1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,480 This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Join me as I read an assortment 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:09,020 of classic and modern middle grade books. Each week I'll share my thoughts on a different 3 00:00:09,020 --> 00:00:13,900 story and tell you if it is worthy of honor in the halls of the Fortress Fiction. You 4 00:00:13,900 --> 00:00:17,020 can find all my work at MJMunoz.com. 5 00:00:17,020 --> 00:00:21,860 So let's start off the Fortress Fiction episode for Little Women with a little bit of information 6 00:00:21,860 --> 00:00:25,600 about the book itself. Little Women is a coming of age novel, by the way I'm reading this 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,940 straight from the wiki, written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published 8 00:00:29,940 --> 00:00:35,640 in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, which there's actually mention of that in the version of 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,520 the book that I listened to, which is kind of cute. The story follows the lives of the 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:44,440 Four March Sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, and details their passage from childhood to 11 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:50,340 womanhood. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters, it is classified 12 00:00:50,340 --> 00:00:58,720 as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel. Very interesting. Also, it is a little 13 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:04,880 interesting that I'm including this in Fortress Fiction as a middle grade book because it 14 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:10,560 could be considered YA. I would say the first half of the book is definitely more in the 15 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:18,000 vein of middle grade and the second is in the vein of YA perhaps, or maybe a romance, 16 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:25,960 I'm not quite sure how to distinguish them, but together it definitely works. And yes, 17 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:31,280 together they definitely work as one cohesive story and as still something I think qualifies 18 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:37,120 as middle grade fiction. Just because the March girls are growing up doesn't mean that 19 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,920 it can't still be middle grade and it can't be appropriate for children as well. It is 20 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:47,920 very appropriate for children. So anyway, let me see. There's a little bit more of interesting 21 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,920 information I will talk about and then I'll share with you and then I'll talk about my 22 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,520 thoughts on the book. Little Women was an immediate commercial and critical success 23 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,440 and readers were eager for more about the characters. Alcott quickly completed a second 24 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:05,080 volume titled Good Wives in the United Kingdom, though the name originated with the publisher 25 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:11,580 and not Alcott. It was also met with success. The two volumes were issued in 1880 as a single 26 00:02:11,580 --> 00:02:16,040 volume titled Little Women. Alcott subsequently wrote two sequels for her popular work, both 27 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:24,600 also featuring the March sisters, Little Men in 1871 and Joe's Boys in 1886. Very interesting. 28 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,680 I'm going to keep reading a little bit more. The novel has been said to address three major 29 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:33,720 themes, domesticity, work and true love, all of them interdependent and each necessary 30 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:38,640 to the achievement of its heroine's individual identity. According to, I'm going to stop 31 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:44,200 there. I'm going to stop there. So very interesting. Here's another factor. The book has been translated 32 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:48,600 into numerous languages and frequently adapted for stage and screen. I think I know of three 33 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,160 Little Women movies alone. And there's an anime. I don't know if there's an anime or 34 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:57,640 not. There might be an anime. There's an anime of Emma. I know that for sure. Anyway, so 35 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:03,920 now I'm going to start talking to you about this book. This lovely, lovely book. So my, 36 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:09,040 let me see, what's the time right now? Okay. My one minute review of Little Women in the 37 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:16,400 context of fortress fiction is that this book definitely belongs in sconce in great honor 38 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:21,840 in the fortress fiction. It, I believe it, well, it is an entertaining book and it is 39 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:32,960 a positive uplifting book. It is a beautiful book and it encouraged me. It convicted me. 40 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:38,400 It inspired me to be a better husband, to be a better father. Uh, it made me, uh, it 41 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,200 didn't actually until this moment make me think about like what a rotten kid I was at 42 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:47,480 times, uh, because these characters are just so lovely and so wonderful and so good and 43 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:54,760 genuine and they have their foibles and their trials and they make mistakes and you get 44 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:59,440 to see this