Mistress Pat

Rating:
Summary: Another of Montgomery's fine works...
Review: Although this is one of Montgomery's less-read works, it is nonetheless very charming. It is the sequel to Pat of Silver Bush. The story is of Pat, a young girl with dreams and ambitions. She is fiercefully proud of her home, Silver Bush. Now she is growing up, and she is experiencing the events and feelings that girls of Montgomery's time period experienced. As always, Montgomery portrays each and everyone of her characters in ingenius ways, letting the reader really get a feel for what each character is like.

Although the plot of the story is almost nonexistant in some ways, in others it's the best kind of plot there is - it's simply the story of Pat's life. It's not portrayed in biographical form, though; the book simply displays some of the quaint, funny, or particularly touching moments in Pat's life.

This book is a must-read for any L.M. Montgomery lover - if you liked Anne of Green Gables, you'd love Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat.

Rating:
Summary: Mistress Pat
Review: As always Lucy Maud Montgomery's work is a time capsule brought to life, saying much about a rural young lady's life in the 1920's. However as a sequel to "Pat of Silver Bush" I was a bit disappointed in this book. I truely loved "Pat of Silver Bush" and ordered "Mistress Pat" as soon as I finished its prequel. Somewhere between books my affection and interest in Pat as a character was lost. Pat seems rather silly and at times downright infuriating in this book. The rest of the cast of characters is as interesting as ever and Judy Plum is truely a gem of a character. If you have a burning desire to discover Pat's eventual fate read this book. If not leave her the charming young lady found in "Pat of Silver Bush" and read another of Lucy Maud's books which even the worst of are somehow better than modern fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Poignant
Review: I read the first book in this series with relief. I always found the L.M. Montgomery books a relief from my own experiences in our tumultous household. The Gardiners seem like a truly happy family.
There should have been more of Jingle in this book. You can tell Montgomery probably wrote it just to get something out for the people that wanted to see what happened to Pat. I thought it was necessary to have Silver Bush burn down at the end, and have all her trouble with Rae portrayed.
The book should never have covered 11 years. That actually made it kind of depressing.

Rating:
Summary: Needs more Substance
Review: If you have read the earlier Pat book and you are really interested in what happens between Pat and Hilary your interest will jump every 5 years and will take up about 20 pages of the entire book. This book could easily have been made spanning only 4 or 5 years instead of 11. It seems to say a lot about the years that nothing happens in and then very little about the years where what happens in her life could be made into a book itself. It is almost irritating how little is seen of Hilary especially since he was such a main character in the previos book.I personally wish Montgomery spent more time talking about what happens between Pat and him throughout the book instead of mentioning him every 2 years and having him vistit only twice throughout the whole book.
If you really like Montgomery's very descriptive style and you can stand Pat's almost annoying dedication to her house and the decisions she makes because of her house you'll love this book. If not this probably isn't the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: A great tale of love for her home and the people she loves.
Review: Pat loves her home at Silver Bush. She always has and always will. Soon she realizes that she will have to decide between love and her beloved home. Everyone starts to leave and she feels lonely, but then a beacon of hope comes her way.

Rating:
Summary: Don't want it to end
Review: This is a book that I hate to have end because the plot is about a woman clinging to a way of life that's slipping away from her and I don't want to see it go.

One of the most successful elements of the books is the characters and the sense of place. Judy, who we meet again from Pat of Silverbush, and Tillytuck, a new addition to the cast, are two of her most realistic and interesting characters. Silverbush itself is a character - I feel like I have tromped through the flower beds and maybe overnighted in the Poet's room. Despite this developed sense of place and person, some of Montgomery's formulas are still evident: I found Pat's sister Cuddles to be remarkably similar to Philippa Gordon from the Anne series. Pat has a streak of Murray pride and an older love interest a la Emily. Also, May Binnie, Pat's nemesis is a rather one dimensional character and we never understand what's motivating her.

Some people complained that there isn't enough of the male love interest in this book but I think they miss the point. This isn't a love story about a man and woman, it's a love story about a woman and her home. Besides, in most of Montgomery's other books the love interests are featured for only a few pages here and there. Anne and Gilbert didn't get together every weekend and neither did Emily and Teddy.

Another aspect of the story that I liked is that we see Pat get a little older before she figures who she loves and how she will spend her life. I'm only speculating but it felt more autobiographical. After all, Montgomery herself was in her thirties when Anne of Green Gables was published and wasn't married until she was in her late thirties.

I just finished rereading this book last night. I'll have to hold off a couple of years before rereading it again and I'm a little homesick right now for Silverbush and Pat and the Gardiner family.

Rating:
Summary: interesting....
Review: This is a wonderful book of a young woman who hates change and never wants to leave her beloved home of Silver Bush. But change does come. Once something happens to her home, Pat finds that she can love something or someone more than Silver Bush.