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Mulherzinhas

(Little Women #1)

Louisa May Alcott,

Denise Bottmann (Translator)

Federico Carotti (Translator)

4.06 · Rating details · 1,502,332 ratings · 21,281 reviews

Para aquecer o coração

As quatro irmãs March são muito diferentes entre si. A já adulta Meg; Jo, a moleca impulsiva; Beth, tímida e introvertida; e Amy, a precoce caçula. Mas com o pai longe de casa, na guerra, e a mãe trabalhando para sustentar a família, elas precisam cooperar e apoiar umas às outras. Encenam peças, fundam sociedades secretas, preparam os festejos de ...more

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Paperback, 332 pages

Published September 2017 by LP&M (first published 1869)

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Oct 04, 2007 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: juvenile

Someone I know claimed this no longer has value, that she would never recommend it because it's saccharine, has a religious agenda, and sends a bad message to girls that they should all be little domestic homebodies. I say she's wrong on all counts. This is high on my reread list along with Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and a Tree Grows in Brooklyn--you could say that I'm pretty familiar with it.

Let's see--there's a heroine who not only writes, but is proud of the fact and makes a profit from Someone I know claimed this no longer has value, that she would never recommend it because it's saccharine, has a religious agenda, and sends a bad message to girls that they should all be little domestic homebodies. I say she's wrong on all counts. This is high on my reread list along with Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and a Tree Grows in Brooklyn--you could say that I'm pretty familiar with it.

Let's see--there's a heroine who not only writes, but is proud of the fact and makes a profit from it in a time that this was somewhat out-of-the-ordinary. Reading this, and especially knowing later that the main character is (for all practical purposes) Alcott herself, inspired me to write myself, and I haven't forgotten the writing lessons even today: don't let money cloud your vision, write for yourself first, take criticism, write what you know. Still wise even today. Also in this book, we see the perspective of a family coping with the financial and emotional strain of having a loved one away at war, something that is unfortunately all too relatable today. There's also (extraordinary in those times, common in ours)a platonic, though not uncomplicated, friendship between a man and a woman that is sort of a different kind of love story in a way and a powerful one at that. We see people getting married, but marriage is never portrayed as The Answer to Everything--many of the matches involve sacrifice and struggling. The girls, though good at heart, aren't a picture-perfect family of saints. They're flawed and human. The paragon Beth would seem the exception, but the message with her is more about how even the quietest among us can make an impact on the world--not parading her isolated life as an example, only her kindness.

I won't lie. Someone dies, there's a war and a father's away--so yes, God is mentioned: I think there's a few Pilgrim's Progress references in passing and there's some talk of faith at moments when the characters most need it. To contemporary readers, this may seem like a lot, but heavy-handed it is not. It was probably somewhat unusual for its time. The thought that everyone's relationship and perception of God could greatly vary, and that to be true to your religion was entirely non judgmental and meant being kind to other people and trying to make yourself better, not other people? The thought that each person must be allowed to deal with these feelings in their own time in their own way? Wacky stuff.

I admit it seems like a tough sell to today's kids, packaged in somewhat formal sounding-language, and bearing every indication of being literary broccoli, but this book is a classic for a reason. It might be a tough sell, but I don't think we should give up on trying to think of ways to do it anyway. What's inside still counts. Don't write it off.

*note* for those of you who liked this review, check out my review of the new The Little Women Cookbook by Jenne Bergstrom and Miko Osada. ...more

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Dec 27, 2013 Fabian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Yes, yes! I AM a grownass man reading this, but I'm not ashamed. I also read the "Twilight" sa(ha-ha!)ga & a bunch of Charlaine Harris as well, remember? Some rules simply do not apply.

What I tried to do here was dispel the extra melodrama and embrace the cut-outs (fat trimmed out) of the Winona Ryder film. I was on the hunt for all the "new" (ha!) stuff that the regular person, well informed of the plot involving four young girls growing up (or in the case of Beth, not) never even knew ...more

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Jun 21, 2019 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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!

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Mar 01, 2018 Miranda Reads rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

“Don't try to make me grow up before my time…”

The March sisters may be radically different but they all have one thing in common - love.

Their love for their mother and father, their love for adventure and for each other unites them in this troubled time.

The Civil War is afoot and all the sisters can do is think about their father away and in battle. Their mother tries to distract them but often she can barely distract herself.

