Emily Climbs Pocket Edition - Beyond World's Classics

I just have to say that the Emily books are easily becoming my second favorite series. Anne will always reign supreme in my heart, but oh! Emily touches my very SOUL with her words, her outlook on life and her deep seeded passions. As a writer myself, I truly see my own literary struggles in Emily’s, instilling in me even more determination to continue climbing the everlasting alpine path. I’m so looking forward to reading Emily’s Quest, as I’m sure it will touch my heart just as much, if not more.

Emily Byrd Starr is a delightful character. She’s charming and intelligent and fiercely talented, with a penchant for finding herself in embarrassing situations that keeps her from feeling inhumanly perfect. She marches to the beat of her own drum in a way that is still uncommon, and her deep appreciation for the beauty of nature resonates with me. I adore her on the surface, but I think she and I have developed a relationship that will never grow beyond friendly acquaintances. As much as I try to connect with her on a deeper level, we can’t seem to become the bosom buddies that Anne Shirley and I are. Which is wild, because I actually have more in common with Emily than I do with Anne. I guess there just isn’t room in my heart for both of them. “Well, it all comes to this, there's no use trying to live in other people's opinions. The only thing to do is to live in your own.” This second installment in the trilogy is about Emily’s adolescence and young womanhood. She finds herself departing from New Moon (during the week, anyway, since she still comes home on weekends) and attending high school, which was more closely related to the undergrad colleges of today than our present high schools. The aunt she is living with is even harsher than Aunt Elizabeth, watching Emily’s every move and waiting to pounce on any act of which she doesn’t approve. Slowly but surely, Emily’s writing takes off, proving to her family and friends that her “scribblings” have merit. "The discovery of beautiful and interesting words always gives me joy. When I find a new, charming word I exult as a jewel-seeker and am unhappy until I've set it in a sentence.” Though I can’t manage to love Emily as much as I do Anne, this series has more of Montgomery’s voice and presence than any of the Anne of Green Gables books. I love how she inserts her own opinions as a narrator in among Emily’s thoughts and deeds. It’s an adorable addition and one of the highlights of the series for me. Her descriptions of nature are also second to none, and are often breathtakingly beautiful even though they’re merely words on a page. She also includes snippets of amazing writing advice that I plan to apply to my own writing. To the best of my ability, anyway. "You'll never write anything that really satisfies you though it may satisfy other people.” Don’t think that I in any way dislike this book or series because I keep comparing Emily to Anne. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Emily series is delightful and wholesome and pure in a way that’s incredibly inviting, and Emily is a character whom you can’t help but root for with your whole heart. I truly believe that, had I met Emily first, Anne couldn’t have found her way into my heart past the delight that is Emily Byrd Starr. It was mere happenstance that I fell in love with Anne before I had the pleasure of meeting Emily. But I still deeply desire to see how Emily’s life turns out, and I feel more invested in that outcome than I did regarding the Anne books, so that’s something. I can also unequivocally see myself rereading this series when I need something comfortably lovely to take me away from the modern world.

4.5 stars

Still really enjoying this series. I'm especially loving the diarised sections written so as to come from Emily's own mind - with Montgomery stopping to interject here and there that she is in fact, only Emily's biographer, not her apologist! The only reason I gave this book 4 stars (as opposed to the 5 stars I gave the first instalment in this trilogy) is because I felt like a near-identical plot device had been used in this book, as had the first (I won't give any spoilers, but when you read it yourself, you'll know what I mean) as well as a very similar character arc seen in Aunt Ruth, as we had seen with Aunt Elizabeth in book 1. If this book had been a stand-alone, or had I read this one first, I definitely would have given it the full 5 stars for all it's gorgeous prose, humour, genuinely likeable titular character, believable friendships and the reality of family loyalties. But - and maybe I'm being a little too harsh, being as I'm reviewing this now as a 41 year old woman, rather than an 11 year old girl - the fact that some events and outcomes seemed so similar as to be almost formulaic, caused me to deduct one star. With each book in this trilogy I am again reminded of why I loved these books so much growing up. Like Jo in Little Women, Emily was a spirited, book-loving, character I was very much able to identify with; and still do to a certain extent. I'm about to move onto the third and final book in the 'Emily' trilogy which I'm glad I cannot remember the conclusion to, because this rereading has been so much fun. It will be a shame once this nostalgic literary jaunt is over, but I know it'll be hard to pace myself and not hurry through, from pure enjoyment. Why there couldn't have been as many books about Emily, as there were about the somewhat irritating (to me) Anne, I have no idea. But maybe the brevity is as much a part of the charm as the stories themselves? Definitely recommend this one to any girl from 11 years up - although with today's education being the joke that it is, one will probably find it necessary to refer to a dictionary here and there, because this century-old Canadian version of YA, is nowhere near as linguistically simplistic as it's contemporary counterparts. And as Emily herself writes in her diary: it's always something of a thrill to learn a new word.

3.25/5 stars