Daddy-Long-Legs

Review of Daddy-Long-LegsHot Toasty Rag, April 6, 2019Having seen two film adaptations of this classic story, I was completely unprepared for the adorable style of Jean Webster’s classic novel. Each movie is told in a linear story: a wealthy gentleman provides a trust fund to a schoolgirl to ensure her education, and based on a glimpse of his willowy shadow, she refers to her benefactor as “Daddy-Long-Legs”. It’s no wonder Fred Astaire starred in one of the movies!This book is written entirely in letters, and it’s no easy to feat to make a story like that entertaining and clear. It’s difficult to give proper motivations to the main character so that she includes every plot point in her letters, but Webster manages to do it. The benefactor’s one stipulation is that his protegee write him a letter once a month, and in those letters, he—and the readers—get to know all about the delightful protagonist as she grows and matures through her school years. She describes her friends, her feelings, her imagination of him, her appreciation and curiosity, and her overall sweetness. It’s pretty much impossible not to fall in love with her. This is a very darling book, so if you’ve never read it, get yourself a copy.

I wanted to read this book because I absolutely LOVE the musical version of this story. If you haven't listened to the musical and are planning on reading this, READ IT FIRST and then listen; I highly recommend both forms of the story (and the musical is a very true representation of the story), but the musical does give away a key plot point at the beginning that you don't learn until the end of the book (but it's kind of necessary to telling the story on stage).This is a sweet and charming story about an orphaned girl who has been given the opportunity to go to school through a donation from a rich man. She knows absolutely nothing about his, but must right him letters updating him on her progress in school. The story is told solely through this young woman's letters to her benefactor, so if you don't like that style of storytelling, this isn't the book for you.While this isn't the BEST book I've ever read, I had a very enjoyable time reading it; even though it's an older text, the language is surprisingly simple and easy to understand (sometimes with books from this era, the language can get the way of the storytelling). Overall, I would recommend this to my female friends and teenage girls-- not to say that men can't read this, or shouldn't, I just don't know how much they will get out of this piece.Overall, it's a very pleasant and easy read!

Not too long ago I had two people in the same day that said they had just read this book and loved it. I'd seen the movie a long time ago which I didn't hate but also didn't totally love either. But two people in one day! I had to read it. Turns out I loved it too. Very charming story told through letters with just one POV out of necessity since the letter recipient never replies. Still we find out so much of the young woman's fun personality and even a little about her silent Daddy Long Legs. It would be fun to see what he thinks when he reads these letters. Does that happen in the movie? I can't remember. Anyway, the book is charming, funny and sweet. I loved it.No sex, language or violence

I have to say that this is a really sweet novel. I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting and enjoyed almost every minute of it. I'm not a huge fan of epistolary novels, because it's hard to convey an entire story through letters. Especially one-sided letters, like this novel. The entire book (with the exception of a short introductory chapter) are the heroine's letters she writes to her benefactor as she is sent to college. But the format of this book really worked for it (for most of the story). Through the heroine's letters, we come to know her. The heroine's voice is so witty and she just sucks you in with her laughter and sweetness.The only reason I didn't give it a full five stars is that the ending was a bit weak. It goes from being a young adult/new adult coming of age story that is mostly about this sheltered and lonely girl as she is thrust out into the world and learns to make her way in it, and then switches to a love story. It's hard to explain it all without giving major spoilers (though it wasn't a particular twist to me as I saw it coming from very early on in the story, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone else), but the ending felt a little rushed and a tiny bit strange. While I like the epistolary format for this novel, the ending suffers a bit because of it. During the ending, the reader could use a little more than the letter writing gave us. It begins with an introductory chapter that isn't a letter, so it probably would have worked better if there had been a finishing chapter that wasn't, either. It's hard to say if that would have made it better, but either way, it is an adorable story and I highly recommend it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am curious to read it's sequel.

I enjoyed this book, especially because epistolary novels are one of my favorite literary genres.The writing style is very good. Judy's perspective of life is smart and funny. It's hard not to become attached to her. The first few letters made me smile more than once.The most interesting thing to me is the fact that I got to see Judy change throughout the years. At the end of college, it's the same Judy, but she's also very different. Education, experiences, books, and friends take her personality to a whole new level.However, I admit that I didn't care much for the secondary characters, and I think the end was a bit abrupt. I was expecting to learn more about the future life of Judy, but I received less than a glimpse. Also, some letters were kind of repetitive, but it's a good book overall.

