In Anna Todd's updated retelling of Little Women, the
Marches are
known as the Springs, but the core characteristics of what
made the
March girls so beloved are still there. Meg, now working at
a makeup
counter, still pines after things she can't have; Jo is
still the high-
spirited writer also trying to pass her drivers test; Beth
is an
accomplished cook and shys away from the spotlight; and Amy
sticks
her little nose in everyone's business. The Springs live on
Fort Cypress,
a military base near New Orleans, and their father is
deployed overseas.
Their rich neighbors, the Lawrences, live next door, and Jo is
immediately drawn to the mysterious Laurie. When their
mother, who
the girls affectionately call by her first name, Meredith,
has to fly to a
hospital in Germany after their father is wounded, the
Spring girls have
to endure on their own, all the while, hoping to hear good
news from
their mother...
REVIEW: A nice, contemporary retelling of a beloved classic!
THE
SPRING GIRLS by Anna Todd brings Little Women into the 21st
century.
As with the novel that inspired it, sisterhood is the
driving force
throughout the entire novel. It's obvious, even when they
are bickering
or disappointed, this family will fight for each other's
safety and
happiness. There are a few things that didn't quite update
well—Meg as
promiscuous rather than prim, and Meredith as slowly
unraveling rather
than calm and collected. Additionally, Amy didn't have much
to do until
the end of the book, and her revelations didn't quite work
in the scope
of the story. However, Jo's desire to get out of their
small town while
grappling with her budding relationship with Laurie is just
as intriguing
as any you'd find in a successful YA novel, and Beth as a
painfully shy
introvert works well in this retelling. Overall, THE SPRING
GIRLS is a
warm, funny, exciting updated version that invokes the
spirit of Louisa
May Alcott's original.
The Spring Girls—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—are a force of
nature on the New Orleans military base where they live. As
different as they are, with their father on tour in Iraq and
their mother hiding something, their fears are very much the
same. Struggling to build lives they can be proud of and
that will lift them out of their humble station in life, one
year will determine all that their futures can become.
The oldest, Meg, will be an officer’s wife and enter
military society like so many of the women she admires. If
her passion—and her reputation—don’t derail her.
Beth, the workhorse of the family, is afraid to leave the
house, is afraid she’ll never figure out who she really
is.
Jo just wants out. Wishing she could skip to graduation, she
dreams of a life in New York City and a career in journalism
where she can impact the world. Nothing can stop her—not
even love.
And Amy, the youngest, is watching all her sisters, learning
from how they handle themselves. For better or worse.
With plenty of sass, romance, and drama, The Spring
Girls revisits Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little
Women, and brings its themes of love, war, class,
adolescence, and family into the language of the
twenty-first century.
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