Book Review of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Author: Louisa May Alcott
ISBN: 0-89375-707-1
Publisher: Troll
Type of book: 1860s contemporary, coming of age, women, sisterhood, relationships, marriage, morals, friendship, growing up, war, death
Year it was published: 1868-1869
Summary:
Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.
It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.
Characters:
Main characters include Meg, Joe, Beth and Amy. Meg March is the oldest daughter of the family and is best described as responsible, serious and sensible. She is girly and is close to Amy. Joe is the second eldest daughter who is tomboyish, a bookworm, and is close to Beth. Beth is the third daughter who thinks of others, is never selfish and is frail and considerate. Amy is the youngest who is artistic, flirtatious and very creative as well as somewhat selfish. There are secondary characters, but its more fun to discover them through reading.
Theme:
Oddly enough, despite reading this book from cover to cover, it's hard to say what the single theme should be, maybe something about life and relationships?
Plot:
The story is written in third person narrative from practically all of the character's points of views, although Joe was the main speaker. The story tackles a lot of issues be it familial relationships, friendships, reading novels, and even budding romance as well as death and disease. Again, why was this not read at school? I mean, we had to read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, yet this book wasn't touched or studied at all?
Author Information:
(From book)
Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania in 1832. She first gained fame as an author with the publication of Hospital Sketches, a collection of letters she wrote while serving as a nurse in a Union hospital during the Civil War.
Although she is best known for Little Women (1868), she wrote many other books, including Little Women Part II (1869) An Old Fashioned Girl (1869) Little Men (1871) and Eight Couisins (1874) Alcott died in 1888
Opinion:
Really hard to believe that the author hated to write this story. I am really unsure whether to write two reviews or one, mainly because the book is split into two volumes that, long ago, were published in two. But I guess I will do one then maybe later when the mood strikes I will write two reviews. I am a bit late coming into the classic, but i think its safe for me to say that i strongly enjoyed it. I loved the details, the relationships between the sisters, and so forth. Its sad that we never read this book at school, but i definitely see why this book is a classic. I feel that the second part, the one dealing with relationships wasn't as strong as the first part, but i think its ok. Very strong morals and lessons to be learned from reading it.
4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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