Little Women Book VS Movies Deep Dive Discussion ( + Christian Bale VS Timothée Chalamet)

Our 2026 Classics Series is coming to a close with today’s very special episode covering not only the 1868 novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, but also the 1994 and 2019 film adaptations. We deep dive, rate and review, and rank them all. Was the book our favorite this time around? Or did Christian Bale’s hair or Greta Gerwig’s feminist-leaning script steal our hearts?  

This episode is our response to the many things that so many female authors across centuries have been using literature to say. Women’s lives are important when examining the simple mundanity of their day to day experiences, as well as their extraordinary contributions and achievements. Not just because we are people, but because to exist in society as a woman is to understand that our personal lives are never separate from politics, religion, gender constructs, economics and all the other systemic influences that determine one’s position. 

All three iterations of this amazing story hold such important lessons and criticisms, not unlike the other two novels we previously covered: Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. We hope that you enjoyed our reading guides as well as our deep dive coverage into these classic novels because we plan to cover more next year!

ANNNND… Stick around till’ the end for some fun Little Women lore and our very first announcement of what HIGHLY REQUESTED and POPULAR dystopian science fiction series we’ll be covering this summer, beginning in July! We’re switching gears and we hope you’ll join us.

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Transcript

It might be my favorite Joe of those three. Alcott was a committed anti-romantic but intended for to remain single, but fans and publishers forced her to marry Joe off. I think a lot of us who watched Friends might have been a little spoiled. In Friends defense, it also had been out for a hundred years.

Welcome to the Best Season the Books podcast. I'm Ashley. And I'm Liz. And today is our final installment of our first coverage. We're calling it the 2026 classic series. So, yes, as you guys know, cuz we plan on doing more of these in the future. That's the thing. We really enjoyed it and I think that you guys did too. Um, we kicked it off with Withering Heights, you know, the book that I now have I counted 11 copies of so far. The addiction's real. Like I said, I already have 11 copies. Uh, and this has only been going on for what, a few months now. So, it's out of control. But anyway, I mean, it but it was balanced out by Pride and Prejudice because we didn't have as much of an obsession with that one. So, hey, I have my one copy and we're good with that cuz that would have been bad. If every single one of these we were like that level of obsess, that would have been really really out of control. But we love like joining a good fandom or like you know we love a good obsession, a good hyperfixation over here. So I'm happy for you. I'm happy for us. My level isn't as deep but it's quite close and I do and of the three we'll talk about. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Same. Um and so today we are deep diving Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Um you guys may have noticed that we have also been doing our um like little reading guides and so this is a follow-up to that. Um and we also will be comparing it and kind of doing our book versus movie with not just the classic 1994 version which I think a lot of us grew up on. I know. I was obsessed with this movie and then the 2019 adaptation as well, which I think um Ashley and I haven't talked about it yet, but I'm excited to hear your thoughts on that.

