Will I love Little Women?

I have always loved the image of Jo March hiding up in the attic (she calls it a “garret” because it’s more romantic) of her family’s New England house, munching on russet apples and writing furiously away with her pet rat, Scrabble, as her muse, or curling up with Jane Eyre—it’s the only place she can be alone.

She’s one of the classic aspiring young writers of literature—a totally unconventional, headstrong girl with big ambitions who has provided inspiration for her real-life counterparts for generations, me included.

I love this book because it has so many layers that appeal to me: a historical period, the challenges of growing up, and a young woman who dreams of being a writer.

As an author, Jo March’s writing aspirations spoke to me, although I think I saw a bit of me in each of the four March sisters. That breadth is what welcomes me as a reader each time I return to the novel. And—no spoilers—I still sometimes scratch my head over the twist in the romance plot that didn’t go as I anticipated when I first read the book! 

After reading this novel, I found myself swept up in a whirlwind of emotions. I laughed, I cried, and I emerged with a newfound courage. Alcott masterfully captured a struggle familiar to many women—the fear that love might distract us from our careers.

I saw my own experiences reflected in Jo’s journey, particularly her challenges with relationships. For much of my life, I believed that romantic commitments were a potential trap, a distraction that could derail my ambitions. Thankfully, meeting my husband transformed that perspective, yet for so long, I felt I had to choose between love and career. This… show more.

I was twelve when I fell in love with the old fashioned allure of the 19th century that I discovered in this book, which provided an early template (1868), for generations of books to follow that break down female stereotypes.

I identified with different aspects of all four March daughters, but most powerfully with Jo, the writer, who secretively pursues publication, prevails as a successful author, and no doubt provided a template for my own development as a writer.

And Marmee’s nurturing model of mothering was especially consoling to me as I grew up entangled in a difficult mother/daughter relationship,… show more.

I can’t leave this book off the list! When I first read it as a teenager, I was so focused on the engrossing story of the four sisters that the fact it took place during the Civil War barely registered.

Upon rereading the novel as an adult, I can appreciate how the war profoundly affects the sisters’ lives through the absence of their father (and, for a time, their mother) and by creating an ever-present sense of uncertainty. I love the characterization and wisdom of this novel.

I first read this book as a teenager but didn’t appreciate Louisa May Alcott’s gift for storytelling until years later, when I reread it. 

This time, I didn’t want the story to end because I’d fallen in love with the four March sisters Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy. I laughed. I cried. Though fictional characters and separated by hundreds of years, the March sisters felt real to me, and I was a little bereft at the end of their story. 

Along with universal themes of love, betrayal, anger, lust, revenge, and death, Little Women deftly portrays each sister’s struggles and… show more.

The much-loved American tale Little Women tells the story of four sisters in Civil War era Concord, Massachusetts, and their quests for love and happiness.

Based on author Louisa May Alcott herself, the character of Jo March, the second daughter, is headstrong, independent, and loves to read and write. Many young female readers have taken Jo as a role model because she speaks her mind and pursues her goals—writing first among them.

Much like my own character Victoria Swann, writing helps Jo forge her independence and it becomes clear as the story progresses that it’s her voice telling the… show more.

Marmee is a beacon of inspiration whose beauty and grace powers Jo and her sisters through poverty and hard times in 19th-century Massachusetts.

In Alcott’s world moms are central idealized figures: caregivers, role models, teachers–as such they are the glue that holds a family together. No one ever gets pissed at Marmee or tells her her questions are intrusive or complains that she’s “being annoying.”

Was Jo’s idealization a product of the times (people didn’t question authority figures)? Were the novel’s female relationships sugarcoated for publication? Did Alcott have a blindspot in this area? I’ll never know. And that doesn’t… show more.

Many of us remember when we first read Little Women, the classic wartime story of four sisters raised by their wise Marmee while their absent father ministers to Civil War soldiers. 

Everyone knows of Little Women, but how recently have you read it? Adults read differently than children or teens, and this annotated version gives us the specifics of the time and the factual background of Louisa May Alcott’s struggle to write and to find a publisher. Her mother’s fortitude had much to do with “Jo’s” strength and persistence.

Context comes alive, thanks to the additions to the text, with… show more.

Perhaps Jo March was the first girl many of us encountered in literature who grew up intent on the work of becoming a writer.

I loved her sisters, her mother, and their adventures in New England during their father’s absence in the Civil War, but my eyes were mostly on Jo. Not only was she smart, lively, bold, and adventurous, she just didn’t stop writing.

She wrote her way through loneliness and rejection. She persevered, and showed me what it would take.