"Little Women - Book Review"
Book Review
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (part 1 and 2)
Of course this book deserves a 5/5
I really do love the familial tenderness that comes across right from the start. You see the four girls sitting down by the fire talking
about the things they want in the future and how they can make themselves better and more like their mother, who they see as a saint.
I think throughout this book the bond of the four sisters is what keep everyone afloat, even through the hardest times...like Beth's death.
They still felt her presence and kept her memory alive by keeping all her things intact and not moving them an inch which
automatically put in my mind the modern day shrine. I've always thought that that is the perfect way to honor a loved one, not
keeping the items in boxes or selling them, but by keeping them exactly where they had been before so the family can feel that
the deceased is not gone forever.
I also love all the different personalities of the sisters. Meg is very motherly toward her sisters, Jo is very straightforward and boyish, Beth saintly and musically talented, and Amy
is very social and artistic. I'd say that sometimes I would relate more to Jo in the long run cause I really do put my foot in my mouth and I'm not really the best
at getting people to like me.
As far as the love interests go...I was very surprised to see that Laurie doesn't end up with Jo...I totally thought he would but apparently
Jo really had no feelings for him whatsoever. At first I thought that it was just because she was afraid of what she felt...but no.
She really only saw Laurie as a brother. And even though it really destroyed him, he did learn from it and it changed him from boy to man.
And then he fell in love with Amy. So then he really did end up being Jo's brother.
I like the overall morals of the story especially the one where it is better to be poor but happy, then have all the money
in the world and be completely alone. It's one that I have to think about all the time because I constantly think everyday how I would
feel if I were to become successful and not have to worry about money anymore and I have to remember how happy I am right now being with my family
all the time. It really does make you feel better in the long run to have someone who cares about you around 24/7.
Then of course this book would be nothing without all the little jokes that float around that you can;t help but giggle at because some of them are clean while others,
are just verging on not clean since they couldn't go completely vulgar in the 1800's. But there were several that hinted at vulgar.
I love the little newspaper that the four girl's write together when they're younger. It's so witty and hilarious that it wouldn't have been surprising
if they had been able to publish it. It was so cute! And Laurie's initiation into the club was hilarious! It was little pranks like that that
totally had me going down the path of Jo/Laurie for a long time.
Let's see then we have another one of my favorite characters, Mr. Lawrence. The old grandfather of Laurie. He was quite remarkable because he changed
so much from when he was first introduced into the story. His relationship with Laurie changes for the better thanks to the whole of the March family. That includes the
mother and father as well as the four sisters. It was just wonderful to see him light up whenever he saw Beth too. And quite sad to know that Beth died and
poor Old Lawrence had to go through that loss too. He'd already been through so much.
But then, Jo looks after him after that so it's all good. :)
The Amy/Laurie love story caught me by surprise but I have to admit that I acutally do think they're well-suited for each other and I believe the whole scene with the two of them
in the boat was just too picture perfect for words.
Proffessor Bhaer is another story. I mean I like him as a character but still feel it a little odd that he fell in love with Jo, or that Jo
fell in love with him. But I don't know maybe as soon as I actually see the movie my opinion will change.
This book will make you go through the whole range of human emotions-and sometimes want
to make you tear out your hair in despair- but in the end you will most likely
feel that you've read one of the best classics ever to be written! Because it truly is!
I believe each girls' personalities and life story are told very beautifully in the poem that Jo writes at the end, "In the Garret"
"Four little chests all in a row,
Dim with dust, and worn by time,
All fashioned and filled, long ago,
By children now in their prime.
Four little keys hang side by side,
With faded ribbons, brave and gay,
When fastened there with childish pride,
Long ago, on a rainy day.
Four little names, one on each lid,
Carved out by a boyish hand,
And underneath, there lieth hid
Histories of the happy band
Once playing here, and pausing oft
To hear the sweet refrain,
That came and went on the roof aloft,
In the falling summer rain.
"'Meg' on the first lid, smooth and fair,
I look in with loving eyes,
For folded here, with well-known care,
A goodly gathering lies--
The record of a peaceful life,
Gifts to gentle child and girl,
A bridal gown, lines to a wife,
A tiny shoe, a baby curl.
No toys in this first chest remain,
For all are carried away,
In their old age, to join again
In another small Meg's play.
Ah, happy mother! well I know
You hear like a sweet refrain,
Lullabies ever soft and low,
In the falling summer rain.
"'Jo' on the next lid, scratched and worn,
And within a motley store
Of headless dolls, of school-books torn,
Birds and beasts that speak no more.
Spoils brought home from the fairy ground
Only trod by youthful feet,
Dreams of a future never found,
Memories of a past still sweet;
Half-writ poems, stories wild,
April letters, warm and cold,
Diaries of a willfull child,
Hints of a woman early old;
A woman in a lonely home,
Hearling like a sad refrain, -
'Be worthy love, and love will come,'
In the falling summer rain.
"My 'Beth!' the dust is always swept
From the lid that bears your name,
As if by loving eyes that wept,
By careful hands that often came.
Death canonized for us one saint,
Ever less human than divine,
And still we lay, with tender plaint,
Relics in this household shirine.
The silver bell, so seldom rung,
The little cap which last she wore,
The fair, dead Catherine that hung
By angels borne above her door;
The songs she sang, without lament,
In her prison-house of pain,
Forever are they sweetly blent,
With the falling summer rain.
"Upon the last lid's polished field-
Legend now both fair and true-
A gallant knight bears on his shield,
'Amy' in letters gold and blue.
Within lies snoods that bound her hair,
Slippers that have danced their last,
Faded flowers laid by with care,
Fans whose airy toils are past-
Gay valentines all ardent flames,
Trifles that have borne their part
In girlish hopes, and fears, and shames.
The record of a maiden heart,
Now learning fairer, truer spells,
Hearing, like a blithe refrain,
The silver sound of bridal bells
In the falling summer rain.
"Four little chests all in a row,
Dim with dust, and worm by time,
Four women, taught by weal and woe,
To love and labor in their prime.
Four sisters, parted for an hour,-
None lost, one only gone before,
Made by love's immortal power,
Nearest and dearest evermore.
Oh, when these hidden stores of ours
Lie open to the Father's sight,
May they be rich in golden hours,-
Deeds that show fairer for the light.
Lives whose brave music long shall ring
Like a spirit-stirring strain,
Souls that shall gladly soar and sing
In the long sunshine, after rain.
"J.M." (Jo March)
