i hope new fans of little women look back upon the history of louisa and learn to respect the story of the marches more. eg. stop pitting jo and amy against one another. these characters were based on REAL sisters who loved each other. be for real!!!!!

love to louisa. breadwinner !

The moral of this story is that selfish and bad fathers have the full ability ruin a child's entire life.

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(Also that mercury poisoning is awful & that's a tragedy that could have been avoided for so many people).
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On the other hand, I admire Louisa more than I can say. Louisa led a good life, if a hard one, despite her father's terrible raising and selfish way. And there is much to learn from her selflessness, especially compared to the people who took advantage of it. You have to wonder what she deleted from her history when she edited her papers and letters before her death, and you have to wonder how her interactions with her family truly were, as we can never know how they actually responded to her generosity and care in the moment. Clearly there was love from both sides, but you can also see that Louisa so often put herself last that she may have been too self-deprecating to record any praise. Louisa May Alcott's endless commitments to her family and to the world around her went unrewarded by those she helped but there is no doubt she sacrificed and worked hard for them (and for total strangers in wartime and the poor and sick around her), the true marker of love.

Little Women has always been a favorite, and the author someone I loved, but I never knew that much about her. With my trip to Boston coming up (and a visit to Orchard House) I wanted to finally read this out of my TBR. This was a great read! It feels nothing like a Juvenile biography, is in depth and well researched it seems to me. The writing doesn't condescend & she doesn't shy away from the hardest parts of Louisa's life. While many complaints I've seen in reviews say that the beginning focuses too much on her parents, I have to say two things: 1. You can't truly know a person without knowing her parents. This is all the more true for Louisa as Bronson Alcott, who seems so unsuccessful to me from this reading, even managed to overshadow her own DEATH. His idealism made him selfish and lazy when his family needed him most and this is what shaped Louisa's entire life and philosophy. 2.The beginning was incredibly interesting. It didn't feel dense with unimportant details. Louisa was the focus even when telling her parents story.

The end of this story was the saddest. I truly hoped to find out that, at the very least, she would have her family around her as she died. But no, Bronson, one last time, stole the show. Shame on the reporters of her death as well. Louisa was the true success in her family and it says much that I read Little Women and knew of Louisa, admiring her work, for years before I even heard Bronson's name. No longer is she "Bronson Alcott's Daughter"-- he is simply "Louisa May Alcott's Father".

This is a sad and bleak book, passed on to me by a friend.

I wrote, "Making do and staying together" then crossed out staying together. Not always.

Louisa's pen name Tribulation Periwinkle made me smile.

A quick, albeit depressing, look at Louisa May Alcott's unconventional life. Prior to reading this biography I knew nothing about Louisa's life. I had of course read Little Women many times and count it as a childhood favorite, but that is where my association with the author ended. It was interesting to learn about how unique her upbringing was, and how that shaped her into the woman who would do anything for her family, even at the detriment to her own health and ambitions. Dirt poor from a young age, Louisa knew what it was like to want more. She vowed that when she was older she would become a successful writer and no one would ever want for anything again. She slowly started having short stories published and a few small books, but when Little Women hit the market, she finally found her fame and success. She modeled the March sisters after her and her three sisters and she of course was the spitfire, Jo. As she promised no one in her family lacked for anything and Louisa worked herself to the bone and to an early grave trying to maintain that promise. It's sad that she never really seemed to do much for herself. An enlightening read.

I have read other more extensive biographies of L.M. Alcott but I enjoyed and appreciated this books’ ability to present enough information for the reader to make up their own minds about why Alcott’s family made the choices they did without getting bogged down with too much detail. A very enjoyable read for Alcott fans

LITTLE WOMEN is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it numerous times, but I've never known much about its author's real life. I was thrilled, then, to get SCRIBBLES, SORROWS, AND RUSSET LEATHER BOOTS from the publisher. With its charming middle-grade cover, I figured it would offer a good overview of Alcott's life, written at a level appropriate for junior high school kids and younger. I was right about the overview. Rosenberg offers an in-depth and intimate look at Alcott's experiences as a daughter, a sister, an author, a breadwinner, a suffragette, and more. Much of the material is bleak and dark. Rosenberg doesn't shy away from or gloss over these elements, making the book feel like it's most suited to an older audience, despite its juvenile appearance. The author doesn't talk down to her audience (although certain information is repeated more than necessary), but the text is still very readable. Despite its hefty 405 pages, it reads pretty fast. I found it fascinating. Also, quite sad and depressing. I came away from the book with new knowledge about Louisa May Alcott and with a new appreciation for her genius, duty, generosity, humility, and perserverance. I'll gladly read more about her very interesting life.

If I could, I would give this book 3 1/2 stars; since I can't, I'm rounding up.