Beginning with her newlywed parents (who soon die of illness), this book follows the life of Anne from her birth up to the point she leaves the orphanage and goes to Prince Edward Island. I thought I would read this and then launch myself into the whole Anne series, but I didn’t make it through. I read the first fifty pages solidly, skimmed the next hundred, and then gave up. Sigh. I’m not sure how closely this author was trying to emulate Montgomery’s writing style, but it didn’t feel quite right. I do know- from reading the acknowledgements- that she had the assistance of many fans who knew where all the details in the series make reference to Anne’s early life, access to reference materials for the time period particular to the locale, and the approval of the L. M. Montgomery estate . . . so I feel bad to criticize. But for me, this book just didn’t work.
In the first place, Anne’s birth parents sound too perfect. Their small home is so filled with sweet harmony and loving gestures that a neighbor friend can’t stand to visit because it makes her feel bad about her own relationship with her husband. There’s some things characters say and do that don’t feel possible according to the timeframe- things they wouldn’t have known or that society wouldn’t have allowed back then. I only picked up on a few of these, but after reading some others’ reviews (when I was trying to decide if I wanted to continue) many more of them started leaping out at me. I would have been willing to overlook all that and still enjoy the story, even though it was mostly told-not-shown (albeit with plenty of description, so even that was okay) but then we got to Anne being born. I know she was a precocious child, but this depiction of Anne really stretched credibility. Okay, so she walked at eighteen months and started talking not long after- I could buy that. I could even go along with the idea of her speaking complete sentences early on. But the way she phrased things reflected a social understanding I just don’t think any child would have at that young age. Sure, they might be precocious with word choices and fluency, but they wouldn’t have the emotional maturity that Anne expressed so early, in this telling. At least, that was my reaction. And if young Anne couldn’t read yet, and wasn’t around people who were highly educated, where did she pick up those words? This story does drop in some characters that teach her certain phrases and ways of expressing things, but it wasn’t enough for me to go along with easily. I just wasn’t enjoying it because I kept questioning things: yeah, could that really have happened? Sometimes I don’t like myself for being so overly critical and nitpicky on details. But when they throw me out of the narrative so often, it’s no longer a pleasure to read. I’ll just go back to the originals, once I’ve cleared my mental palate of this.
Don’t take my word for it, I seem to be an outlier on this one. Do read some of the other reviews- most of them really liked this book. I borrowed my copy from the public library.