Little Women & Good Wives (Little Women #1)

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Little Women & Good Wives (Little Women #1)

4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 · rating details · 869 ratings · 66 reviews

The highest standards in editing and production have been applied to the Wordsworth Children's Classics, while the low price makes them affordable for everyone. Wordsworth's list covers a range of the best-loved stories for children, from nursery tales, classic fables, and fairy tales to stories that will appeal to older children and adults alike. Many of these volumes hav...more

Paperback, 464 pages

Published March 5th 1999 by Wordsworth Classics (first published 1869)

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Dec 24, 2012 Ali rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How is it even possible to write about a novel that almost everyone has read, millions declare to be a favourite and has delighted women since the 1860’s? I really don’t know where to start.
I can’t begin to guess how long it is since I first read Little Women, I am now 44 so I suppose it is likely to be thirty years ago. The famous opening Christmas scene however, has remained with me all that time, although little else had. I remembered Beth’s illness and Jo cutting her hair, Marmee going off t...more How is it even possible to write about a novel that almost everyone has read, millions declare to be a favourite and has delighted women since the 1860’s? I really don’t know where to start.
I can’t begin to guess how long it is since I first read Little Women, I am now 44 so I suppose it is likely to be thirty years ago. The famous opening Christmas scene however, has remained with me all that time, although little else had. I remembered Beth’s illness and Jo cutting her hair, Marmee going off to her husband injured in the war – but that was all. I am delighted that this beautiful penguin clothbound classic edition now has both volumes of little women published in one book under one title. That apparently is how Louisa May Alcott would have wished it, the second volume, so often published separately and entitled Good Wives makes far more sense as part two of one novel. I know the two novels are generally published together now, but I certainly remember having them in two small separate volumes, the cover of my copy of Good Wives was baby pink. The note on the text of this edition in fact suggests that Alcott would have scorned the title Good Wives, which I can well imagine.
I am fairly sure that I am certainly not anything like the audience that Louisa May Alcott had in mind when she was writing this novel in the 1860’s. I am sure she was thinking of young ladies still in, or not long out of the school room. She may have wanted to give these American young ladies something to think about – to guide their futures and instruct their pliable young minds. Therefore there is a slightly pious and sentimental tone to this novel. That is in no way a criticism; I loved every word of this glorious book. I suspect I enjoyed it more now as a world weary cynical forty-something than I ever did as a young girl. I actually found it wonderfully relaxing to read such a deeply charming and heart-warming novel.
“Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

"It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.

"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.

"We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner.”
There are of course hidden depths. Louisa May Alcott has written beautifully about family life, about coping with war and poverty, about young women growing up and taking their place in the world. Largely based upon Louisa May Alcott’s own childhood with her mother and sisters, Little Women is the famous story of a Victorian American family at the time of the Civil War in New England. I think we all know the story of Little Women, by and large. It is the story of four sisters and their mother and later their father, reduced to much poorer standard of living than they were born to. The novel opens at Christmas Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are contemplating a Christmas without presents, and without their father – away at the civil war. Their mother, Marmee is a wonderfully sensible women, she guides and instructs her daughters in her own special way, often showing them the right path, rather than laying down the law. Each of the four March sisters has a wonderfully different personality. Lovely Meg the beauty yearns rather for nice things, Jo the unconventional tomboy has one beauty her fabulous hair, and she loves to climb trees and race about and despises ladylike behaviour. She loves books, and writes stories, and is quite definitely my favourite character by far.
“When Jo's conservative sister Meg says she must turn up her hair now that she is a "young lady," Jo shouts, "I'm not! and if turning up my hair makes me one, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty.... I hate to think I've got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China aster! It's bad enough to be a girl anyway, when I like boys' games and work and manners! I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy; and it's worse than ever now, for I'm dying to go and fight with Papa, and I can only stay at home and knit, like a poky old woman.”
Beth is the gentle soul that everyone loves, she cares for old ugly dolls that no one wants and is prone to sickliness. Amy the youngest March sister is a little spoiled has an artistic streak and great ambitions for it.
“There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.”
Next door to the March family is the large home of Mr Laurence and his grandson Theodore Laurence – often called Laurie – and later Teddy by Jo. Laurie becomes a great favourite in the March household, practically one of the family, he sees them through several trials and tribulations. It appears, though that Jo and he are the greatest friends. Mr Laurence is won over by the darling little Beth, and the two families are in and out of one another’s homes all the time. As time goes on there are dark days to be got through, Mr March comes home from the war, and then much to Jo’s horror it looks like Meg may have caught the eye of Laurie’s handsome tutor Mr Brooke.
Part two then charts the lives of the March girls three years on. Meg marries her John and has to learn to be the wife of a poor man, how to manage her small home, and not envy her wealthier friend. Jo and Amy both spend time away, pursing their ambitions. Romance and heartbreak rears its ugly head as does tragedy. Years pass and the lives of these lovely people change, as do all our lives as we grow up and start out into the world. The first volume is lighter, the hopes dreams and jolly japes of young girls who love each other very much, and have a wonderfully wise and gentle guide in their mother.
“Wouldn't it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true and we could live in them?”
In the second volume, each member of the March family has to find their way, Marmee is still their guiding hand, but can’t live their lives for them. As well as new starts and great happiness, there are darker times to be got through and heartbreak and misunderstandings to be borne. This is ultimately a wonderful novel, charming and heart-warming. Why on earth it has taken me quite so long to re-read this novel I have no idea. However I am so glad I left it till now, it has been the joy of my Christmas so far.
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Apr 07, 2010 Jaye rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. Really!

