Kavita's Reviews > Emily of New Moon

I wanted to read something light and decided on the Emily series by L.M. Montgomery. I had recently read her Anne of Green Gables series for the first time ever and enjoyed it (at least the first few books). I had hoped this would be in the same vein. On the surface, both Anne and Emily seem to have similar lives. They are orphans, living with strict guardians who eventually develop a soft spot for them. But as heroines, they are so different!

Emily's father dies and she is then taken by the proud Murrays who see it as a duty to care for their estranged sister's child. They don't really want to take her in but draw lots to see who is to take up the dirty work. The burden falls to Aunt Elizabeth, who lives with her sister, Laura, and brother, Jimmy, at New Moon. So off to New Moon goes Emily. The story develops gradually as Emily develops a relationship with her guardians and neighbours and makes friends.

Emily is a writer and it is through this lens only that we see her. Her letters to her father take up quite a large portion of the book. This, while interesting and presenting more detail to the story, gives a rather unidimensional aspect to the narrative. The one angle I really enjoyed is the relationship between Emily and Aunt Elizabeth. Both being of different temperaments, they often don't get along but they learn to be fond of each other despite their own best efforts. I wish more time had been devoted to their relationship development.

There were aspects to this book I did not enjoy. Emily may be a more complex character than Anne, but she is less likeable. Anne is a happy child who is adjustable and can be rather stubborn at times. But Emily is too adult even when she is a child. There is some pretentiousness to her which I found unattractive. I didn't really warm to the main character as much as I expected. I also found most of her relationships uninteresting. The book lacks the subtle humour I have come to expect from Montgomery.

The one big let-down was Dean Priest. He was a friend of Emily's father and the two had been at school together. Emily meets him on a visit to a great-aunt and he rescues her from death. But he is an extremely creepy man who keeps throwing sexual innuendos at a 12-year old continuously. Emily, despite her precociousness, is too innocent to actually understand his nefarious intentions and makes firm friends with him. What shocks me is that her two aunts, apparently such sticklers for form and bent on protecting Emily from being spoilt, so much so that they deny her further education, do not see it fit to keep this Priest guy at arm's length. His conversations with Emily clearly show that he is grooming her! Hope he disappears in the future books.

Overall, Emily of New Moon is a mediocre read and not a great start to the series. I do hope it gets better.