Little Women - book club discussion

[redmonkeystomper]

I am not even half-way through this book and I am not sure I will finish.  It is very slow going and I just can't get into it.  I thought when I read it in highschool I enjoyed it but maybe not.  

[aurora]

Feb 28, 2018 12:16:03 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I have read the book, but it was years and years ago, and I hated it, so I didn't read it again for this. I think I voted for Of Mice and Men. 

Honestly, I don't remember much about it except that I thought it was super boring.  Also, when I was in 6th grade, my teacher had us all read a biography of Louisa May Alcott in place of reading Little Women.  The biography was also super boring, but I very distinctly remember the part where she never wanted to write Little Women in the first place, because it wasn't the type of thing she wanted to write, but she did it because she needed the money and it kept the publishers happy so they'd keep working with her.

The only other one of her books I've read is A Long Fatal Love Chase, which I read in high school (before I read Little Women as an adult). I have vague memories of thinking it was OK, but not really my style.

That's an interesting historical tidbit! It would explain a lot about the book.

[Nonny]

Mar 2, 2018 18:05:10 GMT -5 aurora said:

Feb 28, 2018 12:16:03 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I have read the book, but it was years and years ago, and I hated it, so I didn't read it again for this. I think I voted for Of Mice and Men. 

Honestly, I don't remember much about it except that I thought it was super boring.  Also, when I was in 6th grade, my teacher had us all read a biography of Louisa May Alcott in place of reading Little Women.  The biography was also super boring, but I very distinctly remember the part where she never wanted to write Little Women in the first place, because it wasn't the type of thing she wanted to write, but she did it because she needed the money and it kept the publishers happy so they'd keep working with her.

The only other one of her books I've read is A Long Fatal Love Chase, which I read in high school (before I read Little Women as an adult). I have vague memories of thinking it was OK, but not really my style.

That's an interesting historical tidbit! It would explain a lot about the book.

When I finally got around to reading it I felt that way too.

Before then my teen self would scoff and be like, "Well I read in a BIOGRAPHY..." :: hair flip :: and refuse to read the actual book.  LOL!

[aurora]

I loved it as a kid, but not as much when I re-read it a year or so ago.

I do think the girls were largely written as they were expected to be written in Alcott's time. Enough different that the story would be interesting to her readers, but still engineering a bunch of stereotypes.

[minzy]

I finally finished. It only took me about 400 pages to get into it a little. Three stars. Tedious at points, but a classic.

Some thoughts: I see the case for Beth as a Christ figure. She cares for her damaged, castaway dolls; she’s always thinking of others first; she befriends the boy on the picnic outing who is differently abled; her only wish is they all be well and together; she loves Jo as she is; on pg 150 with some heavy foreshadowing, they discuss Beth reaching the Celestial City first, and Laurie asks if Beth will put in a good word for him. She is the calm presence in the room even after she’s dead.

They all annoyed me at points, even Beth in her constant piousness. Here they are, nation - and father - mired in war, and they’re bitching about their clothes. But they’re teenage girls so what can you expect. Jo and Laurie just didn’t work romantically and I’m ok with the Laurie-Amy pairing as adults. I don’t see Jo as abandoning her dreams in favor of her husband’s to open the boys’ school. It seemed like it was her idea when she inherited Aunt March’s estate. Despite Jo’s unladylike ways, she was always very motherly towards Beth and often Laurie, so I don’t see it as too much a jump for her to want to raise up a brood of boys. I see her book writing dream as deferred, not necessarily abandoned. It also seemed to fit with the theme of recognizing one might not be a genius at their craft (as Laurie with music and Amy with art), and that being ok.

I don’t think of it as overly feminist or feminine. Marmee talked at one point about it being great for women to help earn money to provide for the household, which may have been progressive at the time. Meg and Amy seemed to be caricatures of stereotypical feminity (worrying about clothes, manner, graces). On the other hand, of course there was Jo who could not have cared less about those types of things. I thought the continued harping on Jo’s tomboyishness as a fault and that her previously long hair had been her “one beauty” was annoying.

My favorite lesson, to the extent I had one, was probably where they spent the week totally idle and then became agitated and restless for the lack of work.

[CrazyLucky]

I finally finished this on Wednesday. I had not come into this post because I didn't want spoilers. But I saw there were a lot of replies, so I kept thinking I HAD to read the whole book, even though it was soooooo boring. If I had read what you all thought of it first, I would have given up!
Anyway, I definitely think this is YA. As an adult, reading about the details of teenagers lives, the parties they attend, the silly fights with their friends or sisters - that is uninteresting.
My favorite character is actually the mother. She's strong. She's stereotypical in that she's so loving and patient and so devoted to Mr. March, but I like her. I guess my favorite character is Jo, because she seems tomboyish and that's me.
I do think it's a feminist novel. It tells that even in old fashioned submissive marriages, women can have "hand" in private, if not public. I don't think Jo changed her dreams just because Fritz wanted her to. She was really happy with her life at the end. Even though the pairing of Amy and Laurie seemed off, they were pretty much equals.
I think if I had read this in middle school, I would have liked it. But reading it now, in my 40's, not so much.

[msmerymac]

I realize this is super old, but sassypants do you live in the area? My husband is from a neighboring town to Concord, so I've been to both Orchard House and the cemetery (which is amazing). Concord is so adorable. We also do a lot of small business Saturday shopping in the downtown area after Thanksgiving. My SIL also got married at a farm that used to belong to Bronson Alcott. Who seemed to be a really interesting guy, but definitely not a successful one.

[sassypants]

Apr 20, 2018 14:49:46 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I realize this is super old, but sassypants do you live in the area? My husband is from a neighboring town to Concord, so I've been to both Orchard House and the cemetery (which is amazing). Concord is so adorable. We also do a lot of small business Saturday shopping in the downtown area after Thanksgiving. My SIL also got married at a farm that used to belong to Bronson Alcott. Who seemed to be a really interesting guy, but definitely not a successful one.

Oh, no, alas. I wish I lived in MA. One of my closest friends lives in Dorchester, MA and we go visit her on occasion. The last time we went up there we went to Concord on a day trip.

[pinotgrig]

It started off really slow for me. But once I was able to get all the sisters somewhat straight as far as personalities go, it grew on me. I do think there’s something to be said for the girls really being pushed to work diligently (and seeing how being lazy for extended periods of time isn’t all it’s cracked up to be). I think this is a really important component of character and is something my mom instilled in me. I don’t always enjoy the work (dishes or an annoying task at work), but I’ve come to appreciate how buckling down and doing it let’s me more fully appreciate my down time. Does that make sense? H is the opposite here and it drives me nuts. I really want our kids to follow in my footsteps here.

It had a very sweet, innocent feel though I did wonder if Alcott was going to pursue a possible relationship between Laurie and Jo after he and Amy were married, lol.

Jo was my favorite. Amy and Meg seemed so similar to me, both wanting to marry and take on the traditional wifely roles. I found the day to day discussion of those roles interesting and thought the story of john bringing his CW home for dinner hilarious. I liked hearing about her twins growing up, esp the story about Demi not going to bed her since we’re dealing with this exact issue with Ds2, lol. Cries and cries if I try to put him down at bedtime but goes down for H just fine.

Overall I gave it 3.5 Stars. Psa, that PBS did a movie of this that airs in early May. I already have my dvr set.