Community Chat

[Oznell]

On this day, September 30, 1868, the first volume of Louisa May Alcott's astonishingly successful "Little Women" was published.

(I'm putting this in the Community Chat section rather than Books, because in my opinion, "Little Women" is as much a historical and cultural phenomenon as a literary one.)

How many kids first learned about nineteenth century life, how the poor lived, how disease ravaged families in that period, how the Civil War affected the home front, and how girls were raised and educated then, by reading "Little Women"?

It took the world by storm.  Did every little girl want to be "Jo",  and wish that "Amy" had never set eyes on "Laurie"???

[Plaid Pants2]

Never read the book.

Never had an interest in it.

It was not required reading in my school.

Instead, I read "Tom Sawyer" and "Huck Fin", and "Animal Farm" and "Fahrenheit 451".

Oh, and I also read, "Lady Chattersly Lover".

[stuyvesant]

I loved all her books and read them all, I think.

I think it was Five Little Peppers where the young heroine loosens her belt so that she can have the breath to run and climb trees, and wears the very shocking "bloomers," which were not underwear, but a costume that allowed women and girls freedom of movement.

Remember in Little Women, how Jo is always writing unrealistic stories?  I have her potboiler, called "A Long Fatal Love Chase," which is all about obsession and stalking, and the only book of hers I find unreadable.  It was considered too sensational to be published in her lifetime.

[stuyvesant]

Oops!  Forget what I said about Five Little Peppers.  Alcott didn't write it!

[Tinkrbl44]

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@Oznell wrote:

On this day, September 30, 1868, the first volume of Louisa May Alcott's astonishingly successful "Little Women" was published.

(I'm putting this in the Community Chat section rather than Books, because in my opinion, "Little Women" is as much a historical and cultural phenomenon as a literary one.)

How many kids first learned about nineteenth century life, how the poor lived, how disease ravaged families in that period, how the Civil War affected the home front, and how girls were raised and educated then, by reading "Little Women"?

It took the world by storm.  Did every little girl want to be "Jo",  and wish that "Amy" had never set eyes on "Laurie"???

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@Oznell

Well, it obviously impressed you.   I distinctly recall reading that book, and the discussions in class.  Yes, I know it's considered a classic, but I found it to be less than "astonishing".  And NO, I didn't want to be Jo ....    good grief.

I was an avid reader back then, as I am today, but I couldn't wait for it to be over so we could move on to a more interesting book.  JMO

[Oznell]

"Five Little Peppers" was terrific too, stuyvesant. Your comparison is very apt.  "Polly" does remind me of "Jo" in her leadership abilities, her impulsiveness, and in somewhat going against Victorian expectations for young girls.

For generations, "Jo" was the ideal of young women who didn't fit the "mold", whatever that mold was for that era.  "Meg" was sweet, but at times insipid, "Beth" was so good as to seem almost otherworldly, and "Amy" was portrayed as artistic but a little too indulged and selfish to be sympathetic...

Jo, with her writing ambitions, her moods, her rebellion, her soft heart and her extraordinary work ethic, was an enduring and engaging character.  Critics believe she was a stand-in for Louisa May Alcott herself.  Louisa's ambivalent feelings about her younger sister May are revealed in the portrayal of "Amy" in the book.

Luckily, those feelings seemed to resolve in adulthood.  As a world famous successful author, Louisa seems to have accepted May, who married and moved to Europe.  When May died tragically young, Louisa brought over her baby daughter and adopted her as her own.

[KathyPet]

My absolute favorite book when I was a middle,schooler.  I read it at least a dozen times and followed it with Little Men and Jo's Boys.

[sidsmom]

@Plaid Pants2

ITA...this is the extent of my knowledge of ‘Little Women”:

(Rachel read ‘The Shining’ &. Joey read ‘Little Women’)

[alliswell]

Although I enjoyed "Little Women,"  for me, the Nancy Drew Mystery series, was a much bigger influence.  It is interesting to note that:

". . . Nancy Drew is cited as a formative influence by a number of women, from Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Sonia Sotomayor to former  First Lady, Laura Bush."

At the time "Little Women" was published, I think one of the reasons it was astonishingly successful might be due to the fact that women were not really educated at that time, at least not to the extent that men were, so, the fact that Louisa May Alcott wrote and had a book published is probably one of the reasons it became such an astonishing success.    

[Oznell]

KathyPet, loved those too!  Almost anything she wrote-- "Eight Cousins" and "Rose in Bloom" are too more of her timeless children's classics...