Reviews

An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

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lizzye33's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

I love Louisa May Alcott very much!

My grandmother loved Little Women, and because of her, I had my heart set on reading it. I grew to adore that book and wished to read more by the author. Then, I came across this hidden gem.

It is a little slow, especially in the first half, but nothing short of charming for those with the patience and open to the opportunity of slowing down to enjoy a story from a simpler and no less splendid time.

It is stories like this that almost make me wish I belonged to them instead of the present, but for the consoling fact that without holding on too tenderly to the past, I may live by example with virtue and be a caretaker of sorts of love and its ways tending to the older beautiful things so many of us forget or neglect.

I was unsure what I expected when I picked this up, but I am so glad I did. By the first few chapters, I did not think I would like it as much as I had, thinking it was a reimagined Anne of Green Gables, but it was not. However, fellow fans of that story will certainly like this, too.

This is one of those stories where I wish the main character were real and a friend of mine. I can see so much of my ideal self in her that parts of me that are and want to be, by example, find delight within the pages as her wisdom of other generations and people that we would love flows through her.

Very stoic, poetic, and humble.

Perhaps it is that I love learning from those who come before us or that the older people in our world are some of the only ones who have positively impacted my life, but this story, especially Polly's character, is very dear to me.

If my grandmother could read this, whether or not she did, I am sure she would have loved it and heard her sister and mother through Polly as I listened to hers and my mother's voice in Polly. I always knew we were a rather old-fashioned family growing up. How wonderful it was.

I want to find a copy to call my own and keep it close. I highly recommend this cozy read!

P.S. One of my favorite quotes is, "In earnest prayer she asked for the strength of an upright soul, the beauty of a tender heart, the power to make her life a sweet and stirring song, helpful while it lasted, remembered when it died." (End of chapter nine.)

Content Warnings

embaa's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

abooknook's review

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1.0

Boring. Just stopped reading it.

mykindle's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

bu72's review

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4.0

A little pleasure of a book. It's good to read an honest story like this nowadays, just like it was good to read Gaskell's "Mary Barton" some time ago.
Refreshing. It leaves you feeling cosy.

livingforjesus08's review against another edition

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5.0

Love, love, love this book. Once again reassured that it is indeed my favorite. I love the character arcs and how they all were so much more grown up at the end. Polly, she's just so sweet. And I also really love how Louisa May Alcott (the author) will every now and then (it's pretty infrequent) pause in the story and direct a paragraph to "my readers".