The Works of Louisa May Alcott

[queequeg]

Yeah, you're right actually. I got it a bit wrong and was referring to Good Wives. I think the series goes: Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men and Jo's Boys but often Good Wives and Little Women are spliced together (Beth actually dies in Good Wives, not Little Women).

I'm not sure if I'll get round to reading the other two sequels as I really wasn't a fan of Good Wives.

[dwanollah]

Jo's Boys is actually quite fascinating if you're into analyzing LMA's gender-related stuff. You can see what Jo might've ended up like if she didn't "have to be married off in a very stupid style."

[bastinado]

dwanollah said:

Jo's Boys is actually quite fascinating if you're into analyzing LMA's gender-related stuff. You can see what Jo might've ended up like if she didn't "have to be married off in a very stupid style."

Yes, probably the most interesting chapter in Jo's Boys was about the wild boy (Dan?) and his relationship to Jo. That's the one you are thinking of, right?

Although it was a little more cutesy, I also liked very much Eight Cousins and the sequel, A Rose in Bloom. Part of my lasting good regard for it was because Rose picked the lest likely cousin in the end.

[dwanollah]

That and Miss Giddy-Gaddy. She struck me as an "if only Jo could've been like this" character at times.

I still wanted to punch Amy in the face, though. HATED her!

[Deleted]

In lots of her books, though, LMA made a point of sticking in a "spinster" when she wrapped up the ending. Like Maud in Old Fashioned Girl and Nan in Little Men. (I finally got through the end of Jo's Boys this past year--really the only one of her books I just. didn't. like.

[bastinado]

Oh, I dont remember Miss Giddy-Gaddy at all but then again, I havent read that book in over 20 years.

As for Amy in Little Woman, Jo is so vividly drawn that everyone else is pallid and two-dimensional in comparison

[Deleted]

I just reread "An Old-Fashioned Girl"-- I love it as much as ever, because it's just a sweet, feel-good story, but, gosh, is it ever preachy--something that never occurred to me when I was a much younger reader. Really, the only thing that saves it from being one long moralizing sermon is that LMA at least tried to show Polly as having a few flaws.