Book #82: A Tangled Web by L. M. Montgomery

Before a year ago, I'd never read any L. M. Montgomery books except for the Anne of Green Gables books, although I'd read those hundreds of times. I LOVED those, but I'd never really considered reading any others of hers. This book was exactly like those ones, especially like Rainbow Valley and some of the later books that had a lot of short stories in the chapters. A Tangled Web is about two families, the Darks and the Penhallows, who are all intermarried, and want to inherit the hugely important Dark jug that Aunt Becky is giving away when she dies. She decides that she won't allow them to know who inherits it for a year, and make it based on people's behavior (as judged by her executor)--and this book is about that year after her death and how the whole clan acts in trying to be the ones who get the infamous, all-important jug. There are about seven different main stories that get told throughout the book, and the nice thing about Montgomery stories is that they always end happily, so there are about five weddings and everyone kind of gets what they want in the end--even though they are all surprised by what happens with the jug in the end.

I liked how this felt so classic Montgomery to me, with hilarious, quirky, opinionated characters that seem to come off the page (I think Grandpa Murphy would have fit right in with some of these clan members). I especially liked the story about Gay Penhallow, who was young and in love and goes through her first heartbreak, and her emotions and realizations during that year felt very realistic. But I couldn't seem to quite get into it; I was kind of waiting for it to be done. I think maybe because there wasn't one main story to tie it all together? And I felt like some of the stories were a little silly and unbelievable, like the couple who got married ten years before but on their wedding night they separated and haven't spoken since, but the man still secretly loves her and the woman just needs a nudge to go back to him and they will live happily ever after? I'm sorry, but no, that would not have happened. Any of it. But it was a fun read and I'm happy to have it on my shelf.