Reader discussion: Little Women

Public reader discussion about Little Women in the WeRead Catalog by Louisa May Alcott.

Sooo... I just finished “Little Women”

By GoldSeal1992

I’ll admit it—I never really cared about this book at all until the movie came out. I’ve basically been trying for years to read the book first and not watch the film before, and of course this one was no different. I went into it not really knowing what I was walking into. I’ll try not to spoil anything, but I do want to say this first: I really like 19th century books. I’m a huge fan of that whole long, detailed style—Dickens is basically my longtime obsession—so I expected Alcott to be wordy and detailed too. What I did *not* expect was how insanely boring it ended up being for me. It was only around 400 pages, but it felt like it took forever. Getting through each chapter was straight-up painful, and instead of feeling excited like usual when I’m nearing the end, I just wanted to finally stop reading. I genuinely don’t know why it didn’t work for me. I think part of it was that a lot of it felt preachy, like there were these long descriptions that didn’t really go anywhere or pay off later. Also, I wasn’t expecting it to be action-packed or super “dynamic” since it’s not really that kind of story, but I *did* hope for stronger character/story development. Instead, the characters felt kind of thin. A couple were more interesting (Jo, Beth, Laurie, and Mr. Bhaer), but a lot of the rest were just… bland. And it made those few stand out even more, just because the others didn’t. One thing I kept thinking about while reading: it really feels like the book was made to sell, not because Alcott had some huge message she couldn’t wait to share. I know that’s kind of the point people make about it, and honestly it shows in the lessons and the “be proper” stuff. For that mid-1800s audience, girls were supposed to read things that taught them how to become ladies, and this book absolutely does that. So I can give it credit for doing what it was meant to do, even if it’s pretty vanilla. As for the parts I did like: I actually didn’t mind the whole idea of giving up hobbies for marriage the way some people seem to. Like, Beth and Amy put down writing/drawing, but both basically come back to it in a way that makes it feel more like they didn’t lose their dreams—they just shifted focus to other things. If I had to guess what the big “lesson” is about big ambitions, it’s more about humility than anything else, and Jo especially seems to learn that through a bunch of setbacks. Beth’s death is also the only truly emotional moment for me. The last bit where she dies peacefully in her mother’s arms was genuinely beautiful. Jo and Laurie was another surprise in a good way. I kept noticing the line about “first love being the strongest,” and it kind of messes with the whole dynamic—like it kept suggesting Amy’s love and Laurie’s feelings, and it made the relationship setup feel weirdly like a triangle. It also made it seem like Laurie might still have feelings for Jo and just “settled” for Amy because he couldn’t have Jo. And honestly, Amy and Laurie’s romance felt like it came out of nowhere. They have a few private moments, sure, but they don’t really build the relationship in a way that convinced me. The only thing I can think of is Laurie visiting Amy while Beth is sick, which isn’t really enough for me to buy it. My favorite pairing was probably Jo and Bhaer. The age gap is big, but for whatever reason it worked, and I liked how their friendship slowly turned into something romantic. That was honestly the most I was invested in the whole book. So yeah—my rating. I’m doing it the way I usually do, 5 categories out of 1–5 stars, average at the end: - **Writing:** 1 star. The reading experience was awful and painfully boring. - **Themes:** 3 stars. I could tell what Alcott was trying to do, but I didn’t agree with some of the themes (like being super selfless/devoted to God, etc.). - **Characters:** 4 stars. Even though they were bland overall, a few of them kept me interested. - **Plot:** 2 stars. The story felt slow, like the morals/themes got way more attention than the plot. - **Emotion:** 3 stars. I would’ve skipped this with 1 star, but Beth’s death and Jo/Bhaer added something. **Average: 2.6 stars.**

