Does it count as a book review if it's basically just a three page rant about how much I love Jo March? Probably not. Will that fact stop me from doing it? Absolutely not.
If there was any way for me to love Jo March more than I already do, it was by casting Saorise Ronan whom I absolutely adore. The whole cast was perfectly fitting but Saorise is just *heart eyes*. She's just the best, I love her. She deserves everything good.
I only read his book recently, for the longest time I avoided books like this one, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, but after reading this one I am really starting to appreciate this genre and basically after seeing the Little Women (2019) movie, I am just completely in love with the whole concept. Although a heads up, if you haven't read the book and you're trying to get a summary by watching the movie, you will get it completely wrong because it's not in chronological order, it jumps back and forth in time and unless you've read the book it could be hard to follow.
The book is absolutely fantastic event-wise. The way the story progresses and and the growths and character developments we encounter is incredible. However I would be lying if I said it wasn't a slow book that could have easily been twenty chapters less than it was. The book starts off quite slowly, all events occur at the March household, not that I could expect much more either seeing as it is the 1700's and they are girls which means hardly any job or so. Although the March sisters are progressive in their way! They have their jobs and they go to school while also being the stereotypical women/girls for their age.
The relationships portrayed in the book are really the backbone of the story, the young girls sisterhood is displayed perfectly and I have no idea if Louisa May Alcott actually had sisters but she captured the personalities and constant rage perfectly.
But besides their relationships, there are so many good connections in the book, the sisters with their mother is just the most adorable thing, they are so appreciative and so loving that it just makes you want to adopt them, they can all live in my house with the Lionheart brothers, and then you've got this lovely relationship between Jo and Laurie, where the dancing scene in the movie is the most precious thing and you can truly see just how pure the whole connection between them is, despite som minor issues that I am choosing to look past, and then my absolute favourite relationship is Beth and Mr Laurence, the sweetness of that man and when he gives Beth the piano? Oh my god.
Sure, the story itself is almost too sugary with this "perfect" family where everyone is just good and happy, but that's probably what LM Alcott wanted with her book - what she tells about is what 150 years ago thought was the perfect family and the perfect family members. So in a way, you probably get through this book a pretty good picture of how 150 years ago people thought people should behave. The key word there is "should", because it was probably not really that idyllic in real life.
I don't think it's a secret that Jo is my favourite girl. Jo is fearless and creative. She does not fit into the template - so she creates her own. She wants to be a writer and live a life of complete independence. When we first get to know her, she is still young and obstinate. Her stubbornness risks Amy's life during a ride on the ice and makes Jo almost lose track of what's important. But during the course of the book, a humility is polished forward and the angular is ground down by adversity and sorrow. Perseverance and determination do not have to mean selfishness.
Jo is the one that encourages the reader to dream bigger. She is the ultimate heroine because she takes fate into her own hands.
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