Review - Little Women

[wilderthan]

Little Women is so preachy in places that it's a wonder I loved it as much as I did, when I was younger. Reading it now, the preaching is more obvious than ever -- though, I still love it. That's part nostalgia, and part Jo. She's my favourite character of them all. Her faults, her temper, is like mine, and she's a writer, and she's by far the most interesting of the girls. Meg is just irritating, to me, and likewise Amy; Beth is sweet, but we keep getting told how sweet and perfect she is, which is somewhat trying. Jo's mistakes are funny and endearing -- salt instead of sugar on berries, indeed -- and she's no saint.

Must confess, I wept a little, reading this again. Even at points which I've never cried at before. There was something about the family feeling and the way the children try so very hard that got to me extremely, this time.

One thing I don't like very much is the relationship between Meg and Brooke. I mean, it doesn't come out of nowhere, but I'm just not that invested in it and so the time spent on it bores me.

I was never that interested in reading the sequels to this. I was content in the picture of the family we get at the end -- the parents reunited, Meg and Brooke together, Beth getting better, etc, etc. So don't plague me with tales of Beth's death!