Every year when I was growing up, our local PBS station would show the Anne of Green Gables miniseries during their annual fundraiser telethon. I always looked forward to seeing Anne again each year. Although we really should have ordered the series on tape (VHS!), my family didn’t own a copy, so we’d have to catch it once a year during the fundraiser. (Those days before Netflix and DVDs…)
I have always loved Anne’s story, so I’m not sure why I waited so long to read the book, but I finally did!
As I read the book, I had only Megan Follows’s portrayal of Anne in my head. She did such a perfect job of playing her–I can’t imagine any other actress in the role, especially after having read the book. Also, I was impressed to see how true to the book the miniseries really was. I can’t stand it when adaptations take too many liberties with the original material, but this is a case where the miniseries was faithful to the book, and thankfully so.
Like Marilla (who is my second favorite character after Anne), I initially found Anne to be insufferable at times but ultimately endearing. After a while, the various scrapes she got herself into were slightly less comical and more repetitive, but at least she got into less mischief as she grew up. However, I was kind of sad that so much more detail was given to Anne’s earlier life at Green Gables, versus the whirlwind of the following five years. In particular, I would have liked for Anne’s experiences at Queen’s Academy to have been more fleshed out. The depiction of her teenage years was more of an afterthought when they really could have been shown in more detail.
Nevertheless, Anne’s tale is so sweet. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Also: Gilbert Blythe. Need I say more?
A few years ago when I was sick, I discovered someone had put up the entire Anne of Green Gables series on youtube in 10 minute increments. I loved rewatching it!! And oh man Gilbert Blythe yes ma’am!!
I really, really need to re-watch the series — I loved it so much. I have the entire set of Anne books that I read obsessively when I was younger but now I think I need to re-read them!
I loved this book. I got my tonsils removed in the 3rd grade and for the weeks I was out of school I read the book and literally watched this movie over and over.