Charlie. Deserved. A. Better. Ending. *bangs fist angrily on nearby table*
My dog literally ate the library copy of this book over 10 years ago, and I can't help thinking that he (the dog) had excellent taste.

Olipa jotenkin jopa Alcottinkin mittapuulla moralisoiva teos. Huonot elämäntavat johtavat kuolemaan, mutta kaikki tuntuvat unohtavan menehtyneen yllättävän nopeasti. Romanssi oli ihan kiva, mutta sekin meni lopussa jotenkin liian nopeasti.

This was good, too, but I think I liked the first one better because the plot seemed to have more variety. This one had an awful lot to do with sweethearts. ;)

Rose in Bloom is an Alcott I hadn’t returned to since reading it the first time. Rose from Eight Cousins is all grown up and ready to make her way in the world. Yet, we spend most of the novel with her at home; Alcott elides the interesting parts of her life and focuses on marrying her off to one of those eight cousins.

Oddly enough, eccentric Uncle Alec doesn’t want Rose to marry a cousin. Imagine! Yet, he is completely oblivious to the fact that his machinations have set her up to do just that. He is so antagonistic toward Rose participating in society that she is left to think of only marrying her relations. He has also cultivated her to feel obligated to fix other people’s lives, so she is compelled to marry the worst of the lot, Charlie, who only wants her for her fortune (at least early on, and the narrative is very clear about his mercenary inclination). At this point, Rose in Bloom becomes a dreary temperance novel, in which the only lift is the humor coming from Alcott’s personal inclination to tipple, leaving the teetotaling to her characters.

It also must be said that Alcott toes an odd line with racism regarding the recurring character of Fun See. She marries him off to Rose’s friend Annabel, which is nice, but the way Rose talks about him and his culture turned my stomach. Yet, Alcott almost always frowns upon other cultures in her fiction. She glorifies the USA as much as any author of her time, and I can think of many, many examples where she derides other cultures in favor of US supremacy, exceptionalism, whatever you want to call it. Professor Bhaer in Little Women is the only major exception to the rule. Evidently, Alcott was impressed by the material culture of her foreign tours but underwhelmed by the society. That’s a real disappointment when I think of other European-tour stories, like Betsy and the Great World, because imagine Alcott writing chummily instead of snottily about other cultures!

I kept thinking of Mansfield Park while reading Rose in Bloom. They have a few similarities--a wealthy family, cousin marriage, a highly principled heroine. Yet, I love Fanny Price and Mansfield Park in a way that I don't love Rose in Bloom. Perhaps because Fanny is principled from her inmost self, not to please an Uncle Alec. Fanny endures actual trials and proves herself, while Rose is untested. Fanny is also less outgoing and active than Rose, and has no great personal wealth. I just find the comparisons interesting.

Yet, at the end of the day, I do like Rose and Mac, and only the blood-purist Campbell aunts could disdain dear Phebe and Archie. I like Mac’s character growth and the way Rose grows from admiration to friendship to love. I also really enjoy the benevolence portions, as Alcott has a good grasp of “when helping hurts.” Yet, all of that is explored to better effect in A Garland for Girls, which remains one of my favorites of her fiction. All of that is quite pleasant, but Rose in Bloom suffers from being so homebound and moralistic. And this from me, who loves a good domestic novel; it’s just that Eight Cousins did it already with the same cast of characters. Had it extolled virtue over moralism, it would be a much better novel.

Such a favorite.

Genre: Classics/Children’s Literature

The audio for this novel was very nice. The novel itself was just slightly disappointing after Eight Cousins, although it’s hard to pinpoint why I feel that way. This is the sequel to Eight Cousins and follows Rose and Pheobe’s trials and experiments as young adults. I guess I feel like the novel took the easy way out by killing Charlie before Rose had to decide if she could or would love him. As she says later, it would’ve been a bad match even without his drinking problem – but I feel like Alcott didn’t require Rose to grow enough in order to stand up for herself and tell him no, despite the very realistic pressure Rose felt to say “yes”. Also, I felt the highly foreshadowed romance between Rose and Mac was shortchanged – they really didn’t spend much on-screen time falling in love, and I think that would’ve been good for Rose’s development – in order for her to be able to believably say “this is the kind of person I want to be, and Mac helps me do it”. However, the shortcuts allowed Rose to be an ideal little Victorian woman, even if I found it less then perfectly satisfying.

