I wanted to reread this story since another movie has been recently released based on this book, and also because I forgot what it was about since I read it in 1972. I began rereading my old copy that I bought when I was in Grade 4, and after comparing it with the ebook version my daughter was reading, I realized that my modern abridged edition, published in 1955, was pretty much cut in half, with only 283 pages. Several phrases, sentences, paragraphs and even whole chapters were omitted! Therefore, I purchased the latest edition (published 2019 with a cover depicting the actresses from the latest movie). Needless to say, a lot of questions were now answered!

Overall, one has to be mindful that this story was first published in 1868 (over 150 years ago), so language, thoughts, mores and behaviors were quite different then than they are today. I suppose readers back then would have found this book to be quite forward-thinking. As for myself, I found this book to be, in a word, charming. Even the "sex scene" between Meg and John was alluded to with such delicacy that you could miss it if you weren't paying close attention. And even though I remembered that Beth dies, I still had tears in my eyes while reading the touching prose describing her death.

If you are interested in reading classic literature, put this book on your "To Read" list!

This book means SISTERHOOD... FAMILY… HAPPINESS…TOGETHERNESS… THANKFULNESS… GENUINENESS…SOLIDARITY…BELIEFS… RESPECT…UNCONDITIONAL LOVE…HONESTY…KINDNESS…


This is magical book, when I get into my hands for the first time, I was only eleven and for decades I kept on getting it into my hands, reread it several times and same words resonated different for me, awoke different feelings, made me look at the characters’ flaws and differences at brand new perspective.
Even though I know the ending: I laughed, I cried, I sighed, I smiled, I jumped, I felt peaceful and at the end I LOVED IT TRULY, DEEPLY so MUCH! Christmas is coming. You think there won’t be Christmas without presents and I think there won’t be any meaningful celebration without doing my yearly reading of this book and reconnecting with Holly March Sisterhood. Joe (tomboy, book-worn, hot-tempered, writer, definitely closer to my character), Meg (Romantic, sweet-natured, peace maker older sister), Beth ( sweet, shy, cute, friendly, fallen angel, musical prodigy) and Amy (spoiled, childish, artistic, elegant, refined youngest one): I LOVE YOU BOTH.


It is why this book is always my all-time favorite one! Time to reconnect with the sisters and feeling the best holiday spirit!

━ ⊱ 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 ?!

I’M IN LOVE, I’M IN LOVE, AND I DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!

When I was a child, my mother used to drag me to antique stores all the time. There is nothing more boring to a kid than an antique store. It smelled like dust and old people, and everything looked the same (dark wood), and if we were in a particularly bauble-heavy shop I had to clasp my hands behind my back like a Von Trapp child in order to avoid invoking the you-break-it-you-buy-it policy on a $42 crystal ashtray.

On one such excursion, when I was like eight, I found a vintage-ish copy of Little Women. Because it was a book, and because it had some kind of illustration of pretty girls in pretty dresses, it was far and away the most interesting thing in there. So I indulged in what was then and what remains one of my favorite pastimes: asking my mother to buy me something. She said no, both because it was confusingly expensive and because she doubted eight-year-old me’s lasting interest in reading a 750-page book from 1868.

Ever since, Little Women has tantalized me.

I am very pleased to say it lived up to every expectation.

This book is so cozy and delightful and happy. A lot of the time, when series start out in the childhood of characters and then follow their growing up, the book gets worse. But I always liked reading about this ragtag group of gals!!

Warning, spoiler ahead, and if you complain about me spoiling a book that was published seven of my lifetime ago I will absolutely freak out so don’t say I didn’t give you a heads up:

Obviously Jo and Laurie were meant for each other, and his marrying Amy and Jo’s marrying some random old dude was the biggest flaw of this book. But even with that, this book ended happy, and I enjoyed almost every second of it.

(Okay, I’m sorry, but Amy is the clear weak link and didn’t deserve Laurie!! I will not rejoice for them!!) (Did I have to take off a half star for that alone? Yes. Because it upset me immensely. And I won’t apologize. If anyone should be apologized to, it’s ME. And also JO. And also LAURIE!)

But absolutely every other second was a pleasure.

Bottom line: This book feels like Christmas.

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pre-review

cozy: ✓
comforted: ✓
joy: ✓

review to come!!!

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currently-reading updates

I am ready to feel COZY. I am ready to feel COMFORTED. I am ready to feel JOY.

A timeless classic that I enjoyed just as much now as I did when I first read it at school.

