About the Book
-
Author:
- Louisa May Alcott
Cover Story: Classic
BFF Charm: Make It Rain
Talky Talk: Authentic Alcott
Bonus Factors: Awesome Family, Immigrant Stories, Writing
Anti-Bonus Factor: Animal Neglect
Relationship Status: Sisters
Cover Story: Classic
There are so many editions of this book (I personally own three) that it’s difficult to pick just one cover. I’ve picked this one at random because it’s pretty.
The Deal:
Massachusetts, 1868. With their father serving as an army chaplain during the Civil War, the four March sisters and their mother work hard to keep up morale at home. Meg, the oldest, struggles with peer pressure from her richer friends while navigating her first courtship. Tomboy Jo learns to manage her anger and establish herself as a writer. Beth, despite chronic illness and severe social anxiety, still takes care of everyone around her, while artistic Amy, the youngest, discovers the difference between acting grown-up and becoming mature. Meanwhile Theodore “Laurie” Laurence, their neighbor, feels more at home with the Marches than he does in his own house, but it will take some heartbreak and confusion before everyone finds their place.
BFF Charm: Make It Rain
I would love to be the fifth March sister. I could comfort Meg when she worries about not fitting in, bounce writing ideas off Jo, sit quietly while Beth plays piano, and hide behind Amy so she can draw attention at parties. I could debate religion and philosophy with Mr. March and ask Mrs. March for advice about anything that bothers me. I like Laurie too, even though he has a lot of growing up to do. Love interests John Brooke and Friedrich Bhaer are among my favorite “book boyfriends” of all time. As for Mr. Laurence and Aunt March, curmudgeons with hidden hearts of gold, I’d hug them if it wouldn’t offend their propriety.
Swoonworthy Scale: Swoontastic 10
I don’t claim to be objective in my rating. Not everyone else is going to feel the same way and that’s fine. All I know is that Jo and Friedrich are the first literary couple that ever gave me butterflies, and they still do today. I like the other couples as well, but these two will always be my favorite. It’s easy to catch feelings at a sunny country picnic (Meg and John) or in a glittering ballroom (Amy and Laurie), but you know it’s real when you’re walking down a muddy, rainy street with your hands full of shopping bags and ignore all the buses because you’re so happy walking under the same umbrella. This is how Jo describes Friedrich:
“He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet everyone was his friend; no longer young, but as happy-hearted as a boy; plain and peculiar, yet his face looked beautiful to many.”
(And on behalf of Germans everywhere: yes, our accent can be cute.)
Talky Talk: Authentic Alcott
Amy might complain about Jo’s slang words, but to a modern reader, they sound downright hilarious. Using “trump” as a compliment makes me smirk (it’s a card game term) and “pegging” does not mean what it means in our Grown-Up Guide to Romance novels. I’m no historian, so I can’t judge, but it feels to me as if people might have really talked like this. Thank goodness for authors of the past who didn’t care if their language was “proper”.
Bonus Factor: Awesome Family
On a small scale, the Marches (especially Amy and Jo) have their arguments like everyone else, but on a large scale, they’d do anything for each other. Money’s tight, so they improvise their entertainment by putting on their own play and writing their own newspaper. Their parents are a good team even when miles apart; Mrs. March is not afraid to let their children make mistakes and learn from them, while Mr. March challenges them to be their best selves.
Bonus Factor: Immigrant Stories
Laurie, whose late mother was Italian and who went to school in Switzerland, feels homesick and out of place in America even though his rich grandfather provides for all his physical needs. Estelle “Esther” Valnor, Aunt March’s maid, had to Anglicise her name to find work, but only “on the condition that she was not asked to change her religion”. Friedrich, who was a famous professor in Berlin, moved to America to take care of his orphaned nephews and gets by as a German language tutor. The Hummels, a working-class family, struggle just to survive in a foreign country. These are all different facets of the immigrant experience, but they all have one thing in common: the Marches make everyone feel welcome, regardless of where they come from.
Bonus Factor: Writing
The way Jo evolves as a writer (inspired by Alcott’s own career) has inspired me since I was old enough to pick out letters on a keyboard. One of the reasons Friedrich is my book boyfriend is because he challenges her to write what she really wants to write, not just what she thinks will sell. Later, he recognizes one of her poems as hers even though it’s published with only her initials, and carries it with him until they meet again. That’s how well he knows and loves the real Jo March.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Animal Neglect
There’s one death in this story I cannot get over – and no, it’s not the one you’re thinking. It’s Pip. The idea of this little bird starving to death in his cage because his owners are too distracted to feed him still haunts me, to the point where I just have to skip that chapter.
Relationship Status: Sisters
In real life I’m an only child, but I’ve grown up with this book and it will always have a place in my heart.
Literary Matchmaking
Emily of New Moon (Emily #1) by L.M. Montgomery is another nineteenth-century coming-of-age story by and about a woman writer.
Belittled Women by Amanda Sellet is a contemporary novel set in an Alcott reenactment theatre.
Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz is an alternate-universe retelling in which – you’ve guessed it – Jo and Laurie become a couple.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review.