Little Women and Meg’s romance

By readswindow

So I went back and reread Little Women because I’m trying to get myself ready for the Greta Gerwig movie, and now I can’t stop thinking about Meg. I feel like everyone talks about the whole Jo/Laurie/Amy stuff (and sometimes Friedrich), but has anyone ever seriously asked why Meg ends up marrying John Brooke? Yeah, I know the book is mostly Jo-focused, but Meg’s interest in John always comes off pretty lukewarm to me. She doesn’t really seem to think of him when she’s around all those high-society guys, or when women are gossiping about her marriage chances. And when Laurie writes that fake letter, she basically shuts him down. Later, when he actually comes back and proposes for real, she seems kind of pleased, but it doesn’t feel like she’s thrilled. Even when she accepts him, it’s framed like she’s doing it to spite Aunt March, not because she’s got some deep feelings for him. And honestly, Meg’s the oldest and the “prettiest,” plus she has that rich aunt who wants her to make a really good match. She’s also into the nice, nicer things in life. So why choose a poor guy who isn’t even that attractive/healthy-looking and, what, he dies before she’s even 40? I keep waiting for it to feel like she’s crazy about him, but she never really does.

I just finished reading Little Women and I actually liked Amy better than Jo.

By DoorRed

I just finished Little Women for the first time. I’ve only seen the movie before, so I was kinda expecting to feel the same way about Jo, but honestly I’m a little disappointed. I know movies leave stuff out, but I didn’t end up liking Jo nearly as much as everyone else seems to. A lot of her “spunk” comes off more like attitude to me, not personality. If the girls were actually real, I think I’d rather hang out with Amy—she seems genuinely thoughtful and tries to be polite and pay attention to what people care about. Jo, on the other hand, talks a ton about not wanting to get married and wanting to be a boy, and it gets old fast. Did anyone else read the book and like Jo more? Or like Meg/Beth better?

Little Women: Jo vs. Amy

By curious-pages

I keep seeing people argue online about whether Jo or Amy is the “better” sister. I don’t really like that way of putting it, and I don’t think one is objectively better than the other. But I do feel like who you naturally lean toward says something about you. Personally, I’ve always felt more like Jo. She gets treated as “different” from the rest (I know they’re all different in personality, but I mean she’s different from what society expected back then), and she’s also one of the older siblings. Meanwhile, my younger sibling can’t stand Jo and always says they like Amy more. It would be easy to blame it on being older vs younger, but I’m not sure that’s all of it. What do you all think? Which sister are you more into—Jo or Amy?

Which currently writing authors will be taught in English lit 100 years from now?

By carefulWren

I’ve been wanting to dive into “great books” from people writing today, but a lot of the newer stuff feels kind of fluffy. I’m not saying I don’t like good writing—I love a really solid detective novel—but when I want something that’s actually smart and makes you think, I end up going back decades. Lately I’ve been reading Calvino, T.S. Eliot, Borges, and Tom Robbins, and I’m honestly just wondering who the newer authors are that might be doing the next big thing in literature.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott [Historical Fiction](1868)

By sun-coin1997

I didn’t realize there was an alternate cover for ISBN 9780451529305, but I’m still seeing how much people really love this book. The March sisters—Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy—feel like they’ve been around forever, and I guess it’s because you get all the mix of emotions with them, especially dealing with life in New England during the Civil War. It also seems like Alcott pulled a lot from her own childhood. Her dad was all about reform and abolition and even knew guys like Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, but Louisa had to support herself and her sisters doing “woman’s work” like sewing and laundry and even more domestic stuff. Still, she apparently found she could make more money writing, and that’s what really turned things around. Anyway, Little Women ended up being way bigger than just some “girls’ book” like her publisher expected. It’s got love and death, war and peace, that constant struggle between wanting more for yourself and still being there for your family, plus this whole Europe vs. America vibe that I can’t quite ignore.

So I just finished reading Little Women...

