tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post6939193222273942790..comments2024-03-26T03:46:04.937-07:00Comments on Books in Northport: Little Women: The Book and the MovieP. J. Grathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-62395694598406671602020-01-17T10:24:05.848-08:002020-01-17T10:24:05.848-08:00Laurie and Ellen, what a wonderful surprise to fin...Laurie and Ellen, what a wonderful surprise to find your comments in my e-mail this morning and to be able to hit 'publish' on both of them! Real comments from real people (i.e., not spam)! Laurie, the perspectives you shared from viewers and readers from other countries fascinated me. And Ellen, well, of course you would be Jo! So glad you liked yourself in this new movie version! Love to you both --P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-84192442086987666042020-01-17T05:05:08.709-08:002020-01-17T05:05:08.709-08:00Pamela, I too was Jo, of course. We have a hardcov...Pamela, I too was Jo, of course. We have a hardcover version of the book from my mom's childhood. I read it over and over, immersed, as you say in the predictable but so very real world. My brother and sister and sisters in law saw the movie after Christmas. We all loved it--and we're a disparate crowd. Visually I found it fascinating as you did. We were all a little confused by the tine shifts at first, though three of us were familiar with the book. We arrived five or ten minutes late, so that may have been why. I've never seen another movie version but I thought as I watched, this will be the one I stick with.<br />--EllenEllen A,https://www.blogger.com/profile/02637016161962742215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-58064713982423909242020-01-16T18:57:05.627-08:002020-01-16T18:57:05.627-08:00Pamela, I was delighted to find this commentary on...Pamela, I was delighted to find this commentary on Little Women this evening! I just saw the movie on Sunday in unusual company: two young Syrian friends, 17 and 19, who've been in this country for three years whose language skills are good but not excellent, and an older woman who is, like me, a friend of their family. Carol and I both said, "Hmmmmm ... it's been so long since I read the book. Maybe it's time to give it another look-see." The young women not only had never read it, but had a hard time following (a) the language and (b) the non-chronological order. They loved the movie anyway, felt they mostly understood it in spite of the unfamiliar manners, expectations for women, clothing, time period, family structures, war references, European sojourns, etc. They cried a lot, often in the same spots that "got" me. Their big question when it was over was, "What did Beth die of?" and they thought that scarlet fever was what had left their dad with a withered leg when he was small. They like movies that show family relationships and faithfulness (their first one in this country was The Greatest Showman, and told me at the time that that's why they wanted to see it).<br /><br />I don't recall identifying or not identifying with Jo myself, and can't remember how old I was when I read the book, but I'm guessing I was not yet a teen at the time. I can say that a friend recently told me that she only liked the character Jo, that all the other sisters "seemed like Caspar Milquetoast." In the movie they were fleshed out into much more believable characters than that, of course!<br /><br />I recently heard a This American Life episode on which a Pakistani American woman who'd been essentially kidnapped and imprisoned by family on a visit to Pakistan as a teen to mold her into a good wife, mentioned she had one book, Little Women, which someone had smuggled to her. She separated it - literally - into chapters to lessen the risk of having it taken from her, and read them over and over and over again through all the punishments and pain she experienced. She finally escaped. She still uses the text to guide her in her life decisions. I'm pretty sure SHE identified with Jo!<br /><br />Love always, <br />LaurieLaurienoreply@blogger.com