whole life captured in this story. And it really is beautiful. And I think everybody 45 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:05,520 should read this book. Definitely recommend for me. Now that being said, I want to go 46 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:13,840 ahead and talk about more of the book. What, um, interesting. So I just noticed that the 47 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:20,240 title, uh, from a very old document or manuscript or I guess document version of the book, it's 48 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,920 called Little Women or Meg, Joe, Beth and Amy by Louisa May Alcott, which is kind of 49 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,800 funny. I wonder if that's them. That must be done in birth order because yeah, I believe 50 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:33,280 that's them in birth order, which is a pretty cute, pretty quaint. Oh, also the, uh, the 51 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:37,760 original book has illustrations in it done by Louisa May Alcott, uh, or it says illustrated 52 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:43,000 by May Alcott, which I'm assuming that's her and not her sister, but you never know. Um, 53 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,080 but that's still really cool. It's one of these old books with the illustrations in 54 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:50,960 it, which I think is absolutely beautiful. It's classic. Um, even Bridget of Erythia 55 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:56,960 had illustrations in it and that was for me, uh, 1975, I believe. And where was it? 78. 56 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,280 I don't quite remember now, but regardless, uh, it's something very charming about these 57 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:04,040 older books. Now I listened to the audio book of it, so I didn't get the benefit of that, 58 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:10,480 but, uh, we actually have a copy of this, uh, like primo copy of the book that has, uh, 59 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,920 illustrations in it. So, but this is my first time reading it and, uh, just, you know, I'm, 60 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:20,360 I am a father and I had a sister or I have a sister, I don't know why I said it like 61 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:25,960 that. I have sisters. I'm a father. I've been, uh, a husband and a son and all these other 62 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,000 things, you know, specifically two women or in the context of having relationships with 63 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:38,040 women in my family in my life. And, uh, I have daughters as well. So, um, this book 64 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,520 was really interesting because it's a girl book. This book was written for girls, I believe, 65 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:50,840 uh, four girls, four women, and it's still beautiful and charming and funny and everything 66 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:54,680 that it needs to be to be entertaining to me as a man who didn't grow up as a little 67 00:05:54,680 --> 00:06:04,120 girl. And it very honestly captured, I think in a heightened sense, what it's like to grow 68 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:11,600 up as a kid. Now, of course I did not grow up in the 1800s in America, in America, bonus 69 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:16,080 points if you're listening to this and you know what that's a reference to, just let 70 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:22,160 me know. And anyway, it like shouldn't, it shouldn't, I shouldn't be able to relate to 71 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,440 this what I do. And, uh, I think it's just because the characters are written in such 72 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:33,360 a real way. Again, they have flaws, they have issues, they have things that trouble them 73 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:38,720 and they're so good. Not the characters are good. Their flaws and their foibles are so 74 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:47,720 good. And despite the fact that these characters are so good and so noble, they still really 75 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:54,360 struggle and that's really endearing. Probably one of the things I like best about this book 76 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:59,920 is it's from a modern day perspective and from growing up with postmodern ideas and 77 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:08,520 things like that, which I basically reject. I like that this isn't a subversion of a romance 78 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:16,080 story. It is instead a family story, which contains romances in it and it contains heartbreak, 79 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:21,520 but it's not a book about a woman or a girl falling in love with a man and then living 80 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:29,520 happily ever after. It's a book about these sisters and their lives. And it just feels 81 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:35,280 very, it's like it's a book about these sisters and their lives and how they live to the best 82 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:46,680 of their ability, the ethics instilled in them by their parents. And I'm in the midst 83 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:51,800 of raising my children and instilling in them my ethics with my awesome wife, who's a hundred 84 00:07:51,800 --> 00:08:00,600 percent my partner and we're very much in sync on like 90% of everything we're doing, 85 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:06,160 which is wonderful. It's so difficult and I can imagine doing it with somebody who I'm 86 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:12,280 not in sync with like this, but thank God that's not an issue for us. So we're very 87 