A Tangled Web in Never too Late to Read Classics

Jun 01, 2019 Manybooks rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-reviews, satire, families, l-m-montgomery

Although in L.M. Montgomery's 1931 (adult themed) novel A Tangled Web most of the various and diverse both living and yes also long and recently deceased depicted and featured members of the Penhallow and Dark clans (and with recently deceased I also mean family matriarch Aunt Becky Dark, née Penhallow) have made me want to generally giggle (and often quite derisively) and sometimes also scream more than a bit impatiently at the Penhallows and Darks and their behaviours, their antics (via the un Although in L.M. Montgomery's 1931 (adult themed) novel A Tangled Web most of the various and diverse both living and yes also long and recently deceased depicted and featured members of the Penhallow and Dark clans (and with recently deceased I also mean family matriarch Aunt Becky Dark, née Penhallow) have made me want to generally giggle (and often quite derisively) and sometimes also scream more than a bit impatiently at the Penhallows and Darks and their behaviours, their antics (via the unseen but definitely not ever silent narrator with his/her sarcastic asides and delightfully humorous descriptions of a large, well-known but obviously also eccentric and woefully dysfunctional Prince Edward Island family), I also did end up (and surprisingly for me) rather emotionally invested in especially some of the love stories presented in A Tangled Web. For even though I am usually not that much of a fan of L.M. Montgomery's romances (and was at first kind of aghast that in A Tangled Web there are actually something like four different episodes of love and courting), I did find myself actively cheering especially when Gay Penhallow not only finally and totally rejects her fickle fiancé Noel Gibson but also realises that she indeed is truly in love with Roger Penhallow (and I also do very much appreciate that L.M. Montgomery does not cast all of the blame for what happened between Gay and Noel at Gay's selfish and malicious cousin Nan Penhallow stealing Noel's affections but that she clearly points out that Noel Gibson is a spineless, self important and shallow fool of a "man" who basically in the end deserves being dropped like a proverbially hot potato by both Nan and then Gay, who finally sees the light and refuses to take Noel back when he comes calling after Nan has finally had enough of him).

And even Peter Dark and Donna Penhallow's romance and indeed Jocelyn and Hugh Dark's story do tug at my emotions (and I am glad of the happy endings) although personally I have definitely found Jocelyn as a character at best a bit frustrating (that she simply left her husband Hugh almost at the altar so to speak when she took one look at Hugh's best man Frank and fell in love with him at first sight, as yes, this not only makes me rather personally angry and annoyed on Hugh's behalf but that L.M. Montgomery also focusses mostly on Jocelyn and only rather sparingly on Hugh when she has her narrator in A Tangled Web relate their story, it does kind of feel a bit uncomfortable and monotonous as in my humble opinion in the marriage fiasco between Jocelyn and Hugh, it is not really a case of that it takes two to tango since the fault really is to be or rather should be cast mostly at Jocelyn and at her stubbornness holding on to that silly dream of love at first sight, which yes in the end is thankfully destroyed, but it does take almost the entire course of A Tangled Web for Jocelyn to finally come to her senses and return to Hugh).

Now I have read in both reviews and literary analyses of A Tangled Web that Pennyciuk Dark asking family dressmaker, old maid (and often the object of family derision and pointed nastiness) Margaret Penhallow to marry him (and mostly in order to increase his chances of obtaining that coveted jar of Aunt Harriet's) is to be approached as being rather comical. But in my opinion, while I do find Pennyciuk a rather clown-like figure in and of himself, I personally happen to consider Margaret Penhallow more tragic and sad (and not in any derisive and critical manner whatsoever, as I actually do consider her as one of the characters in A Tangled Web that L.M. Montgomery has constructed and described with the most love and personal understanding simply because her family has cast Margaret aside, that the Darks and Penhallows all seem to see her as a nothing and a nobody). And while it has certainly made me chuckle a bit when Penny Dark is strutting around like a peacock and thinking that by proposing marriage to Margaret Penhallow, he is conferring some great honour to her, that she (although it is clear from L.M. Montgomery's narrative that Margaret Penhallow really does not at all desire Penny and really does not desire marriage either) feels obligated to accept Penny's proposal, this actually kind of makes me really sad and actually more than a bit personally enraged.

Therefore, when Margaret finally gets her own home, adopts abused orphan Brian Dark and basically lets Pennyciuk Dark know that him breaking the engagement is actually totally wonderful and not at all something that will in any manner be even remotely traumatic for her, this makes the Penny and Margaret "romance" (quotes are mine) the most personally satisfying one in A Tangled Web (but not really all that comical in my opinion, just satisfying), for L.M. Montgomery allows Margaret Penhallow to find her true happiness without adult love and traditional marriage (as Margaret is able to obtain a coveted and aesthetically lovely home, with an evocatively beautiful name, she adopts dreamy and by the entire clan nastily ignored and despised orphan Brian Dark, and she obviously does NOT need either a husband or even an adult male love interest to obtain ultimate contentment and joy).

And finally, of course, L.M. Montgomery's A Tangled Web has at its main core that coveted (and described by the narrator as being pretty distinctly ugly) jug of Aunt Harriet Dark's and who will (about a year and a half after Aunt Rebecca Dark's death) finally receive it as an heirloom. And personally, I have to admit that even though the by all (or most) Darks and Penhallows desired and wanted jug is I guess the thread that holds all of the different strands and episodes of A Tangled Web together, I have found the family's almost religious obsession with said intimate object rather annoyingly strange (but I guess it kind of does underline just how into their various and almost sacred family traditions the Penhallows and the Darks are and how a family heirloom can be considered an absolute treasure even if it is aesthetically horrid and visually off-putting).

But for me, with the ending of A Tangled Web, when Oswald Dark (who is obsessed with the moon and is considered not all there so to speak even by his eccentric clan) takes Aunt Harriet's jug and smashes it, I not only laughed (and continue to laugh) out loud, I actually consider this to have been what the clan should have done with that silly jug in the first place. And therefore, with regard to going against family tradition and taking an active role against this, I for one very much believe that Oswald Dark is indeed the only truly and completely sane member of the entire family and I even also sometimes wish that he had thrown that jug and destroyed it right at the beginning of A Tangled Web and perhaps even in Aunt Becky's hallowed presence (but of course, then there would not have been the need for a story, but indeed, seeing that jug in smithereens really does make me smile with both appreciation and going against family tradition glee and makes A Tangled Web an entertainingly, satirically delightful four star reading experience). ...more

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