Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Before Green Gables

This is a book which depicts Anne Shirley's life before she was at Green Gables. It flows seamlessly to the next book. Even with the change in authors, it seems a very realistic versionof Anne's past. It depicts Anne's passion, romanticism and her hardships. 

It adequately describes the characters mentioned in Anne's early life including her imaginary friends. It also narrates a brief about Anne's parents' life and death. It displays physical and other resemblences with her parents. Like her perfect nose and hatred for geometry. It also goes on to show Anne's struggle to bring up kids while still being a kid. 

It also portrays very beautifully, the origination of Anne's love for long fangled words and how she starts to read which is very endearing. It makes one understand her love for education. Though it does contradict with the way Anne goes into a self imposed school exile over a little provocation in the next book. This Anne is longing to go to school desparately. But overall it's a book which made me want to yet again revisit my favourite series from this refreshed perspective.

" I want to stay exactly where I am, looking at my beloved muddy river ambling along, and waiting for the return of Walter. I want things to stay exactly the same for ever."

"Your anger has to go somewhere. Some people get waful stomach ache and headaches"

"Anne was going to be able to stand up to whatever life threw at her. She would Prevail."

"I feel so bad about being so deep in the pit of despair just because I couldn't go to school. I didn't know that the only important thing in the whole world was that my Noah, your Noah - was alive and well. "

"Anne, thank you for showing me again that words are important. Also that teaching is fun. And that forgiving is possible."

"Go.If you stay here because of  Anne,  you'll be hating her in a few years"

"She longed to tell the history of her own. But how she could do that when there was no one to tell it to?"

Imagining things is not wicked. It's good. It's what makes  people write books and paint pictures and make music. It means pretending things. Go on doing that...It can often rescue you from the depths of sadness"

"But getting angry makes me almost more upset  than the thing that makes me angry."

"It wasn't perfect but Anne should surely have learned by now that life had a lot  of cracks on its surface. Everything would be fine."

"What do you suppose I was before that happened? Was I really nothing? What are you when you're not? That?'s even harder to figure out than what you are after you die"

"I learned to read today. That's why it was just the most important day of my life, except for the morning I was born. Today, I felt like I got born all over again"

"Listen carefully. It will get better. Probably not today. Maybe not tomorrow or next week. Or even next month...But it will get better"

"But you, you often get the right answer even when all the numbers seem to be all wrong"

I don't feel so good about standing up myself. I'd like someone to be helping me. Yes, I'll help you. But someyime I hope I get a chance to be young before I get too old to enjoy it'.


I just can't  understand why it's necessary for people to die. When they go, they leave such a chasm of emptiness behind  them. I thought I'd fallen into the pit of despair before, but nothing was ever quite like this" 

" She wanted to put them all in a large nox and keep them in some sort of memory place where she could take them out and look at them as often as she wanted. But right now, she wanted to put a lid on that box and keep in securely locked for a little while. She needed a look ahead rather than behind."

"She had lived long enough to know that floors didn't become like that (shiny) on their own."

"...captivated by the limitless expanse of sea,..., the smell of salt and seaweed. This is what I've been waiting for my whole life"

"Even a crying baby delighted her because she knew she didn't have to carry it, comfort it, or feed it."

" she felt as though she's absorbed enough happiness to keep her warm and safe and satisfied for the rest of her life."







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