Despite the setting, which is Civil War US, I really didn't find it had a 'dated' feel to it. Characters are well developed and quite realistic. They all have their good and bad qualities (although the parents were rather angelic).

It is also a snapshot in time. Food is all cooked at home, clothing is 'made over' if it starts to look tired. People 'make do' as a matter of course.

It has a pervasive, but rarely preachy, Christian (and definitely Protestant) feel t...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Kua rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, read-but-unowned

Questi due libri sono stati in assoluto i miei primi libri "da grande", insieme a Penny Parrish. Sempre una lettura gradita e fortemente legata ai ricordi dell'infanzia. Purtroppo riletta, in questa occasione, in un edizione piena dall'inizio alla fine di errori di stampa e grammaticali decisamente vergognosi e con una traduzione penosa (per non dire altro), soprattutto per il libro Piccole donne (trad. Anna Maria Speckel). Dovrò quindi procurarmi al più presto una copia con una traduzione e una...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Cornelia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

Even though it takes a long time to get into the stories (maybe it's due to the antiquated type of writing), it makes one smile, laugh and cry, just like it should be.
I liked "Little Women", but I basically adored "Good Wives", maybe because they then were at my age, and it is always easier to empathise with characters your age than anything else.

The stories are not overall exciting, and it was sometimes hard to actually be interested in small parts, nevertheless I continued reading (still, I ne...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Alcott’s Little Women has never ceased to capture hearts, both boys’ and girls’ alike. It has remained as beautiful as it was when it first appeared in 1868.

Little Women tells about the March family with their four daughters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. The novel consists of two parts. In the first part, the girls struggled to augment the family’s income as their father was away to serve for the Union in the American Civil War. Along their great efforts, they met triumphs, and a brother in their kin...more Alcott’s Little Women has never ceased to capture hearts, both boys’ and girls’ alike. It has remained as beautiful as it was when it first appeared in 1868.

Little Women tells about the March family with their four daughters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. The novel consists of two parts. In the first part, the girls struggled to augment the family’s income as their father was away to serve for the Union in the American Civil War. Along their great efforts, they met triumphs, and a brother in their kindly neighbor, Laurie. In the second part, known as the Good Wives, the girls entered and experienced womanhood.

The novel is autobiographical. It was modeled after Alcott’s family, and in the firm and independent Jo (aka Aunt Dodo), Louisa May Alcott see herself. Nevertheless, the story has an original touch, which I think, is distinct from the Alcotts’.

The characters and their development are good, so is the plot. But I strongly resented when Amy, instead of Aunt Dodo, eventually married Laurie. Aunt Dodo (I just love that name) was as old as Laurie, and I could remember how in the first part of the novel, Laurie just used to take little Amy for a drive around town. But I eventually realized it was better as it was since Jo and Laurie are too alike (I could just imagine how riotous their marriage would be as both have the same temper and often quarrel). Besides, isn’t love blind?

