“Jack and Jill”, by Louisa May Alcott

Alcott, Louisa May. Jack and Jill. Boston: Little, Brown, 1928. Print.

This was another LibraryThing recommendation, and I was surprised to see that there was a Louisa May Alcott story that I had never read.  Little Women was not really a childhood favourite of mine – I might not have had a copy – but I had well-loved and well-worn copies of Eight Cousins and Under the Lilacs that I read regularly.

I don’t know whether it’s the fault of this book, or the fault of encountering it when I’m 42 instead of 12, but I found myself quite cynical about the book.  Everything in it is a total Alcott cliché, from the sledding accident that starts the plot moving, to the wholesome and loving friendships between the boys and girls, the bad boy who isn’t really bad, but just needs help to keep on the right track… I could go on and on.  In fact, I think I could cut-and-paste this book together out of bits of her others, and that just makes me sad because it starts to ruin the others too.

Oh well.  If you’re a complete-ist like me and love Alcott, go ahead and read it – you may be in a better mood for it than I was!