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A review by theresidentbookworm
Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson
5.0
I've been a Louisa May Alcott fan since middle school, but I never considered myself a super big fan. I read Little Women in the second grade in attempt to earn more points in our reading program and accidentally fell in love. I got my own copy two years later for Christmas, and I liked it even more after my reread. Then I borrowed (and never returned) Eight Cousins from a teacher and found another great read. Still, I only bought this biography because I was at this giant book sale, and I do love a good biography. It sat on my bookshelf for two years before I decided I needed a good history read before I graduated high school. I actually finished this the night before I graduated.
John Matteson clearly earned his Pulitzer Prize for Biography. I didn't even know that there were Pulitzer awards for Biography, but if it hadn't existed before I would have demanded it for Matteson. He has meticulously researched this biography, but more than that he breathed life back into his subjects. I felt like I was peering in the Alcott family's window and casually observing their lives. Sometimes it did drag a bit, but I kept going because I was always genuinely interested. Matteson did not just state facts and names. He connects you to these events and people. He makes you care about the Alcotts and be invested in the father-daughter relationship his biography focuses on. It's rare that I feel this much emotion reading a biography. It is an excellent, human, and sympathetic portrait of a father and daughter. The fact they both have fame to their names as writers makes it even more fascinating.
Eden's Outcast is the best biography I have read this year and possibly ever. I highly recommend for Alcott fans and just casual history buffs.
John Matteson clearly earned his Pulitzer Prize for Biography. I didn't even know that there were Pulitzer awards for Biography, but if it hadn't existed before I would have demanded it for Matteson. He has meticulously researched this biography, but more than that he breathed life back into his subjects. I felt like I was peering in the Alcott family's window and casually observing their lives. Sometimes it did drag a bit, but I kept going because I was always genuinely interested. Matteson did not just state facts and names. He connects you to these events and people. He makes you care about the Alcotts and be invested in the father-daughter relationship his biography focuses on. It's rare that I feel this much emotion reading a biography. It is an excellent, human, and sympathetic portrait of a father and daughter. The fact they both have fame to their names as writers makes it even more fascinating.
Eden's Outcast is the best biography I have read this year and possibly ever. I highly recommend for Alcott fans and just casual history buffs.