"A Tangled Web" by L. M. Montgomery

I'm going to enjoy this book a lot more the next time I read it.  This time, I was so terribly worried about how some of the storylines were going to turn out that I simply had to finish it as fast as possible, which was not exactly relaxing.  Next time, I will be secure in the knowledge of whose storylines turn out happily (and nearly all of them do), and I can just laugh at all the sarcasm and acidic wit, and at all the completely ridiculous human foibles they're aimed at.

Two huge old Canadian families, the Darks and the Penhallows, have intermarried so often over the past several generations that they're basically all one giant clan now.  Old Aunt Becky, the clan matriarch, is expected to announce who will inherit a specific heirloom, an ugly old jug painted with hideous nonsense that is one of the funniest MacGuffins I have ever encountered.  Everyone in the clan wants the antique jug, and thinks they have a right to it, even though it's really not a desirable object in and of itself.  It has a tragic family history, and because everyone knows everyone else wants it, everyone just keeps wanting it.

Well, Aunt Becky does NOT announce who she's leaving the jug to.  She sets up a year of suspense and intrigue for the whole clan by leaving instructions on who is to keep it for the next year, along with a sealed letter saying whom she will bequeath it to.  And then she dies like two weeks later, and all the Darks and Penhallows spend a year trying to be as circumspect and respectable and worthy of that jug as they possibly can.  Because they all think that the letter might say that the person who has been temporarily entrusted with the jug should decide himself who gets it.

(Mine from my Instagram account.)

That's really just the backdrop for the book, though.  The story mainly revolves around three couples: Gay Penhallow and Noel Gibson, Donna Dark and Peter Penhallow, and Joscelyn and Hugh Dark.  Gay and Noel are freshly engaged, but Gay discovers that her engagement may not lead to marriage after all.  Donna and Peter's families have hated each other for decades, but then Donna and Peter experience a jolt of love-at-first-sight and have to try to figure out a way to get together.  Joscelyn and Hugh have been married for ten years, but parted ways in bitterness a few hours after their wedding and have been living separate lives all this time.

The title makes me think of the old Sir Walter Scott quotation, "Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive."  Which I'm sure it's meant to.  What's interesting is that most of the deception practiced in this book is self-deception.  Gay had deceived herself into getting engaged to a shallow man just because he's handsome and charming.  Donna is a widow who deceived herself into thinking she should never love another man because her first husband died young during WWI.  Joscelyn deceived herself for ten years that she loves a man other than Hugh that she only saw once, but thinks she is bound to forever because of what she felt in that one meeting.  And all the other members of the clan deceive themselves over a whole lot of random things -- including whether or not they are worthy of inheriting the jug.

I laughed aloud quite a lot over this book.  Montgomery reveals a sharp and biting wit similar to Jane Austen's as she lays bare the ridiculous things people are capable of thinking and doing.  I suspect I will laugh more next time I read it, as I said, because I won't be so worried about what will happen to everyone!

Particularly Good Bits:

And, as Uncle Pippin said, while the truth was all right, in its place, there was no sense in pouring out great gobs of it around where it wasn't wanted (p. 2).

Margaret thought she would not mind growing old if she could be left to do it in peace.  It was hard to grow old gracefully when you were always being laughed at because you were not young (p. 86).

"I like any gate," said Roger whimsically.  "A gate is a luring thing--a promise.  There may be something wonderful beyond and you are not shut out" (p. 134).

One couldn't be altogether hopeless in spring (p. 234).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a surprising number of mild curse words and one use of the N-word in regards to a statue someone has painted brown.  

I'm contributing this review to We Love L. M. Montgomery Week, which I'm hosting right now on my other blog!  Click here to see all the fun LMM posts people are contributing -- and you can join in yourself, too!  I've got a couple of games coming up, plus I'm hosting a giveaway.  One of the giveaway prizes is a copy of this book!

This has been my 9th book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023, and my 9th book read for my fourth Classics Club list.