From the Bookshelf of Should have read classics…

Little Women (Little Women, #1)

Louisa May Alcott

Start date: November 1, 2013

Finish date: December 31, 2013

Discussion: Children's Group Read

Why we're reading this: This is the group read for the childrens classic. It runs for two months.
[close] This is the group read for the childrens classic. It runs for two months.

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What Members Thought

May 16, 2011 Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: great-literary-fiction, classics, permanent-library, young-adult, summer-2012

I am so glad and grateful that Louisa May Alcott was cajoled into writing a novel for girls. LITTLE WOMEN has stood the test of time since it was published as two separate works: “Little Women” and “Good Wives.” We readers are privy to a fictionalized story of the Alcott family to a certain extent, but yet a totally different household is described. Set in Massachusetts during and in the immediate years after the Civil War, Alcott introduces strong characters that have truly become beloved by ma I am so glad and grateful that Louisa May Alcott was cajoled into writing a novel for girls. LITTLE WOMEN has stood the test of time since it was published as two separate works: “Little Women” and “Good Wives.” We readers are privy to a fictionalized story of the Alcott family to a certain extent, but yet a totally different household is described. Set in Massachusetts during and in the immediate years after the Civil War, Alcott introduces strong characters that have truly become beloved by many a reader.

The four March girls – pragmatic Meg, free spirited Jo, sweet Beth, and artistic but childish Amy – live in genteel poverty with their devoted and strong Marmee. Mr. March is away, serving as a Chaplin in the Civil War. Despite their impoverished status, the girls are happy; they have one another. They work. They play: clever productions abound due to Jo’s pen and wild imagination. Music is gentle Beth’s contribution, while Amy loves beautiful things and tries to capture them in her art. Their circle becomes larger as the “good boy” next door shares their fun and gives what he can to the Marches and Teddy seals his status as the little women’s adoptive brother.

The second half of LITTLE WOMEN opens with Meg’s wedding. Mr. March is now home fully recovered from pneumonia that shook the sisters, but little Beth seems weaker from the life threatening illness that almost tumbled the March foundation. Even old Mr. Lawrence is changed. No one really sees Beth’s withering health and life goes along. Jo leaves home to work as a governess to a family friend. She has to put distance between her and “her boy.” She has plenty of time to write and soon finds her destiny. Amy is abroad traveling with her Aunts March and Carol and also meets her destiny.

I never tire reading this wonderful story. Miss Alcott is an exquisite writer. Some words may be outdated, but great writing is not. Her characterization rings true to each girl and Laurie, though I am still mystified why Alcott chose Marmee to get Meg’s first kiss after she was declared married to her groom. Amy was another surprise – I had always thought she was shallow and spoiled, but she is the character who underwent the most transformation. I finally liked all four sisters. Like so many of my favorite books, I put LITTLE WOMEN back upon my shelves feeling bittersweet that I finished it.
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Apr 28, 2011 Barbara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, new-england, novels, read-in-2011, classics, recently-reread, group-banned-books-club, currently-rereading, read-a-long-time-ago, reading-with-banned-books-club

I just finished reading "Little Women." It's the book for the month of May in the Banned Books Club here on Goodreads, and it will be interesting to discuss it with the people in the group. Also, I like to go back and reread books that I haven't read since I was a child, and I thought it would be interesting to read this again as an adult. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things about this book that I am not crazy about.

I know -- I'm supposed to LOVE this book, but I just don't. I read it as a ...more

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