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:19,720 much on the same page raising our children. And so are the March mother and father who 88 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:24,920 feature in this book, Marmee as they call her, who I don't know what her real name is, 89 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:30,920 but for some reason these young American girls from, I don't even know where they are. I 90 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,760 think they're in like Boston, maybe, maybe they eat lobsters at some point. So that makes 91 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:39,640 me think that they're like Northeastern. No, but then again, their dad's fighting in the 92 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:47,160 civil war as a, what do you call this guys? No, a parson, not a pastor, not a partridge 93 00:08:47,160 --> 00:09:00,920 in a pear tree. Their dad is fighting or is serving in the war as a, you've got Muslims, 94 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:08,240 rabbis, pastors, or I should say imams, rabbis, pastors, priests who serve in this capacity 95 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:13,440 in war, chaplain. He's like a chaplain for a brigade or platoon or whatever it is. I 96 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,560 don't know all the military stuff and they don't go into all that in the book. But then 97 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:22,800 he comes back and while he's gone for a decent chunk of the book, their mother is raising 98 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:31,200 them kind of like a single mother and she's doing an amazing job. She is instilling, like 99 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,440 the kids already, like don't, they're not like at each other's throats. They have their 100 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:39,080 differences and they're a little minor, you could say, but they're definitely not at each 101 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:44,080 other's throats. They love each other and they help each other and they play and have 102 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:49,240 fun with each other. And there's glimpses of them having friends outside of the home. 103 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:55,720 I don't know what their schooling is like. They're all able to read, perhaps, I don't 104 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,520 know what I'm not going to speculate, but they're all able to read and write, which 105 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:03,440 isn't an issue for them. And you know, there's no TV, there's no video games, there's no 106 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,860 Instagram or Twitter or TikTok or anything like that. So they're not distracted by those 107 00:10:07,860 --> 00:10:12,700 sorts of things. They don't have those technologies, those avenues of interacting with the world. 108 00:10:12,700 --> 00:10:19,200 So instead they read books, they write plays together, they act in plays together, they 109 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:24,120 play with dolls, they take care of animals potentially, or to some extent. They do all 110 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:29,080 these different things that you would have in this early, you know, in this civil war 111 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:37,320 era America. And it's really interesting to see all their interactions with each other 112 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,000 and like how they make play and how they make entertainment for themselves and how they 113 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:47,560 make their lives because they're all very different from each other. And they're all 114 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:52,560 doing things very, like they're all fairly independent people, and they all have their 115 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:58,960 own avenues and silos of activity, or their areas of focus and expertise, because, well, 116 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:03,480 partly because that's their nature and partly because sometimes in a family you have to 117 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:09,960 kind of like claim something is yours. And you act a little bit in distinction to other 118 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:14,160 people so that you can have your thing. Or sometimes you copy, it kind of depends on 119 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,960 the family dynamic specifically. But for the March sisters, I don't think we have too 120 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,080 much of that kind of thing where like, oh, I'm not going to be like this person. Jo is 121 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:27,040 the most contrary of them all, but it's more specifically when she's told what's expected 122 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:32,560 of her, she kind of wants to do the opposite. And that's not, that's atypical of the other 123 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:38,400 sisters. But they all have their interests, you know, of course Jo has her own, but she 124 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:44,840 might for a turn pretend that she's not interested in something she's interested in if you were 125 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,120 to say something to her about it, which is kind of interesting. So they all have like 126 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:55,160 very distinct personalities and differences between each other. And Jo kind of feels like 127 00:11:55,160 --> 00:12:04,000 the main character with this being semi-autobiographical, it makes sense. And I can see how that informs 128 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:12,680 the book and that kind of sets the tone for the book, but still like the ways that Marmee 129 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:20,160 raises the girls and like sets them up to go through life's trials and encourages them 130 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:26,640 to go through them with love and dignity and gentleness. 