Anne of Green Gables Writing Style

Opinionated, Detailed

L.M. Montgomery ain't Hemingway. No; we don't mean that she's not a man. No; we don't mean that she's not rocking a luscious beard. We mean that where Papa's sentences are usually comprised of as few syllables as possible, L.M.'s are lush, long, and lingering.

Especially when it comes to her lengthy descriptions of the natural world of Prince Edward Island. She'll show you how exactly the sun looked through the trees or reflected in the stream. This level of precision is applied to people and social interactions as well. But when people are described, there's an added bonus of judgment. Take, for example, the description of a completely minor character named Billy Andrews:

"He was a big, fat, stolid youth of twenty, with a round, expressionless face, and a painful lack of conversational gifts." (33.29)

Ouch. As this character had no relevance to the plot at all, a different author might have written, simply, "Anne sat in the front of the carriage with her friend's brother" and left it at that. So why does L.M. Montgomery feel the need to judge poor Billy?

Avonlea's a place where not many big changes happen, so this book paints full scenes of ordinary life. Especially the details of human interaction, like what it's like to sit in the front seat with someone boring while all your friends are in the back.

The incisive description of each character pulls readers into the world, because it's so fully painted.