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A review by lizzyjensenn
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5.0
I grew up watching the 1994 Little Women film, discovered and fell in love with the 2005 musical, and once the 2019 film grew on me, it became my favorite movie. I even wrote an essay about Jo March when I was in high school. Alllllll of this, without ever having read the book.
I rewatched the Greta Gerwig film for Christmas this year and decided to finally sit down and give the book a go. I was hooked from the first chapter. I loved the outsider view into the characters and the situations that Alcott gives as the narrator. I feel that she covers important topics like family, relationships, God, and feminism without being preachy. She shared a part of her soul in this novel and you can see it from page one.
I adore every single March sister. The chapters narrating Beth’s sickness and death had me in tears. As a Christian, the warm references to God and love and humility were especially sweet. I think Jo and Beth are tied for my favorite sisters, with Amy in second. I loved reading about Amy’s time in Europe and her courtship with Fred and Laurie with the feminist context the Greta Gerwig film gave me. I think it deepened Amy’s character, made her more human, and less annoying :)
The one drawback I had was the relationship between Meg and John Brooks. I hated the chapter wherein Meg discloses her relationship struggles to Marmee after having her babies. Marmee encourages her to figure out how to serve both her babies and her husband, and I became completely turned off to the chapter and just skipped through it haha. I feel that Meg (perhaps purposefully) represents the societal failing in putting the emotional labor for the whole family on the shoulders of the women.
I’ve read a few articles about the men in the Little Women and how they’re written to be disappointing. Maybe I’m naive, but I did not feel this way at all (except for John Brooks). I think Alcott wrote Laurie and Bhaer’s characters exceptionally well. In the beginning, Laurie was impossible. He was young, flighty, and immature. The chapter wherein he begins courting Amy and gets over Jo is a beautiful glimpse into his character. Some of my favorite words in the book were in this chapter:
“His first wooing had been of the tempestuous order, and he looked back upon it as if through a long vista of years with a feeling of compassion blended with regret. He was not ashamed of it, but put it away as one of the bitter-sweet experiences of his life, for which he could be grateful when the pain was over. His second wooing, he resolved, should be as calm and simple as possible.”
The way that Laurie processed his failed proposal to Jo is what helped him get over it. He saw plainly how he and Jo would not have been compatible partners and instead fell in love with the simple, familiar affection he shared with Amy. Just as Beth’s death was the catalyst for Jo’s maturity, I think Jo’s rejection was that for Laurie. I think he was a character beloved by Alcott and I’m glad she had him change for the better just as her little women did.
I also adore Friedrich. He is described multiple times throughout the second part of the novel as a character beloved by all. He is sweet, good-tempered, and patient. He is smart and capable and seems to be Jo’s intellectual soul mate as much as her romantic one, which I think is a much better fit for her than Laurie.
I think above all, what I appreciated most from this novel was how it honored traditionally feminine labor. Things like keeping the house, embroidery, stitching, cleaning, cooking, and nurturing children were addressed in a very sacred and reverent tone. One part where this stuck out to me was when Beth embroidered a pattern on a pair of shoes for Mr. Laurence as a thank you for the piano. I think how Alcott approached feminism was not to discount the work women did in her time, but to highlight it and show her audience how special and sacred it is to our society. Now we can look at it in our day and see that women should not have to feel that the work of cooking, cleaning, sewing, and nurturing falls only on their shoulders (because it should be shared between partners and among other childcare workers), but that this work should be honored even when it is unpaid labor.
I rewatched the Greta Gerwig film for Christmas this year and decided to finally sit down and give the book a go. I was hooked from the first chapter. I loved the outsider view into the characters and the situations that Alcott gives as the narrator. I feel that she covers important topics like family, relationships, God, and feminism without being preachy. She shared a part of her soul in this novel and you can see it from page one.
I adore every single March sister. The chapters narrating Beth’s sickness and death had me in tears. As a Christian, the warm references to God and love and humility were especially sweet. I think Jo and Beth are tied for my favorite sisters, with Amy in second. I loved reading about Amy’s time in Europe and her courtship with Fred and Laurie with the feminist context the Greta Gerwig film gave me. I think it deepened Amy’s character, made her more human, and less annoying :)
The one drawback I had was the relationship between Meg and John Brooks. I hated the chapter wherein Meg discloses her relationship struggles to Marmee after having her babies. Marmee encourages her to figure out how to serve both her babies and her husband, and I became completely turned off to the chapter and just skipped through it haha. I feel that Meg (perhaps purposefully) represents the societal failing in putting the emotional labor for the whole family on the shoulders of the women.
I’ve read a few articles about the men in the Little Women and how they’re written to be disappointing. Maybe I’m naive, but I did not feel this way at all (except for John Brooks). I think Alcott wrote Laurie and Bhaer’s characters exceptionally well. In the beginning, Laurie was impossible. He was young, flighty, and immature. The chapter wherein he begins courting Amy and gets over Jo is a beautiful glimpse into his character. Some of my favorite words in the book were in this chapter:
“His first wooing had been of the tempestuous order, and he looked back upon it as if through a long vista of years with a feeling of compassion blended with regret. He was not ashamed of it, but put it away as one of the bitter-sweet experiences of his life, for which he could be grateful when the pain was over. His second wooing, he resolved, should be as calm and simple as possible.”
The way that Laurie processed his failed proposal to Jo is what helped him get over it. He saw plainly how he and Jo would not have been compatible partners and instead fell in love with the simple, familiar affection he shared with Amy. Just as Beth’s death was the catalyst for Jo’s maturity, I think Jo’s rejection was that for Laurie. I think he was a character beloved by Alcott and I’m glad she had him change for the better just as her little women did.
I also adore Friedrich. He is described multiple times throughout the second part of the novel as a character beloved by all. He is sweet, good-tempered, and patient. He is smart and capable and seems to be Jo’s intellectual soul mate as much as her romantic one, which I think is a much better fit for her than Laurie.
I think above all, what I appreciated most from this novel was how it honored traditionally feminine labor. Things like keeping the house, embroidery, stitching, cleaning, cooking, and nurturing children were addressed in a very sacred and reverent tone. One part where this stuck out to me was when Beth embroidered a pattern on a pair of shoes for Mr. Laurence as a thank you for the piano. I think how Alcott approached feminism was not to discount the work women did in her time, but to highlight it and show her audience how special and sacred it is to our society. Now we can look at it in our day and see that women should not have to feel that the work of cooking, cleaning, sewing, and nurturing falls only on their shoulders (because it should be shared between partners and among other childcare workers), but that this work should be honored even when it is unpaid labor.