TITLE Emily Climbs
AUTHOR LM Montgomery
GENRE fiction. historical, romance
PUBLISHER Seal Book
PAGES 328
YEAR 1984
NOTES
DESCRIPTION Emily Byrd Starr gets to go to school in Shrewsbury. Hiowever, she has to live with her Aunt Dutton and she won’t be permitted to write fiction.
DECISION keep
The Emily books are difficult for me. Because of the similarities and the fact that they have the same author, I compare it to the Anne books. Then I have to compare the books to the Emily of New Moon tv show which in turn gets compared to Annes. In all honesty, when doing this, I like Emily’s show more than Annes. Emily’s show more than the books. But Annes books win out. I feel like Emily’s books are missing something Annes did.
All that being said, I love Emily. I love Ilse. I feel like they’re wonderful characters. But it’s difficult for me to forget that they’re just characters. Emily isn’t all that unique. She’s like Anne but more cynical. In a way, maybe that makes her more realistic. But she doesn’t feel realistic. Her books don’t draw you in. You have a hard time loving the characters, or even hating the characters. The odd character I love, I love more from the show than the book because they don’t get a chance to be fully developed characters in the book. Emily is the only one that gets developed. You get to read her diary which let’s you get to know her a little better but at the same time, makes the other characters feel even more like characters in a book.
It just doesn’t draw me in. There have been many times where I’ve sat down, wanting to read, having every intention of reading it for a couple hours, but wanting to put it aside for something else more interesting. And I can’t say how disappointed that makes me when LM Montgomery is one of my favourite authors. It has me questioning everything. Like, did I like Anne as much as I think I did?
But anyway, I’d still suggest reading it. I did like it well enough. Maybe my problem was that since I’m cynical, it just wasn’t that good a book to escape from reality.
Book #119
Keep #116
Lose #3
Entertain Me 