Marigold is born into the type of large and eccentric family Montgomery excelled at writing. Her father dies before she is born, and her mother names her daughter after the woman doctor who saves her newborn's life. Marigold grows up in her family's large old home, with her grandmother and her great-grandmother and an aunt, as well as her mother. And a bounty of aunts and uncles and the occasional cousin scattered across Prince Edward Island to give advice on how Marigold should be raised.
Marigold is not as dreamy and fanciful as, say, Anne Shirley or Emily Starr, probably because she grows up in a loving home with her own mother still alive. She isn't as mousy as Jane Stuart, either, probably because her grandmothers are not tyrants and her mother is not an absolute milksop. And maybe that's part of why I didn't love Marigold as much as Anne or Jane -- because she isn't as extreme. She's sweet and kind and whimsical, and I did find that endearing, but she didn't lodge herself in my heart.
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I also found the book as a whole whimsical and fun, but not a pure delight. I blame that on how often things just go disappointingly wrong and unpleasant for poor Marigold. Instead of mishaps coming out all right repeatedly, events that start out well go sour. Over and over. I got to feeling very sorry for Marigold over that, for sure.
Is this an unpleasant book? Not in the slightest! If you're an L. M. Montgomery fan, you're going to have fun with it. Even if you aren't, you probably will find plenty to enjoy if you like gentle books about children growing up in bygone days.
Particularly Good Bits:
"If you don't believe things you'll never have any fun. The more things you can believe the more interesting life is, as you say yourself. Too much incredulity makes it a poor thing" (p. 86).
"I can't help liking things and I'm glad I do," said Marigold in a sudden accession of common sense. "It makes life so much more int'resting" (p. 261).
"Keep your dream, little Marigold, as long as you can. A dream is an immortal thing. Time cannot kill it or age wither it. You may tire of reality but never of dreams" (p. 319).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G. It's good and wholesome and uplifting stuff, no doubt about it.
This has been my fourth book read and reviewed for my fifth Classics Club list!
