About the Book
-
Author:
- L.M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
- Genre:
- Classics
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Gutenberg Will Keep You Respectable…
BFF Charm: Yeth…
Talky Talk: You’ll Find She’s Full of Surprises
Bonus Factor: Patriotism, Dog Monday
Relationship Status: Could I Love This Book More?
Cover Story: Gutenberg Will Keep You Respectable…
So this is totally a romance book cover. And this book IS a romance, so there’s that. Plus, it’s obvious that man in uniform is Kenneth… or is it Walter? Anyway, this isn’t a book cover I’d really want to be seen in public with, but THANK GOD for Gutenberg Press! I got to read it on my phone! Everywhere I went! So instead of folks judging me for the cover, they just gave me strange looks for the sobbing over my phone…
The Deal:
WAR has broken through the haven of Rainbow Valley. The Piper has called, and British and Canadian boys have answered. Rilla, youngest of the Blythe children –whose only aspiration is to have fun– must face daily the horrific task of waiting at home for news of the fates of her friends and brothers, as well as the world. She also organizes the Junior Red Cross, arranges a secret wedding and quite accidentally adopts a war baby.
BFF Charm: Yeth…
Oh Rilla-my-Rilla!!!!!!!! I love you with a love that rivals my love for your mother!!! Erm… how ANYONE could resist the urge to go out and buy the shiniest, bestest, friendiest charm they could find to present to her, I’ll never know. Whether it’s the quote I used in the title, or that time she shouted out in the movie theatre, “The knife is in your stocking-the knife is in your stocking!” Or how about when she had to go persuade that awful catty Irene Howard to sing at the benefit for the orphans in Belgium, and she was so flustered that she only put on one of her good shoes, leaving her other foot encased in a manky old boot, and had to survive the gaping of Irene during the entire interview! It isn’t just her absent-mindedness that makes her so lovable, or her fierce stubbornness, to stick the thing out, or her adorable declarations about the whole affair:
“There is only one thing of importance just now- and that is that the Allies win the war,” she said aloud. “Therefore, it follows without dispute that the fact that I went to see Irene Howard with odd shoes and stockings on is of no importance whatever. Nevertheless, I, Bertha Marilla Blythe, swear solemnly with the moon as my witness” Rilla lifted her hand dramatically to the said moon- “that I will never leave my room again without looking carefully at both my feet.”
It is a mixture of ALL aspects of Rilla’s personality that make her irresistible.
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
HOLY Shizz, you guys! You kept saying how Rilla and Kenneth’s romance rivaled Anne and Gilbert’s, but I had NEVER read this book until now! Kenneth is SO swoony, in that perfectly, devilishly swoony kind of swoon –a deserving product of his parents’ love story. And Rilla’s steadfast heart even though she wonders if she is or isn’t actually engaged to Kenneth Ford!
Then there is other swooniness. The kind that doesn’t necessarily get a happy ending. Sweet, dear Una!!!!!!
Talky Talk: You’ll Find She’s Full of Surprises
(That phrase was stuck in my mind as I was writing this, and it took me 3 whole minutes to realize I was paraphrasing Luke Skywalker.)
Anywho, I thought, after reading all of the other Anne books, that I knew the ins and outs of Lucy Maud’s writing. I was wrong. This book is so full of beauty and heartache that my poor heart isn’t even big enough to contain it all. If you haven’t read this one, heed the DNRIP warning, because if anybody where I work had happened to look at me, they would have seen me sobbing on numerous occasions.
Since I seem to be in the mood for paraphrasing, let me quote the great lady herself and hope that we all stay “young enough not to be afraid of perfect things”.
Bonus Factor: Patriotism
“Before this war is over,” Walter said- or something said through his lips-“every man and woman and child in Canada will feel it– you, Mary, will feel it– feel it to your heart’s core. You will weep tears of blood over it. The Piper has come– and he will pipe until every corner of the world has heard his awful and irresistible music. It will be years before the dance of death is over– years, Mary. And in those years millions of hearts will break.”
WAAAAAALLLLLLLLLTTTTTEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can it be that there was a time when countries were united against the evil that threatened to overrun the world? When Canadian boys joined up in the fight in Europe against first the Kaiser, and then years later, again against Hitler. I’m ashamed of the U.S.’s stance of ignorant bliss, only to rush in like the calvary in the last minute –after everyone else had given everything they had for years. And how can it be, that after those two ‘great’ wars that holocausts are still happening every day? That we turn a blind eye to the suffering of millions, but rush in where oil is concerned? Sometimes, when I think of the suffering that exists every single day, I think I can’t go on in such a world. But then I remember stories like this, and I work to make some sort of difference every day, because it is all we can do.
Bonus Factor: Dog Monday
You guys, I just can’t even! If you’ve never experienced the love and devotion of a special dog (especially if it’s a spotted dog, like Dog Monday, or my own Maudy) you might not understand the depths of my heart that were touched by this part of the story.
Relationship Status: Could I Love This Book More?
The answer is simple. No.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). Rilla of Ingleside is available now.
