The Louisa May Alcott edition

[lunabee34]

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this book once as a kid, and I remember really liking it. I also really liked the movie that came out in the 90s with Winona Ryder and Claire Danes. This is my first re-read as an adult, and I am so conflicted about the novel.

On the one hand, I still really like it. I think the characters are all very well drawn. I appreciate Jo's insistence on living her life on her own terms and not conforming to gender norms. I very much like the friendship among the sisters, the relationship they have with their mother, and their friendship with Laurie. It still does a good job of moving me emotionally; I found myself tearing up multiple times while reading. It's also deeply amusing in places.

On the other hand, I had forgotten how like a sermon it is, and while I find some aspects of the sermon legitimately useful and instructive, I chafe against the rest of it. I'm uncomfortable with the glorification of poverty. I don't like that Jo essentially stops writing (I know that aspect of the novel plays out as a caution against selling out, against writing what will sell vs writing what is Art even if it's not lucrative, and I know that she writes a few things after Beth's death that come from a Moral and Therefore Good Place, but on the whole she gives up writing because she can't figure out how to navigate that quandary, and that makes me sad). I also don't like that Jo gets so much pressure to become a proper lady; I mean, ultimately, I think she wins because she ends up with a house full of boys rough-housing and she's living her life on her own terms, but I especially hate the way her dad goes on and on when he comes back from the war about how Jo has become more womanly and not so much a tom-boy. There is a sense in which Jo becoming a Proper Lady equals Jo becoming a Better Person that grates on my nerves.

My biggest quibble, though, is that Jo doesn't end up with Laurie. I had forgotten how much I hate that plot point. I mean, I like Amy and Laurie together; rowing the boat is one of the best proposal scenes in any book. I like Jo and Bhaer together. But I really, really like Jo and Laurie together, and I am disappointed that they don't get married (since this is a book where everyone must get married).



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Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


After they get married, Jo and Mr. Bhaer open a boarding house for wayward boys in the house that Aunt March leaves to Jo.

This is not a very riveting book. It barely has a plot and consists mostly of stitched-together vignettes of the children playing or learning moral lessons. And, boy, do they learn some moral lessons. Most of them are good moral lessons for children to learn (like don't lie, be kind to others, integrity is important), but some of them are frustrating to the 21st century reader (like too much learning for children can turn them into simpletons (no,really) or the ennobling power of women over men).

And yet, y'all, I found myself sniffling and crying every few pages like a ding ding. Alcott must be doing something right because even though I find this book boring and irritating from time to time, I also find it very sweet and heartwarming. I can hardly watch a coffee commercial without weeping, though, in the interest of full disclosure.

I am glad that Mr. Bhaer's English improves so that Alcott isn't constantly giving us a phonetically rendered German accent for his dialogue. I think it's really weird that Demi and Daisy live at the boarding house instead of with their parents whom they seem to spend close to zero time with. I like that Laurie and Jo have maintained a good friendship and sense of fun. Jo seems to be very content as "mother" to the 12 boys at the boarding school, but I once again hate that she isn't writing any longer.

I'm going to read Jo's Boys, but I expect it will be about the same level of interest as this one.



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Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Alcott has redeemed herself! I think I like this one the best of the trilogy, even more so than Little Women.

First, Jo is a writer! And she's famous! So famous that she's constantly staving off autograph seekers and deciding how to answer reams of mail asking her to rewrite favorite stories, offer life advice, and read the manuscripts of aspiring authors. I know nothing about Alcott's life, but I am convinced that she was writing a parody of her own experiences as an author.

Second, it is actually a story rather than cobbled together vignettes and moral lessons. I really enjoy reading what happens to Jo's boys as they grow up; it's that kind of book, so just about everyone ends up paired off, but I like the romances.

I also like how explicitly feminist the book is. The larger March family has started a co-ed college, lots of commentary about women deserving the right to vote and the right to work and earn a living, Nan gets to be a doctor (who never gets married even though she's roundly pursued!).

The discussion of Native Americans contains period-specific racism but also a genuine sympathy for their treatment.

This is definitely worth a read, but unfortunately you have to slog through Little Men to get here.



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Comments

[wendelah1]

I haven't read Little Men or Jo's Boy's since I was a little kid but I've reread Little Women many times. I love Jo March and her character had a big influence on me. And I still hate that Jo and Laurie didn't end up together.

I just checked on Amazon and there's an annotated edition! It's going on my wish list!

[kore]

Ooh, I didn't know there was an annotated LW.

[lunabee34]

I know!

I mean, I totally understand why readers who like the fact that they didn't get together like it, but I think they would have made a thoroughly wonderful pair.

[kore]

From what I remember of reading Alcott's biographies, she was totally gleefully sending up her own fame as a writer with Jo's Boys.

[lunabee34]

Yay!

She must have just been hounded, then. She has Jo getting all sorts of crazy visitors who want to catch grasshoppers in her yard and look in her trash and everything else. LOL And the letters she has Jo get are hysterical.

[conuly]

My biggest quibble, though, is that Jo doesn't end up with Laurie. I had forgotten how much I hate that plot point. I mean, I like Amy and Laurie together; rowing the boat is one of the best proposal scenes in any book. I like Jo and Bhaer together. But I really, really like Jo and Laurie together, and I am disappointed that they don't get married (since this is a book where everyone must get married).

Apparently everybody shipped Jo/Laurie, and they wrote to LMA about it all the time, and that's why she wrote the second half ("Good Wives") and gleefully sunk that ship.

[lunabee34]

Oh, wow.

19th century ship wars and spite fic. LOL

[conuly]

Yeah, it was 100% the 19th century version of "Now Draco's got a receding hairline!"

[lunabee34]

Ha ha!

I do like Professor Bhaer; he and Jo are really sweet together and clearly suited for each other.

[princessofgeeks]

Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!

You might like Eight Cousins for its nascent feminism as well.

[lunabee34]

I will check it out. Thanks for the rec. :)

[torachan]

I think I read all of these as a kid, but honestly can't remember much of anything (I'm not even sure I read all three, though I am pretty sure I read at least Little Men in addition to Little Women). I hear so many people say they were upset about Jo and Laurie, but I never had any shippy feelings about them at all so it didn't bother me that she ended up with someone else.

[lunabee34]

*nods nods*

I think just as many people agree with you. I've heard plenty of people say they liked that they didn't get together and it's a good example of a friendship between a man and woman that doesn't end in romance. I totally get that. :)

[archersangel]

i've only read little women. i kept meaning to read the other two, but never did.

[lunabee34]

If you really like Little Women, I'd recommend the next two; if it's just something you remember fondly but aren't super into as an adult, I'd pass.

[darlingdeathbird]

I just wanted you to know that I'm reading these reviews, I just haven't got much to say for now because I have never read the books. Hahah

But why are you weeping at coffee commercials, pray tell? ;)

[lunabee34]

Everything makes me cry. Commercials, songs, cartoons. Anything remotely sweet. LOL It's a sickness.