Jo, a radical tomboy and aspiring author - rallies her family ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, owned, reviewed, gorgeous-covers, recommend, comments, 4-and-a-half-stars, non-ya, beautifully-written

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, ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Rory rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 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 ...more

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Jun 12, 2012 jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

that feeling when you spend the majority of the book desperately longing to be a jo, but then end up realising youre actually just a beth… :/

also, the fact that i still like laurie, even after he messes around in france trying to “find himself,” says a lot more about me than it does about him, to be fair.

and dont even get me started on the new film coming out. the casting definitely has me feeling some kind of way. im still not over the precision of timothée chalamet as laurie, the literary ...more

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Mar 27, 2008 Corrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The book begins:

"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's an undercurrent of anger in this book and I think Louisa May Alcott would have gone much ...more

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Apr 06, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, hardback, own, historical

I have owned this book forever! I have the movie and have always loved it. Thanks to several group challenges on here, I have finally gotten to this little gem.

Happy Reading!

Mel ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Emily May rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, clothbound-own

Never liked this one. I read Alcott back around the time I was first reading the Brontes and Dickens, and her books always struck me as incredibly dull in comparison. I was probably about 12, though, so I suppose I should try it again someday.

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Oct 08, 2010 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-book, fiction, historical, classic, 19th-century, literature

863. 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 - لوئییز می آلکوت (قدیانی) ادبیات سده 863. 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 - لوئییز می آلکوت (قدیانی) ادبیات سده نوزدهم میلادی؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و نهم ماه سپتامبر سال 1998 میلادی
عنوان: زنان کوچک؛ نویسنده: لوئییز می آلکوت؛ مترجم: شهیندخت رئیس زاده؛ تهران، علمی فرهنگی، 1369؛ در 447 ص؛ چاپ سوم 1374؛ شابک: 9644457757؛ چاپ چهارم 1385؛ چاپ پنجم 1388؛ چاپ ششم 1393؛ شابک: 9786001210532؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 19 م
مترجم: تهمینه مهربانی؛ تهران، درنا، 1374؛ در 160 ص؛ شابک: 9646105122؛ چاپ دوم و سوم 1374؛ چهارم 1375؛ پنجم 1376؛
مترجم: فریده ملک الکلامی؛ تهران، جامی، 1374؛ در 127 ص؛
مترجم: امیرمحمود فخردایی؛ تهران، صفیعلیشاه، 1374؛ در 179 ص؛
مترجم: شکوفه اخوان؛ تهران، نهال نویدان، 1375؛ در 160 ص؛ شابک: 9645680182؛ چاپ دوم 1380؛ چاپ 1392؛ شابک: 9789645680563؛ در 184 ص؛
مترجم: جلیل دهمشکی؛ تهران، جانزاده، 1375؛ در 160 ص؛
مترجم: فرزین مروارید؛ تهران، قدیانی بنفشه، 1376؛ در 351 ص؛ شابک: 9644171527؛ چاپ دوم 1380؛ چاپ پنجم 1388؛ چاپ نهم 1393؛ شابک: 9789644171529؛
مترجم: هانیه اعتصام؛ تهران، خرداد، 1381؛ در 88 ص؛ شابک: 9646465072؛
مترجم: سپهر حاجتی؛ تهران، دبیر اکباتان، 1388؛ در 58 ص؛ شابک: 9789642621866؛ چاپ سوم 1388؛ چهارم 1389؛
مترجم: محمد میرلو؛ تهران، امیرکبیر کتابهای جیبی، 1389؛ در 150 ص؛ شابک: 9789643032128؛
مترجم: کیوان عبیدی آشتیانی؛ تهران، افق، 1389؛ در 489 ص؛ شابک: 9789643696627؛ چاپ پنجم 1392؛ ششم 1393؛
مترجم: مریم دستوم؛ تهران، زبان مهر، 1391؛ در 168 ص؛ شابک: 9786009007059؛
مترجم: فرزانه عسگری پور؛ تهران، پیام سحر، 1393؛ در 114 ص؛ شابک: 9786009400164؛
مترجم: بیتا ابراهیمی؛ تهران، پنجره، 1394؛ در 176 ص؛
داستان در مورد زندگی چهار خواهر: «مگی»، «کتی»، «بتی» و «سارا» مارچ؛ است که با الهام از زندگی واقعی نویسنده، با سه خواهرش نوشته شده‌ است. جلد اول، زنان کوچک، به اندازه‌ ای موفق بود، که نوشتن جلد دوم با عنوان «همسران خوب» را موجب شد. ا. شربیانی ...more

