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A review by toggle_fow
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
4.0
The Bachelorette: Eight Cousins Edition
This book picks up when Rose is twenty years old, returning home after traveling the world with her uncle. IMMEDIATELY there is nothing on anyone's mind but who she will marry. Rose declares that she will NOT marry, and has taken up philanthropy as her honorable profession.
Everybody has a private chuckle over this, which is kind of strange in a meta sense. I, as the reader, am annoyed at everybody who laughs at Rose. She can do what she wants! Not every girl has to marry! But also, this is an entire book about getting married. Just look at the cover of this book. My coworker literally asked me if it was a romance novel. So like, what is the truth?
Also, philanthropy as a profession? I have to laugh.
The other weird thing we have to note is that the Phebe situation, which started off a little odd in the first book, bursts forth in profusions of oddity here. In the first book it was like, We're friends! Sisters, even! Only I sit here and talk all day following you around while you do all the housework! That's what sisters do, right?
Rose and Phebe's relationship really resembles nothing more than Becky and Sara from A Little Princess. It's just so charming and glorious, so long as one remains the main character and the other her devoted servant. As soon as one of the cousins falls in love with Phebe, then it's all WHAT AN UNGRATEFUL LITTLE UPSTART. SHE DOESN'T KNOW HER PLACE. Terrifying, but I guess that's how things were in 1860?
Anyway, the whole crux of the matter is quickly whittled down to the question of MAC VS. CHARLIE, the choice all eligible young heiresses must eventually face. I like how her uncle explicitly says that first cousins marrying is weird, but then everyone in the entire rest of the book just shrugs and moves on. What's a few birth defects as long as we get to keep the cash in the family, after all? I still have no idea what her father even did to make his fortune.
Charlie is a charming loser, who essentially gets struck down by God for his vices. Mac is the nerd who gets the girl. I can't complain, because in my opinion Mac is awesome. It still feels a little strange, though. I'm not sure Rose could have loved Mac while Charlie was still alive, so it's all very convenient that he gets blitzed right off.
Imagine if he lived to be 55 as a dissolute alcoholic. Awkward.
This book picks up when Rose is twenty years old, returning home after traveling the world with her uncle. IMMEDIATELY there is nothing on anyone's mind but who she will marry. Rose declares that she will NOT marry, and has taken up philanthropy as her honorable profession.
Everybody has a private chuckle over this, which is kind of strange in a meta sense. I, as the reader, am annoyed at everybody who laughs at Rose. She can do what she wants! Not every girl has to marry! But also, this is an entire book about getting married. Just look at the cover of this book. My coworker literally asked me if it was a romance novel. So like, what is the truth?
Also, philanthropy as a profession? I have to laugh.
The other weird thing we have to note is that the Phebe situation, which started off a little odd in the first book, bursts forth in profusions of oddity here. In the first book it was like, We're friends! Sisters, even! Only I sit here and talk all day following you around while you do all the housework! That's what sisters do, right?
Rose and Phebe's relationship really resembles nothing more than Becky and Sara from A Little Princess. It's just so charming and glorious, so long as one remains the main character and the other her devoted servant. As soon as one of the cousins falls in love with Phebe, then it's all WHAT AN UNGRATEFUL LITTLE UPSTART. SHE DOESN'T KNOW HER PLACE. Terrifying, but I guess that's how things were in 1860?
Anyway, the whole crux of the matter is quickly whittled down to the question of MAC VS. CHARLIE, the choice all eligible young heiresses must eventually face. I like how her uncle explicitly says that first cousins marrying is weird, but then everyone in the entire rest of the book just shrugs and moves on. What's a few birth defects as long as we get to keep the cash in the family, after all? I still have no idea what her father even did to make his fortune.
Charlie is a charming loser, who essentially gets struck down by God for his vices. Mac is the nerd who gets the girl. I can't complain, because in my opinion Mac is awesome. It still feels a little strange, though. I'm not sure Rose could have loved Mac while Charlie was still alive, so it's all very convenient that he gets blitzed right off.
Imagine if he lived to be 55 as a dissolute alcoholic. Awkward.