By cafe-clear

What the heck happened to the movie? I’m powering through this book because everyone calls it a classic, but wow… it’s boring. I haven’t seen the movie in ages, but I thought Laurie proposes to Jo (and she turns him down), Aunt March takes a liking to Amy, and then Amy gets sent to France to study art—where she meets Laurie and somehow they fall in love. But that’s not even close to where the actual book ends, and I just kept waiting for that whole thing like surely it would get better from there. Nope. People usually nitpick Harry Potter when the movie isn’t the same as the books, but at least that was pretty much straight from the page compared to what feels like an absolute mess with Little Women. I almost always think the book beats the movie, but not this time. Anyway, I’m done. I’m just really confused. Edit: I guess this book has two parts, and I had no idea until now. So I’m going to find the other half, read it, and then come back with a more accurate opinion. Thanks, everyone.

Can anyone recommend me a story about the female experience that doesn't involve gender violence?

By goldTiger

Lately it feels like every book I pick up that’s told from a woman’s perspective has some kind of abuse or sexual violence in it, and I’m having a hard time getting through that. I totally get that this is real for a lot of women, but I wish there were more stories that feel feminine and more joyful—like funny too, and maybe still smart and insightful.

I just finished Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

By cougarRainy

Alcott’s story about four girls growing up into who they really are, with all that steady support from their parents and each other, is honestly one of the sweetest things I’ve read in a while. I usually don’t gravitate toward historical fiction, but this one totally pulled me in. And the writing is genuinely great. I started it mainly because of the movie that came out, and I figured the book was a classic I’d missed. I’m really glad I finally picked it up. It can feel almost too sweet at times, but the character growth is really solid—especially Jo. I also feel like it’s the kind of book where you can spot at least one character you relate to, or remember some kid lesson that somehow stuck and helped you become yourself. What I liked most was the whole vibe shift. Early on, the romantic stuff in Part 1 is super strong, and then later it turns into this more hopeful, grounded outlook. By the end, the women come across as caring and understanding, like they’re finding their own balance and not just dismissing what other people want around them. If you haven’t read it yet, I hope you end up getting as into it as I did—though fair warning, you might have to sit through a bunch of eighteenth-century dialogue, lol.

Were you satisfied with the end of Little Women?

By annotationcrescent

I just finished Little Women and I mostly loved it, but the ending threw me off a bit. It feels like Meg and Mrs. March ended up the happiest, but with Amy and Jo I wasn’t totally sure they were genuinely happy with what happened next. Like, am I meant to feel good about Jo marrying Mr. Bhaer? Did you?

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

By quantumPath3

Picked this up at a thrift store yesterday and now I can’t stop thinking about the snark my friends threw at me after they saw the cover. Like, “Is this a Barbie crossover?” and “Meg, I’m going to make you my pet—what are we wearing for prom?” Also one of them joked, “Not gonna lie, if the outfit really looked like that, Laurie had a point to judge.”

Little Women not just for Women

By hidden_wren

I’d never really heard of *Little Women* before, but I was just killing time at B&N, browsing the classics shelf. I usually go for Signet Classics because I love how the books feel and the size of them. Honestly though, I found out classics don’t really “belong” to one gender. I’m a 38-year-old guy, and even if it’s meant for girls (at least that’s what the intro makes it sound like), I still got totally hooked on the four sisters and their very different personalities. I feel like anyone could spot something in themselves in those characters. What I liked most was that the chapters sort of stand on their own, like little stories from their lives. It’s like watching them grow from kids into women one moment at a time. I’m also the type who daydreams or loses the thread after a while when I’m reading fiction, because I’m kind of a straight-line thinker, but with this one I never got off track. I ended up liking it so much that when a waitress at a local diner asked what I was reading, I told her it was really good. She said she might have to get it, so I wrote down her name and the restaurant address on the receipt and had B&N send her a copy. Now I’m reading a chapter every night to my wife—she isn’t a native English speaker and she doesn’t even really like reading—and somehow it’s even better that way. Anyway, if you’re on the fence, I’d say check it out. It’s good for boys, girls, whoever.

