(Book 863 from 1001 books) - Little Women (Little Women #1), Louisa May Alcott

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869.

Alcott wrote the books over several months at the request of her publisher.

Following the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy— the novel details their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters.

زنان کوچک - نویسنده: لوئییز می آلکوت، انتشاراتیها (علمی فرهنگی، درنا، جامی، صفیعلیشاه، نهال نویدان، جانزاده، قدیانی بنفشه، خرداد، دبیر اکباتان، امیرکبیر کتابهای جیبی، افق، زبان مهر، پیام سحر، پنجره)، ادبیات آمریکایی سده نوزدهم میلادی؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و نهم ماه سپتامبر سال 1998میلادی

عنوان: زنان کوچک؛ نویسنده: لوئییز می آلکوت؛ مترجم: شهیندخت رئیس زاده؛ تهران، علمی فرهنگی، 1369؛ در 447ص؛ چاپ سوم 1374؛ شابک9644457757؛ چاپ چهارم 1385؛ چاپ پنجم 1388؛ چاپ ششم 1393؛ شابک 9786001210532؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 19م

مترجم: تهمینه مهربانی؛ تهران، درنا، 1374؛ در 160ص؛ شابک 9646105122؛ چاپ دوم و سوم 1374؛ چهارم 1375؛ پنجم 1376؛

مترجم: فریده ملک الکلامی؛ تهران، جامی، 1374؛ در 127ص؛

مترجم: امیرمحمود فخردایی؛ تهران، صفیعلیشاه، 1374؛ در 179ص؛

مترجم: شکوفه اخوان؛ تهران، نهال نویدان، 1375؛ در 160ص؛ شابک 9645680182؛ چاپ دوم 1380؛ چاپ 1392؛ شابک 9789645680563؛ در 184ص؛

مترجم: جلیل دهمشکی؛ تهران، جانزاده، 1375؛ در 160ص؛

مترجم: فرزین مروارید؛ تهران، قدیانی بنفشه، 1376؛ در 351ص؛ شابک 9644171527؛ چاپ دوم 1380؛ چاپ پنجم 1388؛ چاپ نهم 1393؛ شابک 9789644171529؛

مترجم: هانیه اعتصام؛ تهران، خرداد، 1381؛ در 88ص؛ شابک 9646465072؛

مترجم: سپهر حاجتی؛ تهران، دبیر اکباتان، 1388؛ در 58ص؛ شابک 9789642621866؛ چاپ سوم 1388؛ چهارم 1389؛

مترجم: محمد میرلو؛ تهران، امیرکبیر کتابهای جیبی، 1389؛ در 150ص؛ شابک 9789643032128؛

مترجم: کیوان عبیدی آشتیانی؛ تهران، افق، 1389؛ در 489ص؛ شابک 9789643696627؛ چاپ پنجم 1392؛ چاپ ششم 1393؛

مترجم: مریم دستوم؛ تهران، زبان مهر، 1391؛ در 168ص؛ شابک 9786009007059؛

مترجم: فرزانه عسگری پور؛ تهران، پیام سحر، 1393؛ در 114ص؛ شابک 9786009400164؛

مترجم: بیتا ابراهیمی؛ تهران، پنجره، 1394؛ در 176ص؛

داستان در مورد زندگی چهار خواهر «مگی، بزرگترین دختر خانواده»، «جو، شخصیت محوری داستان»، «بتی، دختر سوم» و «ایمی» کوچکترین دختر خانواده ی «مارچ» است، که با الهام از زندگی واقعی نویسنده، با سه خواهرش نوشته شده‌ است

جلد نخست، «زنان کوچک»، به اندازه‌ ای موفق بود، که نوشتن جلد دوم با عنوان «همسران خوب» را موجب شد

