Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: A Book Review
Genre: Literary Fiction/ Women’s Fiction
Alcott’s Little Women is a classic coming-of-age story of four very different sisters caught in the world of poverty in the aftermath of the Civil War. While the war only comes as a conflict to make the father absent, Little Women artfully shows the strength of family as well as women in general. Surrounding the girls and their various hardships, Alcott shows the journey of growing up and dreams changing.
While I am a fan of classics (and enjoy Alcott immensely), Little Women is not a quick read. While the language is not hard nor hard to follow, Alcott has a habit of using a lot of filler: some chapters are purely preaching morals or virtues, other chapters do not necessarily even touch on the main story. Basing the characters on sisters and herself, it is amusing to try and picture Alcott as the character Jo (the one based off the author solely). At the same time, it is annoying as Jo is constantly told in her writing career to take the lectures out and to remove the paragraphs of detail that take away from the story as much as it tries to add to it: advice Alcott, perhaps, should have headed.
I watched Greta Gerwig’s movie adaptation over the summer and in this instance would say that the movie is better than the book. While the movie followed the story very closely, it was not as much as a bore the writing was.
(If you like the March sisters you will love the Bennett family)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing: 08/10
Editor: 10/10
Total: 38/40
Title: Little Women
Author: Lousia May Alcott
Edition: Signet Classics
Published: May 1, 2012
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780451532084
If you want to get it: Amazon; Barnes&Noble
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