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5/5
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott has been labelled as a masterpiece with a very good reason. The book is captivating and memorable, and this is what every writer wants to accomplish with their work but not all writers do.
I am giving this book a 5-star rating for the above reasons and for the reason it was written in the 19th century, thus we cannot complain too much about the style. Nor values, which are for the time this was written quite feminist.
I read this book a long time ago but I did not appreciate it when I was much younger so I thought it was too descriptive and whiny. Now, as an adult, I see the beauty of the book.
In the book, we meet March sisters and sporadically their hard-working mother. Their father is in war and the women are left to fend for themselves at the time when not many women did so. Nevertheless, both Mrs March and sisters have to work and help to the best of their abilities. But, what is most captivating is the difference in the character of all sisters. Thus, Beth is tender and loved by all for her never-ending kindness. Jo is a free spirit who wishes sometimes she was a boy and she is a writer (we see the author in Jo actually), she cannot be easily controlled and she can snap easily too, unusual for girls of her age. Amy can’t spell properly and can be quite selfish and self-centred but she also has a good side and shows remorse when she sees others struggling. Meg is the oldest and thus very motherly even though she is only 17.
We meet sisters and get to know and love each character. Of course, from today’s position, I was annoyed with Mrs March teaching Jo how to control her temper, but it is understandable for the time and the mother has to be praised for the freedom she gave to girls. In addition, the family described is a philanthropist for they lost their wealth by helping the poor and even though they no longer have a lot, they still help the poor, which at one point puts Beth’s life at risk…
The book has sequences, and thus the full list of books is as follows,
Little Women (1868)
Good Wives (1869)
Little Men (1871)
Jo’s Boys (1886)
Needless to say that I already have all sequences in my Kindle library and will be reading them with great pleasure as soon as impressions from this book settle enough. In the meantime, I am reading a book on my favourite topic: time travelling….
Thank you for reading.