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Sep 10, 2019 Candi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, classics-shelf, chunksters

"I don’t believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we do, in spite of our burnt hair, old gowns, one glove apiece, and tight slippers, that sprain our ankles when we are silly enough to wear them." – Jo March

Whether you like this book or not, I doubt there are many that would deny that Jo March is the star of this mid-nineteenth century novel about the March family. In many ways, because of this remarkably self-assured heroine, Little Women seemed to me much ahead of its time. "I don’t believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we do, in spite of our burnt hair, old gowns, one glove apiece, and tight slippers, that sprain our ankles when we are silly enough to wear them." – Jo March

Whether you like this book or not, I doubt there are many that would deny that Jo March is the star of this mid-nineteenth century novel about the March family. In many ways, because of this remarkably self-assured heroine, Little Women seemed to me much ahead of its time. Sisters Meg, Beth and Amy all have their moments to shine; while Mr. and Mrs. March are more broad-minded than what I imagine their contemporaries to have been. Had I been required to plant myself down in the midst of an American family during that era, I would have been satisfied to settle in with the Marches.

Meg yearns for the fine things she once had before poverty knocked the Marches down a few notches; yet she retains a mother-like quality that warmed me to her. Beth is quiet, good-natured and pious; all her sisters look to her as the epitome of virtue. The artistic little Amy is spoiled and vain and dreams of someday becoming a moneyed gentlewoman. I admit to feeling a bit sorry for her and by book’s end I became a fan. People do grow up after all, don’t they?!

And then there is Jo who adores books and dreams of someday becoming a writer. Described as a bit of a tomboy, which I suppose a girl with her pluck would have been commonly labeled back in the day, Jo is at the center of the novel. Given that Little Women is somewhat autobiographical in nature, it is fascinating to read of this spirited young woman. I can just imagine how she felt – stifled by society’s norms and expectations of a Victorian ‘lady’. She wanted the freedom to express herself; she would often have difficulty suppressing the pent-up rage that she felt deep inside; and she wanted to do what made her happiest.

"An old maid – that’s what I’m to be. A literary spinster, with a pen for a spouse, a family of stories for children, and twenty years hence a morsel of fame, perhaps…"

She shared her hopes with Laurie, the boy next door and her greatest pal besides her dear sisters. They shared a love of literature and the outdoors and confided in one another their greatest dreams.

"Wouldn’t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true, and we could live in them?"

I read this story as a young teen and didn’t recall much of the plot. I have always carried a strong, positive image of Jo in my head during the intervening years; and I’m very glad I decided to reacquaint myself with her and the entire March family. I’m happy to say the image held up. With the exception of ever-sweet Beth, I would say that all of the girls exhibited growth throughout the book, and it was fun to spend some time with them. At times the story felt a bit over-sentimental, but I believe it was aimed at young women and given the date of publication, I decided to forgive it for this small ‘crime.’ I’m all for a sweet from time to time, as long as it’s balanced out with something nutritious, and I believe I got both here. I am super-excited to see the upcoming screen version of this to be released on Christmas Day!

"Now and then, in this work-a-day world, things do happen in the delightful story-book fashion, and what a comfort that is." ...more

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Jun 29, 2018 Kylie D rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: seasonal-challenges, historical-fiction

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

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Nov 01, 2019 leslie hamod rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A wonderful book portraying a poor family in early and post civil war one. Each character is flawed and experiences a differing view of life. We watch them grow, leave home and die. Life without a father is regrettable and enthralling.
Thoroughly enjoyable and educational. We learn through the eyes of the characters. Choices are not easy, regret is ever present. Vocabulary intensively studied gives the reader a view of the times. The times are of course difficult.
This is perfection in a classic, ...more

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Sep 09, 2007 Dottie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 1944-1966, favorites, perennials, trgbc, 1001-read, children-ya

My copy of this is probably 55 years old -- I've probably read it at least twenty-five times. One of my all-time favorite books. One of my favorite authors ever. Yes, it is old-fashioned -- it was old-fashioned fifty-five years ago. But that is the point pretty much in my opinion. This is a story of times past, of a family which functioned in a particular way in a particular time. This is also a story of what one person in a family might have wished were so all of the time in the family but ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 Zoë rated it liked it · review of another edition

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 ...more

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May 05, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: no one, seriously.