هشدار: اگر میخواهید کتاب را خود بخوانید ادامه ی ریویو ماجرا را بازگویی میکند

خانواده ی «مارچ»؛ پیشترها، پولدار بوده‌ اند، ولی اکنون وضعیت خوبی ندارند، و پدرشان، برای یاری به سربازان وطن، به جنگ رفته، و آن‌ها کوشش می‌کنند، زندگی خود را اداره کرده، و در کنارش، به مردمان نیازمند نیز، یاری برسانند؛ آن‌ها زندگی دشواری دارند، ولی از یکدیگر پشتیبانی می‌کنند، و ماجراهایی برایشان پیش می‌آید؛

در کتاب دوم، «لاری» نوه ی همسایه ی آنها، عاشق «جو» می‌شود، و «جو» هم که این موضوع را فهمیده، کوشش می‌کند از او دوری کند؛ ولی یکروز وقتی برای قدم زدن به بیرون می‌روند، «لاری» درخواست خود را به زبان می‌آورد، و از «جو» می‌خواهد با او ازدواج کند؛ «لاری» به «جو» می‌گوید، که از نخستین لحظه ‌ای که او را دیده‌، عاشقش شده است، «جو» درخواست او را رد می‌کند، و به او می‌گوید، که با وجود اینکه سعی کرده‌، ولی نتوانسته عاشق «لاری» باشد؛ «لاری» افسرده، به همراه پدربزرگ خود، به اروپا می‌رود، و در آنجا با «ایمی» دیدار می‌کند، و چون «ایمی» با او مهربان بوده، عاشق «ایمی» می‌شود (و می‌فهمد که هیچ زنی برای او بهتر از «ایمی» پیدا نمی‌شود حتی «جو») و «ایمی» هم عاشق او می‌شود با او ازدواج می‌کند؛ «بت» بیمار می‌شود ولی از مرگ نمی‌ترسد، و شجاعانه با بیماری روبرو می‌شود، و سرانجام می‌میرد؛ «جو» که از مرگ خواهر خود بسیار اندوهگین شده‌، کتابی به نام «بتِ من» می‌نویسد، و آن را برای دوست خود پروفسور می‌فرستد؛ پروفسور با خواندن کتاب عاشق «جو» می‌شود، و «جو» هم با وجود اینکه به «لاری» گفته هرگز ازدواج نمی‌کند، عاشق پروفسور می‌شود، و وقتی پروفسور پس از ازدواج «ایمی» و «لاری» به «آمریکا» می‌آید، «جو» را دیدار می‌کند، و سرانجام به او می‌گوید که دوستش دارد، و آن‌ها نیز با هم ازدواج می‌کنند؛ «مگ» صاحب دوقلو، و «جو» هم صاحب دو پسر می‌شود، و «ایمی» هم صاحب یک دختر زیبا می‌شود؛ و اینگونه است که داستان عشق و عاشقی پایان می‌یابد؛ این فراموشکار دلبسته به داستانهای ماندگار سده های پیشین هستم، هربار آن داستانها را بخوانم لبخنده ای بر چهره ام مینشیند و برنمیخیزد

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 02/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 24/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

i’m sorry i didn’t like it that much

I wanted to love it but i found it so boring :(

As I'm finding with a lot of the classics this is way too long! Cut it in half and it would be a really good book. I'm glad I've read it and it's definitely one of the better classics, just a little to long winded. My advice - watch the film!

A new movie is coming out December 25th...

I've never read it so I might have to do a readalong for it that month!

There is much to enjoy in 'Little Women', especially if you prefer the values of life taught in conservative religious daycare centers, gentle reader.

Marmee March, who is obviously a fertility goddess, raises four young human girls - Margaret (16), Jo (15), Beth (12) and Amy (9) - by herself during the Civil War. Chaplain March, rumored to be the human father of the four girls but who I believe is actually a zombie or a holy ghost, has volunteered to serve President Lincoln's troops by ministering to the soldiers at the warfront while his wife and children soldier on in genteel poverty in Massachusetts, taking jobs such as governess or companion to elderly rich people.

