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Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (John MacRae Books), by Harriet Reisen
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A vivid, energetic account of the life of Louisa May Alcott, whose work has delighted millions of readers
Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcott’s life: the effect of her father’s self-indulgent utopian schemes; her family’s chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprootings; her experience as a nurse in the Civil War; the loss of her health and frequent recourse to opiates in search of relief from migraines, insomnia, and symptomatic pain. Stories and details culled from Alcott’s journals; her equally rich letters to family, friends, publishers, and admiring readers; and the correspondence, journals, and recollections of her family, friends, and famous contemporaries provide the basis for this lively account of the author’s classic rags-to-riches tale.
Alcott would become the equivalent of a multimillionaire in her lifetime based on the astounding sales of her books, leaving contemporaries like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Henry James in the dust. This biography explores Alcott’s life in the context of her works, all of which are to some extent autobiographical. A fresh, modern take on this remarkable and prolific writer, who secretly authored pulp fiction, harbored radical abolitionist views, and completed heroic service as a Civil War nurse, Louisa May Alcott is in the end also the story of how the all-time beloved American classic Little Women came to be. This revelatory portrait will present the popular author as she was and as she has never been seen before.
- Sales Rank: #1179930 in Books
- Published on: 2009-10-27
- Released on: 2009-10-27
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.54" h x 1.28" w x 6.53" l, 1.40 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 384 pages
From Publishers Weekly
SignatureReviewed by Brenda WineappleHailed as the first complete biography of Louisa May Alcott despite the fine previous work of Madeline Stern and Martha Saxton, Harriet Reisen's Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women does valiantly portray the beloved author as a stalwart woman whose life, as Reisen succinctly puts it, was no children's book. The daughter of impecunious transcendentalist Bronson Alcott and long-suffering Abigail May, as a girl Louisa Alcott watched her father preach esoteric uplift while practicing the penury that impoverished the family. Bronson's redeeming trait, Reisen speculates, may have been temporary insanity. The sadder case was Alcott's mother—the model for Marmee in Little Women—an intelligent woman harnessed to a man in search of the ineffable and, on occasion, young female acolytes. Louisa appointed herself the Golden Goose of these needy nurturers. Churning out what Reisen calls the chick-lit of its day to provide her mother and sisters the material comforts she never had, Alcott also used her imagination, according to Reisen, to escape the confines of ordinary life, although for Bronson Alcott's daughter, ordinary life was not all that ordinary; Reisen calculates that the family moved at least 30 times by Alcott's 20s. The ordeals of childhood were transmuted into rich literary endowments, Reisen explains. Alcott also wrote to earn parental approval; no longer was she a tomboy with a temper, though a careful reader can detect the anger beneath the surface of her most placid stories. Yet there's something else unexplored here: by converting a childhood of raw apples, cold-water baths and ceaseless sibling rivalry into the stories and novels that supported her family, she also kept that family forever dependent on her. In this companion to an upcoming PBS documentary on Alcott, Reisen too often interprets Alcott's life through her work, as if Alcott did not transmute experience into art after all. Reisen thus sprinkles her book with must have beens (she must have felt banished, the book must have struck a chord) and then plays the mental illness card once more: Was Louisa Alcott, like so many artists, manic-depressive (bipolar)? Yet Reisen's rich empathy for Alcott never falters and her chronicle of Alcott's exhausting attempt, as one friend remarked, to fill vacant niches in all things, whether in her family or in the world of popular literature, is heart-rending. As Reisen notes, Alcott simply wore herself out. Devotees of Little Women may be shocked that its self-medicating, troubled creator was not a jolly J.K. Rowling, though likely many of them know this. What they may not realize is that the redoubtable Alcott, who chose to be a free spinster and to paddle my own canoe, was decidedly strong but, alas, never free. (Nov.)Brenda Wineapple is the author, most recently, of White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Knopf),which will be published by Anchor in paper.
