The Life of Shinke

Title: Little Women

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Published: 1868

Description: Meet the March sisters: the talented and tomboyish Jo, the beautiful Meg, the frail Beth, and the spoiled Amy, as they pass through the years between girlhood and womanhood. A lively portrait of growing up in the 19th century with lasting vitality and enduring charm. (Taken from Goodreads)

I decided to read Little Women because it was always touted as one of the many books you simply must read before you die. I was told it was so inspirational and life changing and so of course I put it on my Fill In The Gaps List and got to it as soon as I could.

Sad to say this book was for the most part very disappointing. It did not change my life and was not very inspirational. The book started out really slow, and for  a few chapters I wondered what the point of the story was as we followed these four girls and their mother through their daily routine. It was so drab we went scene by scene through their play which to me was highly unnecessary. I almost gave up reading this book, that is until we meet Laurie and I got it into my head that Laurie and Jo would make a fabulous couple.

This singular hope, sad to say is what got me through this book, when that hope was dashed I lived on the hope that she would come to her senses later on and say yes, so you can just imagine my dismay when he got together with my least favourite character, Amy. And then to read about Jo falling in love with the old Professor Bhaer.

Beth seemed supernaturally sweet and kind to me, because I doubt there is a soul that selfless out there in the world. And her death, though sad seemed very drawn out and focused on the fact that her life was not a complete and utter waste.

Meg was vain and always wanted to live the high life and as she groomed Amy so was she and as such they both annoyed me. Meg provided some laughter when she got married to the nice and very patient Mr.Brooke but other than that reading about her and Amy was a chore.

Jo the boyish, clumsy one that could not seem to follow any of their odd rules stole my heart and made me smile. She had spirit, she had soul and she could write, all very good qualities. She broke my heart when she didn’t accept Laurie but deep down I knew she wouldn’t, she was always running away from love.

A lot of the chapters in this book seemed like short stories with a moral lesson, because of this fact the overall story didn’t seem very cohesive and was rather boring.

I give it a 3 out of 5 which surprises even me because I did not enjoy this book very much. Most of the main characters annoyed me and I didn’t get the romantic conclusion I was hoping for.

Are you a Little Women fan?

If you are, why?

What am I not seeing?

Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading!

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