Little Women book review

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Series: Little Women #1
Published by Vintage Pages: 400
Goodreads

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.
It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

I read Little Women purely because I felt like I had to, and I actually don’t regret it. One thing I do regret though is not reading Good Wives straight after, I feel like although Little Women was a beautifully written book with some nice characters I kind of missed the whole point of the story by not reading the other half. I do plan on reading the other bits once things have started to calm down but I definitely think the story would have made a lot more sense had I read that part as well. Little Women end and I felt as though there were a lot of loose ends and a lot of questions that weren’t answered, probably because there was a second book that I had no idea about!

The main focus of Little Women is on the characters and their different temperaments and issues that they have to face throughout their lives and this book definitely strives to do this well. For the most part it does, my one and only issue with the characters has to be Beth, I don’t quite understand what the point of her being the only perfect one in the whole lot, it kind of felt as though it was a little forced at times but I could move past that because the others were so well written. My absolute favourite was Jo, she was so wonderful, I loved reading about her adventures with Laurie and her dreams to be a writer, she really felt as though she was a kindred spirit in some ways.

I think the best bits for me would have to be watching all the girls pull together and help each other out when they need it but then on the other hand act as sisters should in real life. They fought and argued and took spiteful actions against one another and I think that sometimes in other books that side of sibling love is lost because it isn’t pretty and it’s not something to be proud of. But Little Women held all of it and presented it all proudly and without shame and for me that was the greatest part of this book. The characters were all well written and the language used was beautiful, it was an all-around stunning book.

This might be the biggest unpopular opinion to have ever been spoken but the worst bit of Little Women for me would definitely be any point where they all worship Beth for being oh so perfect. Her way of being actually annoyed me more than anything and I wished that she would have been a more realistic character with more realistic flaws. Like I mentioned I haven’t yet read Good Wives so my opinion of her might change but for now, it stands.

I would recommend Little Women, but I would definitely say to read Good Wives straight after so you end up reading the whole story in one because I certainly wish I had. I am looking forward to having children one day so that I read this story and revel in the beautiful language all over again!

Have you read Little Women? What did you think of the story? Do you hold it in high esteem? Let me know!