Each girl has a distinct personality at the start, unfortunately. But by the last page, having learned in depth the housecleaning and cooking skills allowed 19th-century females to learn, as well as in finishing up the rest of their meager basic education filtered through Christian values into a loving acceptance of their erasure as individual personas, they all successfully transition into modest obedient self-effacing wives and mothers. One is fortunate to find a position as a trophy wife, while another becomes a proliferate baby maker. Last but not least, it appears one of the women may become a respectable daycare operator, specializing in the emasculation of males. I do not want to speak too much about the one who escaped this Utopia. That was sad.

حرف زیادی ندارم برای گفتن ولی پنج ستاره برای حس و حال خوبی که بهم داد.این روز ها زندگی خیلی سخت برام میگذره و مشکلات زیادی دارم اما وقتی این کتابو دستم میگرفتم،همه چیز رو فراموش میکردم و حالم خوب میشد.

little women was the book that changed my life. literally. i remember cracking open an extremely dusty hardcover copy that only interested me because of the gold leaf on the cover, of course. as a self-proclaimed feminist at the ripe old age of 11, i was 100% positive i would hate this book with my entire heart. because obviously a book about women who might want to marry was going to be horrible! right?

little did i know that i was about to be introduced to characters that i related to so much: i went to conventions and stuck magnets on my fridge. i had a diary entirely covered with jo march stickers when i was 13. i even used to dramatically recite entries then purposefully asked my art teacher for ink pens so i could come out of class with stained hands like a true emerging author.

(spoilers!)

to quickly summarize this gem, it follows the lives of the march sisters, all of various ages: meg, jo, amy, and beth. each of them have different personalities which i will try to describe in extremely biased detail down below. there are technically two parts, but i read them all smushed together in that hardcover and can't go back now. sorry.

meg: the most responsible, typically beautiful sister. she was probably the character that i hated with a passion when i was a little girl, but now wish i was.

meg essentially raises some of the girls at times, teaching them life lessons all along the way. she longs to be a rich socialite, a wife, and a mother. (see why i hated her? ugh. girls who like traditionally girly things are the worst! - 11-year old adira that also used to want to eat the robin's egg paint in her art teacher's classroom because it looked "delectable")

my favorite scene of meg's was in little men- you can see her struggle, hoisting two babies on her hip, yearning for a beautiful green dress but trying to stay loyal to her husband. meg's two sides, the loyal and dwindling, fight in such a heartfelt way. she's is often teased for her wants, either by laurie or jo, who do not understand why she feels the way she does. meg is every little girl out there that got teased for wearing her frilly dress, and i just think that that's wonderful.

side note- her growth is not apparent in this book, and she's probably "the side character" if i had to name one. but i believe she's heavily underrated and misunderstood in her lifetime, because the things she wants don't match with her class and status at the time.

jo: i mentioned above, i was and still am unhealthily obsessed with jo march. i saw myself in her, mistakenly might i add. a rough tomboy utterly unaware of luxuries such as love & looks, jo, again, wants different things. as she grows as a person, she grows as an author.

alcott states that she wrote jo to be her more witty other half, and i can definitely tell. jo's point of view is the most painfully personal. you can feel her words ringing in your ears, and alcott's prose becomes infinitely more heartbreaking when jo's hurt is involved. now, i must say that i found romance so unlike jo, but i was happy for her! (no i wasn’t) okay, i didn't like who alcott set her up with, but i don't believe her and friedrich aren't good together because jo is a tomboy, and tomboys apparently don't like romance. i just...thought he was an uncle for a solid fifty pages. excuse me for not understanding age-gaps!

to be honest, i'm still not a fan of them, so i don't really like jo and friedrich now either.

i loathed them together when i was 11, and still do! i truly wish alcott dreamt up someone else for her. maybe another author, but not someone who's light gets dimmer whenever he's around jo. jo deserves the best. or me. no, the best. or me. me. okay, me.

amy: kind of petty, jealous, but a good person at heart. little amy is probably the most unlikable, but grown amy shows maturity and wiseness beyond her years. i know i see myself in every character, but i can truly say that i am little amy. she is me and i am her. however, i aspire to be like grown amy. anyways, amy is your typical immature sibling. amy’s fights with jo had that telltale underlying feeling of jealousy..wondering why she couldn't not try like her sisters.