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: My mum and the 1001 books list

Shelves: read-in-2010, 1001-books

To me this book is just a big neon highlighted literary exclamation mark defining how incredibly different I am from my mother. She loves this book. Really, really loves it....a lot. She always used to tell me how great she thought it was although, as a kid I somehow avoided reading it; mainly because at this point I was too busy dangling from a climbing frame by my ankles or stealing scrap wood from building sites in order to make dens and tree houses.

As it is prominently placed on the 1001 ...more

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Mar 14, 2018 may ❀ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, decent, buddy-read, contemporary, classics, 400-pgs

i've never witnessed a ship of mine get sunk so tragically, how dare you ms. alcott (ง •_•)ง

RTC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

probably the first classic that i'm //choosing// to read so let's hope this goes well bc it'll probs determine whether i keep this charade up or not :))

Buddy read with ma girl, t swizzle ...more

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Oct 17, 2013 Duane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-classics, 5-star-books, rated-books, reviewed-books, childrens, guardian-1000

I have read 18 of Louisa May Alcott's books, so I guess I can safely say that I am very familiar with her work. Some of them were very good, some not quite as good. All had that 19th century down home feeling with wonderful, memorable characters. But only one of her novels reached the level of what could be called literary greatness. Somehow, with this simple story, and these adorable characters, with a heart warming and heart wrenching plot, Alcott creates an American classic, her masterpiece. ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 AMEERA rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

i can tell this become my favorite classic book besides all classics books of the queen of classics books Jane Austin , and u can see a lot of classic word here :D

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Feb 12, 2008 Annalisa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: teenagers: read this instead of Twilight

Shelves: movies, book-club, classics, didn-t-finish

I'm definitely a victim of modern society when I find this book slow. Had I read it in its day (or even as a youth) it would probably be fantastic, but as it is I'm finding the life lessons saturated in every chapter a little much, not sweet. Which brings me to Beth. Back in the day sweet, mild, submissive were prime female qualities. Now I look at the picture of her on the front cover with her empty eyes and blank stares and she looks sweet in a mentally challenged way. And Jo who is endearing ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Lucy Langford rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I loved the unique personalities, individualism and traits of each girl and how the sisters handle and react to the ups and downs in their lives. The portrayal of sisterhood was accurate (I then learned that this book was semi-autobiographical so that maybe why the author wrote about this topic so well).

Absolutely loved Jo and her ambitious nature! I loved her creativeness and dreams of becoming a writer (despite its male dominance in this time period) and her aversion of what a “lady” should ...more

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Jun 27, 2015 Joey Woolfardis rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: bloody-cack, bookshelf, feminine, 2016, bairns, ce19, septic

Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003.

The one thing I'm not going to do is apologise for not liking this. I hold no truck with that: stop apologising for having an opinion that is different to the majority.

Little Women was relatively written well in the grammatically correct sense, but I found it to be a very slow and dull read. It is definitely of its time and even though there are small points of seeing the necessity of having strong, ...more

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Aug 27, 2019 ♡ ᴅ ʀ ᴇ ᴀ ᴍ ♡ (semi-hiatus) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-physical, classics

4 / 5 stars

I’m just curious. Is there anyone else who was satisfied with the ending? Because I believe I did. Although I ship Jo and Laurie so hard and it apparently broke my heart into pieces when it came to that chapter, I also think that they both eventually ended up with the right ones.

It doesn’t mean that I didn’t want them to be together, I did. I truly did but if they ended up together, would they be happy with their married life? This question kept coming up in my mind because Jo and ...more

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Oct 26, 2015 Pooja rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owns, 100-pages

When I was 11 years old, I used to watch its anime show on Sony, that time I didn't know its name, I was merely interested in the show.

Thankfully, I remembered the names of the characters so that when I went to higher secondary school, I saw this book in school library with the picture of four girls and their Mommy. I suddenly remembered the show.

Since that day I wanted to read Little Women.