Little Women is the story of March girls - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and spans from their teens to adulthood, matrimony, and motherhood. Modeled after her family, Alcott weaves a charming story with a truthful and accurate account of human characters and human relationships. This realistic approach so sincerely done has captured the hearts of millions of readers across the globe and throughout centuries to become one of the most enduring classics.

These four sisters are very different from each other. But the sisterly love and the family bond, firmly instilled in their hearts by their wise and kind mother, makes them close and united. The girls are not perfect; they have their virtues as well as flaws. But the readers fall in love with them because they feel real. Their characters develop through the book and once carefree girls become responsible and dutiful “little women”. I first read this in my teens and loved Jo more than others. Her tomboyish ways resembled me and I found a comrade in her. But this time around, I can safely say that I learned to love them all, though a slight partially remains for Jo.

Although the story mainly revolves around the March girls, Little Women is not a “girlish” book. It is rather a “domestic” book full of morals and life lessons. The insightful advice which is thrown throughout really does benefit the reader of any age. Most of these things were overlooked in my first read, for I took it for a mere romance. But the depth of the book pleasantly surprised me this time around.

In all my love for March girls, I shouldn’t forget their “dashing young neighbour”, Laurie. This headstrong, quick-tempered, and moody boy added the much-needed male contrast to the dominating female characters. As was with the girls, the author takes care to develop Laurie’s character too from the willful boy to a patient and responsible young man.

In my first read, I was disappointed that Laurie and Jo were not as united as I hoped. But after this read, I feel Alcott did right by coupling Laurie with Amy and Jo with Professor Bhaer. Overall I believe Alcott matched the couples well taking in to consideration their vibrant personalities.

With its beautiful prose, charming story, realistic and compelling characters, Little Women is a complete work in itself. Even with my disappointment, I remember liking this book very much. However, this second read clearly showed what a rare piece of classic this book is; and I couldn’t help but fall in love with it deeply and dearly.

☀️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.

✍

2017 update: I reread this as it was the Austentatious book for June and July! I didn't love it as much as I did the first time I read it, but I am glad I got to revisit the story. (Also, this time I Amy was my favorite character?)

Book 12/100 for 2015
I had to read this book for my Children's Lit class and I loved it! We've done a lot of discussion which has really opened my mind to new things in the book and made me love it even more. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to get into classics as it's a children's book (so easy to read) but also there are fantastic characters (except Amy, I really hate Amy).

MY FOREVER DRUG !

I prefer sitting all snug and warm with my hot-coffee mug and reading through the adventures of the adorable March family.

March family is like a bower of evergreen prolific climbers (with a never give-up attitude), bearing four idiosyncratic perennial flowers (the March Sisters), each having a distinct fragrance of their own.

Anyone can be easily beguiled by their charm, I am smitten ! (esp. Jo). Each has idiosyncratic talents and characteristics. Love for the family keeps them bonded.

One can find shelter in this bower anytime to relax and rejuvenate.

Unambiguously, it is saccharine, endearing, professing principles of Christianity, oozing out tons of gratefulness, solidarity, respect and above all heart-touching sisterhood (for someone like me without siblings, March sisters helped me to live this experience virtually!)

Whenever the 4 March Sisters - Jo, Beth, Amy, Meg called out their mother as "Marmee", I was engulfed with heart-wrenching emotions. Marmee afterall !

The girls aren't complaint boxes about any resistances in life but steer through all the predicaments with a cheerful disposition and childlike spirit.

The novel begins with the sisters sitting crestfallen, pondering about their circumstances, yet aiming to brighten up their Christmas. Planning to buy gifts for each other, which finally narrows down to buying for their Marmee, this novel is all about sharing and living lovingly.

Mr. Laurence, their neighbor invites the girls for the New Year's Party, where Jo ( my fav. character, afterall she is in love with books) meets Laurie (another fav of mine , high-spirited and mischievous in company of the March sisters) who ends up falling in love with one of the sisters (leaving it to the audience to discover). There is so much more to this novel, can't capture the superfluous information in a small review.

The sisters traverse through various adventures and vicissitudes of life with calmness and dignity. Best part of the plot is that none of the sisters is supercilious.

The novel ends on a happy note, where everyone is busy counting their blessings.

Warning - This book is infused with a heavy dose of morality.

I wanted to love this novel so much and thus I set myself up for failure. I’ll try to adequately summarize my thoughts, however I feel a little scatterbrained. It’s taken me a long time to get through this novel and thus not everything is fresh in my mind. I won’t be tagging any spoilers so if you still haven’t read this, haven’t watched the movie or live under rock then I advise you to stay clear of my review.

