Little Women / Little Women, Part Second {Good Wives} / Little Men / Jo's Boys
by Louisa May Alcott
Little Women (Collections and Selections — 1-4)
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Here, in one authoritative Library of America volume, are all three of the beloved ''Little Woman'' books as Louisa May Alcott wrote them, with original engravings.Tags
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Little women; Classic, I think based on the strength of the main characters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, all likeable in their way. The supporting cast is also very good; Marmee, Lauren et al. Little Men; not as good, too many characters, too episodic not enough overall structure. Jo's Boys; the same thing, some individual stories are very good, riveting accounts. But goes on pedantic asides telling not showing what constitutes good moral character in boys and girls. Not that the advice isn't good, maybe she was running out of ideas or space.
Sempre bellissimi. Nonostante il tempo che passa. Nonostante il cambiamento dei costumi. Nonostante un certo moralismo. Ma la Alcott è stata una grande scrittrice e nella figura di Jo March elabora una figura di educatrice all'avanguardia per i tempi, e in cui probabilmente ritrae se stessa e le proprie idee. Amati fin da subito nell'infanzia e mai più abbandonati.
If you plan to read only Little Women, don't get this Library of America edition: there are better solo editions of Little Women available, namely, the Harvard/Belknap annotated edition and (my preferred) Norton Critical edition. This LoA edition, though, does have the advantage of "completeness" for the trilogy.
For myself, I don't at all care for Alcott, whose plots are always too neatly, too tidily, wrapped up and whose moralizing I find dated at best. That said, the trilogy is a part of Americana and on that basis I'll rate this LoA edition (with no offense intended to editor Elaine Showalter) at 3*** – an Alcott admirer would doubtless rate it higher.
One niggling criticism. The book contains a few illustrations, and I would have show more found a table of illustrations useful for locating them by page number. show less
For myself, I don't at all care for Alcott, whose plots are always too neatly, too tidily, wrapped up and whose moralizing I find dated at best. That said, the trilogy is a part of Americana and on that basis I'll rate this LoA edition (with no offense intended to editor Elaine Showalter) at 3*** – an Alcott admirer would doubtless rate it higher.
One niggling criticism. The book contains a few illustrations, and I would have show more found a table of illustrations useful for locating them by page number. show less
Some of this wears well
I read and re-read these books as a kid. Now, though, Little Women is readable but far too preachy; Jo’s Boys is utterly dreadful and deadly dull, but Little Men is still a delight.
I read and re-read these books as a kid. Now, though, Little Women is readable but far too preachy; Jo’s Boys is utterly dreadful and deadly dull, but Little Men is still a delight.
Good Heavens! Didn't Beth die in Little Women? Who knew it was published in two parts (Little Women and Good Wives)? The problem with the musical play version seen at the Kennedy Center was that neither the girls nor Marmee were good enough. There was no struggle against their worst natures (at least for the girls), and events were telescoped in ways that just didn't happen. This volume contains the entire oeuvre of Alcott's semi-autobiographical novel, including a chronology of Alcott's life.
Reading this book has been really good for me. I have eight sisters and we are all very different and yet we love and respect each other so much. My mother is so patient, and she always gave us so much support and she told us to pursue our dreams. Love of family, perseverance through difficulties, and remaining true to your convictions are all themes of this story.
Four sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy - grow up living in poverty, but their family is far more tightly knit and loving than most.
The book explores the sisters' relationship with their mother (Marmee), their home-from-the-war father, each other, and friends and acquaintances who are much wealthier than they.
Alcott explores the chasm between rich and poor of the era through the friendship of the Alcott's next-door neighbor, Laurie, a boy about Jo's age who becomes her best friend and the means through which two of her sisters find love. "
I learned the importence of family from this story, treat others with tolerant heart may will give better things back to you.
The book explores the sisters' relationship with their mother (Marmee), their home-from-the-war father, each other, and friends and acquaintances who are much wealthier than they.
Alcott explores the chasm between rich and poor of the era through the friendship of the Alcott's next-door neighbor, Laurie, a boy about Jo's age who becomes her best friend and the means through which two of her sisters find love. "
I learned the importence of family from this story, treat others with tolerant heart may will give better things back to you.
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Author Information
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Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1832. Two years later, she moved with her family to Boston and in 1840 to Concord, which was to remain her family home for the rest of her life. Her father, Bronson Alcott, was a transcendentalist and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Alcott early realized that her show more father could not be counted on as sole support of his family, and so she sacrificed much of her own pleasure to earn money by sewing, teaching, and churning out potboilers. Her reputation was established with Hospital Sketches (1863), which was an account of her work as a volunteer nurse in Washington, D.C. Alcott's first works were written for children, including her best-known Little Women (1868--69) and Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871). Moods (1864), a "passionate conflict," was written for adults. Alcott's writing eventually became the family's main source of income. Throughout her life, Alcott continued to produce highly popular and idealistic literature for children. An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Eight Cousins (1875), Rose in Bloom (1876), Under the Lilacs (1878), and Jack and Jill (1881) enjoyed wide popularity. At the same time, her adult fiction, such as the autobiographical novel Work: A Story of Experience (1873) and A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), a story based on the Faust legend, shows her deeper concern with such social issues as education, prison reform, and women's suffrage. She realistically depicts the problems of adolescents and working women, the difficulties of relationships between men and women, and the values of the single woman's life. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Belongs to Publisher Series
Library of America (156)
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- Canonical title
- Little Women / Little Women, Part Second {Good Wives} / Little Men / Jo's Boys
- Alternate titles
- The Complete Little Women Series; Library of America #156; Alcott: Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys
- Original publication date
- 2005-02-17
- Dedication
- To Dr. Conrad Wesselhoeft/This very inadequate tribute of affection and respect/As Gratefully Inscribed/By his friend and patient, The Author
- First words
- "If any one had told me what wonderful changes were to take place here in ten years, I wouldn't have believed it," said Mrs. Jo to Mrs. Meg, as they sat on the piazza at Plumfield one summer day, looking about them with faces... (show all) full of pride and pleasure.
- Quotations
- You must paddle your own canoe now, and learn to avoid the rapids and steer straight to the port you want to reach. [Chapter VI, Last Words]
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And now, having endeavored to suit every one by many weddings, few deaths, and as much prosperity as the eternal fitness of things will permit, let the music stop, the lights die out, and the curtain fall forever on the March family.
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