The Spring Girls
A Modern-Day Retelling of Little Women
-
-
3.5 • 43 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
Four sisters desperately seeking the blueprints to life—the modern-day retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women like only Anna Todd (After, Imagines) could do.
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Todd's contemporary update of Little Women is an entertaining take on Louisa May Alcott's beloved original. Meredith Spring lives on the Fort Cyprus military base in New Orleans with her four daughters: 19-year-old Meg, who dreams of marrying an army officer and escaping her less-than-glitzy home life; homeschooled Beth, who does her best to help her mother run the household; the passionate 16-year-old Jo, who has no interest in marriage and longs to travel the world and write searing pieces on social justice; and sweet-natured 12-year-old Amy, who looks to her sisters to shape the woman she will become. Their father, Frank, an army officer, is overseas for a year in Mosul, and a distinct pall hangs over the home as they worry for his safety; the girls are also concerned their mother may be falling apart under the strain of his absence. Told in alternating chapters by Meg, Jo, Beth, and Meredith, this enjoyable novel explores the bonds of sisterhood, first love, and teenage angst, and while it echoes Alcott's novel, it provides a refreshing 21st-century update.
Customer Reviews
See AllAnna Todd takes on Little Women
Little Women fans, here is the modern-day retelling that you didn't know you needed.
Anna Todd, whose After series fulfilled every Harry Styles' fan's fantasies, takes on the March sisters, here with the surname Spring. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy are living in New Orleans with their mother Meredith while their father is stationed in the Middle East. Todd nails the sense of fear, uncertainty, and loneliness that the girls feel in the absence of their father. She also does a solid job of representing the personalities of the sisters.
Meg remains the confident oldest sister. In Anna Todd's world, this translates into all manner of outward confidence, including a certain sexual freedom. Of course, this masks Meg's insecurities, caused largely by her uncertainty as to her future. Does she get married young and become the perfect military wife? Or does she figure out what goals and dreams she has of her own?
The headstrong, defiant Jo March is the headstrong, defiant Jo Spring. She is every bit as un-self-conscious as her predecessor. Her friendship with Laurie is a bit different here. Let's just say that there is a romance with Laurie, but Todd takes it in a different direction. I appreciated that, by the way, although I'm sure Little Women purists will find a reason to complain. Instead of doing that, how about we commend Anna Todd for staying true to the natures of her characters?
We all know what happens to Beth in Louisa May Alcott's story. As with Laurie, Todd takes the character in a different direction. I liked this, too. Hints are dropped, such that the revelation may not stun, but it's a worthy way to cast this character in modern times.
Unfortunately, Amy remains every bit as annoying as she did in Alcott's original. Again, however, this seems fitting. The youngest of four sisters, Amy watches Meg, Jo, and Beth, decides which one she wants to emulate, and does so, not bothering to think about whether that sister deserves such honors.
I really enjoyed this book. I like the spins Anna Todd took on Alcott's beloved family, and I liked some of the unexpected directions she took.
Absolutely nothing like the original!
Words cannot describe how much I dislike this book. I am a huge fan of the original Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and I was really looking forward to a modern retelling of the story. Instead, this book is filled with cursing and sex. The only thing this version has in common with the original is the names of the four sisters. If I could get this book 0 stars, I would.
Easy read
Characters loosely based on Little Women. Story themes very modern day. Quick read if you can get past or skip the overly descriptive passages that repeat throughout the story.