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Book Review: The Story Girl
Nov. 16th, 2023 08:48 amOn PEI, I picked up a couple of facts about The Story Girl. First, the blue chest in the book - Rachel Ward’s wedding chest, locked and abandoned after she was jilted at the altar - is a real chest, which resides in the Anne of Green Gables Museum, which is still owned by Montgomery’s wider family connection. Second, this was L. M. Montgomery’s favorite of her own books.
The second fact rather flabbergasted me, as I’ve read this book before and was not greatly impressed. This time around, I enjoyed it more, because I knew what to expect and could therefore enjoy what it has to offer rather than hankering over what it has not: that is to say, any kind of plot or forward motion.
Except for the Story Girl herself, a vivid tale-spinning wood nymph of a girl (always appearing with scarlet leaves or berries crowning her nut-brown hair), the characters are fairly forgettable, as are many of their adventures - although there is an excellent sequence where they become convinced that tomorrow is Judgment Day, and spend twenty-four hours in fear and trembling. But our ostensible main characters are not the point; they are merely a string on which to hang, like beads, the Story Girl’s stories, a mixture of mythology and fairy tale and Prince Edward Island lore.
I found the book much more enjoyable when I went into it knowing that it was a few dozen short stories dressed up in a trenchcoat to look like a novel. Still a little puzzled as to why it was L. M. Montgomery’s favorite, but who can understand the mysterious ways of authors! Maybe it was just the most fun to write.
The second fact rather flabbergasted me, as I’ve read this book before and was not greatly impressed. This time around, I enjoyed it more, because I knew what to expect and could therefore enjoy what it has to offer rather than hankering over what it has not: that is to say, any kind of plot or forward motion.
Except for the Story Girl herself, a vivid tale-spinning wood nymph of a girl (always appearing with scarlet leaves or berries crowning her nut-brown hair), the characters are fairly forgettable, as are many of their adventures - although there is an excellent sequence where they become convinced that tomorrow is Judgment Day, and spend twenty-four hours in fear and trembling. But our ostensible main characters are not the point; they are merely a string on which to hang, like beads, the Story Girl’s stories, a mixture of mythology and fairy tale and Prince Edward Island lore.
I found the book much more enjoyable when I went into it knowing that it was a few dozen short stories dressed up in a trenchcoat to look like a novel. Still a little puzzled as to why it was L. M. Montgomery’s favorite, but who can understand the mysterious ways of authors! Maybe it was just the most fun to write.
