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Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables
Audiobook10 hours

Anne of Green Gables

Written by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Narrated by Barbara Caruso

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

The skinny, red-haired waif’s expectant smile brightened up the entire length of the Bright River Station platform. The only living creature in sight, she waited
patiently, her legs dangling from the pile of shingles where she sat. Matthew Cuthbert knew all too well that his sister Marilla had expected the orphanage to
send a boy, but when he lifted the freckled, green-eyed little girl into the buggy, he sensed that life at Green Gables was going to be very different and, he hoped, much improved.

This endearing, heartwarming book has charmed generations of children and parents since it was first published in 1908. A classic of children’s literature, Anne
of Green Gables has given the world the spunky, irrepressible little girl who Mark Twain hailed as “the most moving and delightful child of fiction since the immortal Alice.”
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 15, 2008
ISBN9781440781124
Author

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery (1874-1942) was a Canadian author who published 20 novels and hundreds of short stories, poems, and essays. She is best known for the Anne of Green Gables series. Montgomery was born in Clifton (now New London) on Prince Edward Island on November 30, 1874. Raised by her maternal grandparents, she grew up in relative isolation and loneliness, developing her creativity with imaginary friends and dreaming of becoming a published writer. Her first book, Anne of Green Gables, was published in 1908 and was an immediate success, establishing Montgomery's career as a writer, which she continued for the remainder of her life.

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Reviews for Anne of Green Gables

