An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

Blurb

It was first serialised in the Merry’s Museum magazine between July and August in 1869 and consisted of only six chapters. For the finished product, however, Alcott continued the story from the chapter “Six Years Afterwards” and so it ended up with nineteen chapters in all. The book revolves around Polly Milton, the old-fashioned girl who titles the story. Polly visits her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw in the city and is overwhelmed by the fashionable and urban life they live–but also left out because of her “countrified” manners and outdated clothes.

Review

I was really excited to read this because I love Little Women and the sequels and have always wanted to read more books by Alcott. The version of the book that I bought was a big mistake though. Sadly I got a printed by Amazon edition and it was bizarre to say the least. The book contained weird pictures that didn’t entirely relate to the story and they were all badly pixelated. The layout of the book was also terrible which made the book difficult to read and I found myself wondering who random people were because new names had suddenly appeared but then realised that yet again it was just a wrong name for one of the characters. 

Anyway, ignoring all the terrible faults with the publishing I really enjoyed this little story of the adorable Polly. The story begins with Polly visiting her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw and her family. Fanny lives in the city and is fashionable and surrounded by wealthy and fashionable friends. These friends find Polly countrified and old fashioned and this also means that poor Polly feels left out at times. However, Polly soon makes an impression on the Shaw family. 

The Shaw family comprises Mr and Mrs Shaw, Grandma, Maud, Tom and of course Fanny. Each of these characters need some sort of help and comfort and little Polly in her own way sees this and helps them. 

As the book goes on we see Polly getting older and eventually moving to the city herself and we see her struggles, her loneliness and isolation. However, we also see her grow, we see her learn and appreciate every little thing around her. Polly shows us that there are things to be thankful for everywhere even things we don’t normally consider or even think about Polly considers them and appreciates them. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book but for me it was nowhere near as good as Little Women and it just felt less sophisticated in the way it was written than Little Women and the sequels. Whether it is because the book was originally written in a serialised format I don’t know but I didn’t gel with the writing as I usually do. However, I still give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

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About the author

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels.

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