book review | anne of green gables, my daughter, and me

While I'm definitely not as into Anne of Green Gables as Lorilee Craker, it is a neat story with a lot more insights than I ever realized before reading this book. It also serves as a really unique way to tell her story of being adopted as well as that of her daughter. The interweaving of her life, her daughter's life, and Anne's life work together to build a book different than any other I've ever read.

I really enjoyed reading Anne of Green Gables, My Daughter, and Me as a diversion from my typical literature fare, and especially appreciated the times when she really got serious - asking thought-provoking questions about my life - my relationships, my attitudes, my identity. For example, one of my favorite quotes is found on page 125. While I'm not sure L.M. Montgomery ever intended for this much meaning to be extracted from Anne's relationship with Rachel Lynde, it was a really relevant thought for my life right now. Lorilee Craker writes, "In Scripture, the apostle Paul talks about winning people over - the neighbor, the husband who doesn't believe, the weak, the lawless. When we are insulted and defensive, how can we turn things upside down as Anne did?How can we, swayed by love, win our foes over? Mrs. Rachel acted abominably, but Anne also behaved badly. Yet in this messy situation, grace, love, and creative apology were the victors. See how everyone was changed by the encounter?" I wish there was more of those types of quotes in this book, but the few that there are are well-written and well-placed. Adopted or not, this is a book that everyone can relate to.

However, some of the more entertaining parts were a little bit overdone, I felt like. Like I said, I'm not quite as obsessed with Anne as she is, and there were sections where I started to feel like it would be better if I would just pick up L.M. Montgomery's writings for myself - lots of paraphrasing and maybe somewhat unnecessary commentary.

Overall, this is a very creatively written memoir and it did make me want to read the Anne of Green Gables books again - perusing them for special wisdom and advice about life and people. There is so much to learn from the different characters.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.