I was in Stratford, Ontario with my mom this past summer. We went there to see a play at the Shakespeare Theatre and also did a bit of shopping. There is this one store I think it is called the Book Vault, or something similar. They sell so many discounted books, even recently published books. Outside they had a table where all books were $2 and that is where I found this book.
Of course since Little Women is my favourite book, I was intrigued by the title of this book.
Gabrielle Donnelly, decided to write about a generation of sisters that are related to Jo March. She incorporates letters (which she wrote herself) from Jo to her sisters in the 1800's. This novel focuses on three sisters: Emma (who mostly resembles Meg), Lulu (who has Jo's traits) and Sophie (who sounds a lot like Amy). What about Beth??? Well I think that Beth is portrayed through the sisters friend Charlie who is a very kind Irish/Italian model who is sort of adopted into the sisterhood. (Don't worry she doesn't die!)
I really enjoyed this book, it was nice to be reconnected with the Little Women theme and I think Donnelly is a great writer.
There are two things I did not like about the book:
1. The chapters are so long! I am the type of person that likes to tell myself: "ok, just read one chapter and then get back to work". Well these chapters felt like they went on forever. It is just a personal preference that I like shorter chapters in a book.
2. I felt that the ending was a little rushed. A couple new characters were introduced right in the second last chapter and I felt that I didn't really get to know them before the book ended.
Other than those two small things, one of which is just a personal preference, I like this book and I think that if you enjoyed Little Women, you would enjoy this book too.
Happy Reading!
Labels: Book Review
