I adored this novel. In fact, I was seriously debating whether or not I thought it was a perfect 10/10 for me, but ended up deciding that the fact I was hesitating about the matter meant I should probably reserve that honour for a book where my 10 is awarded uncontentiously.
Being a book that was written in the 1800s, it did have this heavy sense of objective and inherent gender roles and expectations, and at times I found it a little bit irritating to read. For example, at one point the book focusses on the oldest sister, Meg, and how her marriage is faring in the year after giving birth to twins, and I was pretty unimpressed with the moral of the chapter. That being, that the marital troubles she was facing were completely due to her failure to fulfil her role as a wife when faced with the overwhelming and exhausting task of being a mother. Of course, it can’t have been that perhaps she could do with a partner who shares the burden of parenting so that she isn’t too run-down to spend time with him — no, it’s definitely she who really ought to just try harder.
But I digress… I wouldn’t say that the out-dated attitudes ruined my enjoyment of the book, nor that moral or political agreement with a work of art’s theme or message is a necessary pre-requisite to its positive reception by the audience. Besides, overall it would be remiss of me to paint the novel as a misogynistic work because there was a strong theme of rejecting the stricter gendered expectations of the time and ultimately not allowing them to prevent the ‘little women’ from pursing the happiness they desired for themselves.
At any rate, it was still incredibly well-written, engaging, and heart-warming. I wrote a review of the film, directed by Greta Gerwig, and gave both Gerwig and the actors very high praise for the character portrayals.
“I aspire to be able to present characters the way Greta has, where in an introductory scene you already feel an understanding of who they are
and you already care about what is going to happen to them as a result
of that perceived intimacy.”
Having now read the book the film was based on, I know that Louisa May Alcott set the stage for that performance. I love that some of the chapters in the book are entirely unrelated to the overarching plot, but instead exist purely for the reader to bond with whichever character the chapter highlights. It’s an incredibly charming book, and at the end of every chapter I found myself looking forward to the next — crossing my fingers, in fact, that I’d get to spend some time with one or another.
The only negative comment I had about the film was concerning one of the marriages. If you’ve seen the film, I have a feeling you’ll know exactly which I’m talking about when I say that I felt one of the relationships was simply not believable, even if you disagree. I was disappointed that one of the major relationship arcs seemed surprising and forced. However, I did also predict that it was most likely due to the time restraint of film’s format, and that I would likely find the novel pays more attention to that particular romantic progression, and I was pleased to find that I was right about that. I finished the novel feeling satisfied that the ending made sense, and everything had fallen into place naturally and smoothly.
That’s pretty much all I have to say though, since many of my comments from the film review apply to the storyline and characters in the book. Stunning novel, 9.5/10, and I would love to read more from Louisa May Alcott because I feel that her storytelling hands are more than competent. I trust that she’s written more of the same intimate, astute, honest prose.
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