Rating: 4.725761772853185 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

361 ratings121 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Anne is one of the best characters ever written. Kind, optimistic, imaginative, and brave, she is a dreamer with sass and style. Matthew's devotion, Marilla's character and intention, there's so many good moments and beautiful scenes. I've been reading or listening to this book every couple years for over 30 years.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I couldn’t make it past the reader’s pronunciation of Avonlea. It may otherwise be a great production. I do not know.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Everything is to die for. I felt like there aren’t enough words to express how lovely and important the book is.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I actually had to buy a new copy of this classic, having lost mine (and all the sequels) in a move. I bought the Aladdin Classics version that has reading circle questions at the end...very nice for the teacher in me. Reading it again only took one rainy Sunday afternoon, but it was a lovely read. I connected with Anne again just like I had as a child, when everyone used to ask if I had an 'off' button, and I was in trouble at school for talking so much. While I never broke a slate over any of my classmates heads, I did throw a desk at someone who was teasing me. And I've been fortunate to have the Auburn 'tresses' that Anne so wanted. My imagination has gotten me in fixes sometimes too...though no mice in the pudding thank goodness! I do love the Eastern Canadian feel to the book as well. Prince Edward Island becomes almost a character in the book...with Anne fascinated with the red roads, each tree and each brook equally. Anne's love of romanticism brings some intertexuality to the book in the scene of the lily maid, Elaine. I actually own an original copy of Tennyson's Poems including Idylls of the King. It was handed down to me from my grandmother's great aunts. I find its placement in Anne of Green Gables delightful. Mathhew and Marilla are both such wonderful characters as well...both so solitary, alone and seemingly to like it that way...until the whirlish dirvish red-haired Anne shows up and shakes them both up...until they both realize (Matthew sooner) that they love her...and therefore realizing that they are worthy of love as well. A lovely message that L.M. Montgomery was aiming for.For all you non-Canadians (and *gasp* any Canadians) that haven't read Anne of Green Gables I quote Anne "Oh...what you miss!"
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wish I had read this book when I was a girl! This is pretty much my new favorite book, and I'm so excited that there are 6 more in the series to read! You will fall completely in love with Anne, a precocious orphan girl sent for by mistake. The story starts off with Anne being maybe 8 or 9, and goes throughout her entire childhood, ending with her well into her teenage years. A must for every family!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am upset with myself that I did not read this gem of a book earlier! The characters are great, the dialogue is great, and so is the narrative. This book makes me want to move to Canada and live on a farm and have tea time every day with cake and jam.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908, is a classic known the world around for its irrepressible, lovable heroine and great good humor. In Anne, L. M. Montgomery has created one of those iconic, inimitable literary characters who take on a life outside their stories. It is my all-time favorite comfort read, a book I nearly memorized as a child because I revisited it so often. I remember how rich I felt when my mother gave me the complete set. When the brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert decide to adopt a boy to help with the chores, Anne Shirley is sent to them by mistake. They decide to keep her, to her great joy, and soon learn that Anne is not like other children. As an orphan thrown on charity, she has sustained her dreary existence with a strange dream-life, comforting herself with the fancies of her mobile imagination. She is a passionate lover of beauty and romance, but that doesn't prevent her from getting into the most embarrassing and ridiculous scrapes. Anne manages to set her best friend drunk, dye her hated red hair green, flavor a cake with anodyne liniment instead of vanilla, and commit many other mistakes that make Marilla despair of her — and all with the most innocent intentions! But though this is a very funny book, that isn't all it is. Books with only humor to recommend them don't inspire the kind of lifelong love Anne fans have for the series. Montgomery's characterizations are one of the main strengths of the book. Characters like officious Mrs. Rachel Lynde, repressed Marilla, shy Matthew — even minor characters like severe Mrs. Barry and coquettish Ruby Gillis — are drawn with such skill. Montgomery lets her characters be themselves, even if that means that sympathetic characters are foolish, prejudiced, or ridiculous at times. Avonlea may seem idyllic with its homey, warm atmosphere, but its people are not perfect by any stretch. They gossip, argue, backbite, act selfishly and self-righteously, and in general behave like people everywhere else. This is a far cry from the type of children's fiction that paints all adults as wise, understanding beings. Oh no! The people in Avonlea are shown with all their flaws, often through the medium of Mrs. Lynde's busy tongue. And what delightful speeches Montgomery gives her characters! Each has a distinct voice, and Anne especially is wonderful. Much of the story is told through the characters' speeches. This gives us a feel for the context of the community; often the characters will discuss people we never see except when they are mentioned in the gossipy dialogue. And