Little Women and Me

Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted

I was so looking forward to this - after all who hasn't wanted to go back and fix Little Women? Everyone wants Beth to live and Jo and Laurie to live happily ever after. That's just what the main character sets out to do, once she's been sucked inside the book and dressed in dowdy linen.

Unfortunately, the main character is shallow and very much on the outside of the story. Too much irony, perhaps? There's a sense that she doesn't (and possibly never did) fully embrace the story and characters with love and acceptance. That distance kept putting me off while reading this. It felt like she was unworthy of the honour of entering the story.

Also, I found the surprise the main character showed as the story unfolded hard to believe. Really, so much of that book is so memorable that it couldn't surprise any avid reader the second time through.