Review by Choice Review
In this book (and PBS program by the same name), Reisen retells the familiar story of Alcott's progress from poverty to fame and fortune, with special emphasis on the struggles of her "pathetic family": her mother's difficult pregnancies (miscarriages, stillbirth), Louisa's and her mother's black moods, the family's role as poor relations of wealthy Bostonians, their various ill-paid domestic jobs (Louisa worked as servant, seamstress, and nurse). These travails led to Louisa's vow to be "rich, famous, and happy" before she died. Feminists will appreciate Reisen's observation that in Alcott's time a prosperous marriage and "an income producing husband" were "a woman's only routes to economic security" since it was "practically impossible" for an "independent woman to earn enough for even subsistence level survival." Once Little Women brought fame and economic security, Louisa was able to provide for a comfortable life for her family and contribute to social reforms. An admirer of Emerson and Thoreau, Louisa eventually turned to Buddhism as an "endless life of helpful change." Debilitating disease, long attributed to mercury poisoning, marred Louisa's last years; Reisen provides a new diagnosis, lupus, based on a 2001 paper. Included are excerpts from a hitherto unpublished 1975 interview of Louisa's 96-year-old niece (May's daughter). Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. J. J. Benardete New School
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Reisen's love for Little Women and curiosity about the author became a grand obsession, inspiring her to write the screenplay for the first Alcott documentary and this uniquely vital and dramatic biography. Reisen's cinematic eye brings Louisa to whirling life as a coltish, fearless girl of explosive exuberance and sharp intellect, while she portrays Louisa's parents with compassion and criticism: blue-blooded Abigail, continually pregnant, impossibly burdened, yet resilient and innovative; utopian Bronson, famous for his progressive ideas, infamous for his incompetence. Alcott inherited her mother's pragmatism and courage and a touch of her father's vision and madness and bravely struggled through a crazy-quilt childhood of wretched poverty and social privilege their closest friends were the luminaries Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau, whom Alcott loved. She supported the family, laboring as a laundress, teaching, and serving as an army nurse in the Civil War while training herself as a businesswoman as well as a fast, versatile pen for hire. Reisen analyzes Louisa's great pleasure in writing lucrative pulp fiction, her sacrifices, adventures, and brilliant career. Here, finally, is Alcott whole, a trailblazing woman grasping freedom in a time of sexual inequality and war, a survivor of cruel tragedies, a quintessential American writer. Reisen's magnificent biography will be in high demand when PBS premieres her American Masters documentary.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
If Beth, Meg, Amy, and Jo are forever fixed in your memory, you'll be fascinated by this well-researched and well-written biography of the author of Little Women. But Reisen is only an adequate reader of her own work. She has a lovely low-pitched voice, but a narrow vocal range and little ability to provide dramatic energy or diversity to her narrative and characters. This diminishes the listener's emotional connection to members of the Alcott family and the famous transcendentalists and feminists who peopled Louisa's very turbulent life. A Holt hardcover (Reviews, July 20). (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Public television writer and producer Reisen's biography is the result of a deeply held, lifelong affection for Louisa May Alcott; it's a substantial by-product of the research undertaken to write and produce a documentary film biography of the same title to air December 2009 as part of the PBS "American Masters" series. Reisen's writing is lively and appealing. She analyzes Alcott's best-known works-Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's Boys-as well as Pauline's Passion and Punishment, Behind a Mask, and Perilous Play, the pulp fiction Alcott wrote anonymously or as A.M. Barnard. Drawing extensively from Alcott's journals and letters as well as those of her family members, Reisen portrays Alcott's life with precision and sympathy yet does not hide her flaws. This compelling biography allows readers to know Alcott and appreciate her as "her own best character." Verdict Highly recommended for Alcott fans as well as readers interested in American women writers and women's studies. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/09.]-Kathryn R. Bartelt, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A deliciously palatable biography of the iconic writer whose life was "as full of plot and character as any [she] invented." Inspired by research from her documentary of Alcott (18321888) for the PBS series American Masters, Reisen delivers an in-depth portrait of the spirited, sentimental, imaginative, realistic woman whose childhood vow was to "be rich, famous, and happy." Reisen draws extensively from Alcott's prodigious output of literary works, travel sketches, articles, journals and letters, as well as the recollections of her contemporaries. Born to bohemian intellectuals, the young Alcott grew into a moody, passionate girl much like her famous character, Jo March. Her parents kept the company of transcendental luminaries like Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller and Hawthorne, but experienced material poverty. The utopian nightmare of her father's experiment in communal living, her youngest sister's death and her older sister's engagement became defining events in Alcott's life, leaving her determined to shoulder family financial and household burdens. Under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard, Alcott churned out pulp-fiction thrillers, generating income and sating her thirst for adventure. She followed the phenomenal success of Little Women in 1868 with six other popular children's novels, but was tormented by a culture of celebrity and ill health until her death. Reisen deftly weaves the story of Alcott's life into the rich social, cultural and historical fabric of mid-19th-century New England. The author's insightful examination reveals Alcott as a compulsive writer who peppered her stories with external details and internal currents of her life; an ardent abolitionist who served as a Civil War army nurse; a self-espoused spinster who cherished her independence but harbored a schoolgirl romantic attachment to Thoreau and a midlife crush on a young Polish pianist; a thoroughly modern feminist who wrote about the power struggle between the sexes and championed women's suffrage; and a middle-aged woman who relied on opiates to cope with her failing health. An absorbing portrait of the protean author whose "life was no children's book." Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
