Rose in Bloom

This is a comfort read, one I've always had warm feelings for.

Rose in Bloom picks up a few years after Eight Cousins. Rose is around 20 now, and returning from a trip abroad with Uncle and Phebe. Naturally, everyone assumes that she will marry soon, but she wants to look around a little first and do something worthwhile.

She settles on philanthropy as a career, but not before trying some of the pleasures of the high life, the parties and late nights of frivolous society. This does her no real harm, but confirms to her that life has more to offer.

Her cousin Charlie is determined to marry her, and Rose's feelings are on the fence about this cousin. I personally think she was trying too hard to love him, when he had done so little worthy show more of respect. Nevertheless, Rose thinks that maybe someday Charlie will be her ideal.
This time through I wasn't really on board with Alcott's decision about Charlie's fate... I feel like it conveniently took Charlie out of the way so that Rose didn't really have to make up her mind about him.

BUT now we come to Mac. Her bookish, slightly antisocial cousin. Mac and Rose have always been decent friends; she knows how to take him and doesn't get worried by his uniqueness. In this book he shows his real potential. He has a good heart and faultless instincts; he is kind and sincere; he stands apart from society but doesn't judge it too harshly and is good-natured enough to participate in the social scene when he needs to (and with a little training from Rose and his brother!). The problem is, Rose rather takes him for granted. The final few chapters, where Mac comes to a realization about how he feels for Rose, and does something about it, always capture my heart.
I think she's a little too clueless about the whole thing, but Mac more than makes up for that by his purposeful, focused, steady regard.
Much as I enjoy the Darcys and Rochesters of the literary world, Mac is an altogether​ superior type... he's neither repressed nor tragic. He's a worker and an honest friend, a balanced thinker and feeler, somebody you'd want on your side, and somebody you'd be infinitely safe with. That is why this book is a comfort read. show less

First, do not expect Little Women. Rose in Bloom can’t possibly measure up. Secondly, expect a great deal of moralizing and priggishness. If you bear both of those warnings in mind, you’ll find the sequel to Louisa May Alcott’s maudlin and unbearable Eight Cousins just this side of tolerable, if still pretty preachy.

Pollyanna-ish Rose Campbell is all grown up, as are several of her seven boy cousins. Rose in Bloom, as the title implies, follows Rose’s young womanhood and her decisions about philanthropy and love. The parts of this “improving novel” that dwell on the mating rituals of the New England upper classes are pretty interesting, but I would have enjoyed the information better in a social journal than in this book show more — if that tells you anything. show less

Having waited more than three years after reading Eight Cousins before getting to this one, I found the beginning a little confusing as it took me a while to remember who everyone was and so on. But that was more a fault of mine than of the book, and once I got going, I began to really enjoy it.

I thought it was a sweet story. The main question of the story of course is who Rose (and Phebe) will marry but there are other things going on too, as Rose and her cousins mature and try to find their paths and vocations in life. I definitely enjoyed getting to know these characters more and, although I liked some of them a lot more than others, they were all well-drawn and interesting characters. There were one or two pretty sad parts, but the show more ending was happy and satisfying.

Despite the author's preface claiming that there was no moral to the story, there did seem to be a fair amount of moralising in it, but this was generally coming from the characters rather than the author (at least explicitly), and a certain amount is of course to be expected given the time it was written. I didn't find it detracted from the story for me, though I suppose it might bother some people.

Overall, a good read, though not quite up there with Little Women or An Old-Fashioned Girl. show less

Somehow I missed Eight Cousins when I received this as a Christmas gift one year. And I warn you--it's overly sentimental, filled with Pollyanna characters who moralize to an astonishing degree.
But I loved it as a child. And I continue to periodically re-read it to this day, and still love it. Definitely my favorite of Alcott's novels. Go figure.

After spending two years travelling around Europe, Rose, her companion Phoebe and her Uncle Alex come home. Coming out in society, suddenly Rose has many admirers, but feeling unsure as to who really cares for her and who just sees the heiress, she decides that she must make her own way in the world before she can decide on marriage. Deciding to put her money to good use she turns to charitable works.

Of course her seven male cousins are on hand to escort her and Phoebe to dances, parties and social events, and the various aunts have high hopes that Rose will fall in love with one of these cousins. Charlie, or Prince as he is called appears to be the one who has stolen Rose’s heart. Unfortunately Charlie has a weakness for alcohol and show more would rather spend his time in play than in any serious undertaking. Another of Rose’s cousins, Mac, waits and watches patiently as he too is in love with her.

Rose In Bloom by Louisa May Alcott is overly sentimental and more than a little preachy. I never fully connected to Rose, as I found she never quite reached the depths that is found in the March girls of Little Women, but this story paints a clear picture of the manners and mores of the times, and what was expected of young people of a certain class. This is a book that totally charmed and captivated me when I was young, but reading it with my jaded eyes today, I mostly found it moralistic and rather dated. show less

Another good story...not quite as good, for me, as Eight Cousins, partly because it is so strongly focused on romance(s). The moral messages are still character-driven, though, and the characters develop well and reasonably. It is again extremely predictable - I haven't read this one nearly as often as I did Eight Cousins, and didn't remember any of what happened, but who Rose would end up with was pretty obvious from the start. Still a pleasant read.

A charming, human account of the adventures of lovely, wealthy Rose Campbell as she grows into young womanhood. Rose's greatest attraction undoubtedly is that she's such a "real girl". She has her trials and disappointments, her temptations and failures. But with the aid of loving counsel and a level head, she manages to turn into a thoroughly lovable, admirable woman.