Customer Reviews

Good Wives: Little Women, Part 2 (Puffin Classics)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though "Little Men" was the first of the March family books that I read, when I was around seven, I was just as easily drawn by and to "Little Women". Not so with "Good Wives", the second book in the series (or "Jo's Boys", the last book, for that matter).

For a long time, there was something about "Good Wives" that I did not like, but could not name. Now that I am in college, learning from and loving this novel for the first time, I know exactly what was once so off-putting to me: "Good Wives" is about changing and growing up--things that were completely alien to me in elementary school.

In this book, Meg struggles to be a poor man's wife and a good mother--tasks more trying than being a dutiful daughter and a kind older sister. Jo learns to hold her "abominable tongue" (a slight disappointment, admittedly) and aspires to be more like Beth. Amy comes to terms with money, her limitations, and what she really wants from life. Laurie drops his rascal's streak and resolves to become more serious. In the saddest twist of the story, Beth dies.

The things that happen to the March girls (and the Laurence boy) are no longer the happy sketches of youthful scrapes, pranks and plays. By the second chapter, "The First Wedding", the first of them sets foot in the world of grown-ups, where actions have long-term consequences and one must make life-defining choices on one's own. The events in these books are sobering life experiences.

Much of "Good Wives" is made up of lengthy narrations--many passages quite preachy--that mostly illustrate what life-changing epiphanies the characters are having. Side by side with descriptions of the setting, background and new characters, are descriptions of life's crossroads. The characters also no longer bump into each other as much as before (except in certain delightful chapters); afer all, they _are_ learning to leave the nest and fly to where life is calling. "Good Wives" is also a novel filled with goodbyes.

Despite my initial dislike of this book and its more serious, sober air (though the chapter "Daisy and Demi" does give a hint of the frolicsome things to come in "Little Men"), I give it Five Stars because of the way it probed deeper: it explored not only the intricacies of family ties, friendships, and first loves, but also the characters relationships to the world, to society, and to themselves. Ultimately, though the innocent joys of childhood become completely lost to Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, and Laurie, the five earn a new happiness--something closer to glory.

This is a great book, and my favorite part of Little Women. It covers the part when Jo goes to New York and meets Professor Bhaer. However, when I ordered "Good Wives" I thought it was a sequel that I hadn't read before. Instead I found that it was a poorly bound and poorly copied (e.g. faint print that's hard to read) copy of Part II of the book Little Women. If you have the novel Little Women you already have "Good Wives." I sat the books down side by side and compared them, and they are identical. I'm confused why everyone is referring to this as a sequel to Little Women, unless perhaps when Little Women first came out it ended when the father came home from the war, and maybe Part II was originally printed in a separate volume?

However, every copy I've ever picked up of Little Women nowadays already has Part II in it, so if you have Little Women I'd advise you not to waste your money on this.

This my favourite book in the series. With all the unexpected twists in an amazing plot I can see why Louisa May Alccott is so popular I am 14 and have just finished yr10 at high school and completed an Author review for english where I had to read all the books written by 1 author and I found that this was easily my favourite of the Little women series.

Sequel seldom works but this book is better then the first one, 'cause it explores the minds of it's charecters more truthfully then the first one.Here in this book they look more real and alive.The lose of the Beth is the great one but they bear it truely. Jo's charecter comes out so vividly that it dominated the whole book.It was a delight to read this book.

Louisa May Alcott captured the spirit of a loving family in "Little Women," the ultimate coming-of-age story. In "Good Wives," the second half of the "Little Women" story (and the second part of an ongoing family saga), Alcott takes her little women out of teenage hijinks and into a darker, more adult place.

The book opens with Meg March's wedding to John Brooke -- he's not the wealthy man of her dreams, but he is the man she loves. As Meg learns that it's a struggle to be a poor man's wife, her sisters Jo and Amy are stretching their own wings -- Amy is becoming an accomplished young artist, and Jo is letting "genius burn" as a published writer. Beth, who has never recovered from her bout of scarlet fever, is still a fragile homebody.

Things take an unexpected turn when Aunt March invites Amy to go to Europe with her -- a trip Jo has wanted for years. To make things worse, Beth is in love with Laurie... but then Laurie proposes to Jo. When she rejects him, he storms away to Europe. Jo leaves as well, to be a governess and a writer in the city, but returns home to find Beth slowly wilting away. Tragedy, love and new life will bring the family back together in unexpected ways.

It always hurts to grow up, and the events of "Good Wives" are no exception. It's a much more adult book than the first "Little Women," with the girls finding out about love, marriage, careers, artistic attempts and the loss of loved ones. There's plenty of humor -- Jo's disastrous housecalls and Amy's equally disastrous dinner party -- but it's muted.

Alcott's writing, surprisingly, doesn't change much -- it's still funny, weird and highly detailed, but also full of sweetness and pathos. And while the book has some sad endings, the overall feel is that life goes on and things always turn out, if not happily, then for the best -- there are marriages, babies, and new beginnings for everyone. And it ends with a lead-in to the sequel, "Little Men," with Jo and Professor Bhaer adopting a bunch of boys as unruly as Jo was.

Jo is the same old Jo, with her foot in her mouth and her fierce independence. But she does become more mature and less prickly. Beth is almost a nonentity, wasting away until leaving the book altogether; Meg seems rather ditzy as a housewife, but apparently is shown as a Marmee-in-training. Amy does the best of all, becoming a vivid, funny character almost as likable as Jo.

The second part of "Little Women" is "Good Wives" -- a very different kind of story about the March girls. But if anything, it's a more beautiful and sweeter one.

I read this book when I was around fifteen (I had already read Little Women, Little Men and Jo's Boys ). There is a something in all these stories that'll touch most anybody. I would recommend it to all girls and boys who are a bit old fashioned at heart (even if not on the outside!).

I feel compelled to write a review on all these different versions of GOOD WIVES. This is good literature, but there is no reason to buy this book if you're planning to read LITTLE WOMEN, as every copy of LITTLE WOMEN contains these chapters. LITTLE WOMEN is divided into "Part First" and "Part Second," and GOOD WIVES = "Part Second."

As another reviewer noted, THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO LITTLE WOMEN. I pulled out my copy of Little Women, and the chapters in Good Wives are exactly the same as the second half of the book Little Women. If that wasn't clear: my copy (and every copy I remember) of Little Women contains "Part First" and "Part Second." GOOD WIVES = "Part Second." I can't think of any reason to buy this book.

However, the book LITTLE WOMEN is great, and I can think of a million reasons to buy it! (I hate giving anything Louisa May Alcott wrote only 2 stars--but those are for the packaging, not the text.)

Since it took me some time to get this book, I was very excited to start reading it. It was indeed fun to return to the world and characters that I have like so much in the first book.
I can't say I was disappointed, it was a great, fast and flowing reading. I enjoyed the book very much.
However, in my opinion it is not as good as the first book. Perhaps because, like any sequel, it is an extension of a good thing that stands for its own right. Perhaps, because I am still young myself, I was able to connect more to the teenaged heroes than to the adult and married ones.
However, it was a great joy to meet them all again, and I think it is a good and worthy sequel, although it can't be compared to the first.

A thoroughly satisfying sequel to a book I grew up loving. It took me forever to get to Good Wives, but when I did, it was like coming home. What a treat to meet up with my favorite childhood characters in this delicious heartwarming book!