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Monday, November 25, 2013

L.M. Montgomery Short Story Collection Reviews - Part 1



I'm going to review the remaining 12 Montgomery books in sets of 3.  These are all short story books and most were compiled in the late 1980s to mid 1990s.  Many aspects of these stories show up in her full length books and she reusues many names.
I rated all 3 of these books 5 stars.

Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea are the 2 exceptions to that.  They were both compiled by Montgomery and published in the 20s and 30s.  There really isn't a common theme to these two other than that all the stories take place in or around Avonlea.  Anne makes small appearances in all of them.  Sometimes she is just mentioned, other times she is an actual side character and in one she is the narrator.  I enjoyed all the stories in Chronicles and most of the stories in Further Chronicles.  They're nice little old fashioned stories.  Feuds are had and made up, the good and honest are rewarded and the vain or unjust have their eyes opened.  The only dark spot was in Further Chronicles the final story - Tannis of the Flats.  The language and beliefs are so racist and dated it is hard to identify with.

Against the Odds is one of the more recent additions to the Montgomery books.  These stories were originally published separately in different magazines and Rea Wilmshurst compiled them.  The stories in the book are about people overcoming odds either financial, family or environmental.  This collection is probably one of my favorites.  The stories are predictable - good get rewarded - but it's still enjoyable reading.

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