This is a comfort read, one I've always had warm feelings for.

Rose in Bloom picks up a few years after Eight Cousins. Rose is around 20 now, and returning from a trip abroad with Uncle and Phebe. Naturally, everyone assumes that she will marry soon, but she wants to look around a little first and do something worthwhile.

She settles on philanthropy as a career, but not before trying some of the pleasures of the high life, the parties and late nights of frivolous society. This does her no real harm, but confirms to her that life has more to offer.

Her cousin Charlie is determined to marry her, and Rose's feelings are on the fence about this cousin. I personally think she was trying too hard to love him, when he had done so little worthy of respect. Nevertheless, Rose thinks that maybe someday Charlie will be her ideal.
This time through I wasn't really on board with Alcott's decision about Charlie's fate... I feel like it conveniently took Charlie out of the way so that Rose didn't really have to make up her mind about him.

BUT now we come to Mac. Her bookish, slightly antisocial cousin. Mac and Rose have always been decent friends; she knows how to take him and doesn't get worried by his uniqueness. In this book he shows his real potential. He has a good heart and faultless instincts; he is kind and sincere; he stands apart from society but doesn't judge it too harshly and is good-natured enough to participate in the social scene when he needs to (and with a little training from Rose and his brother!). The problem is, Rose rather takes him for granted. The final few chapters, where Mac comes to a realization about how he feels for Rose, and does something about it, always capture my heart.
I think she's a little too clueless about the whole thing, but Mac more than makes up for that by his purposeful, focused, steady regard.
Much as I enjoy the Darcys and Rochesters of the literary world, Mac is an altogether​ superior type... he's neither repressed nor tragic. He's a worker and an honest friend, a balanced thinker and feeler, somebody you'd want on your side, and somebody you'd be infinitely safe with. That is why this book is a comfort read.

Imagine if Beth had been the central character of Little Women. Imagine also that she had a fortune, several ardent suitors, and not the grace to die halfway through the book.

A sequel worth of its name. You just can't read Eight Cousins without reading Rose in Bloom right after it.

7/4/19 edit: Not deleting this review because it is 100% how I felt when I read the book, but I suspect my opinion would be somewhat altered now that 11 years have passed.

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This is my favorite of Louisa May Alcott’s many novels. This book, the sequel to Eight Cousins, surpassed it’s forerunner in wit, character studies, contrasts, and over-all enjoyableness. The reader is reintroduced into the realm of Rose Campbell, a rich, young orphan, and her seven boy cousins. As each character matures, Alcott weaves an intricate chain of tragedy, romance, and humor, culminating as Rose chooses which of her cousins she will marry. It is filled with fun quotes from other famous authors, and some quite hilarious scenes.

Oh, I like it very much!

Rose has returned from a year abroad to find that most of her boy cousins have quite grown up while she was away. Suddenly, they are all on the brink of adulthood and beginning to think of careers and romance. Rose must choose her path in life carefully while she begins to gradually bloom.

I love this marvelous sequel to Eight Cousins! It has a more mature purpose and some darker themes than the first book. There are themes about alcoholism, death, clan loyalty, elitism, philanthropy, and having strong moral principles. This is another Alcott book with moral lessons in every other chapter, but I love it! The morals are woven so nicely into the story, that I don't mind being preached at in this wholesome way.

I love Phebe and Rose's sweet friendship even more in this second book than in the first one! Those two girls are so close and affectionate, and they are fiercely loyal and ready to brave anything to protect their friend. It's so refreshing to read about a strong female friendship!

All the boy cousins have great personalities and fun scenes, but the three with the most depth and development are the three oldest boys, Archie, Mac, and Charlie. I loved seeing how they grow and develop through the story, and especially how Rose herself influences them for good.