when would laurie like her? would meg and marmee ever trust and pay attention to her? and when would she find her thing like jo has always had? or will she always be the side character in her sisters' stories?

that constant feeling of unwantedness and never being enough to stand up for yourself are things that i think a lot of young readers could relate to if they pay attention to little amy. her insecurities are so typical of the "forgotten sibling"..which is, admittedly, most of us.

moving on, i’m actually really happy she ended up with laurie! i thought they were perfect together. the "why couldn't you have loved me originally?" + "i'm sorry it took me so long to realize how perfect you are" trope will never not be amazing <3 although i liked them way more in the movie (i know, surprising), they were better matched than jo and laurie. i will fight people on this, i ADORE laurie and amy.

beth: beth my child, beth my perfect, beth my darling. beth deserves better. her storyline was so beautiful, i knew she would have a downfall! her death was so sudden and out of nowhere. i will forever hate louisa may alcott (but also love her because...BETH) for what she did to my little angel. also, beth is inspired by one of alcott’s sisters, so erasing her death would remove the depth to alcott’s version.

anyways, that's all. i remember first reading about her death and closing the book, going upstairs, and crying for 2+ hours. my mom thought that one of my stuffed animals died. again. (a little context, i used to randomly pick a sunday for one of my forgotten stuffed animals to "die" and i'd make my parents do backyard funerals for each of them. literally an icon)

personally, i've never been a classics fan. there's something beautiful about reading one, but i'm technically part of gen z. so our attention spans are miniscule, and when words like "fatuous" and "ignominy" are being used in each page, some of us, not me of course, have a hard time.

many people bring up the problem of blandness. but this book isn't a thriller. you're not supposed to be surprised when you turn the page, or gasp when someone has a revelation like you’d gasp when your favorite character starts brutally slaughtering everybody in sight purge-style. consider it an autobiography of truly ordinary peoples’ lives. they're not extraordinary in the sense of the word, and therefore a timeline of their life won't be invigorating/suspenseful. i’ve taken this sentiment into every classic i read, and it makes the reading experience much more enjoyable.

so, to close, little women isn't just a book- it's a phase. if you're looking to read one that will change your life outlook, this is it. look no further.

—-------------
pre-review: if only jo march was real

review to come!

I hated this book.

I can't even begin to go into all the reasons I dislike this novel. It's dull and preachy through out most of it--aside from Jo who is a truly inspired character. But everyone else seems one note, most of the chapters come off as morality plays than solid scenes or plots. And just when Miss Alcott has something seemingly interesting she breaks it for no other reason than to do something.

Whether its the pairing of Amy and Laurie (huh?), the point made CONSTANTLY that Beth's life isn't useless because she is an angel and showed them that angels do exist and is a total Mary Sue(Really? Cause I'm glad she died before I died of boredom), the forced pairing of Jo and the Professor (Why? I mean--really... Just keep her single) there is also the message that pursing art is selfish. (Jo giving up her writing, Laurie gives up his music, Amy gives up her sketching...)

It's not a message I expected--this book is always lauded as one that has inspired countless girls... To do what? Because outside of Jo's sipirt I dont really see much to aspire to in this tsory? The overall message seems to be that as a good Christian one should sacrifice being an artist, being in love with who you want and any hope of independence...

It's not because I'm from the modern era that I dislike this book. (Or that I'm an adult reading it.) If you look at other works being done in the same time period you will see that there were stories with less moralizing being done--including by Miss Alcott herself. I was just really disappointed

☀️A delightful story set in the era of America’s Civil War.

The sisters grow up and their various romances take them one way or the other.

Jo is the author, Louisa May, bold Jo the writer. Which is refreshing to know.

✍

━ ⊱ pre-read ⋅ ⊹

the way im literally squealing in excitement! oh my this just seems like such a cozy and comforting read and i cant wait to fall in love with it <3 hopefully entering my mysterious girl reading classics era ?!

pre-read.

3/31/2024: forever going to love and adore little women like no other!
rtc (if i can finish my 10 other reviews first)

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