An Old-Fashioned Girl

1870, 1928 Saalfield edition
Louisa May Alcott
Illustrated by Frances Brundage
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Original price unknown, bought very used for $8.20
Poor condition hardcover
B-

I remember reading this when, like Polly, I was an old-fashioned 14-year-old who didn't want to "paint" (wear make-up) or get my ears "bored" (pierced).  Yet I never took to this book like I did to Little Women.  The characters are less appealing and the scrapes they get into less interesting.  I do like the big city (Boston?) setting, with its "ice cream saloons" and its wild plays under the influence of France and "Negroes."  I really like the theme of women earning their own living, even if it's a bit heavy-handed in the chapter "The Sunny Side," which features some career girls, including Kate the writer, who's clearly Alcott's representative.  "Woman's Rights" campaigners get some gentle teasing, but it's clear that Alcott would've identified with some of Wollstonecraft's writings, particularly the part about women not living just to be pretty and frivolous.

The illustrations by Brundage are so-so.  My main complaint is that the characters never look the right age.  This is especially true of Maude in the second part, where she's supposed to be 12 but still looks 6.  Like Laurie, Tom is supposed to have a mustache, but he's clean-shaved until the last picture, where he does have the "whiskers" mentioned in the text.  His suits always looks more 1920s than 1870s.  I do like the picture of Polly sitting before the fire, a cat in her lap, musing.

I have to note that in this blog I mostly try to ignore phrases that have different connotations these days (like Wickham "making love" to the entire Bennet family), but I did snicker at Tom's description of an argument with his fiancee:  "[T]o-day Trix gave it to me hot and heavy, coming home from church."