Daddy-Long-Legs : Jean Webster

                                               Image Credit: Girle Books.

Thank you Thoughts!! Thanks so much for lending this utterly delightful classic! It certainly broke the dry spell I had been having with books! Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster is an avowed classic, endearing to both adults and children alike.

Jerusha 'Judy' Abbot is an orphan who is given a miraculous lease of life by an unnamed trustee at the John Grier Home. Her patron, amused by Judy's potential to be a good writer, decides to pay for her college. He has but one stipulation : Judy has to write regular letters to her patron, informing him of her progress in college. This forms the basis of this epistolary novel. Judy is humorous, touching and intelligent at the same time. I was chuckling over many of the passages in the novel : there is wry wit and a subtle wisdom that belies the book's classification these days as young-adult literature.

Of course, it was all too easy to guess who Judy's benefactor is. But the sweet romance in the end was still worth it. Webster was known to be a keen supporter of women suffrage and many times in the book, she uses Judy to call for the right to vote. Some others have felt that Judy is very much an anti-feminist character, but I disagree. There is plenty of spine in Judy. She does not bow to her benefactor's wishes all the time, and as her education continues expresses remarkable maturity of thought and ideas.

Daddy-Long-Legs is not all fun and frolic either. I loved loved some of Judy's ideas, including this pearl on finding happiness:

"You can have extensive farming and intensive farming; well, I am going to have intensive living after this. I am going to enjoy every second, and I am going to know I am enjoying it while I’m enjoying it. Most people don’t live; they just race."

 And I just couldn't stop laughing over this one. It sounds like the sort of thing I would say with fervor! I agree with you Judy. 100%!

"The feeling often comes over me that I am not at all remarkable; it is fun to plan a career, but in all probability I shan't turn out a bit different from any other ordinary person. I may end by marrying an undertaker and being an inspiration to him in his work."

Oh! Please read this book! I was dumb not to have read it all these years. I hope there are not too many like me out there! Thanks again Thoughts!

Verdict : Classic. Funny. Touching. Just wonderful.


Rating: 5/5