131 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:34,200 I want to switch gears now and talk about how Alcott or Louisa May Alcott being more 132 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:41,560 of a Jo being more of a man's woman. It makes sense why the men are so well written in this 133 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:51,040 book. I really feel like every man is very authentically written in this book. It's a 134 00:12:51,040 --> 00:13:03,000 little bit shocking how well all these characters are written. Yeah, so Laurie, the neighbor 135 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:10,320 boy who the March sisters encounter and make friends with and make into a brother basically, 136 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:15,360 he's very well written. I don't know. I don't really want to spoil the book. It's a hard 137 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:19,680 to recommend. It's actually not only, you know what, I'm going to switch gears. I'm 138 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:25,000 going to say this instead. Not only is this book so good that it's a definite recommend 139 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,520 and I give it like a nine out of 10, by the way, I think by the end of the first chapter, 140 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:35,120 I thought, wow, this book is amazing. I'm going to give it a nine out of 10 if it continues 141 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:41,240 this way. But not so not only is it an excellent book and not only is it a definite recommend 142 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:46,680 for anybody and not only does it belong in the fortress fiction, it actually is something 143 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:50,640 that I will insist that people read. And I don't know what I need to do to pitch this 144 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:58,240 book to people to get them to read it other than saying it's amazing. It's very good. 145 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:04,840 It may be too. I'm going to say it may be too biblical for people because it's very 146 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:11,440 biblical and I hesitate to say Christian because while it is in fact Christian and the March 147 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:18,240 Sisters are in fact Christians, as is their father, who's a pastor or minister or something 148 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:27,760 like that. And while the book does reference Pilgrim's Progress by insert name of author 149 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:32,840 here, I do not remember the name of the author of Pilgrim's Progress at the moment, despite 150 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:36,920 the fact that I read it in high school. I'm going to say, hold on, you know what, I'm 151 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:43,160 going to look it up. Let's see. There may be an inspiration or a mention of who it was. 152 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:50,520 Excuse me while I do things. OK, John Bunyan. I was going to say John Milton, which is totally 153 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:55,480 wrong. But apparently John Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim's Progress. This is referenced several 154 00:14:55,480 --> 00:15:00,320 times in the book or in Little Women, and it's referenced to amazing effect. It's if 155 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:06,880 you don't know Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory about Christians in Christianity with a character 156 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,280 whose name is Christian. And he goes through all these toils and meets all these characters 157 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:14,120 who are allegorical representation. Well, they're allegory characters. I don't know 158 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:18,200 how you say that any other way, any cleaner way. They're allegory characters representative 159 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:25,800 of all these different things, including a Polly on who is a weird Greek vacation of 160 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:34,600 the name Abaddon from the Hebrew Bible. And Abaddon, I believe, is a demon who is associated 161 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:41,600 with Sheol. Anyway, the whole angelology thing from Judaism is very strange to me because 162 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:49,080 angels are hardly referenced in the Torah and the Tanaf, and they're not very well 163 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:56,080 described except for they are like an Ezekiel. And then demons are hardly ever mentioned 164 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:03,120 either. But there's a whole angelology demonology that was developed in Judaism over the years. 165 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,960 And I believe the Catholic Church took a lot of that stuff and absorbed it into itself 166 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:13,160 when the Catholic Church rose to more and more power and prominence. And while this 167 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,240 is not a religious podcast, and it's not a podcast talking about religion, it's talking 168 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:22,560 about books. This is fundamental background. It's world building, for lack of a better 169 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:29,400 term to this novel, because you have all this all this stuff mentioned. In fact, one of 170 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,400 the chapters is called Joe meets her Apollyon. And because it's been so long since I read 171 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:38,800 John Bunyan's novel, I didn't think it was a reference to that. I thought it was a