As for the writing style, Alcott wrote with such eloquence and skill that right emotions are evoked at the right moment in the novel. The language is intelligible, so there is really no need to be burdened with carrying a dictionary with you as you read (though there are a few archaic items whose definitions I still have to look up in the dictionary to know what they’re like). Little Women also has many allusions to various works and people, which fortunate for my part, is never tedious to understand since the copy that I own already contained explanatory notes in it.

I would lie if I say it did not take me a great deal of time to finish the novel, but I have no regrets. I could remember my sister said “That’s for girls,” when she saw me read it. But I just ignored her. After all, in this time, women and men enjoy the same privileges.

The novel ended with the ‘castles in the air’ (such were their term for their dreams) of the characters almost realized, and I’m glad for them, especially for Jo. She has always dreamt of doing something splendid. Though it didn’t turn out the way she wanted it to, she was contented with what she had, and she considered it far more splendid than fame or money or recognition.

Two thumbs up (and five stars too!) for Little Women!
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May 03, 2013 Malakeh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-series

When i was looking for a good book to read i found this one , the title attracted me so i decide to read it .
When i started to read it i didn't like the first part but after i reached the second part i started to love it , i think what makes this story popular and good to read is that it's based on true story, after finishing reading this novel the character that i loved the must was beth i think because she's so warm-hearted girl and a lovely one .
and after that i watched little women the mov...more

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May 06, 2012 Caroline Rhind rated it 5 of 5 stars

I can't think of another book that makes me so emotional and I've been re-reading it since I was about 10 years old. One part (if you've read it you'll know what I'm referring to) makes me cry so hard I have to plan ahead so that I'm home alone at the time otherwise someone always wants to know what's wrong.I reached that part on the bus to work once and did I have a tissue? Of course not. Another part makes me so angry I once threw the book across the room. But most of it is a very pleasant rea...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Antonia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, classics, american

oh dear, oh dear. i was seriously torn while reading - it is an overall engaging and well written story but from the modern point of view the constant moralising and nation stereotyping was somewhat hard to bear. full of sturdy germans with healthy appetites, prim-stiff and silent english and bubbly-good americans.

the two novels are composed of chapters which are like tableaux with one moral or learning point. useful things like don't be too proud or conceited if you have a talent because eithe...more oh dear, oh dear. i was seriously torn while reading - it is an overall engaging and well written story but from the modern point of view the constant moralising and nation stereotyping was somewhat hard to bear. full of sturdy germans with healthy appetites, prim-stiff and silent english and bubbly-good americans.

the two novels are composed of chapters which are like tableaux with one moral or learning point. useful things like don't be too proud or conceited if you have a talent because either it will be recognised by people or if not, you can still glory in the fact you have it. modesty is the key to a happy life. great. look where that got us women these days. still not on the same pay and letting men taking credit for our ideas because we are still too modest about it sometimes. (...yes... just an itsy-bitsy mite of bitterness there...) anyway, the chapters are connected but make some jumps in time. the characters were mainly well-drawn although the mother and beth were somewhat too angelic and cardboardy for my tastes. and have i mentioned the moralising yet? the father turns up at the end of the first novel and is all over the second but he remains distant and colourless.

as for the plot... we follow the four march girls growing up and one after the other finding love, with one ecxeption. whereas i normally really enjoy this kind of literature this one did not sit well. might have to do with the constant - yes, i've mentioned it before - moralising! after feminism most of the lessons taught to the girls throughout the novel made me groan heartily but - as a redeeming comment - is a sign of the times when it was written. it is a pity that aspirations keep on being crushed and everyone has to be happy about it. daughter jo wants to be a writer and does write but in the end submits happily to not write any more but caring for her assortment of a family. i don't know...

so overall, this book - i do do do hope so - should only be read keeping the time of writing in mind and not as a guide-book still for young women as it was clearly meant to be with its educational morals. (less)

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Feb 09, 2013 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i thought i may never finish this book, i knew i would enjoy it because i have always loved the movies, part I went quickly and was my favorite, part II was more trying, a lot of the chapters about amy in part II bored me to tears, they were very wordy and descriptive and filled with her big words (which were more confusing bc they were often misused), then on her trips abroad she began speaking french as well, i had little patients with them, if not for those the book probably would have been 5...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Rachel Groves rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, historical, teen, ebook, christmas, read-2011