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Review
“Every now and then, there appears a writer who has tracked a subject for so long through space and time that the resulting product ranks it superior to any of the facile interpretations or extended magazine articles that currently pass for biography. Such is the case with Harriet Reisen . . . . Ms. Reisen is a master storyteller. Chapters are never formulaic. With compassion and insight, she propels readers on to the next adventure, sacrifice, tragedy and triumph.”—Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, The Washington Times
“As Harriet Reisen's enchanting biography reminds us, Alcott patterned the March family on her own and Jo on herself . . . . [Her life] is richly examined in Ms. Reisen's full and vivid portrait.”—Melanie Kirkpatrick, The Wall Street Journal
“There may be better American novels, but Little Women surely ranks among the most cherished. . . . Fans will adore Harriet Reisen’s sympathetic biography Louisa May Alcott. With charming verve, she details Alcott’s remarkable if difficult life.”—USA Today
“A lively, engrossing portrait of Louisa May Alcott's life that will appeal to the legions of women who grew up worshipping the book . . . . [Alcott’s] spirit shines through in Reisen’s retelling.”—Meghan Barr, Associated Press
“Reisen’s lifelong fascination with Little Women and the woman who wrote it has produced an absorbing narrative, in many ways the best ever, of Alcott’s own life. . . . The utterly compelling force of Alcott’s personality has never been better described. I found the book compulsively readable; I couldn’t put it down.” —Robert Richardson, author of Emerson: The Mind on Fire and Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind
“Brilliantly researched. . . . Her biography will occupy an essential place on any Alcott bookshelf.” —John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father
“A beautifully written, significant, and fascinating work. Harriet Reisen does with this biography what Alcott did with her writing—gives us a memorable and inspiring gift full of humanity, heart, and soul.”—Winona Ryder, producer and star of Little Women (1994)
“[Reisen’s] story equals—and maybe bests—her beloved book about the lively March sisters.”—Lisa Shea, Elle Magazine
“This juicy bio is a page-turner.”—Good Housekeeping
“Drawing heavily on family letters and journals, Reisen’s intimate biography . . . is a moving and sympathetic look at the Alcotts and their extraordinary cultural mileu.”—Julia M. Klein, Obit Magazine
“Harriet Reisen puts 20 years of study into a highly readable story. She casts a revealing new light upon an ambitious woman who was very much like her literary alter ego.”—Joyce Saenz Harris, The Dallas Morning News
“Comprehensive and eminently readable. . . . At once sweeping and personal. . . Reisen’s devotion both to scholarship and Alcott herself makes the book truly an interesting and engaging read.”—Victoria Shouldis, Concord Monitor
About the Author
Harriet Reisen’s interest in Louisa May Alcott dates to her marathon reading of Alcott’s eight children’s novels during a rainy spell one childhood summer. Over the past twenty years, what began as an idea for a film biography of Alcott developed into a passion for the subject herself. A former fellow in screenwriting at the American Film Institute, Reisen has written dramatic and historical documentary scripts for PBS and HBO, and radio commentary for Morning Edition and Marketplace. She lives in Massachusetts.
Most helpful customer reviews
64 of 65 people found the following review helpful.
The Real Louisa May Alcott
By YA Librarian
Louisa May Alcott has always been a favorite author of mine. I have read a few biographies(years ago with the exception of Little Women Abroad, Alcott in Her Own Time) about her life and have read all of her books. So when this new biography came up I was interested but I wondered if anything knew could be written about the author that everyone seems to forget.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. As others have said it is an easy read, not weighed down with academic writing that makes one want to fall asleep. Yet it is obvious that the author has done her research.
The book starts out with a history of Abigail and Bronson's family history, how they meet and their early marriage. This sets the stage for the childhood that Louisa and her sisters will experience. The interesting thing about this book is that it describes Bronson's life but I found out more about Mrs. Alcott than I ever knew. Everyone neglects her and always focuses on Bronson which is a crime since she was the one who worked the hardest. For instance I was unaware that she had been left for long periods of time with the children while Bronson went off trying to make money. Nor did I know that she had so many miscarriages and nearly died as a result. Another thing that was interesting to me is that Louisa seemed more like her mother yet most biographers continue to say that Louisa was like her father.
The Real Louisa May Alcott is brought out in this book. The author does not sugarcoat things, she does not try to make Louisa into some Victorian model of womanhood(if that was even possible). What the author tries to do is explain who Louisa was faults and all. Those faults do not make Louisa bad, just human, like the rest of us.
Louisa was a rash, naughty child who was spanked for not sitting down properly at the dinner table. She would often hit her older sister and when Elizabeth was born she hated her. Louisa often confused her father with her outbursts and her rage. Abigail felt a kinship with her daughter because she shared the same faults. Yet despite her flaws Louisa was determined to make something of herself. She saw how her mother toiled, how her father lacked common sense, and she wanted to help her family. Louisa longed for nice things as everyone else and she wanted to erase the family debt.
The biography trails Louisa's life, her trials and her victories. While I have read all this before the author gave me new information. I have read about the Fruitlands experience but I cannot recall anyone mentioning Abigail's distrust or Mr. Lane. I remember descriptions of what happened but not the amount of detail that Ms. Reisen provides.
