I must not only second the two fairly lukewarm reviews of this book already entered, but perhaps go even further. I, like Librarian, read every biography I can find of Alcott, and have been enthralled by such studies as "The Alcotts" by Madelon Bedell (and I longed for the second volume for years until I learned Bedell had passed away before completing it -- a tremendous loss to Alcott scholars) and "Eden's Outcasts" by John Matteson. I teach a course on Alcott, her works and her life and times, at Allegany College of Maryland. And I am sorry to say that I was disappointed by Cheever's book.
The most blatant concerns I have are factual ones, and while they may seem trivial, they tend to undermine Cheever's overall credibility. It has already been noted that Cheever repeatedly refers to Elizabeth as Alcott's youngest sister, when she was, in fact, the third of the four Alcott girls. On page 9 Cheever mentions Bronson Alcott's brother, William. William Alcox (Alcott) was, in fact, Bronson's cousin, not his brother. Cheever also maintains at one point that Louisa grew up unloved by her parents, who considered her wild, aggressive, uncontrolled and intractable, and valued her only for her ability to produce income -- a claim which I find shocking in the extreme. While Bronson Alcott's emotions are difficult to interpret and frequently mixed, there is little doubt that he shared at least a reluctant kinship with his literary daughter and took great pride in her accomplishments. And a reading of the existing notes from Abba Alcott in her daughter's journal shows a mother, at least, who is attentive, supportive, forgiving, encouraging and unfailingly loving.
But Cheever's oversights tend not only to the facts of Alcott's life, but to the details of her novels as well. Cheever maintains that Polly Milton, the heroine of "An Old-Fashioned Girl" is the Shaw's cousin, when she is, in fact, no relation at all -- she is the friend of a mutual friend, and meets Fanny Shaw when Fanny is on a visit to that mutual friend in the country. Cheever also claims, on p. 213, that Alcott includes "...a few pages describing the noble Revolutionary family that Polly claims as her own, but which is actually the May family..." In fact, if you read "An Old-Fashioned Girl," the "Revolutionary family" is not depicted as being Polly's relatives, but the antecedents of the Shaw family through their Grandma, "Madame Shaw." The stories are told by Madame when Polly entices the younger Shaws to spend an afternoon listening to Madame reminisce. In "Little Women" Cheever says that "...the family newspaper the 'Olive Branch' became the 'Spread Eagle'" (p. 202) and that "Alcott's Civil War illness, which cost her her luxuriant hair, became Jo's sacrifice of her hair for the Civil War cause." In fact, the 'Spread Eagle' would be more akin to 'Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly,' in which Alcott published her "blood and thunder" stories, and the 'Olive Branch' more like the 'Pickwick Portfolio,' the family- produced organ of the Little Women; and Jo March did not sacrifice her hair for the Civil War cause, but to raise the money to finance her mother's trip to Washington to nurse her father in the hospital there.
Such caveats may sound like mere quibbling, but they shake the foundations of the overall credibility of Cheever's work, and raise the question of whether or not her research is sound. I found absolutely nothing new in this book -- no groundbreaking discoveries or revolutionary theories about Alcott -- in fact, no particular reason for writing this biography, since it adds nothing to the Alcott biographical oeuvre. And again, I must concur with previous reviews on this page which find the insertion of Cheever's musings and extraneous ruminations to be intrusive and jarring. If I seek a series of essays on culture, morals, intellect, creativity or life in general, I'd prefer to turn to Emerson.
I don't wish to be too damning, but this biography just jarred me repeatedly with questionable conclusions, sometimes contradictory in nature, and a general unreliability of factual content which makes one question not only those conclusions but also the factual statements which ARE accurate. If one is looking for a beginner's biography of Alcott, may I suggest Cornelia Miegs' "Invincible Louisa" instead? And for the adult, more advanced student of the Alcotts, either the previously mentioned "Eden's Outcasts" or "The Alcotts," which, though it only chronicles the first part of Louisa's life, does a splendid job of portraying the family in all its ambivalence, eccentricity and talent. I am moving on to Riesen's recent biography next, and hope to enjoy that one more, but as for Cheever, I regret to say that I will not be revisiting this book.