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like Little Women as a slightly loutish, independent, modern sort of woman. And I struggled in the first few chapters to settle with the language and the feel. But it soon had me hooked into the characters and caring what happened to them. Yes they are striving to be good little women, married homemakers, which isn't a necessarily modern ethos. But I didn't take it too literally and I minded the time in which it was written. I read between the lines and brough...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Jeanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: juvenile

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May 24, 2011 Jessica Pesic rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Feb 24, 2011 Rob75 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Piccole donne ***

Piccole donne crescono **

Il buonismo e la morale (spesso discutibile) che pervadono questi due romanzi risultano piuttosto stucchevoli, in più il secondo ha l'aggravante di un finale orrendo, perché...

1- Segna la morte dei sogni delle protagoniste, come se l'autrice del libro avesse voluto dire : "Ragazze lasciate stare tutti i grilli per la testa che avete, mettetevi l'animo in pace e cercate di diventare quello per cui siete state create in quanto donne: angeli del focolare do...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Asa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, female_author, reread

The last time I read these books I was in my early teens, and while I remember liking it it's strange to see the things that I must have skipped over or ignored and the things that stuck to me. Among the things that I remember liking are the girls, and they are just as engaging this time around. Beth is too good to be true, but she's supposed to be the ideal of the Angel in the House that ordinary women can only aspire to, and Meg is your ordinary girl who wants to be like her friends and is con...more The last time I read these books I was in my early teens, and while I remember liking it it's strange to see the things that I must have skipped over or ignored and the things that stuck to me. Among the things that I remember liking are the girls, and they are just as engaging this time around. Beth is too good to be true, but she's supposed to be the ideal of the Angel in the House that ordinary women can only aspire to, and Meg is your ordinary girl who wants to be like her friends and is content with being a wife and mother. Amy and Jo are the girls who wants more than home and family, and one of the things I had suppressed about the books is the way everything that happens to them (especially in Good Wives) into the roles that Beth and Meg have already accepted. It was a bit easier to take in Little Women because all the girls had lessons to learn there and a lot of children's books are like that, and I could skate over them and enjoy the sisters with their squabbles, alliances and adventures growing up, but in Good Wives they had all grown up and it became very clear that there was only one way to live and one way to be, and Alcott was going to make sure that they got there. I don't have a problem with how everything turns out in the books, because I feel like the girls make their own choices and are happy with them and their lives and while Jo and Amy have given up their worldly ambitions for now they still have plans and ideas, but the constant preaching and the emphasis on womanly virtues and duties, not to mention patience, forgiveness and turning the other cheek, makes me want to scream.

I think it's interesting that there's a scene in Little Women where Jo complains to her mother about how hard it is to control her temper and not get carried away, and Mrs March tells her that she is angry almost every day of her life and just doesn't show it. It's messed up to think that the best response to things that keep making you angry is to suppress and deny, and if Mrs March wasn't a saintly fictional mother she would have snapped and gone berserk by now.(less)

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Dec 20, 2010 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, american-literature, 19th-century, comfy-lit

It's a pity I didn't read this book earlier as I'm quite sure that this would've been another childhood/youth favourite just like Anne of Green Gables or Else Ury's Nesthäkchen: Nesthäkchen, Bd.1, Nesthäkchen und ihre Puppen: Bd. 1. Still, it was a lovely read for the Christmas holidays and I really liked Alcott's description of the four sisters, so different in character from each other and still united in love. Each has to struggle with the faults of her character and succeeds through hard wor...more It's a pity I didn't read this book earlier as I'm quite sure that this would've been another childhood/youth favourite just like Anne of Green Gables or Else Ury's Nesthäkchen: Nesthäkchen, Bd.1, Nesthäkchen und ihre Puppen: Bd. 1. Still, it was a lovely read for the Christmas holidays and I really liked Alcott's description of the four sisters, so different in character from each other and still united in love. Each has to struggle with the faults of her character and succeeds through hard work and earnest effort - a very Puritan view towards the world and it's obvious that the author was inspired by the ideas of the transcendentalists, movement in which her father was very active. Some of these ideas - like the platonic friendship between men and women and the fact that also women may be proud of earning their own living seem strikingly modern, other values are of course a little bit outdated and Alcott's style might be too preachy for some contemporary reader. The ultimate goal in life seems to find a loving and caring partner, have a family and care for parents and children, not self-fulfillment - this idea vexed me a little bit at some points, while being typical for the era in which the work was written. Still, at the end the artistically talented Amy and the literary Jo - modelled clearly after the author herself - start to produce art again, which is better and more mature because of their deepened understanding of the world, and that quite satisfied me.

