Marco Bonilla Bonilla itibaren Ajara, Maharashtra 416505, India
** spoiler alert ** Little Women is a quaint, comfortable little tale. The March sisters are all well developed characters, easy to relate to in one combination or another, and the struggles they go through and the hurdles they strive to overcome feel real and believable. And that's pretty much all I have much to say about the plot; I suspect that if the book wasn't branded a "classic" and so-much talked about, then I'd probably forget about it as soon as I'd stuck it back onto the shelf. It's been awhile since I last picked up Little Women, and to my surprise it started off a really slow read; I remember absolutely devouring this book as a child, but now, years later, it actually took some real effort to get through the first half of it. I'd blame it on growing old, but I still love The Secret Garden and A Little Princess just as much now as I did back then. Adding to the slow moving pace of the plot, once I'd finished reading Little Women I found myself feeling rather cheated and bitter. It took me a while to remember why. See, the thing about Little Women is Good Wives . I have a strange love/hate relationship with the former, because it reminds me of the latter. I only read Good Wives once, years and years ago, and frankly can't remember much about it, but what I do recall still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because it basically takes everything I loved about Little Women and destroys it, taking delight in grinding the sharp remains of my happiness right in my face (and if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now): Beth survives Little Women? Kill her off for good in Good Wives! Hints of Jo and Laurie living happily every after in Little Women? Brutally crush that notion in Good Wives! No, seriously, Jo and Laurie are meant for each other in Little Women. Ha! Hook Laurie up with Amy in Good Wives! C'mon guys, just look at Jo and Laurie in Little Women! For good measure, marry Jo off to random old man in Good Wives! Oh well, at least Jo will always have her dream of becoming a famous writer, like she did in Little Women. LOL, have Jo give up all her dreams in Good Wives! Reading Good Wives forever changed my perception of Little Women, and now I can't read Little Women without knowing that everything beautiful about it will be chopped up and flushed down the toilet in the sequel. I wish I could erase the knowledge from my mind, but I can't. If I had a time machine, the first thing I'd do would be to go back in time and slap Good Wives out of my own twelve year old hands.
Loved the blend of historical fiction and supernaturals. It was a long book (like the first), but well worth the read.