Title: Anne of Green Gables
Author: L.M. Montgomery
My Rating: 5
Genre: Fiction
Category: Classic
Published: 1908
Format: eBook
Date Started: July 7, 2026
Date finished: July 29, 2026
Summary:
Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, an aging brother and sister on a farm in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, send for an orphan boy to help with the work. What Matthew finds waiting at the station instead is Anne Shirley: eleven, red-haired, and unable to stop talking. Marilla means to send her back. She doesn’t.
What follows is Anne growing into Green Gables and Avonlea. She finds a bosom friend in Diana Barry, starts school, and makes an enemy of Gilbert Blythe the day he calls her “Carrots.” Along the way she lands in one scrape after another, each one the result of an imagination that runs well ahead of her good sense.
My Thoughts:
This was my second time reading Anne of Green Gables. The first was in 2015, and I gave it four stars. Looking back, I was comparing it too hard to the 1985 TV series I grew up watching. This time I let the book be the book, and it’s a really good read. Five stars.
The biggest difference is focus. The book is about Anne finding her place and making new friends, a whole circle of them. The series zooms in on Anne herself, her friendship with Diana, and Gilbert. I’ll admit I still like the series for that, especially for giving Gilbert more of the spotlight. In the book he shows up later and stays more in the background.
What won me over this time was Montgomery’s writing. It’s pretty, but not lavished like Frances Hodgson Burnett. There’s air in it. And Anne’s first morning at Green Gables caught me off guard: she falls in love with the cherry tree outside her window while knowing she’s about to be sent back. I knew the story, and it still hit harder than I expected.
Recommended for:
Anyone who grew up on the 1985 series and has never read the book, or hasn’t read it in years. Readers who love classics with lighter, lyrical prose. And anyone who wants a warm story about a girl talking her way into a family that didn’t know it needed her.
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