I've just finished Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott and I need to talk

By zenithValley

Spoiler warning for sure I absolutely loved Little Women and Little Men, but I’m kind of wondering if Alcott just wasn’t great at endings, because both Good Wives and Jo’s Boys felt pretty meh to me. This one especially. And yeah, I still liked it overall. Nobody does cozy, heartwarming stuff quite like Alcott, but the whole plot felt kind of scattered. What bothered me most was all the time spent on the engagements of Emil, Tom, and Demi to these random girls we’d barely even met. I would’ve much rather had more about what the boys actually wanted to do with their lives and how they got there. And then she basically brushed past the Daisy/Nat story she’d already built up in the last book. It honestly felt like she was trying to do another Laurie/Jo/Professor Bhaer thing by giving us the opposite of what we were expecting. There were definitely parts I liked, though. Nan getting stuck with the “honor” of staying single, Josie and her acting, the little bit Nat got (he was so underrated), and most of Dan’s storyline were all good. But yeah, about Dan... I really didn’t like where that went. I could see she was setting something up between him and Bess, but I wasn’t really expecting them to end up together, and I’m not even sure I wanted that. Still, having him end up alone for the rest of his life, apparently still pining for his Aslauga/Bess, just left a bad feeling. And Jo calling him the black sheep over and over? I’ll admit I didn’t really mind the preachy style all that much. It’s an old children’s book after all. But the way Dan was handled still felt really unfair to me. That part about what became of him honestly made me tear up, which is more than I can say for the rest of the cast. And wow, that last page where she just rattles off a few names and what happened to them was so abrupt. Sorry, that was a messy ramble, but I needed to get it out lol. I do still think I liked the book, I just found it kind of disappointing.

essential lit books/novels

By MugCareful

I’m planning to major in literature in college, but I honestly haven’t read that many “classics” outside what I had to in school. I didn’t really get into it until about a year ago 🥲. Anyway, does anyone have recommendations for some must-read essentials before I start next year? I’d really appreciate it 😭 For reference, the only ones I’ve read so far are: Jane Eyre, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, Wide Sargasso Sea, Alice in Wonderland, Little Women, and Anne of Green Gables.

TIL that the author Louisa May Alcott, most famous for "Little Women", wrote several pulpy thrillers early in her career that she called “blood and thunder tales”, often using the pseudonym A.M. Barnard.

By FootnoteCat

Lok’tar ogar—no idea what it fully means, but it sure sounds badass.

[Little Women] Laurie Lost Sister???

By distantstone

Do we really need a spoiler tag for a book that’s like 150 years old? Anyway, I was reading it for a project and the Laurence family stuff really caught my attention. We’ve basically got four generations: Grand Laurence (and probably a wife), Dad Laurence and an Italian musician, then Laurie who marries Amy, and Elizabeth. Pretty early on it says Laurie lost his parents when he was young (not clear how young), and Grand Laurence took him in. But by the start he’s in America after studying abroad for years—so I’m not sure if he stayed with Grand Laurence for a while after the orphaning and then went out, or if he was sent straight to boarding school, or if he somehow just stayed in Italy longer. Most people seem to think he was sent straight to boarding school. That kind of fits with what we’re told, except later we find out Grand Laurence also lost a granddaughter: a shy girl who loved music and played the piano. But we don’t really get any details about who she was or who her parents were. She could’ve been the daughter of some other child of Grand Laurence’s—like, what happened to her parents? Did all of Grand Laurence’s kids die, along with their spouses? Is there some kind of “curse” thing going on? Or maybe it was just how brutal medicine was back then. Honestly, the way I see it, there’s a good chance that piano girl is Laurie’s sister—like maybe Dad Laurence died first, then Laurie’s mom died in childbirth, and later Laurie gets sent to school while his sister stays with Grand Laurence. What do you think—any other ideas about who that girl was and who her parents might’ve been?

