Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My book group, Lit'n'Lattes. read the book Little Women by, Louisa May Alcott last month. Here is the review.
Next month is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
Since this book has been made into a movie and play many may be familiar with the general storyline of the book. The book features four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March who live in the North during the Civil War. The Marchs’ father is away from home serving as an army chaplain. The book opens with the four girls lamenting the lack of presents for Christmas and all the things they wanted to buy for themselves. Beth, thirteen and very shy suggests that they should spend their money to buy presents for their mother for Christmas. After receiving a letter from Mr. March (their father) stating how he wished for them to be good “little women”, the girls began to realize that the things they were worried about wasn’t as important and how they wanted to be better women, less selfish, less rough and wild, less shy for their father when he came home. Their mother tested them the very next day as she gave away their Christmas breakfast to a German family who were very hungry and had no fire. The March girls, after being called angels by the family, were very happy with their deed and content to eat bread and milk for Christmas. As the book progresses, each chapter reveals more about the March girls and their character struggles. Meg, the eldest, struggles with vanity; Jo, second eldest, struggles with a very strong temper, Beth, second youngest, struggles with shyness, and Amy, the youngest, struggles with selfishness. At the same time, we are entreated with their many adventures and experiences, from performing plays to writing their own paper. The March family befriends their neighbor, Laurie and his grandfather and Laurie and Jo become close friends. The story follows the girls through the years as they find love, get married, and experience the death of a their dear sister, Beth
This book is a very different book from some of the recent books we have read. The language and pace of the story were different from books we read today and the book really focused on each character’s character flaws and struggles. Each chapter seemed to contain some new bit of story not always linked to the one before as if it was its own short story where the girls learned something about themselves, family, and love. It was surprising to me how timeless many of their struggles were. For example, when Marmee decided to let the girls be completely lazy and idle for a week, they let a pet die from hunger and entertained with rotten milk and dirty house and how embarrassed and upset the girls were from their idle time and how little fun they had doing it. Sometimes we struggle with those same battles, doing work around the house or watching TV. Another time Amy brought pickled limes to school in an effort to be more popular and liked only to find herself in trouble with the schoolteacher. How often do we do things or say things in order to get others to like us better, but it only ends up hurting us or someone else? This was one of those books where I was turning back corners of pages and underlining text because of the universal truths that were there or just the beautiful sentiment being shared in the March family. All of those in attendance thoroughly enjoyed the book and thought it is a book that is still relevant to young girls and women today. If you haven’t had the chance to start and/or finish this book, I would recommend doing so, it is worth reading.