I have been a Louisa May Alcott fan since I was a
girl. I loved reading Little Women and
most of Alcott’s other novels. I also
loved all of the different movie versions of Little Women. I wanted to be part of the Alcott family
believing they were the March family . . . until I started reading biographies
of Alcott and discovered that while there were similarities, there were also
many differences in which the Alcott family struggled through very difficult
circumstances. I was very intrigued by
this new novel about the youngest Alcott sister, May, the basis for Amy in
Little Women.
Being the basis of Amy for Little Women effects May in
many ways. Her sister Louisa and she
have a difficult relationship, especially as Louisa’s writting pays for the
family to live while May’s artistic renderings in Little Women receive scathing
reviews. May wants to leave the shadow
of being Amy behind and find out who she is as an artist. First traveling to Europe with Louisa and
then by herself, May pushes herself to accomplish her goals and to find out
what makes her happy personally.
I loved May’s travels and learning about the process
of becoming an artist. I thought it was
very interesting when she met fellow women artists who were trying to make it
in a male dominated field such as Mary Cassatt and the work they did to create
their art and move forward.
I enjoyed the pictures at the end of the book that
showed the illustrations that May had created for Little Women. I liked them and am unsure why they were
panned. I looked up her paintings online
after I finished the book and they are quite beautiful. There is definite growth between her early
illustrations and her later paintings after she received further European instruction
and traveled the world.
Most of all I loved May’s growth as a woman. Although
she was an adult all through this novel, I thought it was a wonderful coming of
age novel as May works to be independent, to be a true artist, and to find her
happiness. It was very interesting for
her to do this during the Victorian times, which frowned upon independent
women.
I’ll admit I was a bit sad by Louisa’s talk in the
novel of not being happy about her success being from Little Women and her
children’s novels. I know they weren’t
her first choice of material, but they are so much better than her other
fiction such as “The Inheritance.” I
have always loved Little Women and An Old Fashioned Girl. She comes off as a bit cranky in this novel.
Favorite Quotes:
“I’ve seen you digging back into your dog-eared
diaries and rewriting old accounts of our lives into rosier, more harmonious
versions of the truth.” – May writing about Louisa
“You two are so similar, both so hungry for something
more, but at the same time, you couldn’t be more different.” Oldest sister Anna
on Louisa and May
“And the sooner you abandon the idea that life is
fair, you will be more productive. This
world doesn’t owe us a thing.” – Louisa to May
I enjoyed the extras in the back of this book,
especially “A Conversation with Elise Hooper” on the research and background
she used to create this novel. It was
very interesting. I love that she grew
up not far from Orchard House. It’s one
of my life goals to visit there one day.
Overall, The Other Alcott is a wonderful tale of an
important woman in her own right, artist May Alcott and her struggle for independence
and an identity separate from Amy March.
Book Source:
Review Copy from William Morrow.
Thank-you!
