Book Club August 2016

It’s time for our yearly classic read! Every year, our book club picks a classic novel to read. Our previous picks were Anna Karenina and Wuthering Heights. This year, the pick was Little Women.
 

By: Louisa May Alcott
Original Published Year: 1868
Pages: 449

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Little Women is the heartwarming story of the March family that has thrilled generations of readers. It is the story of four sisters--Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth-- and of the courage, humor and ingenuity they display to survive poverty and the absence of their father during the Civil War.









                                                        First Impressions

I only have vague memories of the movie and really enjoying it. I remember that at the time, I really loved Jo and even bought a few of the individual novels that were written about her. I was excited to read this book as I haven’t read it before and I haven’t seen the movie in a very long time.

                                                        What I thought

This book is so sweet. There truly is no other way to describe this book other than sweet and heartwarming.

Little Women follows the March family and is written in two parts. The first part follows the March girls through a part of their childhood, while the second part follows their adulthood.

I absolutely loved the first part of this story. I flew through that portion of the book and greatly enjoyed al of the characters. I loved the differences in the personalities of each of the girls and how they each had different bad characteristics based a lot of the age that they were at the time. I also loved how they interacted and the way they looked to their mother for teachings. I also adored the friendship between the girls, particularly Jo, and their neighbor Laurie. I felt like this part of the story just worked so well. It taught some very great lessons that I think would be wonderful for lots of little girls to read. Mrs. March is the epitome of a good Christian mother in that she teaches her children to be kind and trust that God will show them kindness back.

The second part of the book was a bit harder for me to get through. It is a lot less lighthearted because the girls are dealing with adulthood and falling in love and marriage. The family I never as connected in this second half as they are in the first and I think that’s what I missed the most. While I enjoyed getting to know each girl individually a bit more, I missed that the chapters weren’t about all of the girls together, but about their lives separately. I do appreciate that May Alcott wrote in such a realistic way of growing up and the changing relationships within a family, but it lost a little of its magic to me.

I’m so glad that this book was chosen, as I know I wouldn’t have ever picked it up on my own and I’m so glad to have read it. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. It is definitely a book that is a classic for a reason and, while it has its faults, they do not take away from the wonderful story.