Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Book Review

When we first meet the March sisters, it’s Christmas Eve, and the four of them are seen lamenting the loss of their family’s wealth, and the hardship the country faces due to the civil war. With their father away fighting, it is up to their mother Marmee to keep the family together and teach them what it means to be a family.

Here we are introduced to the unconventional Jo, the frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and the spoiled Amy. Through their ups and downs including their individual struggles to survive as young women in New England with different aspirations, the March sisters remain devoted to each other, and to the bonds that tie them together.

There is a reason Louisa May Alcott’s story has endured and is still relevant today. Not only did she manage to weave a heartwarming tale of a family, but she also manages to touch on subjects of war and peace, love and death, and the internal conflict between personal ambition, and familial responsibilities, all while managing to keep the focus on the March sisters.

In Jo, we see a young woman who wants to make her own way in the world, and in Amy, we see a young woman who has much to learn, but we root for all of them with equal measure.

Alcott pays keen attention to details and writes with a sense of warmth and familiarity, as if the two were her family, a part of her. Although the plot boasts of nothing grand or unusual, it does bring together people of all ages and continues to surprise and delight years later because it is both real and relevant, with many of the characters being reflected in our own lives.

Little Women was, and will always be, timeless.