Eight Cousins (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1875; vuoden 2013 painos)

I think this may be my favorite Alcott book. I love the interactions between the cousin and their distinct personalities. Beautiful book.

his is a morality tale, showing young girls of the late 19th century what virtue looks like.

And while many of the lessons remain true today – kindness, sacrifice, avoiding bad company and harmful habits like smoking – I struggled with this book.

The heroine Rose is so darn good she sets my teeth on edge. I sincerely thought about abandoning this, but then read the Wikipedia entry and learned that this book was considered quite feminist in its day for encouraging comfortable clothing and outdoor exercise as well as a wealthy young lady wanting to have an occupation to fall back on– which, tear my hair out - turned out to be housekeeping.

I'm glad to have read it as the only other Alcott I've read was Little Women and, from my first reading of it in 5th grade, I was firmly on Team Jo.

This book is not for the rebels at heart. ( )

Lovely as always. I read and reread this so many times that, despite not having looked at it in probably 20 or 30 years, I remembered most of the events as they came up. Of course, that's helped by the fact that it's utterly predictable - Rose really doesn't go in for twists. It's a sweet story; the style is old-fashioned (not unexpectedly - originally published in 1875), but unlike several other books I've read recently, Alcott doesn't obtrude herself into the story excessively. The characters are solid, the language slightly odd but not very, the situations quite familiar - people don't change all that much - and while there is a strong moral message, it's transmitted through and by the characters, rather than by straight preaching. Glad I read it again, I won't wait as long next time. ( )

Sweet story of an orphan with seven cousins being taken care of by her uncle. He encourages her to run, jump and play; not to be lady like. ( )

This was sweet, but nostalgia aside, not exciting enough for me to give it more than a 3 (sorry, Louisa!)

It was a tantalizing mix of terribly old-fashioned attitudes (often without the author/characters realising that, and why should they, they were the prevailing attitudes at the time and for a good deal longer) and more modern approaches (which is the apparent point of the book). Unfortunately, very little happened ... I expect more of a compelling through-line in a novel, rather than this gentle depictions of uneventful picnics, dinners, chats, lessons, etc.

Good as comfort reading if you're sad/sick/tired, but otherwise you will likely be more engaged elsewhere.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )