Little Men

1871, 1986 Signet Classic edition
Louisa May Alcott
Little Men
Bought new for $4.50
Somewhat worn paperback
B-

This sequel isn't as good as Little Women, but it's not bad.  Alcott still has a Rowlingesque level of math.  (In the very same chapter, the twins are 10 and Meg has been married ten years, when it's established that she was married a year before the double blessing came along.)  The littler women feel like lesser versions of the first batch and are even compared to them.  (Daisy /= Meg, Nan /= Jo, Bess /= guess who?)  The little men include some forgettable members in the dozen or so.  Signet, again showing a talent for typos, miscalls Ned "Neil" at one point, and I almost thought this was a separate boy, because Ned had made so little impression on me.

All that said, it is nice to catch up with "Mrs. Jo" at the age of about 30, as she helps her husband run the school mentioned in the last chapter of Little Women.   Amy and Meg play much lesser parts (Beth is still dead), and John Brooke shows up only to die beloved by everyone he ever met.  "Uncle Teddy" though has made the transition to adulthood in a convincing manner, still loving fun and Jo (you know he's sort of pining for her, it shows in their scenes together), but also a responsible businessman, father, and I guess husband.

This book feels more nakedly didactic than Little Women, sometimes with characters coming right out with asking for or offering moral little stories.  I actually read Jo's Boys before Little Men, of course wondering who all these grown-up "boys" were, but the main spoiler I remember is actually the fault of Anita Loos.  In one of her introductions (to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes maybe), she says something about children in Little Women putting beans up their noses after being told not to.  This actually happens to children in a story Mrs. Jo tells in this novel, and then she tells of putting stones up hers.  Oh, that irrepressible Jo!