Road to Avonlea aka ROAD TO MY HEART

I know most of us grew up watching Anne of Avonlea, but I fear too many of you likely missed out on the wonderful television series, Road to Avonlea.  I used to watch this show every week with my mom, it was our thing, and I have since rewatched it as an adult.  I swear if I had $200 to spare, I would buy the entire box set.  Luckily for you, you can get the disks from NetFlix if you have the service, and I do so recommend it.  The show is set in our beloved Avonlea, and lasts for seven seasons and a movie, and you will certainly recognize a few names and faces:

 

That’s right!  Marilla Cuthbert, Rachel Lynde, and Muriel Stacy are each in Road to Avonlea, played by the same actresses as in the Anne movies!  Also, Davy and Dora Keith, who are in the Anne books, are in Road to Avonlea as well.  Some other familiar faces with different names would be:

Mag Ruffman, who you may recognize as Alice Lawson, from Lawsons’ General Store, is transformed into the ever cheery and optimistic baby of the family, Olivia King.

Jacki Burroughs, who played the professional dramatist in Anne of Green Gables is a strict school mistress and head of the King family in Road to Avonlea.

Cedric Smith, who plays Reverend Allan in Anne of Green Gables takes on the role of the middle child, only son, and head of the King farm in Road to Avonlea.

There are in fact many more doubles in Road to Avonlea that you may spot, and you can find a complete list at Avonelea Vignettes, here.  I have chosen these three because, as you may have surmised, Road to Avonlea largely surrounds the lives and times of the King family.  Now, there was once a fourth King sibling, another girl, but alas, she has perished most tragically.  When her husband is thrown in jail for something scandalous, their only daughter, the spoiled and haughty Sarah Stanley is sent to live with her Aunt Hettie in Avonlea.  There, she must deal with her most tragical of circumstances, particularly—cousins.

Of course they all hate each other, and there’s tons of drama to be had.  There’s even a scene that was considered too racey for television at the time, which had to be cut out (it involves cracking an egg on someone’s head and is rather laughable by today’s standards—don’t worry, it’s on the DVD).  Felicity King is just the worst when you first meet her, but you know what?  I end up adoring this girl—the eldest of the King children.  Why?  Well, in no small part, because of Gus Pike.

Oh friends, let me tell you.  You think that Anne and Gilbert have one of the all time greatest slow burn romances?  They’ve got nothing on Felicity and Gus.  Okay, okay, so it’s very nearly the same type of story, but in Road to Avonlea you get 6 seasons and a movie to bite your nails over this pair!  Of course, they’re totally in love, and totally hate each other for years.  It’s fantastic!

Here’s some things you ought to know about Gus Pike:

• Mysterious past involving pirates and buried treasure.
• Lives in the lighthouse—very spooky and intriguing!
• A true seaman and wandering spirit.
• Unwavering devotion to Felicity.  Even when she’s outright cruel to him.
• Plays the fiddle…hot?
• Fantastic accent.

In short, Gus Pike has held a piece of my heart for the past 20 years, and probably always will.  I adore Road to Avonlea, the town, the drama, the people…it’s all so wonderful.  Okay, okay, at the beginning they put ridiculous make-up on Sarah Stanley because it’s 1990, and the picture is often terrible, but please look past that.  This show has a heart of gold, and I’m not even kidding when I say I love it so much just the credit sequence can bring tears to my eyes:

If you call yourself a lover of Avonlea, you must find a way to watch this show.  And when you do, please oh please let me know what you think.  You can find out more information about Road to Avonlea at the official website, here. 

In addition to the blogs and posts already linked, character images may be credited to Share TV’s Road to Avonlea and Yet Another Period Drama Blog, both of which have lovely posts and information about the show!

Review: Gil Marsh by A.C.E. Bauer

Title: Gil Marsh [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: A.C.E. Bauer [Website|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Retelling, Contemporary
Published: February 28th, 2012 by Random House
Format: Kindle edition.
Source: ARC from publisher via NetGalley.

Good looking, athletic, and smart, Gill Marsh is the most popular kid at Uruk High School, even though he is only a junior. When Enko, a new kid from Montreal, shows up, Gil is wary. Yet Enko is easy going and matches Gil's athletic prowess without being a threat. Soon, the two become inseparable friends, practicing, studying, and double-dating.

Then suddenly, to everyone's shock, Enko succombs to an aggressive cancer.

When Enko's parents take his body and return to Canada, Gil is unable to even say good bye. He is inconsolable. Determined to find Enko's grave, Gil sneaks away and heads north.

Closely based on the ancient story of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian King from 3000 BC, A. C. E. Bauer has carefully woven the classic elements of myth to follow Gil's quest and explore the grief and growth of a young man.

As evidenced by the reality that the two 2012 titles to get top ratings from me have been Cinder and The Humming Room, I am clearly a fan of retellings.  There’s something so wonderful about seeing a new take on an old story, I love the newness and the familiarity wrapped up in one neat little package for me to enjoy.  Sadly, Gil Marsh did not fit the bill.  

Gil Marsh was pitched as a contemporary retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh, possibly the oldest epic recorded tale in the world.  I read the Epic of Gilgamesh back in A.P. English in high school, and wasn’t especially taken with it.  I found it very interesting to compare ancient flood stories and think about the implications this may have had for the Noah tale in the Bible, but it really had nothing on the Odyssey.  Still, I found the prospect of a contemporary retelling intriguing, and since it was a very short read (under 200 pages), I figured there was no harm in giving it a shot.  Now, I don’t feel like this was necessarily a waste of my time, and I didn’t have high expectations to begin with, but nonetheless I felt Gil Marsh fell short.

I appreciate that this book was written to be simplistic as this can sometimes give a book a wider appeal and make it more accessible.  However, simple doesn’t have to equate to shallow, and in this case it did.  I would expect a story about a strong friendship, loss, and grief to carry emotional weight, whereas Gil Marsh seemed to only skim the surface of this potential.  I didn’t feel invested in Gil and Enko’s friendship, and so it was hard to support Gil’s reactions when Enko died.  He seemed petulant, completely illogical in his actions, and I don’t feel as if he grew whatsoever from his experiences.  

The story largely surrounded a ring that Enko had given Gil before he died, a family heirloom that came with a story of tragic love and loss.  The story was somewhat interesting, but I’m still struggling to understand how this played into the bigger picture of the plot.  Was there a moral?  Was the moral that things just are?  I’m not sure.  Additionally, I’m not sure I really understood Gil’s motives in his journey to Canada.  I get that he needed closure with Enko, and that it was terrible that he was unable to attend his funeral, yet Gil’s journey to Canada seems to be a confused jumble between wanting to find Enko’s grave, and wanting to find a supposedly immortal man and potentially bring Enko back.  Was he planning to run away forever, or did he just want the story of the ring?  I honestly don’t know, because it wasn’t really explained, and it didn’t really play out.

I think if we could have gotten into Gil’s head a bit more and understood the emotional drive behind this story, it would have been more successful.  Instead, it came across as a very juvenile tale written for an older audience. It was sadly flat where it could have been simple and beautiful, and unfortunately one of my least favorite reads this year.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  Um...not so much.

Recommended for:  I was hoping this would be a good option for male teens because of its unimposing length and the story focusing on friendship, but unfortunately I don’t think I will be recommending this one to anyone.

Real life repercussions of reading this book: Serious poutine cravings.  Anyone know where I can get some good poutine  in NYC?  I’m dying here.