reference 172 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:44,040 to Greek mythology, perhaps. But then I looked it up and oh, yes, Apollyon, aka Abaddon, 173 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:49,400 aka Sheol or related to Sheol. And I thought, okay, it all makes sense. Now this this, okay, 174 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:56,200 I understand this makes sense. Because really, the book is I don't know how to sell it. I 175 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:04,440 don't know how to sell it. Because to my to Jews, I would sell it as look, it reverts 176 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:10,000 to Christianity, but it doesn't in a very, you know, to knock kind of way. And like there's 177 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,960 even mentions of like, oh, the friend who's always there for you. And it's speaking specifically 178 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:19,120 about God the Father, there's like no mention of a Trinity here. There's no I did. Does 179 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:23,080 the name does the word Jesus the name Jesus appeared all in the book? I don't know. But 180 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:28,840 it's an interesting. It's a very interesting representation of Christianity, because it's 181 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:36,920 more of like a whole Bible kind of approach. And it references like, maybe Heavenly Father 182 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:42,360 God the Father, once or twice, maybe three, three, four times the most, I think. And maybe 183 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:48,840 one Jesus in there, but probably not at all. The events take place at Christmas, the least 184 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:53,240 the start of the book does. And I don't remember if Easter is featured in this book or not. 185 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,720 I kind of feel like it isn't. But like there's no Thanksgiving, there's no Halloween. There's 186 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,520 the Christmas, then there's like different, like seasonal things. Oh, it's springtime, 187 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:07,200 we're going to go here. Or it's, you know, fall, we're baking this kind of thing or whatever. 188 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:12,720 But it's very interesting, because it's just like a very biblical book, like, fun fact, 189 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:21,640 two thirds, I believe, of the so called New Testament are quotes and references specifically 190 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:27,480 to things from the Tanakh, from the Hebrew Bible. You know, Jewish people don't say the 191 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,000 Old Testament, but they say it's the Tanakh, it's their Bible, it's the writings, it's 192 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:37,120 the Torah, the prophets and the writings, which is shrunk down into Tanakh and compressed 193 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:42,080 into a single word. And, you know, versus there's a Christian, one of the church fathers 194 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:47,280 at one point, at one point, a church father specifically said in order to distance Jews 195 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,080 and Christians from each other, said, that's the Old Testament, this is the New Testament, 196 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,520 we're better than them, we're replacing them, they need to go away. And if I can't make 197 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,680 them go away, I'll definitely make you think they're old and busted, and we don't need 198 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,840 to pay any attention to them. But anyway, that's getting a little far afield. But just, 199 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,580 it's interesting because the Marges don't seem to have that kind of perspective. It 200 00:19:04,580 --> 00:19:09,280 seems like they would have been readers of the entire Bible and would have valued things 201 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:15,120 and Psalms and Proverbs and any of the exciting stuff going on in the book of Joshua or Judges 202 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:18,440 or anywhere throughout the Tanakh. So there's lots of great things you can find in there, 203 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:26,560 lots of great value. If you can look past it being old in comparison to your New Testament. 204 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,280 But that's just from a Christian perspective. So anyway, and actually, I'm saying that's 205 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:35,560 the Christian perspective. But the Christian perspective represented by Alcott is a very 206 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:42,400 soft one. It's not anti-Semitic, it's not anti-Jewish, it's not anti-Tanakh, it's just 207 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,680 like very pro, you know, God is your heavenly father, he's, you know, God the father is 208 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:53,920 your friend who will, you know, be there for you or whatever. And it's very much emphasizing, 209 00:19:53,920 --> 00:20:00,560 again, the whole Bible and not, you know, a specific person who is difficult for people 210 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:05,520 to deal with at times. And at the same time, it's not. So that's what I would say to 211 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:12,480 Jews. To Christians, I would say this book is, I don't know, it's everything you would 212 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:18,920 want. Like it's very encouraging of you loving God and being a good person and living a life 213 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:25,940 of self-sacrifice and diligence and truth. And it talks about you being rewarded for 214 00:20:25,940 --> 00:20:31,040 being good and you suffering for being bad, which that may sound like a more of a Jewish 215 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:38,880 thing, but it's really not. I think the best Christians are those who believe in truth 216 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:43,280 and hard work and in seeking, not necessarily seeking blessing, but blessing being the consequence 217 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:49,920 of obedience to God, which includes love of God and love of fellow man on equal footing, 218 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:57,280 which is exactly how it's presented in the Tanakh, by the way. And yeah, I think that's 219 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:01,920 definitely true of the best Christians. And it's just, it's a great book and, you know, 220 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:09,600 it's specifically, you know, Christian in name, even if there's room for a Jewish reader 221 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,840 to not take offense, relate anything in it, I think for the most part, maybe the Christmas 222 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:19,720 celebration. And then to the secular person, the person who isn't Christian, isn't Jewish, 223 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:24,480 doesn't really have a love for God in their hearts or in their lives, or that's not really 224 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:29,720 something important in them, or even just a, you know, kind of a religious person who, 225 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,040 a person who's the anomaly, they were born into whatever faith, but they don't really 226 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:38,880 practice it. It's just a good book. It's like a tone down, down to the Abbey. It's very 227 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:45,200 reminiscent of Jane Austen novels. There's less scandal in this book, but there's heartache 228 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,200 and there's heartbreak and there's sadness and there's all these different trials that 229 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:53,380 these characters face and face heroically. They face actually, some of them face their 230 00:21:53,380 --> 00:22:01,760 challenges heroically. Some of them face their challenges less than heroically and there's 231 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:06,400 falls and redemption and people getting back up. It's, it's just good drama. It's good 232 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:11,360 human drama. And if you can appreciate the context of these people coming from a Christian 233 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:17,080 milieu, an early American Christian milieu, you know, religious perhaps is the better 234 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:22,360 way to say it. You can definitely appreciate the human struggle that's captured in these 235 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:31,040 pages and yeah, Joe feels she's not a feminist. I don't know. Feminism is a difficult topic 236 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:35,480 to handle, but she's a very interesting woman. She's a very nuanced woman and all the marches 237 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:40,440 who's get to be nuanced women and that makes them all the more interesting, I think. And 238 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:46,440 that makes the book all the more interesting. You know, the ideal of marriage and children 239 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:54,160 is there and it's achieved. Well, it's there and it's achieved. I'll put it that way because 240 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,520 I don't want to go into spoilers because it's such a good book and telling you things that 241 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:02,680 happen wouldn't really spoil it for you, especially if you've seen the movies or any other adaptation, 242 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:08,160 but it just, it makes it a richer experience for you to experience it yourself and to have 243 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:14,120 it all unfold for you as, you know, in real time as you're reading it. The, the, the foreshadowing 244 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:17,240 that's there, the things that dawn on you, the things that you think are going to happen 245 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,800 and then don't happen and then maybe they do and the back and forth of all it, it's 246 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:26,080 just, it's so, it's such an enjoyable trek to go on and you know, like Christian's Pilgrim's 247 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:30,180 Progress, the book takes you on a journey as the reader where you get to go through 248 00:23:30,180 --> 00:23:33,840 all of this stuff and experience it along the March Sisters and it just, it just feels 249 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:38,360 so good and it's just, you know, it's a journey. It's a journey. It's a story. There's this 250 00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:44,840 heart there and it's just, it's a gorgeous book and I don't really feel, and you know, 251 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:50,880 forgive me for having a, like long, you know, talking about religion, diversion in the midst 252 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:55,480 of talking about this book, but it feels, it's very important to the context of the 253 00:23:55,480 --> 00:24:02,360 book, I think, but still you don't need to fear wherever, whatever camp you're in, it 254 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:08,000 has its appeal and it has a lot of value and there's, I would say there's not just value 255 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:14,760 in this book, there's virtue in this book, the lessons taught, the, it's funny because 256 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:22,900 it's