peanut club books

This is my favourite book of all time.

I think this book is pure joy – it’s simple and blissful and so homely. It tells the story of the coming of age of 4 sisters. The plot is not complicated, yet their various childhood adventures become your own and you grow up with them as they go from young girls to young women. It’s just so comforting to read. You know the feeling you have when you’re in front of a fire and you feel just the perfect amount of warmth on your cheeks and you just feel so comforted? That’s exactly the feeling I get when I read Little Women.

I love that it portrays womanhood and the independence & freedom of women. Each sister wants something different – either independence, a family life, a successful career or riches. Each make their living and their career in their own way, and each one is a freedom in its own way. The girls who want a simple family life are not diminished into ‘girly girls’, and the girls who want success and a career are not diminished into ‘tomboys’. They’re allowed to have the future they want.

I love that it teaches principles and values. Louisa uses her own Christian values to teach her readers of neighbourly love, being yourself and always chosing to be kind.

I love that it shows you the different facets of love – sisterly, motherly, fatherly, romantic, platonic, and the way you learn to accept or deny it in your life.

I love that it shows how difficult it is to grow up, to deal with change and losses that you weren’t expecting.

I love that this book is passed on from generation to generation – mothers read it to their daughters, daughters read it to their daughters and so on. I love that I have mum’s copy of the book, and I love that I could pass that on to my daughter (if I ever have kids lol). I love that it’s something that women can bond over.

I think something that really helps make this book feel so special is also the omniscient narrator – Louisa May Alcott speaks directly to the reader. She starts the chapters by saying she has some gossip to tell you about, or to trust her when she says that the girls were really that beautiful. It helps you feel so connected not only to the characters, but also the author herself.

Side note – I’m so studying with Louisa M Alcott in paradise.

One of the chapters is called ‘castle in the air’ – it’s the chapter where all the kids are together in a field, just enjoying the sun and talking. They discuss their castle in the air, their dream that it just hanging there, waiting for them to fly on. And if you know me at all, you’ll know I love anything about chasing your dreams – whether it’s called a castle in the air, a sueñito or simply a goal in life, I just love it.

Some things I’d be happy to do another post about, should the peanut club want to know more about –

• Great Gerwig’s 2019 film adaptation
• Why Jo’s final ending is not a contradiction
• The way childhood vs adulthood is portrayed

Oh, and one final thing: On Beth’s final visit to the beach, Jo and her compare all the sisters as birds. Jo is strong and untamed like a gull, Meg is a turtledove, to represent her love, Amy is a beautiful and lively lark, and Beth is a peep, a bird that stays close to the shore. I’d be curious to know what bird you’d consider yourselves as (and a seagull is too easy @dad!)