Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This one is the worst of the bunch. It seems mostly occupied with telling you what became of an endless list of characters from the last book, Little Men. They were all children back then and at least had actual personalities. As adults, we just see small snippets of their lives mostly as they meet their significant others. The scenes mostly lack any real depth.

A large portion of the book is about stalking. Tom is obsessed with Nan, and she makes it really clear that she is not interested. He doesn't give up and tries to become a doctor just to please her even though he's worried he might kill patients because he doesn't really care about medicine. Jo is hiding from fans and reporters because apparently back then writers were the Kardashians of the world. Josie stalks an actress, who rewards Josie by offering to train her. Then Tom inexplicably gets engaged to a woman Dora that's primary good quality is that she is not Nan. Is this healthy? I don't think so.

And then Emil, whoever he is, gets shipwrecked. EYE ROLL. More mini-romances follow. And then Alcott's favorite move, the big tragedy.

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Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More of a children's book than Little Women. The boys have little adventures, and none of them have very distinct personalities except Dan. The famous Jo March is so changed she's basically unrecognizable. Alcott follows her old formula and throws in a family death but it's not so central to the story this time so it's not very moving.

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Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What we now call Little Women (400 pages) was originally “Little Women” (200 pages) and “Good Wives” (200 pages).

Little Women, Part 1, ends with Meg’s engagement and nothing very memorable happens except: Amy gets in trouble for pickled limes, there is a terrible fight between Amy and Jo, there is a bad run of scarlet fever, and Meg gets engaged. The only love story is Meg’s and it is not very moving.

Everything you remember being great about the story of the March girls actually happens in Part 2, Good Wives, when all the women are grown up. Meg is suffering from being a new mother (there are blogs for that now, Meg!), Beth is doing the thing for which Beth is famous, and Jo and Amy are having exciting artistic pursuits and love stories. It's missing a little depth but it's a wonderful and moving story as well as highly entertaining.

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