A review by sariahsharp
The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly

2.0

This was hard to rate. 2 stars? 3 stars? It wasn't BAD. It just wasn't that great for me. And I think I should have re-read "Little Women" before I read this book (I haven't read it since I was a kid). I just didn't feel like the author was able to keep the spirit of Jo March and her sisters. For one thing, would Jo March litter her letters with the word "ain't"? Just a lot of all around bad grammar. I felt like this book, being written by a British author and being about a set of British sisters (who are the "descendants" of Jo), was taking digs at what some Brits think Americans sound like. I'm pretty sure the March sisters were a bit educated and over all intelligent girls. And being from New England, there are just certain phrases they wouldn't have ever said. EVER. So anyway, that just bothered me throughout the entire book. I could be wrong about Alcott's March women (like I said, I haven't read the book since I was a kid!!), but I just can't imagine that this is a proper portrayal.

The story about Emma, Lulu, and Sophie (and their mother, Fee), was okay. I kept waiting for something to *really* happen, and it never did. It just rode a long. Nice and predictable. It ends with everyone and everything tied up neatly in a bow. Oh, and the "letters" from Jo that were interspersed throughout the story? It would have been nice if they had a bit more to do with the modern story. And if perhaps they were in chronological order. It was too hard to keep track of what was going on and when.