Anne with an E review

I first read Anne of Green Gables when I was 11, and fell in love with Anne Shirley.

She’s an imaginative heroine with so much love for the world, despite never quite having a good place in it. Anne can optimistically dream her way through any situation, which helps her deal with being alone.

Anne is accidentally adopted by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, siblings in need of help with their farm. Marilla is determined to send her back and get a boy to help her aging brother with his work, but Matthew warms up to Anne.

Anne and Matthew are so adorable. He’s a man of few words, and Anne’s creative chatter entertains him. He finds her charming. She’s thrilled to finally talk to her heart’s content. He buys her the dress of her dreams, an act of kindness she has never experienced in her short life.

But it takes a lot more work for Anne to win over Marilla, not to mention everyone else in the town. Anne’s quirks and antics make her strangest soul those Canadians have ever encountered, and she has to prove how smart and kind hearted she is before they accept her.

Diana is determined to get Anne to fit in. Diana’s frilly dresses and lifelong bred propriety is a stark contrast with Anne’s plain dresses and zero experience with parents. Diana is everything Anne has always wanted to be, primped and dark haired and spoiled. But Diana doesn’t have Anne’s imagination, she’s never needed one.

And this is where the different tone comes in.

This version of Anne Shirley’s story is darker and grittier, something that made me hesitant to watch it. It takes a more realistic approach to what would actually happen to an orphan way back when. She’s been passed from family to family, treated like a slave, abused, hated, and ostracized.

This version makes Anne’s imagination vital to her sanity.

We see flashbacks of her past and the abuse she suffered, and how she’s still recovering from it. Then when she finally gains this new family and has a real home, she continues to be condemned because she’s an orphan with no sense of propriety.

We see her world not as she reimagines it, but as it really is. It brings a greater sense to how strong Anne is. She has to deal with rejection, bullying, struggling in school, figuring out how to get people to like her, and trying to remember her chores. She’s less of the dreamy book Anne, the magical creator and literature phenomenon, and more like any little girl who has to make something out of nothing in order to survive.

I enjoyed seeing bits of Marilla and Matthew’s past, along with Anne’s adorable friendship with Diana. I liked how they added Ruby to their duo. Anne and Ruby are friends in the books of course, but they emphasized that in the show.

I liked some of the changes, like to Gilbert’s family and changing events so Anne can save the day more than once. But some things, like the problems with Matthew’s health and finances, led the plot down a bizarre path. I was a bit unsure about the ending and how much it deters from the books, but it seemed like there will be another season.

Anne has so much heart. She’s passionate and daring and not afraid to mix things up. I loved how they added things like Anne getting her period and thinking she was dying, it’s exactly the sort of thing she would do. It was interesting how they included some issues from that time, like education and marriage. Anne questions whether she should go to school or learn how to keep house full time.

She laughs, she cries, she sticks flowers in her hat. I look forward to seeing how Anne with an E grows and develops.