Review of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women"

Stupidity Is Painful

I finally finished reading "Little Women" a few days ago and I enjoyed it. I always liked all three of the movie versions that I've seen. They aren't exactly "Raiders Of The Lost Ark", but I've always loved each version of this sentimental old story. I used to watch them and for the longest while never wondered if there was a book that the original story came from—sometimes I'm just perfectly dense, considering that I am a Book Person!

So, here it comes round that I've finally read the book and then I realize I've only read half the goddamn book! Or one of the two books—it seems that there is a "part two" of "Little Women"—a sequel that apparently never had a title of its own. In fact, the version from my library that I just read is the version as it was first published and the story line ends much earlier than it does in the movies. That's because the movies combined parts one and two, but I never knew it because I never even knew about there being ONE book! So how would I know that there were TWO books? Shit! Stupidity is painful, once you know you've got it.

What Parts Are What?

Now that I know about this, it's not clear yet what to do. My library doesn't have the part two. I don't want to buy the unread book—half a book?—but if I were to buy one, would I get part one or part two or parts one and two? It strikes me that the movie industry has ended up treating this classic book with more respect than the book industry has, and that's something that doesn't happen often. I found all the chapters of "part two" on the Internet and I could read it there chapter by slow chapter if I was so inclined. Maybe I will, but I still wonder how things got so screwed up concerning this classic story.

"Literature be damned, go see the movie!" someone must have cried a long time ago. And that's how it went, and it hasn't changed much yet, at least with this particular book.

I'll try to copy and read those chapters from the Internet site, but, you know, if I can't carry a book with me to bed, to the bathroom, to doctors' waiting rooms, to the park, and numerous other locations, I'm not sure that's a book that will get read this year!

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