not, some could accuse this book of being preachy. I would say, that's your opinion, 257 00:24:22,900 --> 00:24:28,640 I would say it's not preachy, it's illustrative. There are characters, Marmee specifically 258 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:33,780 at one point, talks about her anger and how her anger had ruled her at one point and how 259 00:24:33,780 --> 00:24:43,120 she has fought against her anger with God's help, with her husband's help and on her own 260 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:48,960 terms because she doesn't want to pass on the anger that so ruled her and caused her 261 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:54,360 to hurt other people and as a consequence of hurting other people, to hurt herself, 262 00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:59,360 to harm herself, I'm not saying physically, like she hurt people and then those people 263 00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:03,720 turned away from her or weren't there for her or were estranged from her and that hurt 264 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:09,320 her. She lived with the consequences of her actions, she made her bed and had to lie in 265 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,720 it and she doesn't want that for her daughter so she's trying to live a different way, she's 266 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:16,660 trying to elevate herself as a person, she's trying to do better and be her best self at 267 00:25:16,660 --> 00:25:21,180 all times because she's living for those girls. Not that she doesn't have her own life with 268 00:25:21,180 --> 00:25:25,440 Mr. March, that's not the case. They do have a love and a marriage and a romance and a 269 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:30,920 beautiful life together and they get to share that throughout the course of the book I'll 270 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:36,200 say and you can tell that's something that's important to them and that's what she wants 271 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,920 and she wants to be a mother and she wants to be a certain type of mother and she wants 272 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:45,120 to be an inspiration to her children and she gets to be and it's just beautiful. It's almost 273 00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:49,480 Marmee's story, I don't know, it's peculiar, it's almost Marmee's story but it's obviously 274 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:54,640 not. It's definitely Jo's story but it's just Marmee and Jo and the other girls are so interwoven 275 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:59,800 into this narrative and Jo gets to be on the back burner, she gets to be a side character 276 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,280 in the book, she gets to be in all these different positions and there's all this different focus 277 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:08,440 and emphasis on all these different characters and it's such a rich book and the pains and 278 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:13,240 the sorrows and the heartache that people go through, you get to see, some of them just 279 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:17,960 happen, some of them are caused by them, some of them are consequences of their actions 280 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:23,680 and you get to see them over the course of their lives because the book starts when they're 281 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:28,040 very young, I would say the youngest is, I don't know, 10 or 12, I thought the youngest 282 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:38,840 and it ends when the girls are, I don't know, in their 30s, let's say. So it's a good span 283 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:44,360 of years, 15 or so years. 15 to 20 years is I would say, I would guess the span of the 284 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:48,180 book. It could be a little bit later, I'm not 100% sure but it's so interesting how 285 00:26:48,180 --> 00:26:52,480 much of their lives it covers and in doing that and then facing the challenges they do 286 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,640 and the way they do it and because of the context that they have, you get to learn virtue 287 00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,040 through seeing their mistakes and through seeing them fight their mistakes and combat 288 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:05,820 things and I don't know, it just seems like there's a rom-com section in there, like early 289 00:27:05,820 --> 00:27:10,480 married life being a disaster rom-com but there's also just lessons to learn as a husband 290 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:15,520 and a wife, it's interesting because it's a book, it's a very instructive book but it's 291 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:20,000 a narrative first and foremost and that's really enjoyable to me and I think it's wonderful. 292 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:25,520 Again, if that didn't sell it to you, let me know. I definitely want as many people 293 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,520 to read this book as possible, it's just an amazing book, one of the top books, it's one 294 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,000 of the best books I've ever read. I jokingly told my daughter that it's better than Jurassic 295 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,560 Park. I love Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park is such a good book but it's like popcorn 296 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,840 garbage trash compared to this, like this is a good book, it's got amazing things and 297 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,280 not that Jurassic Park doesn't have its merits, it has merits, it's mostly entertaining, there's 298 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:51,560 some deeper things going on there but this has a story and it has value and virtue, it's 299 00:27:51,560 --> 00:28:00,200 a