Despite of the time passed, one can still identify with the characters and the situations, and this is definitely an achievement. The plot may be simple, but it's well-wrought and kept me interested throughout the story and it had some interesting and touching twists and turns. Apparently a big part of the book has been written based on Alcott's own childhood and experiences and so she might be right when she says that true art needs to contain a certain amount of truth. I'm looking forward to reading Little Men and Jo's Boys to see how the destiny of the March sisters, their parents and husbands develops. (less)

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Dec 27, 2010 Adi (Reading in the Windowseat) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, 2010-read-list, movie-tv-adapted, own-on-paper, class-young-adult, class-children, all-time-best, genre-romance, first-in-series

I read Little Women for the first time about three years back and loved it. It is a book every young girl should read, but it would delight even the older ones.

Good Wives I picked up this summer and though I have not put out enough time to read it, I made my mind to do so now and I finish this double edition.

Louisa May Alcott's writing is... enchanting, poetic and so very beautiful that it lulls you right into the story and sets your heart to tender thoughts and feelings.

And the characters are m...more

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Aug 27, 2009 J Cravens rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I had read "Little Women" as a child, but never read "Good Wives", so I read them both, primarily in July and August 2009. They go together nicely -- they really are one book. On the one-hand, I loved the repeated message about finding happiness in living simply, and felt that message really resonates today more than ever. It's also still impossible not to love the character of Jo -- it's so admirable that she was written the way she was in the mid 1800s, and that she gets to stay her essential...more

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Oct 10, 2009 Courtney rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: penguin-classics-set

One of the best books I've ever read. I only knew of the story from the movie with Wynona Rider. This book far surpasses the movie, though the movie is a classic. My only criticism of the book was towards the end, I didn't see a need for chapter 45: Daisy and Demi. I found them to be minute characters that I didn't feel any interest or connection towards and therefore felt that the chapter was unnecessary in wrapping up the whole story. Other than that, definitely in my top books. Instead of dro...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Shanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: our-little-book-club, in-my-bookcase

I really liked this book. Yes the language is a bit fluffy and yes it is old-fashioned but I think the characters are beautiful and the lessons presented are still relevant today. I read this for book club and the majority of the group did not like the book stating that the March girls need to "grow spines" and complaining that Marmee is not the be-all, end-all that the girls think she is.
I disagree. I think each of the March girls - including Marmee - is strong, smart, creative and clever. I en...more

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May 02, 2010 Ditte rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own

Ik twijfel ernstig tussen drie en vier sterren. Als ik de verfilming niet al 100 keer gezien had, waren het er waarschijnlijk drie geworden. Het boek is, wat te verwachten was, zo ontzettend prekerig en patriottistisch dat het op bepaalde momenten de genoegelijkheid van het verhaal ernstig verpest. Dat er om de bladzijde iets staat over hoe de 'little women' zich behoren te gedragen, hoe ze altijd hun best moeten doen goed te zijn, te vertrouwen in God en hoe er regelmatig benadrukt wordt wat ee...more

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May 01, 2012 Sam Brattle rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: young girls, young women, adults amd anyone who is interested in reading it

Shelves: favorites

I love the characters in this book they are so relatable even thought the book is set in the past. I found myself relating to Jo March the most because we both like reading and writing and we are both tomboyish and we both hate change.
The family in this book are so warm and loving that reading this book makes you feel like a part of the family.
Jo March is my favourite character in all of literature.

