Book Review: Anne of Windy Poplars

[osprey_archer]

If I recall correctly, L. M. Montgomery wrote the last two Anne books purely for the money. Authors sometimes do write masterpieces under such conditions (Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol to stave off the threat of bankruptcy), but Montgomery achieved the more usual result of grimly extruding something rather dull. This is where my childhood readthrough of the Anne of Green Gables books ground to a halt, and I can see why.

Really Anne of Windy Poplars bears a resemblance to Chronicles of Avonlea: a collection of more or less unrelated episodes, sewn loosely together by the presence of Anne, most but not all involving matchmaking. (Anne of Windy Poplars also features a story about a pair of terrible twins – Anne can’t escape the curse of twins! – plus an elderly rich lady who takes a gruesome joy in relating all the untimely deaths that have occurred in her family.)

But Chronicles of Avonlea, being forthrightly a short story collection, uses variety in format and point of view that makes each match-making tale feel fresh and different. Anne of Windy Poplars, on the other hand, gets repetitious.

However, I forgive the book everything else for the sake of Katherine Brooke, Anne’s bitterly sarcastic second teacher at Summerside High. Katherine Brooke hates everyone and everything, can scarcely speak without unleashing a sarcastic jibe, and bears a particular spite against Anne, both because Katherine wanted the principle-ship which Anne got, and just in general because Anne seems so disgustingly happy. She is horrible. I love her. I am baffled that Anne wants to befriend her, because after about twenty minutes of Katherine I would want to wring her neck.

But Anne believes that deep, deep (DEEP) down Katherine feels trapped and lonely and wants a friend, and of course she is correct. Eventually she manages to inveigle Katherine into accepting an invitation to spend Christmas at Green Gables, and after an invigorating snowshoe walk Katherine pours out the tale of her lonely, embittered childhood. This festering sore lanced, Katherine begins to heal, and blossoms out extraordinarily while retaining her sarcastic edge.

The Tale of Katherine Brooke looms so large in my memory of the book that I was surprised to find it really only takes center stage for a couple of chapters. Katherine Brooke, the world’s most aggravating coworker, is a C-plot for the first half of the book, bursts into prominence for those Christmas at Green Gables chapters, and fades away into the background as Anne gets back to matchmaking again.

Comments

[radiantfracture]

Enjoying this retrospective!

Didn't know that about money, but it makes sense. ("Extrude" is such an excellent verb in this context.)

Once I aged out of identifying with Anne-the-college student, I liked Windy Poplars because it gave Anne a job as a grown-up that used her degree, and because not everyone loved her instantly (though of course they did In Time) -- somewhat evading the Universally Adorable Protagonist problem that late-series books tend to evolve.

I liked the retcon of Professional Anne, since Montgomery decided to make her Not a Real Writer. But as I write, I reflect that none of the later Anne books give Anne much, you know, scope for her imagination.

[osprey_archer]

I know that she cranked out Anne of Ingleside for money, and I'm pretty sure the same is true of Anne of Windy Poplars, too.

After Anne's House of Dreams, there really isn't much scope for Anne's imagination. Or much Anne at all, really, in the books that focus on the next generation. Anne of Ingleside could have offered a bit more, since it is once again Anne-focused, but my recollection is that it doesn't offer much of anything, really. We'll see if I still agree with that assessment once I've reread it.

[radiantfracture]

IIRC you're right about Ingleside -- lots of set pieces for the individual children, not much for Anne to do.

Also by the time we got to Ingleside, I was like "can every house actually be this great? Anne is 3 for 3."

[osprey_archer]

I would forgive Anne's perfect track record with houses if the book as a whole were stronger. It's part of the Fantasy of Anne: she just always finds the perfect house.

[philomytha]

Katherine Brooke is very much the best thing about Windy Poplars - and yeah, I suspect my personal reaction to Katherine would be to avoid her as much as possible, but Anne's decision to befriend her is all kinds of adorable and Anne-y. And I do like the house itself too, the bit where Anne arrives and it's all strange is very nicely done.

[osprey_archer]

Katherine Brooke is a dingdang delight - from a distance, when you are reading about her, I certainly would not have the stamina to keep trying to befriend her for over a year. More power to Anne for doing so, though!

Windy Poplars is a classic Montgomery house, it's true. And I do love how Anne decides that she just HAS to live there as soon as she hears the name and the fact that it's on Spook's Lane. It's foreordained!

[ethelmay]

I really liked Anne of Windy Poplars (and like that name better than the original Windy Willows). There was sentiment in it, but more tartness to the lemonade, as it were.

[osprey_archer]

Was it originally Anne of Windy Willows? I thought the title was changed from Windy Poplars to Windy Willows when it was published in England.

[ethelmay]

"Montgomery's original title for the book was Anne of Windy Willows, but her US publisher requested that she change the title because of the title's similarities to The Wind in the Willows. Additionally, her publisher requested some cuts to the book, mainly for perceived gory or terrifying content. Montgomery complied, and the edited novel was published in the United States and Canada as Anne of Windy Poplars. Her UK publisher, however, did not see the need for the edits and published the unabridged version under the original title, Anne of Windy Willows.[3][4]"

[asakiyume]

Excellent that even in a mainly extruded-type book, there’s this flash of great character creation!

[osprey_archer]

She really is just so good at creating vivid characters!

[littlerhymes]

I had very little memory of this book aside from Katherine Brooke - she's SO interesting! - but in my notes I liked it a lot! Still, could do with more Katherine.

[osprey_archer]

Katherine really overpowered my entire memory of the book, to the point that I was astonished that she gets so little focus. She actually leaves partway through to take a secretarial course at Redmond. WHO KNEW.