Pat of Silver Bush (Pat of Silver Bush, #1) in Never too Late to Read Classics

May 23, 2019 Manybooks rated it liked it

Shelves: book-reviews, childrens-literature, l-m-montgomery

I have to admit that I am rather glad to NOT have read Pat of Silver Bush as my first L.M. Montgomery novel. For honestly, if I had encountered Pat of Silver Bush before the author's Anne of Green Gables or Emily of New Moon series, I might well have been tempted to stop reading L.M. Montgomery altogether, I might have (and indeed very much wrongly) assumed ALL of her heroines, her main characters to be as annoyingly passive and often repetitively monotonous as Pat Gardiner has felt to me with h I have to admit that I am rather glad to NOT have read Pat of Silver Bush as my first L.M. Montgomery novel. For honestly, if I had encountered Pat of Silver Bush before the author's Anne of Green Gables or Emily of New Moon series, I might well have been tempted to stop reading L.M. Montgomery altogether, I might have (and indeed very much wrongly) assumed ALL of her heroines, her main characters to be as annoyingly passive and often repetitively monotonous as Pat Gardiner has felt to me with her almost obsessive love for her home, for Silver Bush and her consistent and constant resistance to any and all changes (both externally and internally), and that indeed oh so much of Pat of Silver Bush (and yes almost the entire first part of the novel it seems) therefore deals almost exclusively with the latter, has Pat's often unreasonable reactions to changes no matter how small as its main theme.

Now albeit that first reading Pat of Silver Bush as an older adult (and as an older adult who has read and enjoyed much of L.M. Montgomery's oeuvre) has definitely made me appreciative of Montgomery's verbally rich descriptiveness, of her love of home with her glowing and at times almost passionate depictions of Prince Edward Island (and that Pat of Silver Bush is likely also somewhat of an homage to the Island and probably as such even a way to assuage the author's own homesickness, as L.M. Montgomery never really did adjust all that well to having to live in Ontario after her marriage) I have indeed found especially Pat as a main character and yes even housekeeper Judy Plum, while both are loveable and endearing to a point, also rather frustratingly one-sided and sometimes so draggingly and tediously depicted (at least in the beginning of Pat of Silver Bush) that I was often rather tempted to skim over especially Judy Plum's constant gossiping and stories and Pat over and over again being categorically against this and that, against this change and that change (and I also have to say that I have indeed found Pat both rejecting Hilary's affection and that she cannot even really be all that happy for him being able to take an architecture degree in Toronto painful and sad, and yes rather selfish, and that this really does negatively present just how centred on her home and everything staying the same Pat always is).

But while in particular my issues with Pat Gardiner not wanting change and not even really desiring to grow up are actually kind of surprising and ironic to a point (at least coming from me) as I myself have often (in my own life and especially in childhood) acted and thought somewhat like Pat with regard to being resistant to changes, perhaps the mirror image staring back at me from the pages of Pat of Silver Bush is for one too similar and thus a trifle personally uncomfortable, and for two, I guess I kind of have also found it a bit problematic how everyone at Silver Bush often seems to so one hundred percent cater to Pat's (in my opinion) almost pathological at times issues with change, how her family continually seems to approach her with kid gloves so to speak instead of also and repeatedly pointing out that change is part of life and that in order to grow up and live successfully, change will have to be if not embraced, then at the very least somewhat and gracefully accepted.

And I guess I am definitely also rather frustrated that at the end of Pat of Silver Bush, L.M. Montgomery basically just lets Pat stay on at Silver Bush, lets her stay home on a permanent basis, that basically, Pat Gardiner's resistance to change and to leaving Silver Bush, to leaving home is not only condoned but actually even totally enabled, since instead of her family forcing Pat to also at least experience life as a teacher for a while and live away from home, she becomes the chatelaine of Silver Bush after her mother's illness and heart operation. And indeed, I am also rather leery of reading the sequel now, as I do wonder whether Mistress Pat will simply be very much of the same with regard to Patricia Gardiner and her rather overly possessive and obsessive attachment to her home, to her family, to her sacred and seemingly unassailable Gardiner traditions (because I kind of suspect if not know that another instalment of Pat of Silver Bush constantly fighting against any and all change will not be all that personally an enjoyable reading experience for me). ...more

33 likes · Like · see review