When the librarian said that this book cannot be issued, I wasn't worried. I would to go to library and ...more

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Apr 13, 2016 Ashwood (애쉬 우드). rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Awesome book!! I love Amy and Laurance

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Nov 18, 2019 Jennifer added it · review of another edition

Still one of my favorite books - it's just so insightful about the daily struggle to be a good person. I'm low-key dreading the "it's not as feminist as you think it is!" takes that will inevitably spring up around the movie release (shocker: book that was written in the 1860s has many values from the 1860s). But re-reading this novel for something like the 15th time (and for the first time in my 20s) was really special, and helped me reassess how I personally feel about the way women and men ...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Jonathan Terrington rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, children-s-literature, personal-favourites, classic-literature, childhood-book

Little Women remains to this day one of the books I have, curiously, read the most. And I'm not ashamed to state this. Why should I be? The notion that certain films or books are 'chick-lit' is one so alien to my mind. They may be geared at specific audiences mostly, but any strong work of art will appeal to any individual - or rather can appeal to any individual - person.

I don't know what it is about Little Women that made me so attracted to it. Perhaps it was the characterisation in the women
Little Women remains to this day one of the books I have, curiously, read the most. And I'm not ashamed to state this. Why should I be? The notion that certain films or books are 'chick-lit' is one so alien to my mind. They may be geared at specific audiences mostly, but any strong work of art will appeal to any individual - or rather can appeal to any individual - person.

I don't know what it is about Little Women that made me so attracted to it. Perhaps it was the characterisation in the women in the book at the age of ten. Maybe something in my childish mind told me that independent and restrained elegance in female characters was something to be admired when it could be created in fiction - when I say restrained elegance I mean the wisdom of modesty. Something about the girls - Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy - appealed to me, something told me that they were well crafted characters.

Who can explain why any fictional book touches anyone? Who can define how we class things such as quality or beauty? It seems to be something subconscious, something picked up both culturally and individually. To me, Little Women was, and because of fond memories still is, a work of pure art. It has its rough patches no doubt but it kept drawing me back in with the tales of women discovering their paths in life and ultimately a romance. Some might find this an overly sympathetic or sappy book. I'm not here to say it isn't. But it touched me in a particular way and that is what I'm hear to state. Think of me as someone who has had an experience with a novel - for it is the nature of humanity to aim to share experience.

I'll always describe myself as a romantic at heart, in the sense that I'm an idealist, that I hold to ideals and to the belief that people can be better. Age and time have perhaps developed me into more of a cynical idealist but a part of me is strongly romantic deep down. It is the poetic side of me, the writer side of me, the side that wants to break free of conventions and try to find the words to explain what I so clumsily cannot. It is that part of me that was awakened by such literature as this - I must admit that delving into something like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret might have stunted such development however.

Somewhere in a distant time a copy of Little Women floats. It has paper browned through the constant touching of grubby little fingers; pages crumpled and worn with regular turning (or heaven forbid - leaving it with the spine open on a chair); and there are unidentifiable food stains on several pages. It may not have been the greatest of copies, certainly nothing extraordinary about it, but it was my copy. And it was a copy well loved. And it was the extra love that added an aura of romance and a boundless love to it. And it is to this image, lost in the vortex of space and time, that I return to when I think of this novel. ...more

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Dec 29, 2018 Raeleen Lemay rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, young-adult

I only ended up reading Part One, as Part Two (aka Good Wives) doesn’t interest me one bit. Similarly to the Anne of Green Gables series, I enjoy reading the beginning bits where the girls are young, but I don’t much care for the rest. As for what I DID read, it was entertaining at times but overall a bit too preachy and heavy on moral lessons. I’m glad I finally read it, but I honestly can’t see myself ever reading it again!

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Jan 17, 2014 Emer (A Little Haze) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: children and those, like me, who are still a child at heart

Shelves: 5stars, the-chosen-ones, all-the-pretty-covers, reviewed, cried-me-a-river, owned-physical-books, children-mid-grade, classics

So in keeping with my recent attempts to write reviews for all my five star reads here's one for my absolute favourite book from my childhood, Little Women.

This was the first hardback I ever read that had no pictures or any such things to tempt a child. I remember feeling quite grown up when I first read it as it was just a plain old red book that had lost its dust jacket many years previously. Nothing bright or colourful that would have tempted me in the years previous. I suppose I must have ...more

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About Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott

5,598 followers

As A.M. Barnard:
Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power (1866)
The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation (1867)
A Long Fatal Love Chase (1866 – first published 1995)
First published anonymously:
A Modern Mephistopheles (1877)

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/ As A.M. Barnard:
Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power (1866)
The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation (1867)
A Long Fatal Love Chase (1866 – first published 1995)
First published anonymously:
A Modern Mephistopheles (1877)

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. ...more