2.5ish/5

n  Part Onen
If I had to rate the first part of this novel I would have given it no higher than one star. It’s so dreadful to read through multiple “moral lessons” from a woman that often time teaches her daughters to humble themselves for men. I understand that this is a classic and thus the values and morals have changed, however this is a novel that is still praised for the lessons it is teaching; these lessons are mostly boring and arise out of natural circumstances.

I don’t know about you but my upbringing did not result in a lecture after everything I did. I learned things on my own and it felt that the little women were often time coddled. It’s no wonder I severely despise the woman Meg and Jo had grown into.

Additionally, Mr. March might be the second worst character. Both the Marches are incredibly one dimensional. His only importance to the story was when he was away at war and once he returned he served no purpose.

Meg’s love story with Brooke makes my blood boil. Within five minutes Meg goes from declining his proposal to declaring her love for him to defy Aunt March. There exists no romance or chemistry between them and she’s still the same immature child she was five minutes ago. This concludes the first part and leads us to

n  Part Twon
I’m not a particular fan of the style of writing and some chapters read more easily than others. There are the select few chapters that were phenomenally written. I wish I could pluck these out bind them in their own novel and reread this instead. The chapters are: Literary Lessons, Heartache, Beth’s Secret, Lazy Laurence, and The Valley of the Shadow.

First and foremost, the Jo/Laurie/Amy debate shouldn’t exist in my opinion. Laurie proposed at the wrong time, had he waited until both him and Jo were older I think she would have said yes, regardless of whether he got his life together like Amy demanded him to. Both Laurie and Jo were still childish and despite her young age Amy was able to put Laurie in shape to be the respectable gentleman his grandfather wanted him to be.

What we should all be focusing on is Beth’s death. I don’t think it was avoidable and it plays a pivotal part in the story. It certainly made me sad but the strongest emotion this chapter evoked from me was anger.

Why would Beth doom Jo by making her promise to stay with their parents upon her death?

From page one Jo has been waiting for an opportunity to travel and gain experiences and instead Jo is forced to take Beth's place. Had Beth lived, I believe she would have married a simple man like Mr. March and continued taking care of her parents and family nearby. Because of her death, Beth needed someone to fill that place and thus came in Jo. This PISSED ME THE FUCK OFF. As soon as Jo makes that promise any life she had planned vanished and with that she met crusty ass fucking Professor Bhaer and crossed herself off my list of characters I love.

I don’t think I will ever hate a character as much as Bhaer This man is so condescending and self centered. He’s as one dimensional as Mr. March (we’re going full circle here). HE LITERALLY READ A POEM ABOUT THE LITTLE WOMEN, let me repeat that, THE LITTLE WOMEN, and pulled out a sentence about love and said “diz here iz about me professorine” LIKE SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!

Which brings me to the fucking end. Of course Amy is doomed with a sick child because she named her kid after Beth. Jo I couldn’t give a fuck about after she gave a second thought to a crusty old man. Meg I hated from the first page. Doesn’t even matter if they mention Beth because Jo took her place.

The more I think about this novel, the more I think about how much I hate it and how it doesn’t make up for the 5 chapters I enjoyed out of 47. Had I read this novel as a child and grown up with it, maybe I would have liked it (very weak maybe), but I think a piece of literature should be judged despite what age you read it at and this just didn’t do it for me.

Thank god for Greta Gerwig and being able to make a phenomenal movie out of such a mediocre novel.

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Yes I just watched the 2019 film adaptation for the first time and I am emotional.

No, I will not be taking questions at this time. Thank you.

Un clásico de clásicos, un manual de buenas costumbres y educación, reflexivo, nostálgico y repleto de frases maravillosas.
Las protagonistas son personajes entrañables que por algo, después de tantos años, permanecen en la mente de los lectores, muchas cosas que aprender de la familia March.

Look, I'm going to be brutally honest here: I read this when I was about 10 and I quite enjoyed it. But reading it at the age of 33? OH MY GOD, THIS WAS THE MOST SACCHARINE SWEET, INTOLERABLE TWADDLE I'VE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF READING.

All four of the girls are so ridiculously perfect that even when they make the tiny little mistakes that are painted as monumental fuck ups in the book, they're instantly fixed with a sweet smile or a sermon from their mother about women needing to control their anger, or remembering how NICE it is to be poor.

As the girls get older, they become slightly less insufferable but I gave zero fucks about any of their romantic relationships and I just wanted Beth to hurry up and die because she was so perfect and so insufferable and I kind of wanted to punch her in the face.

So. This is really a one star book that gets an extra star because Jo was actually a half way decent character most of the time and up until a certain point in the story, I had a very nice asexual Jo March headcanon going on.