Anne of Greenville by Mariko Tamaki

Content Tags: LGBTQIA+, Racism, Sexism, Bullying

Description from Storygraph:

This is the story of how I became Anne of Greenville. It’s also the story of how I found my true true, and how I needed to maybe come to Greenville, of all places, to make that happen.

In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, Anne is an ABBA-loving singer/actor/writer of disco-operas, queer, Japanese-American who longs to be understood for her artistic genius. Recently relocated to middle-of-nowhere Greenville and starting at a new school, Anne has a tendency to A) fall in love quickly, deeply, and effervescently and B) fly off the handle in the face of jerks. Both personality quirks quickly come into play when the soccer team boos the premiere of her disco performance, which—in a roundabout way—introduces her to her new BFF, Berry, and she soon after meets the girl of her dreams, Gilly.

Falling quickly into that age-old trap of ignoring the best friend for the new crush, Anne soon becomes embroiled in a series of dramatic and unfortunate events, and quickly finds herself wrapped up in a love triangle she never expected. Is she MTB with Gilly? Or is Berry her true soul mate? Only time (or 294 pages) will tell.

In this coming-of-age novel by fan-favorite author Mariko Tamaki, see the classic tale in a whole new light. Refreshingly bold and unapologetically unique, Anne of Greenville will make you want to stand up and sing!

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I love a good queer re-telling of a classic I enjoy! Mariko Tamaki did an excellent job creating a unique, modern rendition of Anne of Green Gables while seamlessly incorporating characters and aspects from the original. I particularly appreciated that, in this version, Anne was adopted through a kinship scenario rather than the more traumatic version from the original. 

The book was written with Anne narrating her story of arriving and initially adapting to being in Greenville. I enjoyed the voice and flow of the writing and how Anne sprinkled in little factoids about her favorite songs. Overall, keeping in mind the expectations of the YA genre, I enjoyed the book and feel it followed the trajectory I expected.

Being more critical, though, I would've liked to see a more gradual progression to resolving the conflict. It was built up well throughout the book and then BAM everything was resolved magically after one confrontation. It would've felt more believable or real if it had been smoothed over less or had taken more time to get to the ending point. The resolution felt like everyone was suddenly much more accepting where they'd been die hard bigots before that and it felt a tad forced to me. If the bigotry had been slowly chipped away or the end result had been begrudging acknowledgment that Anne and her family weren't leaving, that would have felt more true to the rest of the progression and story. 

Book Reflection Wrap-up:

Would you want to read another book by this author?

Yes, I would! I thought the writing was excellent and very compelling. 

Are there lingering questions from the book you're still thinking about?

Why the fuck did none of the adults push back more on the blatant bigotry they knew was happening to Anne??? This isn't specific to this book... in general, more adults need to step up and protect children from abuse and bullying.

May Book Club Book