, are more rounded and enjoyable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com