Author: Louisa May Alcott
Pages: 504
Format: Paperback
Published: September 30, 1868
Publisher: Penguin Classics
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: April 11, 2025
My rating: 
Thoughts
It may be little surprise to most and it may go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: This book was a joy to read. I’ve put off reading this because I thought it would be a “difficult” old classic, but it really isn’t all that hard of a read.
The book is in two parts, mainly because she wrote the first half as the whole book. When asked for a sequel, she picked the story back up and now we have what we know as the complete volume.
The first part was probably my favorite because we get to grow up a little with Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They each had their own personalities and really felt like sisters. They loved each other, they fought with each other, and occasionally they hated each other.
Jo is obviously the main character, so it was pretty easy to like her. She was a writer, which I very much appreciate. And she and Laurie were a match made in heaven. As I was reading I just couldn’t wait for them to get together. They seemed to have so much fun and were a great pairing. They… hang on… [checks notes]… DON’T get married. She marries some random old dude who she convinces herself she loves. Laurie ends up marrying… wait a minute, this can’t be right… [shuffling papers, flipping pages]… Laurie ends up marrying Amy?!
Amy is the absolute worst. Her selfishness should be her undoing, but you guessed it, it isn’t. In fact, I still haven’t forgiven her for burning Jo’s stories. Dick move, Amy. Dick move. Luckily, Jo is friggin’ pissed at her, but then Amy has to go and fall into the ice like the idiot she is and who comes to her rescue but Jo. And did anything happen to Amy after that? No, in fact she ends up marrying the person Jo should have married! Did she get any horrible disease, say, scarlet fever? No! Save that for Beth!
Poor Beth. That whole thing was really rough. I’m not too proud to say that I got a bit teary at the end of her story. I’ll remember her fondly.
Meg is forgettable… It’s been a minute since I finished reading this. I don’t remember what Meg did.
Anyway, this could have been a 5 star book except for Amy. So I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars because Amy took one of the stars and burned it.
