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sethdmichaels.bsky.social · @sethdmichaels.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated Little Women 8/10

A classic for good reason. I'd never gotten to it until now, and was inspired to by the Greta Gerwig film adaptation. Delightful, opinionated, bluntly didactic in many ways but also subtle and clever in others. It's longer than I was expecting, and episodic instead of having one over-arching plot. It impressively sets its characters apart with distinct personalities and flaws, and puts them in conflict with each other even as they're all basically decent people who care about each other. It's a look into the practicalities and values of its time; Alcott lays out the rules of the world through storytelling instead of exposition most of the time, though the narration frequently calls attention to itself and sometimes spells out the moral lessons the book is trying to convey. One very skillful aspect to the writing is the way it changes after a mid-book time-jump, rather like how the style of the later Harry Potter books is "older" than the early ones as the viewpoint character grows up. Anyway, I don't suppose one of American history's best-loved books needs my recommendation, but it's well worth the read even if you didn't come across it as a kid.

#book

Published 2026-08-18 14:46 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere