A classic. Everyone should read it, right? Honestly: it’s preachy, the problems are trite, the language annoying, and the characters unbelievable. Amazing what being an adult will do. That said, it is a wonderful life book. I wish I were as good of mom as Marmee. I wish the problems my girls faced were that trivial. I hope they grow up to be as good of girls as Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. In short, it’s a book about being happy. And we should all read that. In spite of the flaws, as seen from a modern perspective.
Addendum: Okay. I’ve sold the book short. It’s not that I didn’t like it. I did enjoy the first half; the original Little Women. And I do really like Jo. However, the second half of the book (the sequel, written after the first book did well) really grated on me. So, what do you say about a story that everyone loves, but just didn’t sit as well as you hoped it could?
The Book Nut 
Awwww, that’s one of my favorite books! I particularly love the language, and I don’t think the problems are trite, either. I still identify with Jo and her struggles.
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I like her other books much better, particularly Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom.
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I’m in the process of reading it now.
I’m not sure one should ever feel bad if a book that is a classic and that ‘everyone’ loves doesn’t live up to one’s expectations. That just happens sometimes.
I do think that people need to go into classics with the mindset that they are a reflection of the times and the content shouldn’t solely be judged based on the way things are today. The plight of women being tied up so much in who they would marry, etc. may seem very trite today but it was nothing of the sort back then. Unfortunately it was everything related to survival, happiness, future, etc.
I’ll be interested to see what my thoughts are on it once I finish. I love the most recent movie version of Little Women. And the classic as well.
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Love Little Women.
I agree with Carl V. You can’t read a classic with and expect the same value systems of now for back then. Life was different. Alcott wrote about the way things were in her time. Jo was the new feminist. She was more interested in a writing career than marriage. It was a strange concept for the time and one that many a girl embraced.
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Okay, okay, points taken. Little Women is a classic, and I’m being unfair.
In my defense, I did like the first half of the book; it was only the second half that grated on me. I liked it better when it was a year in the life of the March girls, than the portraits of their later years.
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