virtue, it's almost a holy book, it's definitely a virtuous book and it's incredible, it's 300 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:07,040 incredible. So if, well I'm going to check and see if anybody's left any comments for 301 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:12,700 me on this book and I'm going to share them with you and regardless of whether they have 302 00:28:12,700 --> 00:28:15,820 or not, if you have something to say about this book, I would love to hear it, leave 303 00:28:15,820 --> 00:28:19,840 me a comment, there's a variety of ways you can contact me, through the show notes, through 304 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:25,720 the blog, MJMunoz.com is the best way to do it and yeah, I'm going to take a break for 305 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:30,880 now, come back with messages from people or not, thoughts and feelings on this book from 306 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:35,720 people or not if they decided to share at this time and on the other side of it I'll 307 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:40,160 wrap things up and then we'll part ways for now. 308 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:45,280 I did not obtain the feedback I was looking for but for now that's okay, I decided I'm 309 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,600 going to do something a little different now that I've come back to the episode and that's 310 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:55,240 that I'm going to tell you about other works from Louisa Malacat because I like this book 311 00:28:55,240 --> 00:29:02,080 so much and I actually found out a little bit more in doing this light research. So 312 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:07,300 Little Women is the story of the girls when they're young, Good Wives is the second half 313 00:29:07,300 --> 00:29:11,480 that is mentioned, oh the next part of this will be published if this first part has success 314 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:16,840 and that's what the book Little Women is now today. So it used to be Little Women and Good 315 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:22,920 Wives and now it's together in one volume. She also wrote a Little Men book in 1871 or 316 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:30,800 it was released in 1871 and then in 1886 she released Joe's Boys and that's a sequel to 317 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:36,040 Little Men and then she has other novels, The Inheritance, Moods, The Mysterious Key 318 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,840 and What It Opened which sounds like a great title, I want to read that book. An Old Fashion 319 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:45,460 Girl, Will's Wonder Book, Work, A Story of Experience, Beginning Again, A Continuation 320 00:29:45,460 --> 00:29:50,880 of Work, Eight Cousins or The Ant Hill and then Rose and Bloom which is a sequel to Eight 321 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:57,600 Cousins and Under the Lilacs, Jack and Jill, A Village Story and apparently, huh, I wonder 322 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:03,680 if these were, oh A.M. Bernard, well anyway, three more books and I'll stop. Behind a Mask 323 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:09,000 or A Woman's Power that was as A.M. Barnard, a pen name she had, The Abbott's Ghost or 324 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Maurice, Maurice, Their Herons Temptation and lastly A Long Fatal Love Chase which apparently 325 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:25,480 was not published until 1995 which is interesting. So anyway you may want to check out some of 326 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:36,160 those other books by Alcott if you like Little Women like I did. And as I'm rounding out 327 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:40,760 the episode I want to let you know the next Fortress Fiction episode will be, the next 328 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,480 book I'll be reading for Fortress Fiction is going to be Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry 329 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:49,440 by Mildred D. Taylor originally published in 1976 and here's the little blurb for it, 330 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:54,460 In the Depression Era South, the Logan Family Fights Racism and Injustice and I listened 331 00:30:54,460 --> 00:30:58,360 to a little bit of the, there was a very short intro on the Cloud Library version of this 332 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:04,800 book I found which you can find it there for free if you've got a library card. And I listened 333 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,520 to, yeah just a small, it has a very small intro like less than five minutes and it was 334 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:12,200 really interesting and then I listened to just a little bit of the book but I hadn't 335 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:16,840 done my Little Women recording yet so I had to stop myself but from the little snippet 336 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:21,520 I heard it sounds interesting so I'm looking forward to reading that book and talking about 337 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:26,640 it with all of you so again it's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, apparently 338 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:31,480 it's book four in that series which it's kind of, it reminds me of like the Little House 339 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:37,720 on the Prairie series because it's a series of books about a family and it's historical, 340 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:42,040 I know dramatized is the right way to say it or not but that's, it's a family story 341 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:47,520 written down in books and turned into these you know interesting successful stories that 342 00:31:47,520 --> 00:32:13,400 touch people and I'll be curious to read this one.