Little Women. Let’s Get Into It.

I loved that book so much, but my love was always tempered with a whiff of nausea at Marmee.

Fucking Marmee.

As someone with a preachy, busybody, do-goody, hard-working mom myself, I hated her so hard, and I was shocked that the four amazing cool wonderful sisters, each amazing and cool and wonderful in their own way (seriously, I was having constant debates with myself which one I loved best) didn't band together and poison her at a family meal or "accidentally" drop an improvised theatre prop on her head.

Although, as a one of four siblings, all of us enthralled by our bossy beautiful religious mom, I got it. It is so easy to love and hate a problematic parent. Ugh that whole chapter where she lectures Jo on controlling her anger. Go jump in an ice lake, Marmee. And when she gives them those sermon books or whatever they were for Christmas? Ughghgh.

Oh yes, Little Women. Well, Beth dies, so there's that to deal with. I can't remember how I knew she died, because it wasn't spelled out. Also, it was Marmee's fault, right? right??? She emotionally blackmailed the girls into constant charity visits of the poor German family, who were probably sick of her interfering, and that's where Beth got ill. How could Marmee live with herself? How could Jo let her live with herself?

Sometime ago I stumbled on a tweet which said Jo was trans, because she cut her hair and wrote books and liked to run around, and apparently only men should do those kind of things? I had to fetch my old eyes from the back of the room where they had had rolled out of my head, but it's nice that new generations can find ways to relate to old stories.

Speaking of new and old, I liked the Gerwig movie more than the book. Yes. Obviously as a movie it couldn't portray the rich inner creative life of the girls, but it gave less of Marmee, and more of Amy, so that's always a good thing.