Jo's Boys

This final book in the Little Women series picks up 10 years on from Little Men. Jo's Boys are all venturing out into the world to take their adult roles. For some the rapscallion Dan there are more adventures and troubles to encounter. Several fall in love after successfully accomplishing their educational goals. It was a joy to revisit these characters. I smile to myself. No wonder I was such a romantic in my teenage years given this was my reading fodder just prior.
It portrays such wholesome young people and family life. Perhaps it was these women that made me choose to put children and family first in my life, although she does fly the feminist flag, heralding the importance of book education for young women. I find it surprising show more that these were written in 1860's and 1870's. A far cry from the experience of my own forbears I am sure. show less

Alcott's multi-generational saga of the March family, begun in Little Women and continued in Little Men, is concluded in this third and final volume. Mrs. Jo's "little men" have grown up, and this book follows their various and intertwining adventures as adults...

Leaving aside a few charming passages in which Mrs. Jo must hide from her adoring fans (a snippet of authorial autobiography?), this book has always been a major disappointment to me. While no one would deny that the earlier works have strong moral overtones, they are (thankfully) never overwhelmed by the sort of preaching to be found in Jo's Boys, nor do they suffer from the cloying sentimentality found therein...

I have been haunted, moreover, since first reading this book as show more a child, by a nagging sense of injustice, as it concerns the story of rebellious Dan and his love. It always struck me as horrendously unfair that Alcott should so piously praise Dan's efforts at reforming himself, claiming that those who better themselves will be rewarded, only to deny him the woman he loves (and who loves him), because of his "sordid" past. "If I were a nineteenth-century ex-convict," reasoned my childhood self, "I wouldn't even bother trying to do better..." Oh well - I suppose that one brilliant, and one marvelous book in this series will have to suffice, and compensate for the less-than-stellar one.

As a side note: I read the Illustrated Junior Library edition of Jo's Boys, long out-of-print, and illustrated by Louis Jambor. show less

This picks up ten years after the events of Little Men, mostly focusing on the kids of that story figuring out their adult paths.

While Louisa May Alcott is one of the easier classic authors to read, the writing style here isn’t my favorite. There’s a very episodic quality to this which is probably why of all the books in this series I favor Little Women as it did to a greater degree (though not entirely) feel like it had an overarching story continuing from chapter to chapter. Also, this book, like Little Men and to some extent Little Women has a tendency to tell rather than show, many of its potentially compelling moments were somewhat muted by the fact that you’re told about it afterwards instead of being in the moment when the show more event occurs.

I stumbled at times with the characters names, having to occasionally pull myself back and be like nope, that’s that person not this one as there are a number of names that somewhat echo each other, Dan and his dog Don, Tom and Ted, Nat and Nan, Demi who also goes by John (his dad’s name), and Josie who also goes by Jo (her Aunt’s name). I definitely had some confused moments over the names, partly my own fault for waiting too many years after Little Men to read this one, but also, it did feel like this really could have employed a bit more variety in the names.

Certain storylines held my interest more than others. The only Little Woman we truly spend time with is Jo and I found it disappointing that the scant time devoted to her mostly saw her complaining about being a successful author, it doesn’t seem like much of leap to conclude that dealing with her fandom was something Alcott found to be a nuisance so she wrote that into Jo’s story but it’s a high class problem that isn’t nearly as emotionally engaging as I wanted for the character.

I was also disappointed that although Nan had different goals for her life than the other females in the story, we don’t spend much time actually with her working towards those goals, when she’s in a scene it’s more about the guy crushing on her than it is about her.

The shipwreck, the aspiring actress, and the kid living beyond his means, each had moments that caught my interest, but the prison stuff pulled me in most, it felt like the emotional stakes were better established for that character than anyone else and I liked that it had a bittersweet tinge to it even if in order to achieve that bittersweet tinge it compromised how I saw the March sisters (I know their actions to shield a certain someone from ending up with the “wrong” sort of person were era appropriate but I guess I always thought of Jo and Amy as being somewhat rebellious women who wouldn’t be as married to appropriate as say, Meg or Aunt March). show less

I've been listening to this at night, along with Little Men, for the last few weeks. I haven't a shred of objectivity abou this particular book, as it's one of my all-time favorites. Revisiting it as an adult, I can see more clearly some of its weaknesses, in particular its preachifying and the stilted way some of the character traits (Nan, most notably) are portrayed. However, this matters not the shadow of a whit to me, for these people are so alive, and Plumfield so dear that I hardly notice the flaws. I'm caught up in the stories and delighted all over again. The narration is wonderful here, enough so that I've listened to this multiple times in a few days.

There's so much here. There's the morality of the times, there are the show more impossibly high ideals, there's the reverence for humanity's inherent goodness, there's humor and pathos and heroism and tragedy. This is, without a doubt, one of my desert island books. I rarely re-read Little Women, and hardly a year goes by without I read this one twice. show less

2019 observations:

This book seems less like a story and more like a series of enjoyable vignettes. Alcott pokes fun at authors and their fans, moralizes and lectures in between plots, and wraps things up nicely for most. Nat, who was an effective way to introduce Plumfield, has become a sissy, Franz doesn't show up much, Emil is fun (when he's there), Josie is flashy, Bess is too perfect, Stuffy and Dolly are weathercocks, Tommy is irrepressibly Tom (and, like Emil, doesn't figure much), Dan is predictably trouble, Laurie is admirable, and Teddy is absolutely delightful. Alice Heath, as admirable as she is, seems mostly like an afterthought. It seems as though Alcott largely means Nan and the other women to take the spotlight, but they show more are so varied and spread out that it becomes hard to follow. The literary references are many--making it even more difficult.

In spite of all this, I really enjoyed Alcott's views (probably more than most of the stories). It isn't a perfect book, but I did enjoy her little dig at women expecting to do this and this "until I marry." And I relished her strong voice for the vote.

Several times women were referred to as superfluous. I used to rankle quite a bit at that, but this read I remembered that we're talking post-civil war era about the hundreds of small towns, and larger ones, where companies and companies of soldiers were lost in battles and sickness. Certainly, the large amounts of single (widowed, never-married etc) women would have seemed overwhelming to the towns. Think of the poverty and the helplessness. Of course women would have wanted to vote and one must, and does, admire Nan and her ilk (and wonder what on earth, if anything, was going on in Daisy's mind).

Sadly, Meg and Daisy do not improve with age. I get the feeling that Louisa either a) didn't have a real-life person to base them on (the real "Meg" died relatively early in life) or b) didn't really find much to relate to in either of these characters.

It was interesting to me to view the switch in my experience with the characters. In Little Women I easily swallowed Meg's desire to have a nice home and children. But Daisy's lack of gumption, headaches, and inability to speak for herself left me rather bored with the character.

I still think that Jo March Bhaer is probably one of her best creations. Rose, in [b:Eight Cousins|14570|Eight Cousins (Eight Cousins, #1)|Louisa May Alcott|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328864060i/14570._SY75_.jpg|2905864], and Polly in [b:An Old-Fashioned Girl|246546|An Old-Fashioned Girl|Louisa May Alcott|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347469119i/246546._SY75_.jpg|3719102] have interesting stories, but their characters lack the vivacity and striking individuality that Jo has. show less

Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott is the final volume in her saga about the March sisters. In this book we find all the sisters living close together, with Meg having a small home built on the grounds of Plumfield while Amy and Laurie have built themselves a mansion close by. Plumfield is no longer a small school, but the Professor now is the head of a nearby college and runs it according to his liberal views on education.

We are updated on the lives of all the former pupils, who have become like a family to the Baer’s, returning for visits and staying in touch no matter how their lives grow and change. I was particularly pleased to see that Nan had grown into a strong willed independent woman who is very devoted to her career.

This is a show more sentimental ending to the story. We see as past characters grown-up, learn life lessons, fall in love, get into trouble and have exciting adventures. At the same time the author gives us a glimpse into her own philosophical leanings, and although Jo’s Boys is very idealistic and a touch too preachy, these flaws are easy for me to overlook as I enjoyed getting closure on these beloved characters. show less

Standing by the 5 stars. As I've said before, these people are too intimately wound up with my psyche to be rated objectively.

There's some preaching but to my eye it's not as heavy-handed as in Little Women. There are lots of great female role-models (with respect to the times). All of the young women are working toward careers, with the exception of Daisy (that natural housewife!). The young men are supportive and for the most part, respectful. There are anachronisms aplenty, but there's also love and joy in abundance.

If you haven't read the book and plan to, please stop reading now.
Spoilers below.


Kathleen asked, in the context of another review, if I thought that Dan was dismissed as a contender for Bess' affections because of his show more race. I said no at the time, and I still say no. Dan killed a man and served a prison term because of it, and that is the reason that there will be no "nice" woman for him. I still think that had he not done so, he'd have been unacceptable for Bess the mealy-mouthed perfect princess- for class reasons. His rough and tumble upbringing would be against him, in the eyes of the hyper-refined Mrs. Amy. Nat, who came from similar cellars, was much more malleable and weak. He became adequately civilized- but still wouldn't have been okay for Bess. show less