Customer Reviews

Little Women

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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I bought this book back in 1994 when I saw the Winona Ryder film version and loved it. It was 578 pages but I was never bored. It's about the March family. It was first published in 1868. Their father is off to the war but Mrs. March and her four daughters (Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy) fend for themselves. It's basically a coming of age book as we follow the four girls into becoming women. Some of the details may be lost on younger readers (remember--this WAS written in 1868) but I think the episodes dealing with the girls' issues and problems are still relevant. It is too long but I was truthfully never really bored--and I'm a 46 year old guy! The characters are realistic and nobody is very good or very bad (except for maybe the annoying Aunt March). They all have good and bad qualities--just like real life. This isn't for everybody (I think teenage boys will avoid this like the plague) but it's a well-written and interesting story of four girls becoming women.

I loved this book! I just reread it for the first time as an adult and was overwhelmed with the life lessons learned. I was so moved by the characters and their determination to live a good Christian life amidst trials. I especially liked reading about their mother "Marmie". She is the best example of how to be a mother and raise children. I ordered this copy for all of my friends for Christmas because it's older and cherished, and because of the Jessie Wilcox Smith color illustration on the cover. I put a note inside that reads, "My favorite book, for my favorite people". I loved this book!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Alcott has a talent for writing realistic family stories and sweet romances, without letting them get dull.

Ugh. I know, I know--Little Women is a classic. I found the first chapters so incredibly dull that I skimmed them just to get to something interesting. Then there are the sappy eye-roller moments--this is based on Pilgrim's Progress (which I have read), and it is a mix of the didactic and entertainment. So it is frequently preachy. But, to be fair, I just finished Wuthering Heights, which I found a real page turner. The comparison was too much, and I haven't touched LW in more than a week now. Just can't get interested. On to Conrad or James...may be I'll come back and try it later. Marmie, Marmie, Marmie. Who calls their mother that anyway? Maybe they all have speech impediments? Yech.