Little Women by Louisa May Alcott | Good but to some extent disappointing. {Yomna's Review}

Rating: 4/5


Here's the thing, this book was good. I loved the story and how many different elements it had. I loved how different the four sisters were, and the endless and creative ways they had fun. It's a really fun book and really makes you feel light-hearted and love turning those pages. My favourite sister is definitely Jo, mostly because she felt the closest to me, with her love of reading. But that's not to say that I didn't like the rest, in fact I adored them, because they were all so different and had so much flaws and character. 

However, I had some issues with this book. 3, specifically:

1) The women were all so domestic and the book was basically propaganda for that idea. It disheartens me because this book was written for girls at that time and I imagine that this wouldn't have been the most encouraging book. But what was most upsetting, though, is that this book in reality has a lot of feminist ideas. Jo's character, the variety in the March sisters' characters, etc.. it had a lot of potential. And in a way this book is ambitious because it presents those issues in a realistic way, however, this book seemed to me very bipolar. At times it would be very feminist and for the independence of women, at other times it would be straight out stereotypical, unencouraging and cliche. 

2) Jo got married. In a way this is kind of related with my previous complaint, but I hate how ALL the sisters got married. I was holding out for Jo to show that being single does not mean being unhappy, but she disappointed me. 

3) I really did not like how religious it was. The religious agenda was so obvious and heavy-implied and I just wasn't here for it. It was too much. 

I know this is a lot of negativity so far, but I would like to conclude by saying that this is not a bad book by any measure. I had so many tender moments with these characters, but overall, I expected more. If you want to read a book about women's trials and hardships as they mature in a poor family, I suggest you try Pride and Prejudice instead! 

Thanks, 

Yomna