I just reread this, probably for the first time since being a teenager, or at least in my early 20s. I was curious what I'd think of it now...

I still get a cozy feeling from it. Part of that is because of the strong ties you get to a book when you read it in the impressionable mid teen years! And part of it was the beautiful descriptive writing. Yes, I still find it lovely. Though perhaps I'm more aware of its sadness than before.

I do now see a few shortcomings too, though. Pat and Judy Plum, and perhaps Jingle, are the only fleshed-out characters in the book. We are told that all of Pat's family is precious to her, but they seem a little shadowy as people. I realized that I went half the book without any clear idea of whether Pat's brother Joe was a small boy or a strapping teen. Even Bets, Pat's very best friend, has hardly any dialogue and seems no more than a beautiful wraith.
That said, Pat herself and the cook/maid/second mother Judy Plum are pretty vivid and enjoyable.

This book does beautifully capture the warmth of a happy home. And the nostalgia level is strong, for better or worse. This makes sense when you add in some context from L.M. Montgomery's own life.

The Pat books were written later in her life, when she was caring for a mentally ill husband and trying to do the best she could as a minister's wife, far from her beloved PEI. I think that she felt like a shadow of her former self, and these later books were an outlet for her terrible homesickness. The tragedy of L.M. Montgomery's life is that she didn't get the secure and stable home that most of her heroines end up with. Perhaps this is why she writes so poignantly about, what was for her, the unattainable. ( )

How strange to read this book again, after so many years. I do still love it, but it has become part of a strange country — one so far before tech and so mired in marriages. Still. Judy’s stories are hilarious, Gentleman Tom and Bold and Bad and Squedunk the cats — what excellent names for cats! And beautiful Silver Bush are still magical. ( )

L.M. Montgomery is a long time and all time favorite author of mine. She writes the perfect girls story with just the right mix of adventure, drama and happiness. I find her books a comfort to read and have re-read most of her works many times over the years. They are classics for a reason and that reason is they are great. These are true comfort books for me and books I enjoy re-reading again and again. ( )

Book club for June. So far: Pat hates change. Got it.

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The second half grew on me quite a bit, maybe around when Jingle's mother shows up. Pat is still a little too obsessed with Silver Bush, but she became a little more complex as life started happening to her. It got me interested enough to go straight on to Mistress Pat! ( )

Patricia Gardiner loves everything about her family home, Silver Bush, and longs to just stay there forever with her family, unchanging. But changes do come, some good, some bad.

I've read this book more times than I can count (as is true of most of Montgomery's oeuvre) -- it's not my very favorite, but it's toward the top of the list. Silver Bush is practically a character in its own right, and I can picture every dear, delightful corner of it. Plus, I have a bit of a literary crush on Pat's friend Jingle. ( )