rilla of ingleside discussion post

[imaginary_lines]

And here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for!

I can honestly say that this book is my favorite of the series and I am honored/nervous about presiding over the discussion. If I miss anything you want to talk about, correct me and I'll add it!

1. as was pointed out last post, Rilla of Ingleside (according to wiki) is the only Canadian novel

Comments

[beth_shulman]

1. as was pointed out last post, Rilla of Ingleside (according to wiki) is the only Canadian novel written from a women's perspective about the First World War by a contemporary. I know this is a broad question but does this fact change the way you see/read the book? Can you tell, when reading, that it's a contemporary account and not a retroactive one?

I think the way she writes about war is one of the most fascinating things about this book. I wrote last week (half-asleep, but the idea still stands) that I thought that she managed, without preaching or putting down patriotism (in fact directly discussing and crediting patriotism) to be passionately anti-war. Just by showing what war is like. Because isn't that what would make anyone anti-war? The reality of it? And I love the fact that she does it from a woman's perspective, with all the bitterness and love and fear that it involves.

2. How do you feel about this book being the last in the "Anne" series? A good wrap-up? Too depressing? Just the right mix of adult issues mixed in

[beth_shulman]

7. Speaking of deaths and injuries....(sniff)...whose hit you the hardest? Did you give Jem up for dead when he disappeared? Walter getting called by the Piper? Carl's losing one eye? Miller Douglas's leg?

OH GOD MY WALTER. NO QUESTION.

The poem was a short, poignant little thing. In a month it had carried Walter's name to every corner of the globe. Everywhere it was copied - in metropolitan dailies and little village weeklies - in profound reviews and "agony columns", in Red Cross appeals and Government recruiting propaganda.. Mothers and sisters wept over it, young lads thrilled to it, the whole great heart of humanity caught it up as an epitome of all the pain and hope and pity and purpose of the mighty conflict, crystallized in three brief immortal verses. A Canadian lad in the Flanders trenches had written the one great poem of the war.

The whole idea of the Piper is so eerily chilling. So well done.

And

Rilla, the Piper will pipe me 'west' tomorrow. I feel sure of this. And Rilla, I'm not afraid. When you hear the news,

[katayla]

When I read these growing up, I thought the Piper was a real poem. I think part of me still believes it MUST be a real poem.

(I haven't read The Road Home! I really need to get Ellen Emerson White's non-President's Daughter books.)

[beth_shulman]

I WISH IT WAS. I wish it existed. I really can't think of a poem that fits those criteria, and I think it would be good if one did.

Get them! Not all of them are fantastic, in my opinion, but The Road Home is really, really good, and really, really powerful.

[myr_soleil]

1. Well, I wouldn't say it changes the way I read the book but I certainly find it very interesting, like I'm reading something that could be a history manual. (Also, I checked out "World War I in literature" or something on Wikipedia, and was outraged not to see Rilla prominently featured, haha.) The fact that it was released so soon after the war... I do wonder if people felt like "oh hell no, I am not reading about this hell we just finally got through". I wonder also if it was written during the war? Maybe planned out, but at the same time, you can't really plan a book like that without knowing how the war ends. It's also super interesting that LMM decided to write it so soon, like it was a way to exorcise her demons.

2. It doesn't have that much to do with Anne! But the last three books are pretty similar in that. It doesn't necessarily feels like an ending, which is probably explained by The Blythes Are Quoted... but at the same time all the children are grown up and most of them already set in their lives. I was surprised to

[myr_soleil]

9. Nope. What, just because he's romantic and a poet? Haha, man, us girls are unlucky if that's the case. Honestly I don't think Walter was much interested in any one. (It always strikes me as very odd that he writes poems to Faith

[beth_shulman]

I always felt so bad for Rilla, that she couldn't keep her letter.

Although I do wonder what their married lives must have been like. I mean, they barely knew each other.

I really feel like they liked the idea of each other? Or maybe there's a whole lot of backstory we just weren't told.

[katayla]

but then I never felt that Anne was especially attached to Shirley, so maybe she didn't mind!

HAHAAHAHA. That's sad, but it really did feel that way! Poor Shirley!

And I could raise a war baby, no problem... but I couldn't give it back after! ;)

That's what always gets to me! She has to give him back? I would never able to do that! :P

It always strikes me as very odd that he writes poems to Faith.

Yeah, that always stands out to me. I don't exactly feel like we were supposed to read that as romantic interest? But it's just weird.

(Although I do wonder what their married lives must have been like. I mean, they barely knew each other.)

I wonder about that a little, too. But they did exchange a lot of letters? And I guess they saw each other a lot growing up. It's just the romantic part of their relationship was so very new when he left.

[empressearwig]

1. as was pointed out last post, Rilla of Ingleside (according to wiki) is the only Canadian novel written from a women's perspective about the First World War by a contemporary. I know this is a broad question but does this fact change the way you see/read the book? Can you tell, when reading, that it's a contemporary account and not a retroactive one?

I think it's a super interesting piece of trivia, but it doesn't really change the way I read the book, no.

2. How do you feel about this book being the last in the "Anne" series? A good wrap-up? Too depressing? Just the right mix of adult issues mixed in with the problems of growing up?

I think it's probably the perfect wrap up. To go any further with it is to get into even more depressing territory, really, and while it's not like I want to discount the actual history, I'm perfectly content to leave it here. (Or at least I would be if more people would write fic about what happens after the book. COME ON.)

3. How do you feel about Susan in this book? A steadying presence or

[empressearwig]

7. Speaking of deaths and injuries....(sniff)...whose hit you the hardest? Did you give Jem up for dead when he disappeared? Walter getting called by the Piper? Carl's losing one eye? Miller Douglas's leg?

