Bokrecension: Little woman av Louisa May Alcott

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Book review of Little woman written by Louisa May Alcott

The book “little woman” is about four sisters during the American Civil War. They have a wise, loving mother and a father (who is in the war).

They are relatively poor and hates it. But still, they give money to people with less and spend time around people with more.

The book is about them growing up and their mother trying to raise them in the best way. It is like this book wants to tell you how the best way of living your life is. Because every chapter is a little story. It is about something that happens in the sisters lives. In the end of every chapter the sisters involved in the story realise something like, money does not make you happy, or you need to appreciate what you have instead of wanting more. It is tipical american moral stories that these girls live in.

They live happy and good, ofcours they miss their father who is in the war. They are often very worried, but by sending him they think they serv the country that they love.

They do not live in our time, 2007. And do not have all technology we do. No computers, cellphones, dishwashingmachines, cars, or anything like that. I am not sure if they even had a telefone. I do not think so. But instead they read, wright, paint, tell stories, knit, play instruments and that kind of stuff. They have fun in other ways than we do.

They have so much time because they do not go to school as much as we do. They can spend a whole day just sitting out in the garden or near a river reading all day long. I would like to have as much time as they do.

The characters

The characters are very clear, you know exactly who is who because they are very different from one an other. All of them have something they are good at and they all appreciate each others talents. There relationships are very strong and they spend most of the time together without having any big arguments. They really got a “dream family” where everybody help each other and never say anything inappropriate. Which I belive is a family that could not exist in reality.

Margeret or “Meg” The eldest sister is the beautiful and elegant one. She is also very proud and have a hard time admitting she is poor. Her biggest dream is to get a big and expensive house with servants who take care of her and the house.
She is the responsible one. I belive it is because she is the oldest and takes the mother role when their mother is not there.

Josephine is the second-oldest sister and is rather called “Jo”, because it sounds more boyish. She is a so called “tomboy”.She is not very feminine always and has a hard time being elegant and behave in more tidy parties. Which her sisters Amy, and most of all Meg, dislike. But Jo does not care about what they think or say. She is very proud and do not let anybody talk her down easily.
I would say she is the main character and she is also my favourite. She is my favourite of the four girls because she is the one that feels most like a person in real life. Not as perfekt as everybody else. She is very temperamental and often say things she does not mean and that is very much like my older sister. She also has a hard time controling her anger. They are a bit alike in that way.
In an other way she is much like me. And this is an other reason why I like her. When she has decided to do something she does it no matter what.
Her talant is writing, she has a book in which she writes little stories. She even got some other stories printed in the daily newspaper.

Elisabeth or “Beth” is a real angel (who thinks good about everyone) hidden behind a very shy little girl. When she got a piano from the nice old man next door her biggest dream came true. As you can guess she is very found of music. She can spend hours playing piano and singing and even though she is very shy when someone talks about music she can´t keep her mouth shut.
She is the second-youngest sister but acts younger than her age, sometimes, especially when she take care of dolls, both her sisters and her own. The dolls her sisters would want to throw away.
After she got the piano everything she wishes for is thet her mother, father and sisters will have a long and good life. Because that is what makes her happy.

Amy the youngest sister and a talented artist. Loves to paint and wishes to be older. She is smart and a fast learner but sometimes she is a real baby. When she can´t have what she wants or when someone treats her like a child she goes mad, screaming and crying. A stubbern childish girl who does not give up in the first place. But if she gives up, she will get her revenge. In secret, she thinks out a plan and strike back at you when you least expect it.

My opinion

I think the book was cosy and warm. With that I mean that when I read it I felt warm and happy inside. It felt like a mothers love or a comforting hug from a near friend. But their was a lot of things which I found disturbing.
It was too “American dreamfamily”. It did not feel real. There was just too much moral to me. I like it more when I get to think for myself. But in this book they said straight out how you are going to react in different situations. And that is more like brainwashing people than giving them moral lessons. The moral it self was sometimes things I really did not agree with. They often said that you should stand up for your country which I belive is really bad to preach on. Because war is not a good thing, it kills and harms many innocent people. If the leaders want war they should fight themselves.

“Stand up for the country you love” that is pure brainwashing. And I do not think brainwashing is appropriate in a book people want to read for fun. I do not like that sick method of playing whith the brain of an other human.

The language was not hard to understand but I learned a lot anyway. It was a beutiful language and they used many beautiful words I had heard before but which I do not use very often. Though I certainly hope I will start to use them know.

The girls in the book was very much alike my sisters and I. I have two sisters, Nellie and Lynn. We are just like the girls in “Little women” near each other in age. There is only one year between me and Lynn and two years between me and Nelllie. We have always had each other, to play with, talk to, get the others to lie for me to our parents, fight with, have fun with, have a really boring time with, well what I want to say is that you are never alone when you have sisters. And the book described that very good.

The sisters in the book did things my sister and use to do toghether. They had a secret club...