that's completely natural for this kind of story. It never becomes cumbersome with all the names, places, and histories that are related. They fade together into a complete and rounded backdrop for the main characters. What keeps Anne from becoming an irrelevant, impossible goody-two-shoes is her humor and Montgomery's brilliant, wryly hilarious narration. Flights of fancy are beloved and the land of faerie certainly receives its due, but Montgomery keeps her story grounded by her keen eye for all that is funny in people. And there is plenty of it. This is one of the bigger themes of the story, the tension between the romance of poetry and the humdrum, unpoetical events of everyday life. As Anne says after her lily-maid adventure comes to a soggy end, "I have come to the conclusion that it is no use trying to be romantic in Avonlea. It was probably easy enough in towered Camelot hundreds of years ago, but romance is not appreciated now" (p. 227). Much of the humor also comes from Montgomery's many literary and biblical allusions, some of which I am just now understanding. The author's love for Prince Edward Island is evident in the lovely nature descriptions that grace each chapter. Some people complain of these frequent descriptions, but I love them. They are probably responsible for more than half of the troops of tourists that descend upon Prince Edward Island each year to visit where Montgomery lived. I would love to visit there someday and see the red roads for myself. I can't close this review without a word on Kevin Sullivan's 1985 miniseries starring Megan Follows. Megan Follows is Anne. In some parts the script is not faithful to the letter of Montgomery's books, but it certainly fulfills the spirit. The second part especially fudges and compresses many of the books' events, but I have never felt that it violates the author's intent. The same cannot be said for Kevin Sullivan's attempt at a third part, "The Continuing Story." If you haven't seen it, DON'T. Anne is time-warped into World War I, hasn't married Gilbert yet, thinks about having an affair with her publisher, and then ends up roaming Europe looking for Gilbert, who is missing. Outrage is too weak a word to describe my feelings toward this travesty, and I hear that Follows wasn't too hot on the script herself. I read somewhere online a comment from another fan, who asked if an evil alien had taken possession of Kevin Sullivan while he made this thing. No other explanation seems possible. But back to Anne — the real Anne. Thankfully, a dreadful butchery (I won't call it adaptation) like that can't touch the original. Mark Twain, that crusty old cynic, called Anne "the sweetest creation of child life yet written," and I have to agree with him. I am thankful that this is one of the books that shaped me, and I look forward to introducing Anne to my own children. I know they will love her as I do. A wonderful, wonderful book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There is no place on earth that feels more like home than Green Gables. It makes no difference how long its been since you last visited the home of Anne, Mathew, and Marilla, just as soon as you open this book again, you have gone home. People with characters you have known your whole life and feel more comfortable with than most real people you know, this never ever gets old. You always have a home at Green Gables.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Not sure how I managed not to read this as a child. I got through the Little Women books and the 'What Katy Did' series, but never Anne of Green Gables. My mother-in-law loves it and I bought it for her recently, so read her copy on the way back to Canada from a UK trip this week. Really enjoyed it - can see why it's a classic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    L.M Montgomery's classic story Anne of Green Gables follows the adventures of Anne Shirley after she is adopted by siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert.This Canadian classic stands the test of time. Anne Shirley is a chatty and fanciful girl who over time matures but still retains a sense of whimsy. L.M Montgomery has a way with description that makes you feel like you're really at Green Gables and just waiting to try some of Marilla's baking. Extremely well written, one is reminded of their own flights of childhood imagination.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My favorite young girl story. Anne is a girl you can relate to. Full of fun, humor and touching moments.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Although some of the titles that follow in this series are good, the first is the best. This novel conjures a beautiful image of life on Prince Edward Island in the early 1900s. Anne continues to charm readers nearly 100 years after its original publication.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Anne Shirley warms the hearts of two people Marilla and Matthew Cuthbets take in this child. Anne has been going from home to home for some time now. She meets the Cuthberts and warms there hearts especially Matthew who is not so easy to get to. I love this story have seen the movie about dozen times but love the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    when a orphan girl came to a house ... a family life had changed!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A sentimental favorite, I suppose, but a favorite nonetheless. Some of Montgomery's later books (the other Anne books, the Emily books) are better, but this one still has lovable, humorous characters whose different worldviews make their exchanges worth reading.