This biographical novel traces the fascinating life of Louisa May Alcott from her happy childhood in Pennsylvania and Boston to her success as a writer of such classics as "Little Women."

I’m not a big fan of Little Women (heinous, I know), so I wasn’t too excited to be reading a biography of Louisa May Alcott. This read as a pretty disjointed biography on top of that. I get that the information collected was probably a little rough around the edges, but the fact/story aspect was presented a little bizarrely. I found a groove after the book discussed Little Women being written, so I imagine that’s when her life was more accurately documented, and that's when the author had more information to mold. Either way, I didn’t like how the earlier years were done. And the last chapter was cruel in tricking me with a title of “happy endings” (or something like that) and then killing lots of people. Sisters, dads, everybody dies! Happy indeed! Bah.

This is not a bad book, and I've liked Cornelia Meigs' other works. I'm a more factual person, and I don't get along with biographies that have a fictionalized feel to them. ( )

This books tells the life story of Louisa May Alcott in a very descriptive, sentimental narrative. Most of the book focused on LMA's childhood, family hardship, and struggle for fame as a young writer. Her writing of "Little Women" and her success and fame after "Little Women" was published were covered only in the last two chapters. I appreciated the information about LMA's life, but would have preferred a book not as fluffy, with fewer flowery descriptions. ( )

Amazing read, really enjoyed this book ( )

Apparently this biography won a Newbery medal, so perhaps I'm a bit of a philistine.. but I didn't find this particularly engaging. I am very interested in the life of Louisa M Alcott, and did find it interesting to see how it was mirrored, in many ways, by her best-known novel for girls, 'Little Women'. But although the research was evidently extensive, in a pre-internet era, and her lifeline and circumstances portrayed thoroughly, I found it dry - too full of description and facts, with little to engage my interest.

Perhaps there was too little source material, or perhaps the author simply wanted to outline Alcott's life in this way; evidently it was considered an excellent work by those who award medals. But despite it being a relatively easy read, I found it hard going in places, and difficult to concentrate. I rapidly lost track of all the many locations where the family lived, and most of the family friends, too.

Still, worth perusing for anyone interested in this writer. ( )