See I love Jo and Amy. I think they were both very strong and awesome women with their own strengths and weaknesses. Would I rather Jo get Laurie! HELL YEAH, but I don't loathe Amy/Laurie, or hate Amy for getting Laurie. I also don't see it as Amy always got one up on Jo, it wasn't really like that at all. Though she did tend to get things Jo would have loved and enjoyed and learned from as well. Jo is my favorite of course, but Amy is actually my third favorite, right after Beth, it's very close but of course Beth is before Amy. It was always Meg I couldn't stand. Found her boring, dull and kind of sanctimonious.
IN rereads I've come to like Amy/Laurie more each time, I'd still want to smack Jo everytime, but Amy is pretty cool in her own right.
*nods* I think I'll like it better if I read it now. Little Women was the very first chaptered book that I read that produced such a strong, overwhelming feeling of disappointment. I didn't deal with it very well, and as a result, I pushed Jo aside.
Part of why Laurie/Amy annoyed me then is that I also read Little Men. I just didn't like the Friedrich Bhaer character at that time because I didn't feel he was good enough for spunky Jo. He didn't have Laurie's dynamic presence and I remember him being somewhat staid. That was extremely frustrating to 9-year old me.
I will definitely have to reread both books plus Jo's Boys to see how my perspective has changed.
Little Men Makes me miss Jo and Laurie more than Little Women which is where they don't get together. Does that make sense. But I do like Little Men too just not as much as Little WOmen.
One thing that does kind of color my view of the books is the stuff I've read about Louisa herself -- Amy is based on her sister May, who Louisa GAVE everything May got -- she worked so May could go to Europe and Paint, she worked so that her family would survive.
She wrote Little Men to honor her father's vision of a school that Bronson Alcott started and failed at.
THe man she based Laurie on is someone I think she truly did have a crush on but didn't feel she deserved.
Bhaer I kind of think is this odd fictional man that Louisa thought would be good for her and help her deal with her faults rather than just love her for who she is (Laurie). The woman did have her issues but she kept her family afloat with her writing and loved them all.
Yes, that definitely makes sense. I the sting more in Little Men because Jo would have had a much different life if she had ended up with Laurie.
Also, thanks for sharing those insights about LMA's life and characters. I haven't read anything about her. It was great to learn more about her character choices and what directions they took in the plot in comparison to her real life.
Oh, I was definitely in the Jo camp, too, essentially for all of the reasons you mention. But it was definitely on my all-time favorites list and as I've re-read it over the years, and grown older, I've started to see understand and accept the ending more.
*nods* I think I'll like it better if I read it now. Little Women was the very first chaptered book that I read that produced such a strong, overwhelming feeling of disappointment. I didn't deal with it very well, and as a result, I pushed Jo aside. And you're right, it's more about her strength of character rather than the shipping. I loved how Jo took care of her family.
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IN rereads I've come to like Amy/Laurie more each time, I'd still want to smack Jo everytime, but Amy is pretty cool in her own right.
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Part of why Laurie/Amy annoyed me then is that I also read Little Men. I just didn't like the Friedrich Bhaer character at that time because I didn't feel he was good enough for spunky Jo. He didn't have Laurie's dynamic presence and I remember him being somewhat staid. That was extremely frustrating to 9-year old me.
I will definitely have to reread both books plus Jo's Boys to see how my perspective has changed.
Reply
One thing that does kind of color my view of the books is the stuff I've read about Louisa herself -- Amy is based on her sister May, who Louisa GAVE everything May got -- she worked so May could go to Europe and Paint, she worked so that her family would survive.
She wrote Little Men to honor her father's vision of a school that Bronson Alcott started and failed at.
THe man she based Laurie on is someone I think she truly did have a crush on but didn't feel she deserved.
Bhaer I kind of think is this odd fictional man that Louisa thought would be good for her and help her deal with her faults rather than just love her for who she is (Laurie). The woman did have her issues but she kept her family afloat with her writing and loved them all.
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Also, thanks for sharing those insights about LMA's life and characters. I haven't read anything about her. It was great to learn more about her character choices and what directions they took in the plot in comparison to her real life.
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