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had a much harder time enjoying this as an adult than I did when I first read it. When you have grown out of the perspective that children, in having imaginations, know much more about what is truly important than adults, you find it harder to enjoy Anne's chatter, and unfortunately I didn't find the adult characters fleshed out as well. They largely seem to be based on stereotypes, and it gets rather annoying to hear almost every chapter end with either Marilla or Rachel saying something about how Anne never stops talking.And yet, somehow, this book is still endearing, in spite of its predictability, repetition, and frequent overt moralising. Perhaps it is because the adults, while stereotyped, represent archetypes that still exist today. Or, perhaps it is because we can all remember some bad experience as a schoolchild that makes us sympathise with Anne. I wish this book were a bit more polished so that I could enjoy it as much now as I did when I was younger, but I can still appreciate its appeal to "tween"-aged children. The language is certainly more varied than most modern books targeted at that age, so I would still recommend it as worthy reading for the appropriate age group.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love Anne of Green Gables it is one of those classic books that despite its setting and characters it is still a story that young readers can relate to. Throughout this book and the series it shows various kinds of families, beyond the typical nuclear family. Anne is such a headstrong girl, who means well but has a tendency to get into scrapes. I think that the problems that Anne faces are similar to the problems that young girls still face today.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When I told my mom that I had decided to start reading Anne of Green Gables the other week she said, “You haven’t read that yet?” “What? I saw the movie,” I replied. But when I finished this book the other day, the first thing I told my fiance was, “I can’t believe I hadn’t read this!”I had always liked the movie, and whenever PBS aired it I would automatically tune in to watch, no matter how late I came into it. As a kid, I never realized there was already a book about Anne Shirley, and as I grew older I looked for new stories, instead of reliving ones I already knew. However, now that I’ve read the first in the Anne (spelled with an “e”) series, I know I’ll have to read them all. There are two things that have hooked me to these novels: Anne’s undying and unsurpassed spirit, and the language that flows through the pages and sticks in my head. I’ve found myself thinking in Anne’s terms, using “big words” and colorful adjectives, and dreaming about beautiful places.Lucky for Anne, however, she didn’t have to use her imagination to dream up nature at its finest (although should could have without even trying). Prince Edward’s Island, the setting of Avonlea and our story, is described as one of the most beautiful places I can imagine; trees blossom around every corner and flowery scents pervade the air. Of course, Anne grew up in the early 1900s, and that is probably one of the reasons L.M. Montgomery could describe such beauty. Had she tried to place Anne in a new home today, the poor girl would have had to use a whole lot more imagination. This story really made me look around our city and realize that nature is basically what we have in between the strip malls and highways. We have just enough trees to give us a little bit of color, but nothing that would make you stop and take notice, just for its beauty. It makes me want to take a long vacation in some remote part of the world that’s been untouched by human hands.Anne of Green Gables tells the story of an orphan who is adopted (unwillingly at first) by an older brother and sister who want help on their farm. Anne is nothing short of a surprise on all accounts, from her red hair (and temper to match) to her constant story-tellings and imaginings. She isn’t the dependable boy the Cuthberts had planned on adopting, but Anne’s vivacity and gratitude for the home she never thought she’d have win over not just her benefactors, but the entire town. Anne is unlike anyone in Avonlea has ever met, and this not only causes her to get into a few scrapes, but catapults her into their hearts. It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 50, Anne’s spirit will win you over, and the language Montgomery uses will transport you into her world.5 out of 5 stars for being one of the best books I have read in a long time, and for making me want to read it again and again in the years to come.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've never read this before, and I found it delightful. Anne is such a real character. I'll be reading through the rest of this series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I know several people who consider this book to be a childhood favorite, my own mother being one of them. In fact, she gave me this copy of the novel several years ago and I let it languish on my shelves until now. I certainly understand why people cherish it so much. Precocious and spunky Anne is charming (even though she talks too much); I adored her imagination. We probably would have been kindred spirits had I read this book back when my mom first recommended it.Overall, this coming of age story is quite sweet. Anne learns the true meaning of friendship, how to accept her looks (after dying her hair green!), and grows as a student. Her education takes the forefront of this story, especially at the end, and she becomes quite the grown-up in 373 pages. I would have slightly preferred spending more time in Anne’s imagination than reading about her studying for college examination, but I guess all little girls must grow up. Lucky for me, Montgomery’s novel is here to remind me of life as an imaginative child.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Oh! It was better than I remembered. I laughed out loud so many times; I can't remember the last time a book made me laugh like that, and so often. And I cried like a fool at the end. It's been so long (20 years, I suppose), I'd all together forgotten how it ended.

