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A review of Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott

Girl power in the 1800's--this book deserves its "classic" status.

Reviewed by: Heather Ray
About Heather Ray

Little Women The weather outside is frightful-stay inside and read! There's nothing like snuggling on the couch with a cup of cocoa and a good book. One of my favorite cold weather reads is Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. I don't know if it's the talk of flannels and woolens, or Alcott's descriptions of Civil War era Christmases, but this book just makes me feel all cozy inside.

Little Women tells the story of the March family: Marmee (that's Mommy to us modern folk), prim and proper Meg, tom-boyish Jo, sweet Beth, and spoiled-rotten-and-quite-frankly-a-little-annoying Amy. Father is off being a doctor for the Union and the women are at home taking care of business. (They do quite well, thank you very much, and when Father comes back home, he's mentioned once or twice and then pretty much falls off the map.) Along the way they take care of poor people, get smacked by cruel teachers, befriend the boy across the street (and his handsome tutor), go to dances, have a disastrous party, write a book, and, yes, fall in love.

Almost every mention of this book includes the words "beloved classic", a phrase sure to turn away some readers. Hey, you afraid-of-beloved-classic-people, come right back here and read this book! It's beloved for a reason-several of them, actually. First, Alcott tells a great story. Her characters are fully formed and quite lovable. They find themselves in situations that are universal: everyone with a sibling has occasionally wanted to strangle that sibling. Any girl who has ever gone to a dance knows the awkwardness and triumph Meg feels when she goes to her first ball. Any one who has ever lost a loved one can sympathize with the March family. (Yes, people die in this book. But that's life, and the family's efforts to move on and overcome these losses are part of what makes this a great book.)

Second, Alcott was an intelligent writer. She was a participant in the Transcendentalist movement. In a nutshell, the Transcendentalists believed that the spiritual part of a person should be able to rise above, or transcend, any problems life presents that person. This is great stuff, especially for people dealing with the after effects of September 11th, the fear of terrorism, and the unending commercialism of modern day America. Alcott's characters make great heroines for those of us who feel like rising above all of this.

I'm sure a lot of readers out there saw the Susan Sarandon film adaptation of this book a few years ago. If you liked the movie, you'll love the book. There's much more description and characterization in the novel than was present in the movie-you actually see the development of relationships between the "little women" and their beaus, something which was missing from the film. (And Aunt Josephine is even nastier-and has a nastier dog.)

So, all of you folks with the cold weather blahs, listen (read?) up. Go brew some cocoa, put on your flannel jammies, and curl up with this-dare I say it-"beloved classic."

It'll make you all feel all cozy inside.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Little Women

Copyright © by Heather Ray, 2002

Reviewed by Heather Ray :
-- The Blue Sword - by Robin McKinley
-- The Hero and the Crown - by Robin McKinley
-- Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening - by Robert Frost, illustrated by Susan Jeffers
-- Little Women - by Louisa May Alcott
-- The Giving Tree - by Shel Silverstein
-- The Tin Forest - by Helen Ward, illustrated by Wayne Anderson
-- New Book of Herbs - by Jekka McVicar









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