Walter's death is one of those things that always makes me cry. I can't read that passage (or actually Rilla reading his letter) without getting teary-eyed.

8. The romances between the Blythe children and the manse children - did you think it was too neat and tidy, or did it make sense to you? Faith + Jem, Una loved Walter, Nan + Jerry....discuss!

I AM JUST BITTER THAT THERE WASN'T MORE OF THEM. Not romances, because more than the ones that we got (and I'm not sure Una and Walter should count here because unrequited love isn't tidy) would have been unrealistic, but I want to know HOW they fell in love. Maybe that's what I wish Rainbow Valley would have been. More of a direct prequel to Rilla, where we see them as young adults starting to spoon.

9. Do you read/think of Walter as gay? All my girlfriends read Walter as gay,

[katayla]

Maybe that's what I wish Rainbow Valley would have been. More of a direct prequel to Rilla, where we see them as young adults starting to spoon.

That would've been AWESOME. I guess we get Jem/Faith hints in Rainbow Valley, but they all still feel so very young in that one.

[mardia]

1. as was pointed out last post, Rilla of Ingleside (according to wiki) is the only Canadian novel written from a women's perspective about the First World War by a contemporary. I know this is a broad question but does this fact change the way you see/read the book? Can you tell, when reading, that it's a contemporary account and not a retroactive one?

When I was a kid I couldn't tell, but as an adult, it explains a LOT about the book and, hmm--the lack of perspective on the war?

2. How do you feel about this book being the last in the "Anne" series? A good wrap-up? Too depressing? Just the right mix of adult issues mixed in with the problems of growing up?I think it's a really great wrap-up to the series, actually. I just really enjoy the idea of this book, because while Rilla is Anne's daughter, she's also very different from Anne (and from most of LMM's heroines) being more practical, less interested in higher education, etc. So on that level, it really works for me, and I also like seeing what's happened to all the kids

[mardia]

8. The romances between the Blythe children and the manse children - did you think it was too neat and tidy, or did it make sense to you? Faith + Jem, Una loved Walter, Nan + Jerry....discuss!

I can handwave it, and there certainly are REASONS for it, but yeah, it does seem a little too neat and tidy. Jem and Faith make the most sense to me, but Jerry and Nan seem dropped in there. (People have mentioned Una and Shirley as a pairing that makes sense, and I have to agree.)

9. Do you read/think of Walter as gay? All my girlfriends read Walter as gay, whereas I never did. What do you think?

Honestly, I actually do see him as gay. This is totally up for interpretation, but that's how he reads to me.

10. "And So, Goodnight" Walter's last letter. If you want to cry again (seriously, I've read this book a billion times and cry every dang time) here's the project gutenberg link www.gutenberg.org/files/3796/3796-h/3796-h.htm#chap23 How do you interpret as keeping the faith? Are you more heartbroken by Una's grief or Rilla's in this

[katayla]

(People have mentioned Una and Shirley as a pairing that makes sense, and I have to agree.)

I love that! I think I'm going to make that personal canon. :)

[h_loquacious]

When I was a kid I couldn't tell, but as an adult, it explains a LOT about the book and, hmm--the lack of perspective on the war?

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by 'lack of perspective on the war?' Just from a historical perspective (like considering consequences and such)?

I think it's a really great wrap-up to the series, actually. I just really enjoy the idea of this book, because while Rilla is Anne's daughter, she's also very different from Anne

That's an excellent point, and one I hadn't really thought of. Interesting.

I liked Gertrude, although I don't really know what the point of her was in this series.

YES. Totally agree.

[katayla]

1. as was pointed out last post, Rilla of Ingleside (according to wiki) is the only Canadian novel written from a women's perspective about the First World War by a contemporary. I know this is a broad question but does this fact change the way you see/read the book? Can you tell, when reading, that it's a contemporary account and not a retroactive one?

It doesn't change how I see the book, but I think it's a very cool thing to talk/think about! I don't think I could tell it was a contemporary account, but knowing that does add something.

2. How do you feel about this book being the last in the "Anne" series? A good wrap-up? Too depressing? Just the right mix of adult issues mixed in with the problems of growing up?

I think it's a good ending! It always leaves me wanting more, but in a good way.

3. How do you feel about Susan in this book? A steadying presence or an intrusive know it all that you could do without? And her attachment to Shirley?

Haha, all of the above?

4. Gertrude Oliver! Love her, hate her? Do you find her

[katayla]

9. Do you read/think of Walter as gay? All my girlfriends read Walter as gay, whereas I never did. What do you think?

Huh. I never did either. To me, it reads more as he just never took the time for romance, almost? It wasn't something that occurred to him, like, I think he was pretty oblivious to Una.

10. "And So, Goodnight" Walter's last letter. If you want to cry again (seriously, I've read this book a billion times and cry every dang time) here's the project gutenberg link www.gutenberg.org/files/3796/3796-h/3796-h.htm#chap23 How do you interpret as keeping the faith? Are you more heartbroken by Una's grief or Rilla's in this chapter?

Una makes me sadder on some level for all the "might have beens" of it.

11. Rilla's characterization in this book - do you think she grew up because of the war? Would she always have been a vain belle otherwise, with no ambitions? Or do you think she would have grown up anyway?HM. I think she probably still would've grown up, but it would've taken her longer. The war made her grow up so, so

[beth_shulman]

It felt VERY harsh, although I think it is where it helps knowing it's a contemporary novel. I can imagine it would be very hard to hear from pacifists when so many people you love were fighting and dying.

This, pretty much. Although again, it's not like any of them liked the war, just that they couldn't put down their family's sacrifices.

I'm so sorry about your dog :(

Oh, and I agree with you about Gertrude!

[katayla]

Yeah. And they thought it was worth it. They really believed this was a necessary war.

Thanks!