    So glad I revisited this one. A childhood favorite that stands the test of time.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    2009, fiction, canada, children, kindle, own
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Anne of Green Gables is one of my all-time favorite books! I'm re-visiting some old classics from my youth this summer, and L.M. Montgomery's beautiful series about the "Anne girl" is at the top of my list. The story is well-known and loved - purely by mistake, plucky orphan Anne Shirley comes to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. They wanted a boy to help with the farm work, but what they got was a charmingly verbose little girl who quickly makes a place for herself in their lives. Anne gets into so much trouble that it would be nearly impossible to chronicle in a review without retelling the whole story, so suffice it to say that she is definitely the queen of the caper! Anne Shirley is wonderfully relatable - she is a smart and creative girl, full of spirit and amazingly introspective for someone her age. Anne is a unique and entertaining character in a novel full of interesting characters - I want to be Anne Shirley when I grow up! From Marilla and Matthew to their curmudgeonly neighbor Rachel Lynde, Montgomery created a fascinating cast of characters that are impossible to forget. L.M. Montgomery crafted a true masterpiece with Anne of Green Gables. The story is timeless and the setting is meticulously illustrated with a graceful use of words and phrases. The writing is simply delightful - there is true magic between the covers of this book!"Mrs Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops, and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-constructed little stream, for not even a brook could run past Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof."Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case - Montgomery's own words are the only ones that do the story justice. Pick-up Anne of Green Gables immediately if not sooner for a real adventure!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Anne of Green Gables is a book that’s obviously a classic. Everyone knows the story of Anne, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, Anne’s “bosom” friend Diana, and Gilbert, and it was a pleasure to re-read this book—inspired by recently reading The Heroine’s Bookshelf, a collection of essays about life lessons learned from fictional characters. The lesson to be leaned from Anne is happiness—despite her circumstance as an unloved, unwanted orphan, she can still use her imagination to see her situation in a positive light. Anne could easily come across as too sugary-sweet for most people, but I think her optimism is refreshing.What I’d forgotten about the book is how much time passes in the course of the story—Anne is twelve when she arrives at Green Gables, and sixteen or thereabout when she finishes school. So there’s a lot of character development that goes on in this book, with Anne learning to control her temper—and her personality never really changes. Anne still has the same outlook on life at the end of the book as at the beginning.It intrigued me to learn that Anne of Green Gables was originally written as a book for adults—but it’s the kind of book, and series, that has universal appeal. It was also interesting to learn than Green Gables is actually modeled on a real house in Cavendish, PEI. The author also apparently modeled Anne physically after the model and actress Evelyn Nesbitt, an odd choice considering that Anne is supposed to be ugly and freckled. What I’d also forgotten about the book are the excellent descriptions of Avonlea and Prince Edward Island.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Marilla and Matthew want a boy. But they are going to live with a girl who name Anne.I love this story.This story make my heart warming.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I can't believe I never read this book growing up! I want to go back in time and live there and grow up like Anne and her friends did. From start to finish I was hooked.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am sure, I say this of all the books I like but I believe Anne of Green Gables to be my favorite children's book of all times. I really love the idyllic and quaint nature of Avonlea and Green Gables. A place where hard work is revered and nature's beauty is beloved. I also love the themes of this novel and what children can take from it. We all were children, we all got into a scrap or two, but we can still grow into responsible and respectable adults. I loved Anne from the first minute the book began. I had watched the PBS cartoon when I was younger and did have some idea of who Anne was, but that was nothing compared to reading the book. They could not capture the lore of Anne or the beauty of Avonlea in a cartoon, only imagination will do.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book when I was in sixth grade and I loved it.After this I started reading other books by L.M Montgomery.They were also very good but this one is my favorite.this book tells us the story of an eleven year old orphan girl named Anne and how she lives her life with Marilla and Mathew at Green Gables.She makes many friends like Diana and Gilbert and by the end of this book she grows up to be a sixteen year old teacher at Avonlea.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There are several different ways in which I could approach a review of Anne of Green Gable, but in fairness to the book, I think I need to review with a strong consideration that I am not representative of the target audience. Montgomery's classic is a book that managed to slip past me in my book-greedy youth. For me the time period when such a book would have been effective was rather small, between the years of 9-11. I managed to hit all the others of this genre-Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Caddie Woodlawn, Greengage Summer...but not Anne. I am sorry I did not read it then. Casting myself back to those days, I ask, would 10 year old me liked Anne? I think at 10 I would have been enraptured. As a 50 year old reader, all I can say is that the story is a great deal of charm, but the character of Anne for the first 3/4 of the book drove me a bit mad. Lord, how the child gushes. Perhaps it is my slightly pessimistic turn, but her always looking at the sunny side of life was wearying. Then there is her tendency to frequently repeat certain of her pet tenants. Since the days of my mother reading Chicken Little to me, I have hated repetitiveness. One of my chief complaints with Dickens is his love of giving certain characters oft repeated mantras. This is not character development. Okay it is, but only of the worst and least subtle sort. The moralistic tone of the story was a bit much for me as well. All of this said, I probably would have loved this book at 10.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am probably the last adult female in the world to fall in love with Anne Shirley, but it’s finally happened. Her sweet, spunky, imaginative spirit is impossible not to fall in love with.Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery is a book I wish I’d read in childhood. I know I would have gobbled up this series just like I did the Little House books. While as a child I could relate to Laura’s tomboyishness and her location on the prairie, I now see in Anne a competitive spirit that I could have also related to, particularly with academics. It also would have been nice to have the American/Canadian contrast while I was a young girl, but at least now I know what I’ve been missing. Just as those around her were spellbound by Anne, so was I. I can’t wait to read more of the series.