I read this when I was a teenager and although I remembered enjoying and the over all plot I’d forgotten what fun it is. Judy is witty and observant of a life so different of her own upbringing. That’s an advantage to us, the readers who are also unfamiliar with the life she recounts through her letters. College certainly educated, but was fun too.There’s no sense that this was written too long ago to be a difficult read - it goes at a fast pace for all it covers four years.It was strange at one point where she asks Daddy Long Legs if he was around at the time of Jane Eyre and to realise that for her that novel was published the equivalent distance away in time of the 1950s to us in 2020.I was amused in reviews on Goodreads to be warned that this includes Socialism, a view of Christianity the reviewer did not agree with (Judy is fairly secular in her outlook) and .....evolution! You have been warned.

I so enjoyed reading this short, charming book about orphan Jerusha who has a gift for English and as a result finds a benefactor who sponsors her through college, thus changing her world. Her descriptions of the college in a time when women didn't have the vote and it was likely that she would never be able to see herself as a useful citizen of America, are an absolutely fascinating insight. The end was a bit obvious - I sort of guessed who her benefactor was about half way through but that didn't detract at all from the charm of the story. I LOVE a good epistolary novel - there's a real skill in telling a story of several characters from one first person's often flawed point of view, but this one just pulls it off perfectly. The final letter is perhaps a bit unrealistic because it's unlikely you would recount the events of everything that happened to the person who happened to be there at the time - why would you, they were there and know what happened, after all. However, as readers we need to have that closure, so obviously, it needs to be there, even if it strikes a somewhat clumsy note in an otherwise perfect book. I loved Jerusha's chatty, narrative voice and I loved the way she adopted different personas in her letters to play around with the format; e.g. "However, to resume. Do you want me to tell you a secret that I've lately discovered? And will you promise not to think me vain? Then listen: I'm pretty. I am, really. I'd be an awful idiot not to know it with three looking-glasses in the room. A Friend. PS. This is one of those wicked anonymous letters you read about in novels." (p. 98) Such an entertaining little book - read during a night shift, it cheered me up no end.

Quite liked the book, an easy read that nevertheless offered some small insights to the time period, nothing too jarring to modern sensibilities. My only quibble was that I accidentally spoiled the ending for myself before acquiring it, so I wasn't surprised. The only flaw in my kindle edition were the chapter titles- they camelikethis.But that's a minor irritant for an enjoyable story.

The book about a poor teenager in a girls home, who un known to her becomes the subject of a sponsoring founders attention due to her age. Next thing she knows- sent to a private boarding school and offered the chance to have a very good education by a man she never met and knows nothing about. The book is written through the letters to her 'guardian' from the girls home. This is his only stipulation. She must write to her guardian from the girls home every week without fail. It is funny, laugh out loud in places, especially as she tries her best to keep her childhood in a girls home hidden and the guardian becomes much more than an unknown entity through her letters. A coming of age, happy, funny and sometimes wrenching in her comedy honesty of her life so far. In the letters she writes, from teenager to woman her independence and relationship with the unknown guardian becomes a complex, truthful account of her life in the boarding school. (Has a good ending too. )I recommend this book to everyone. A light hearted, wonderfully written book. Took me completely by surprise, but I had trouble putting it down at night. Enjoy.

This is one of the most-loved classics for young women, surely - the fact that it has been transferred to Kindle format by volunteers says something ;) It's a book I love to have available at all times on my Kindle, so I'm happy they did transfer it. However, if they feel up to a further challenge, they could try to deal with some errors in the display of the text - like the fact that some lines have turned into a long vertical line with one letter per normal horizontal line. It looks a little like a drop of rain descending the page and makes it quite hard to read. Luckily, this is not too much of a problem. I also missed the sketches of the original book, so if the publisher ever wants to improve on things and sell me a fresh, updated copy, please feel free!The story is of an orphaned young girl/woman at the beginning of the 20th century (I think), who is sent to College by a trustee at the children's home where she lives and works. The book consists of her letters to the anonymous trustee through her time at College, and it's fun, clever, well written and delightful. It also survives the years extremely well - my daughter also loves it, and I'm thinking of giving her a Kindle with a few books on it - this would be one!