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jzmiao's review against another edition
3.0
i was between 2 and 3 stars, and i think it was ultimately pushed to a 3 star rating just out of my goodwill for little women.
in all fairness, i think taking on a modern retelling of little women is a tall order, and i admit any retelling would have to clear high expectations. i have to admire the author’s guts to do it. however, i think i was let down because the author didn’t seem to take much advantage of the modern setting. i know i’m probably biased but a modern retelling seems like the perfect opportunity to explore jo’s sexuality and maybe even introduce a queer relationship. instead, the new storylines are to do with laurie (trey in this version) being a douche and the father being a dick. sure, the original version mostly skimmed over the relationship with the father so i could see the potential in exploring that more. it just didn’t feel like the end result added much or changed our perceptions of the characters. meg’s struggle with internalizing her gendered role as martyr/homemaker is probably shared by many women, but i personally was not compelled by it.
i was also deeply frustrated by the fact that so much of the conflict driving the plot revolves around meg and jo being awful at communicating with their partners. once or twice, i could understand, but their inability to talk to their partners is what carries a lot of the plot in the first half. you would think a retelling that focuses mostly on their adult lives rather than their childhoods would feature them…behaving like adults?
in all fairness, i think taking on a modern retelling of little women is a tall order, and i admit any retelling would have to clear high expectations. i have to admire the author’s guts to do it. however, i think i was let down because the author didn’t seem to take much advantage of the modern setting. i know i’m probably biased but a modern retelling seems like the perfect opportunity to explore jo’s sexuality and maybe even introduce a queer relationship. instead, the new storylines are to do with laurie (trey in this version) being a douche and the father being a dick. sure, the original version mostly skimmed over the relationship with the father so i could see the potential in exploring that more. it just didn’t feel like the end result added much or changed our perceptions of the characters. meg’s struggle with internalizing her gendered role as martyr/homemaker is probably shared by many women, but i personally was not compelled by it.
i was also deeply frustrated by the fact that so much of the conflict driving the plot revolves around meg and jo being awful at communicating with their partners. once or twice, i could understand, but their inability to talk to their partners is what carries a lot of the plot in the first half. you would think a retelling that focuses mostly on their adult lives rather than their childhoods would feature them…behaving like adults?
acoldwintersread's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Little Women is one of my all time favorites and I always look forward to retellings. But this was just not it. It felt like a mischaracterization of every single character. I know LM Alcott wrote their own real frustrations with their father into Little Women, but even then Mr March was never as terrible as this version. He never abandoned his family, but taught them all their lives to care for others TOGETHER.
I was also bored for just over 60% of the book. I was glad for a bit more of a getting to know you of Eric Baehr, but ultimately I just couldn’t be bothered to care for nearly the entire cast of characters. It lacked the heart at the center of Little Women.
And the ending.. one of my cardinal sins in books. I hate that surprise … trope so so much.
I was also bored for just over 60% of the book. I was glad for a bit more of a getting to know you of Eric Baehr, but ultimately I just couldn’t be bothered to care for nearly the entire cast of characters. It lacked the heart at the center of Little Women.
And the ending.. one of my cardinal sins in books. I hate that surprise … trope so so much.
meganac's review against another edition
2.0
We were still us, I thought, looking around at my sisters. There was no one else who shared our history, who spoke our secret language, who could summon the past or drive me crazy with a single word. And yet..."It's the same," I said. "But not the same.
Entertaining, captivating, but I just didn't care for the author's way of "modernizing" the sisters...and what she did with their parents. I can respect her artistic license but yeesh. It's so different. If you're looking for something more aligned with the original story, this isn't it.
She did an excellent job with drawing out Jo's romance though! I'm not generally a romance fan, but I liked the pacing/tension.
Entertaining, captivating, but I just didn't care for the author's way of "modernizing" the sisters...and what she did with their parents. I can respect her artistic license but yeesh. It's so different. If you're looking for something more aligned with the original story, this isn't it.
She did an excellent job with drawing out Jo's romance though! I'm not generally a romance fan, but I liked the pacing/tension.
gilmoreguide's review against another edition
3.0
Meg & Jo is exactly what you would hope for in a modern retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. The characters are just as remembered, but living contemporary lives. Meg still lives in North Carolina where they grew up, living happily with her husband and twins. Jo lives in NYC, working as a food blogger and in a restaurant with a chef named Eric. But life is not that simple. Meg is the dutiful wife and daughter, but the weight of always being there for everyone, especially after their mother becomes sick, starts to overwhelm her. Jo struggles with the fact that all her education and writing has not brought her the career of her dreams. Nor can she commit in her personal life.
Which is all you need to know about the plot. Suffice it to say, author Virginia Kantra, honors the past, but brings forth a very real present to this group of characters. It’s still light reading with a bit of a romance-y feel, but she explores marriage in unexpected ways I greatly appreciated. Especially as I found them so problematic in the original. Even better, there will be a second novel, focused solely on Beth and Amy.
Which is all you need to know about the plot. Suffice it to say, author Virginia Kantra, honors the past, but brings forth a very real present to this group of characters. It’s still light reading with a bit of a romance-y feel, but she explores marriage in unexpected ways I greatly appreciated. Especially as I found them so problematic in the original. Even better, there will be a second novel, focused solely on Beth and Amy.
mizele20's review against another edition
3.0
Surprisingly, I enjoyed this book. I expected not to, but I felt that her take on the 4 sisters was clever and she provided some interesting twists.
sryoung's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
life_full_ofbooks's review against another edition
1.0
This book proves that you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken. Little Women is my favorite classic novel. I have read the book multiple times and I have seen every version of the movie. When I saw there was a modern retelling as a book I jumped in excitement.
This book failed on so many levels. As the title depicts we only get Meg & Jo’s stories. Meg is 2 dimensional at best. It seemed like author was trying too hard to portray Meg as she was from the original but she comes across as much weaker than her 1800’s counterpart. Jo has always been my favorite character. Out of all 4 sisters she’s the one I’ve always wanted to be, but not this version of her. It felt like certain things were happening because the author wanted them to, not because of Jo’s actions. Abby (aka Momma, or Marmee to us traditionalists) is stubborn and I didn’t see any of the qualities in her that I loved from the original, and the author’s portrayal of Dr. March was an absolute joke. The best character in this book is Jo’s boss but even he is missing the qualities that Fritz had in the original book.
I get that this book is based on the original but there are enough scenes from the original book recreated for the modern day that I just expected the characters to live up to the ones I hold so dearly in my heart. I was so excited to read the sequel Beth & Amy but after this I think I’ll skip it and just read the original again.
This book failed on so many levels. As the title depicts we only get Meg & Jo’s stories. Meg is 2 dimensional at best. It seemed like author was trying too hard to portray Meg as she was from the original but she comes across as much weaker than her 1800’s counterpart. Jo has always been my favorite character. Out of all 4 sisters she’s the one I’ve always wanted to be, but not this version of her. It felt like certain things were happening because the author wanted them to, not because of Jo’s actions. Abby (aka Momma, or Marmee to us traditionalists) is stubborn and I didn’t see any of the qualities in her that I loved from the original, and the author’s portrayal of Dr. March was an absolute joke. The best character in this book is Jo’s boss but even he is missing the qualities that Fritz had in the original book.
I get that this book is based on the original but there are enough scenes from the original book recreated for the modern day that I just expected the characters to live up to the ones I hold so dearly in my heart. I was so excited to read the sequel Beth & Amy but after this I think I’ll skip it and just read the original again.
megs_s's review
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0