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Apr 17, 2012 Sumomi rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

read it long time ago. After being a huge fan of the anime and the movie (90ies version) I found, that my parents own the book. I was hugely disappointed regarding the language (translation). Compared to what I saw I had the feeling of "a lot is missing; a lot of details are missing". Another example of "first read then watch" ^-^

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Nov 08, 2012 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, christmas

When I was younger I envisioned this book as prairie-style book about girls named Jo milking cows. But, after getting it for Christmas from Michael's mom and hearing that she thought it was excellent, I decided to give it a shot. She was definitely right. It was more Austen than Cather and the characters were excellent. I felt like I knew them and with the exception of Beth, who is often fairly one-note, I went through ups and downs with all of them. I've seen other reviewers express complaints...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Doesn't get old. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy were good friends of mine growing up (especially Jo) and I loved revisiting them. There is a reason this book is still popular more than 100 years after it was first written!

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Aug 20, 2011 Tamara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011, reviewed, classic

Loved, LOVED, LOOOOOOVED this book! It is such a sweet story about how four girls grow into women. Jo was definitely the one I felt I was most alike, but oh, sweet Beth was the one I loved the most. I mean, only a cold-hearted b*tch wouldn't.

Yesterday I was free. Yay, right? Anyway I took the time to finish reading LITTLE WOMEN (chapters 35-47) and I cried most of the time. Seriously I don't I have any tears left. And it's because of full of tragedy, but full of emotional stuff. I cried when I...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Marzia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classici, narrativa

Certi romanzi non passano mai... tipo questo. Un meraviglioso squarcio familiare, in altre terre e in un'altra epoca, alla ricerca di una posizione, un senso di vita, un amore sconosciuto.

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Sep 27, 2012 pianetino89 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quale bambina/ragazzina non ha letto questi
libri?!? =D E' quasi un passaggio
"obbligato" leggerli. Ed è molto piacevole
rileggerli anche quando si è un pochino più
grandicelle. =)

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Aug 23, 2012 Sherri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: eoy-classic-challenge

I can't believe I made it this far without ever reading this book! I loved each sister and their stories were sweet and fun to read. I am going to have to watch the movie this weekend!

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Jan 29, 2012 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is probably the fourth time I've read this book, but it had been years since the last time I read it. I know it's a good book when I can read it over and over without losing enjoyment. I recommend this book to everyone.

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Aug 14, 2012 Mark rated it 1 of 5 stars

I found that this novel was overly moralistic and sickly sweet for my tastes but well written nevertheless.

I can see the attraction for its target audience. Just not for me.

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About Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth and May were educated by their father, philosopher/ teacher, Bronson Alcott and raised on the practical Christianity of their mother, Abigail May.

Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, where her days were enlightened by visits to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s...more Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth and May were educated by their father, philosopher/ teacher, Bronson Alcott and raised on the practical Christianity of their mother, Abigail May.

Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, where her days were enlightened by visits to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s library, excursions into nature with Henry David Thoreau and theatricals in the barn at Hillside (now Hawthorne’s "Wayside").

Like her character, Jo March in Little Women, young Louisa was a tomboy: "No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race," she claimed, " and no girl if she refused to climb trees, leap fences...."

For Louisa, writing was an early passion. She had a rich imagination and often her stories became melodramas that she and her sisters would act out for friends. Louisa preferred to play the "lurid" parts in these plays, "the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens."

At age 15, troubled by the poverty that plagued her family, she vowed: "I will do something by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write, anything to help the family; and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t!"

Confronting a society that offered little opportunity to women seeking employment, Louisa determined "...I will make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough and tumble world." Whether as a teacher, seamstress, governess, or household servant, for many years Louisa did any work she could find.

Louisa’s career as an author began with poetry and short stories that appeared in popular magazines. In 1854, when she was 22, her first book Flower Fables was published. A milestone along her literary path was Hospital Sketches (1863) based on the letters she had written home from her post as a nurse in Washington, DC as a nurse during the Civil War.

When Louisa was 35 years old, her publisher Thomas Niles in Boston asked her to write "a book for girls." Little Women was written at Orchard House from May to July 1868. The novel is based on Louisa and her sisters’ coming of age and is set in Civil War New England. Jo March was the first American juvenile heroine to act from her own individuality; a living, breathing person rather than the idealized stereotype then prevalent in children’s fiction.

In all, Louisa published over 30 books and collections of stories. She died on March 6, 1888, only two days after her father, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.(less)

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Little Women & Good Wives (Little Women #1)

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