The book covers every aspect of Louisa's life. Her stint as a Civil War nurse, her trip abroad, the success of Little Women and so much more.
Yet even when she gained success she still wasn't happy. Louisa hid from her admirers and didn't seem to like them much. Louisa complained that her family seemed eager to take her money and she wondered when she would enjoy it. There are also some quotes from Lulu, May's daughter, which are insightful. Louisa seems to have showered Lulu with expensive dresses and toys(things she never received).
I enjoyed this book very much and I highly recommend it. I hope that with this book and the new documentary that Louisa May Alcott will be rediscovered for the amazing talent she was. She will no longer be remembered as just a childrens author who is constantly swept under the rug so authors like Dickens and Austen can be praised.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
---------Don't miss reading this wonderful book---------
By Judith Miller
This was a timely read for me. I visited Orchard House, the Alcott family home, a few years ago, and found the place surreal. It was easy to picture the family living there. I stood next to Louisa's writing table and learned that she had to become ambidextrous because she was sorely misusing the one hand. I admired her sister, May's room where the walls were filled with her drawings. After the tour, I purchased a small print of an owl that had been painted by May Alcott. I also bought a print of Orchard House. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and the two prints are in the room that I call my library. Finally, in a box of old books, that were recently given to me, I found a book containing five thrillers that had been written by the amazing Louisa May Alcott.
Well, along came THE WOMAN BEHIND LITTLE WOMEN by Harriet Reisen, and I was ready. The book is fascinating. I sincerely applaud the author for her excellent research. Although, this book has a lot of very detailed information, it held my interest.
Louisa's father, Bronson Alcott was an intellectual who became involved with the transcendental movement. He was a teacher, and had many different schools over the years, but they usually failed as his methods seemed too unorthodox to most people. His marriage to Abigail May produced 4 daughters. The family were constantly moving and Bronson often left his wife and children for months at a time fulfilling his intellectual pursuits. Mrs. Alcott, was left alone to care for her family. During the years, she experience five miscarriages. Of course, her health suffered, and she almost died during one miscarriage. Bronson was rarely there when she needed him most.
Louisa May Alcott, was the second of the daughters and we're told that she was a difficult and stubborn child. She was often disciplined by her father because she was too willful! Her life was spent in the company of some of the most famous men in New England. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne were all friends of the family. Over the years, those friends provided financial help to the Alcott's, as Bronson could never support his own family. Louisa's family spent most of their lives living on the good will and support of family and friends. Sometimes the family would be split up living in several different places and just waiting for a time that they could be together again. In later years, Louisa's success as a writer brought their dreams to fulfillment.
Writing a short review of this book is almost impossible and my words are only tidbits from the book. I came away with so much respect for Louisa! She worked hard for her entire life and when she finally received fame and fortune, she was surprised at the people who constantly sought her out for autographs and conversation. Her health was not good and it was peace and quiet that she sought and not scores of people wanting to meet and converse with her.
This book is a must read for the details of Louisa May Alcott's life! It also provides some interesting history of the Civil War. Louisa, herself worked in a hospital in Washington, D.C. nursing wounded soldiers. In fact, she contacted typhoid pneumonia and came close to dying from the experience.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Well-written, enjoyable read
By Debbie
This biography of Louisa May Alcott was a well-written, enjoyable read. Harriet Reisen gave a chronological account of the Alcott's lives while relating how the national events of the time effected them and how they influenced history (through their Transcendental movement, abolition movement, etc.). She also worked in many quotes taken from letters and the personal journals kept by each member of the family.
The first 87 pages were mainly about Louisa's parents (Abby and Bronson) and their friends. If you're interested in Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, and other famous Transcendentalists, you'll probably enjoy this section more than I did. I was continually exasperated with her parents and, while I saw the value of showing the influences Louisa grew up with and how they affected her writing, I didn't like her parents and wanted to get on to focusing on Louisa.
From page 88 to 302, Harriet Reisen focused on Louisa and, to a lesser degree, her sisters. This section was lively and very fun to read though Louisa didn't have a very easy life. I liked how Harriet Reisen let us see Louisa's faults as well as her strong points and how she tied Louisa's experiences to her books: Louisa would often take real life events and work them into fictional accounts.
The rest of the book was references and notes about the quotes and information. There were no pictures. I would have at least enjoyed a picture of Louisa.
There was no bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable biography to anyone who loves Louisa May Alcott's novels and wants to know more about her.
I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
Reviewed by Debbie from Different Time, Different Place
(differenttimedifferentplace. blogspot. com)
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