Discussion Post: Anne's House of Dreams
Hi everyone! Welcome to our discussion post for one of my favorite books, Anne's House of Dreams. I hope you liked it as much as I did, and I can't wait to hear what you think!
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I really love this new setting, I think this is the best one in all the books, or at least the one that's most fully explored, which makes a certain amount of sense since Anne is actually in Four Winds for longer than she's in any other place. I do miss her and school, because I liked her students, by and large, but she was ready to move on and so I'm ready to read about her moving on, if that makes any sense at all.
2. How about those new characters? Leslie, Captain Jim, Cornelia, Susan, Jem, Owen - did you like their addition?
LOVE. Captain Jim may be my favorite new character in any of the books, and I love Leslie and Susan and Miss Cornelia and Owen, and just, this is the best set of new characters. I love a lot of the rest of them, too, but this is the best set.
3. What do you think of Gilbert in this book? Is there finally enough Gilbert for you? Do you like seeing what happens after the main couple gets married?
I love that we get to see what happens after the main couple gets married! That the story doesn't end with they lived happily ever after is one of my favorite parts of the series. I love how much Gilbert we get, and while there will never be enough Gilbert for me, this comes close. I've always found it interesting that there's always sort of a necessary limitation to how much of him we get, since we only ever see him through Anne's eyes, when Anne's there to see him, and so much of their lives were separate even when they're together, but man. I love them being married so much.
4. Which love story did you prefer - Captain Jim and lost Margaret? Leslie and Owen? Cornelia and Marshall Elliott? Anne and Gilbert?
Anne and Gilbert, forever and always. But of the stories just introduced in the book, Captain Jim and Lost Margaret, I think. It's just so sad and tragic, and that's the reason I initially like Leslie and Owen, too, but I'm always so delighted that they get their happily ever after and go on to provide one of my favorite characters.
5. Is Cornelia a feminist ("Now you know, Anne, I always take the ground that us women ought to stand by each other.") or just sexist ("We've got enough to endure at the hands of the men, the Lord knows")?
Both? Which is actually not that uncommon, I feel like, especially in that first wave of feminism.
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No, because it's clear that she's happy. But at the same time, on some level, it's weird for me to read about this character who's been out in the world and living her own life, suddenly just being settled and not having any of that anymore. It's what she wants, though, and that's all I want for fictional characters that I love.
7. Imagine you don't know how "Dick's" operation turns out. Do you think Gilbert should have told Leslie about the operation?
Yes. Her situation was just SO MISERABLE, that even if he was fully restored to Dick Moore, it would have had to have been better than the alternative. And well, I know how it turned out, so.
8. "But there was something in the smile that had never been in Anne's smile before and would never be absent from it again." How terrible is that? How much did you cry at Joyce's story? Be honest.
Joyce dying, Matthew dying, and a death yet to come are the only parts of the books that make me cry. SO SAD. But I love that it's not forgotten, never forgotten. I feel like a lot of books don't deal well with the realities of losing a child, but this does, I think. Well, as well as I can imagine having never gone through that myself.
9. Canadian readers: how annoyed are you that the Blythes are intensely Conservative? (By the way, even if it later messes with the Rilla of Ingleside timeline, it seems the election depicted in this book is Sir Wilfrid Laurier's, after 18 years of Conservative governments.)
Not Canadian, but maybe you all can finally answer a question I've always had about Canadian politics. How closely is the current Conservative party linked with the Conservative party of the Anne times? Like, in the US, Democrats and Republicans have more or less totally switched positions in the last 150 years, so I've never been sure on that point where Canada was concerned. Educate me, please?
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RIGHT? (Except for now I'm greedy and want to see what happens next after certain later characters get married.)
But I love that it's not forgotten, never forgotten. I feel like a lot of books don't deal well with the realities of losing a child, but this does, I think. Well, as well as I can imagine having never gone through that myself.
YES. I meant to get at that in my comment, but YES. I love the scenes when Anne talks about how she imagines what Joyce would be like now.
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I know, me too. She created such an awesome second generation and it's basically a series I never wanted to end.
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This is so sad :( Also that Leslie wanted her buried in that gorgeous dress she made.
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Same. Oh, Anne's conversation with Leslie is one of the saddest moments for me. I really love it, but it hurts. HURTS :(
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Plus the way Anne talks about her towards the end of the book is so sweet, a little bit like she made peace with it (though I'm not sure she totally did yet).
YES. I was trying to figure out a way to phrase that. She seems to come to some sort of peace, but . . . on the other hand, it's not exactly something you're ever going to "get over."
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That is so true, and something I never really thought about before. I kind of took it for granted, but it is a bit of a rare thing!
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This is harder than I thought it would be...
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Series really do have their charms. This is why good authors should be prolific. We want to know what happens after.
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