March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women

Written by Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado and Jane Smiley

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

For the 150th anniversary of the publication of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley explore their strong lifelong personal engagement with Alcott's novel-what it has meant to them and why it still matters. Each takes as her subject one of the four March sisters, reflecting on their stories and what they have to teach us about life. Kate Bolick finds parallels in oldest sister Meg's brush with glamour at the Moffats' ball and her own complicated relationship with clothes. Jenny Zhang confesses to liking Jo least among the sisters when she first read the novel as a girl, uncomfortable in finding so much of herself in a character she feared was too unfeminine. Carmen Maria Machado writes about the real-life tragedy of Lizzie Alcott, the inspiration for third sister Beth, and the horror story that can result from not being the author of your own life's narrative. And Jane Smiley rehabilitates the reputation of youngest sister Amy, whom she sees as a modern feminist role model for those of us who are, well, not like the fiery Jo. These four voices come together to form a deep, funny, far-ranging meditation on the power of great literature to shape our lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Sep 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781541433441

Kate Bolick

Kate Bolick’s first book, the bestselling Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own, was a New York Times Notable Book. A contributing editor for The Atlantic, Bolick writes for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Vogue, and hosts “Touchstones at The Mount,” an annual interview series at Edith Wharton’s country estate, in Lenox, Massachusetts. Previously, she was executive editor of Domino and a columnist for The Boston Globe.

Reviews for March Sisters

[VanessArteYvalu · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Es un libro de ensayos en los que cada una de las escritores escribe acerca de una de las hermanas March y reflexiona sobre estos personajes, sus experiencias en los libros, así como algunas d e las vivencias personales que tuvieron las hermanas de Luisa May Alcott en quienes fueron basadas las hermanas March. Hay unos ensayos más personales, otros donde se habla mucho más del personaje literario vs la persona en la vida real. Me pareció interesante y entretenido, me hizo reflexionar acerca de algunos temas que allí se tratan , como el papel de la mujer históricamente, el cómo a través de la ficción podemos construir realidades alternativas con ciertos fines, y sobre todo, me hizo desear releer Mujercitas y reflexionar acerca de mis propias opiniones, ahora de adulta, sobre las hermanas March.

[drfuriosa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting examination of each of the March sisters. The chapters on Meg and Jo are interesting enough, but the chapters on Beth and Amy are innovative and provoking.