Thought I'd forgotten about you? Well, the guilt of not posting has been eating me up inside since mid December, but yeah other than that it pretty much slipped my mind. Also, I am famously a start-of-the-year hater so just assume I'll never post anything from Jan to early Feb. You were all getting too spoiled with my weekly uploads anyway, so I'm cutting back a bit, (aka I got a job and don't have the time or the emotional bandwidth to post every week). Don't worry though, the worm wiggles on.
As a lover of Greta Gerwig's film adaptation, my hopes were set pretty high when it came to reading Little Women for the first time. But Alcott delivered and this book became my entire personality for the month it took me to read it, carrying my escapist little soul through the cold December days. I watched any adaptation of the book that I could find, and started wearing pointelle socks and prairie skirts, (probably not historically accurate, but felt like something the girls might wear). The story of the March sisters now holds a very special place in my heart and on my bookshelf.
Made up of two volumes, 'Little Women' (1868) and 'Good Wives' (1869), Little Women as an entire novel is divided into two fairly different reading experiences. The first half documents the early years of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Vivid with scenes of overflowing living rooms and pastoral landscapes, it feels reminiscent and familiar, and yet like an idyllic daydream. I could talk all day about the opening scene of the 2019 film adaptation, and how well it captures the energy of that same scene in the book. Lines are taken verbatim from the page and spoken over each other exactly as the young March sisters would say them. Much like the rest of volume one, it is homely, comforting and abundant with life.
With a focus on navigating womanhood, the second volume is more nuanced and compelling than the first. The girls have grown up and so have their plot lines. Alcott's explorations of love, loss, motherhood, marriage and self autonomy, hold up shockingly well over 150 years on, which is equally concerning and comforting. There are questions the girls ask Marmee which I have unpacked with my girlfriends countless times; "how am I expected to do everything perfectly, with a smile and never complain?", "do I have to compromise parts of myself if I don't want to be alone forever?", and my personal favourite, "why am I so fucking angry all the time?"
This was exactly the book I needed to read at 23, the first volume felt like a hug for my inner child, while the second volume met me where I am right now. Like the Marches I am frustrated by life, balancing between defiance and self-sacrifice, all the while hoping that I am doing the right thing. No matter your personal experience, there is a lot to enjoy about Little Women, and likely a March sister that you relate to in some capacity. For me its a combination of Amy and Jo, but on my bad days, I feel like Beth.
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