Thursday, February 03, 2011

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I've said here several times that I haven't read very many classics.  I actually read Little Women many MANY years ago, but I didn't remember it at all.  Because I wanted to read March by Geraldine Brooks, which is the story of the father in Little Women (by a contemporary author), I thought it would be a good idea to reread Little Women.

It is the story of the March women:  mother (Marmee) and 4 daughters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy) while father is a chaplain for the North during the Civil War.  I really struggled to get through it.  It was too syrupy sweet for my taste, with way too much moralizing to be enjoyable.   If I had remembered it, I certainly would not have read it again.  I rate it 2 out of 5.  It was the first book for two of my reading challenges this year:  US Civil War Reading Challenge and Off the Shelf Reading Challenge.

2 comments:

Kathy A. Johnson said...

Interesting. I wonder how much of the moralizing and syrupy-ness has to do with the times in which LMA was writing and the fact that this book was for children? It's funny that she should have written childrens' classics, and also a number of thrillers. I find LMA a fascinating person and would like to read some of her other works that were meant for adults.

Timaree said...

I remember not liking this book when I tried to read it many, many years ago. I didn't even finish it. I liked her book "Eight Cousins" but it's the only book of hers that I did. Glad to know it wasn't/isn't only me!