Friday Reads: Kilmeny of the Orchard
Ok, I think I had better be right up front here. I love L.M. Montgomery as an author. I’m a diehard fan, I adore her books, and would own all of them if I could. Well, almost all of them. Kilmeny of the Orchard is the one exception. It’s Montgomery’s one big flop (literary wise, not sure about financial wise). I’m sure somewhere along the line someone, Montgomery, a publisher, someone must have noticed that it sucked. Apparently they said “Meh, who cares, we’ll publish it anyway.” These are the things that are wrong with Kilmeny of the Orchard: Racism, sexism, classism, disabilityism (OK, that isn’t even a real word, but you know what I mean), and my ultimate literary cliche pet peeve: the gorgeous girl who thinks she is ugly. There is also some low level, but still totally creepy, pseudo-pedophelia. And wanna-be incest. And some pretty old fashioned ideas about the worth of people born outside of marriage. And…well, you get the idea. OK, so basic plot: Eric Marshall (the pseudo-pedophile) is rich …