Reviews with content warning for Death - Good Wives

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Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

11 reviews

uselesspirateraven's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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fr_eddie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

Quando la misoginia è scritta da una donna fa ancora più male. Louisa mi dispiace che tu abbia dovuto vivere in questo periodo storico💔

Libro interessante e scorrevole, sulle quattro sorelle March, che in questo libro crescono e coltivano i propri interessi, imparando a essere delle persone originali e uniche. Scherzetto! Imparano a essere madri brave e sagge e sempre rispettose e sottomesse al marito e ai figli. Yippie do.

Fa onestamente male vedere come le sorelle cambino e come nel finale ammettano che la realtà non è come avevano desiderato ma uh guarda è ancora più bella perché sono una moglie e ho trovato il mio unico ruolo nella vita. Meg che amava le cose sfarzose quando fa un grande acquisto personale deve sentirsi in colpa e portarlo indietro per comprare il soprabito al marito; Jo che voleva essere una scrittrice poi reputa questo suo desiderio "egoista" e decide di avere un'accademia per ragazzi ma lei farà solo da balia eh ovviamente le donne mica possono insegnare; Amy che amava disegnare abbandona la sua arte per un improbabile futuro, come Jo, e non è che sposa qualcuno che la ama, ma qualcuno che pensa "Dell'apparente tradimento si scusò con sé stesso pensando che una sorella di Jo era quasi la stessa cosa che Jo, e che di nessun'altra donna gli sarebbe stato possibile innamorarsi così presto e così bene" ceh no fra fa schifo non è romantico. E Beth muore. Questo è il suo personaggio per l'intero libro, nonostante nel prequel avesse almeno qualche caratteristica, come suonare il piano. No, qui fa la gentile e poi muore. Daje Louisa.

Retorica davvero disgustosa e triste, che mi ha fatto chiudere il libro per sospirare, ma almeno lo stile è scorrevole e dolce. Evitiamo di parlare dei personaggi per favore. Laurence che prima si appiccica a merda a Jo, che non lo vuole, arrivando a dire frasi del tipo "Dimmi di sì , facci felici tutti. Ti supplico, Jo", e poi sposa la sorella per il motivo sopracitato. Io urlo. Anche se Jo slay che sta sotto a un bear (nel senso etero del termine).

Lo consiglierei? No. Leggetevi "Piccole donne" e ignorate il resto, perché vedere personaggi così sinceri e pieni di vita che diventano solo moglie e madri sottomesse della famiglia, che hanno sempre torto e hanno bisogno di un uomo che le guidi e le insegni fa davvero male.

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iris_parsons's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

I didn’t particularly love it, but the writing was pretty and there were some important topics covered. I think I value continuous stories in books, which wasn’t this.

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_rowantree_'s review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rowy148's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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_tee_'s review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

i suppose my views on this book are heavily influenced by my feminist views, which caused me to dislike the book much more than little women. a lot of my opinions on this book were formed by the book’s stance on marriage and the role of women, forcing even the most ambitious characters to get married and have a family rather than pursuing their dreams, such as

jo deciding that writing for the newspaper is immoral as her stories are exciting and then giving up her writing dreams altogether to raise a lot of random boys,

and also amy giving up both her dreams of being an artist and a socialite to

go and marry laurie (who is only rebounding off of her older sister. yikes.)

something that made me love little women was the range of women it portrayed, from jo the ambitious writer to meg who wants to marry and have a family. i loved this detail as it showed how diverse women are, and did not portray the entire gender as just one being with the same actions and opinions, as some people believe. it also provided a little to learn from everybody (for me, the main three were jo’s ambition, amy’s confidence and beth’s selflessness). this seems totally lost in this book, as, by the end, they all seem to have become a hive mind

(except for beth… who is dead)

who believe that marriage and children are a woman’s only purpose in life. this is not helped by the fact that the book seems to preach that a woman’s true desire is to serve her husband, and that the source of any unhappiness she may face is that she is not married

(take jo stopping grieving as heavily once the professor appears).

combine this with the fact that all their ambitions have been taken away from them, and all you get is a generally outdated and somewhat boring book that just parrots ugly messages we all heard time and time before.

although the original felt preachy at times, the morals were understandable, such as helping the poor and not being selfish, but this books lacks this fact, and just spouts sexist rhetoric about marriage and families. take the chapter where

meg’s husband doesn’t come home at nights to hang around at his friend’s house and works all day, leaving meg to struggle with the children and housework. this, of course, is blamed on the fact that meg wasnt finding time in the day (whilst she was caring for babies) to look after her husband and give him attention, rather john being blamed for not caring for his children.

what is this supposed to mean? that a woman should learn to be in three places at once? it certainly isnt not to have children as one of the key messages of this book is that babies will solve all your problems, women.

i was genuinely surprised by this messaging as a section at the beginning of my book explains the author, louisa may alcott’s stance on marriage (which is that she enjoys freedom to much to find a husband) and her wildly feminist views for the time. i suppose she may have just been writing for the general 1800s audience?

tldr: i am glad that little women and good wives are usually sold as separate books from where i’m from, as some lucky souls may be able to steer clear from the obscenely sexist rhetoric portrayed in this book and just read the original.

(just thought i should mention that there’s weirdly some stereotypes about jewish people in one scene? a jewish character is described as a having a large nose quite a few times)

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ishouldbereading's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

The worse and, dare I say unnecessary, sequel of Little women takes place after few years, so obviously the characters changed. However, I think that most of the girls changed so much that it didn't make sense to me. Most of the marriages were a disaster in my opinion and the second half of the book is concentrating only on marriages and relationships, which is not a bad thing per se, but seems odd after the first book and first half of the second book.

In my opinion Laurie loved Jo and Amy was his only choice, he didn't truly love her. And if Jo's argument for not marrying Laurie was that she never wanted to marry, how come the first time she feels alone her thoughts go to marriage? Maybe if she waited she would have wanted to marry Laurie, which would be far better than marrying that professor. I felt sick while reading the part when they got together

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