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

By ProudPocket3

I picked this up because I saw a new film version is coming out soon. Everyone keeps saying how great it is, and I know the story’s been adapted a ton, but I just can’t seem to see why. I didn’t hate it or anything, it just feels super old-school—like it’s packed with the kind of moral lessons people expected back then, some really dated gender stuff, and it’s way too long. I’m also a sucker for happy endings, and the part that annoyed me most was Amy ending up with Laurie. I went and looked into it, and it sounds like Louisa basically knew fans wanted Jo and Laurie together, so she went another way on purpose. That’s fine to me, but Laurie suddenly marrying Amy with basically no real setup? It’s not like there was any build, even right before they act like they’re “in love” it’s more like he’s just thinking highly of her out of nowhere. I honestly feel like Jo marrying the professor was mainly to keep readers satisfied and onside. Also, can we talk about how everyone sort of gives up what they actually wanted and turns into domestic-life people? It’s kind of the opposite of what Louisa herself seemed to choose. Anyone else feel the same, or did you love it?

How does the family in Little Women afford a servant if they are so poor?

By HawkBirch2001

The book acts like the March family is super poor and points out how the older girls work to help out. But they also have Hannah as a servant, so I’m confused. Are they keeping her just to be kind? Or are they not really as broke as they say, and it’s more that they’re measuring themselves against the richer class they used to be around?

What are some books that you find yourself constantly revisiting?

By VolumeBrush

I’m studying English lit, and it feels like the same books keep getting brought up—stuff like *Jane Eyre*, *Middlemarch*, *The Brothers Karamazov*, a bunch of Donna Tartt, *The Poppy War*, and even *Dante’s Inferno*. I’m curious what everyone else actually likes or finds interesting—especially what you’d pick up again. For me, I always circle back to *The Picture of Dorian Gray* because I really love the writing style.

I read the books Little Women, Little Men and Jo's Boys and here is my opinion and what did you think of these books?

By BlueRaven60

I binged Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys at the end of the year, and I honestly liked all of them (like, including that “four?” one). I keep seeing that most people only talk about Little Women, so I’m curious—how many folks have actually read the sequels? Overall I had a good time with all the books, even if they’re probably some of the most Christian books I’ve ever read. Lots of moral stuff, and Little Women even brings up The Pilgrim’s Progress. I also really loved Laurie and Jo’s friendship—it's fun, feels real, and I get why she doesn’t want to marry him. He’s basically like a brother to her, and that makes sense to me. And I don’t fully get why people hate Amy so much. Sure, she’s kind of vain and wants money and status, but she’s also genuinely generous and thoughtful. Like when she talks to Laurie about his bad behavior, and with Fred—she was willing to accept his proposal (because he could help her family), but then she couldn’t go through with it because she didn’t really love him. Also, she’s polite to her aunt when Jo is being as rude as possible at the same time. The sisters all have to grow into better people, and even Jo has to calm down and become more mature. Little Men felt more like a kids’ book to me—the whole Bhaer/Plumfield school setup, all the kid adventures, and lessons along the way. And Jo’s Boys was cool because you get to see what happens later to everyone. The school is bigger too, and it has way more stuff about women’s rights, voting, education—like noticeably more than the earlier books. Character-wise, I thought Jossie was really funny. Nan felt like she was basically written as the author’s “Jo wish” in a way—Nan doesn’t want marriage and stays single, even though Tommy keeps wanting her for years. She just wants to be a doctor, and in the end Tommy finally moves on and Nan never marries, which… fits her. Nat and Dasy were cute too, and I liked that they got to stay together. I also liked Demi. The only thing that really bothered me was Dan. He was one of the best/funniest characters from the earlier book, and then the ending is just sad—he suffers a lot. Jo feels guilty about it too. I’m not sure I liked where they took his ending, especially how he basically reads like he wasn’t “good enough” to have the life he deserved. The epilogue has him traveling the world and dying protecting indigenous people, and I know there’s no exact death date listed, so I guess I can make up my own headcanon where he dies a few years later… but still, yeah. Anyway, I’m just really wondering what other people think of these three books and of the different characters.