Yes. So, we started off this classic series, A Sweet Summer Children, thinking Liz, we've had quite a big like end of 2025 with diving into Wicked and like we did Hunger Games last year. We did a lot of heavy hitters, so we're like, let's give ourselves like a little break. We'll line it up with the Withering Heights release. It'll be so quick and easy. We'll just do one bonus episode per book. It's like cue the cue the what is it John Hail song or whatever from the soundtrack. Like uh I think I'm going to die in this house. Totally. like the way withering we you guys we know we don't want to like you know uh bore you with the same repetitive um conversation but it just it's so funny to us that we thought we could just read this simple classic no no turns into Withering Heights turned into three episodes and no yes three we did a beginner's guide with that because we had to like that's going to be that and and we loved it I hope you guys loved it too we plan on maybe back at, you know, bringing on more guests for future series that are more either experts or obsessed because a lot of these fandoms and classics we are new to. So, I think it was super fun addition to our channel. So, I love that because it's not it's we do these things and sometimes we find new ways to go about them and I love it. For sure. You know, and obviously it took two two-hour episodes, so four hours of Withering Heights discussions just between Liz and I alone. Um, and then we did Pride and Prejudice. That was the simpler two standard episodes. Then for the first Withering Heights, we brought on Rebecca with Novel Bakery. And then we had Sarah's Literary World for Pride and Prejudice. That one was a little bit easier for our brains to handle. We didn't become quite as obsessed. We might have some hot takes, so go check out that episode if you haven't yet. And then we had Nicole on from Neurotically Bookish last week for the Little Women kind of beginners guide. It's a fun little like intro. We don't go in spoilery. So if you're still waiting to read this book and you want to get like a gist and a vibe and a little bit about Louisa May Alcott, you can go check out that episode first if you'd like because we're going to get real spoilery here in a little bit. Yeah, we're going to I mean we're going to be doing all the usuals. So, five sentence in summary, all of the, you know, tropes, characters, faves, all that kind of stuff. But then we're also going to be talking about, as I said before, the movie adaptations. So, we'll be talking about all those things from all three versions of the media. So, the two movies and then also the book. And we'll also be like ranking them and rating them as well. So, the beginning will be spoiler-free, 15 minutes or so. I mean, we don't know. Sometimes it goes on for a while. You guys know that. Um, but we'll let you know when we're going to get into the spoiler section just so that you can kind of hear our uh takes on whether or not we think that it's worth it for you guys to actually like seek out and watch these movies or read this book. But before we get into all that, we just want to say thank you so much for being here. Seriously, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and your book to come hang out with us. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like favorite podcast, including YouTube. We're hanging out over there as well with a live video and everything. And then you can also check us out out on Instagram and Tik Tok. We are Besties the Books podcast everywhere. We have a virtual book club on the Fable app which is free to download and you can search besties in the book club to join our most recent reads including Little Women Withering Heights. What a time. And we're going to be announcing our what we're covering in the summer at the end of this episode. Right. Yes. Yes, we are. So stay tuned. It's a really popular series. It's gaining a lot of popularity, especially right now, even though I didn't realize that the first book came out quite a while ago. I didn't realize that. Um, so yeah, stick around till the end if you want to know. It's been highly requested since we've started doing the bonus series. So, and it's new to both of us. Neither of us have read any of it. I have not even looked up any spoilers about what it's about really because I want to just go into it blind. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Okay. So, first things first, we thought it would be fun uh instead of a fave or fail to start this episode off. We're starting off with Little Women Lore. Yes. So, basically some fun facts. Um so, Ash, what do you have for us? Well, this one regards the author Louisa May Alcott. So, she was an original American feminist. She was the first woman to register to vote in Concord. I have that down too cuz it's awesome. I know. And we did, you know, our wonderful Nicole at Neurotically Bookish dropped a lot of fun facts and like lore for us, too. So, there's definitely a lot more in that episode. And honestly, guys, too, I think it's a really good like perspective shifter cuz I feel like sometimes we can sit here and think like, okay, that was in the 1870s. You know what I mean? Like, that was so long ago. It's like, but then you read Little Women and you're like, I relate to this. I relate to the characters. So many things that are going on um in this book are so timely and important still now. And so it kind of like helps to put it into perspective that it hasn't actually been that long. And it's really important to me it doesn't feel long. Maybe it's because we're millennials, but when I see 1879, I'm like, that's a little over a hundred years ago. Like that's not that long. That's all in the 1900s. Yeah, exactly. In the scheme of human history and women's history, we have not had rights for very long. So, it's a it's a reminder. Yeah. You know, that there's still people that think that we shouldn't have any and we should be property of our husbands. So, wow. So, uh, yeah, not to bum you out, but just to remind you to stay angry and stay vigilant, okay? And Louisa May Alcott would want you to. So, there's that. Why don't we on the count of three just tell everyone out of the three things that we consumed? So the book, the 1994 movie, just in case you guys aren't familiar with that, that's the one starring Winona Ryder and Christian Bale. Mhm. Which we had a whole conversation about. Um, and then 2019 version, um, which is I think most of you guys would probably recognize like Florence Pew, Timothy Shalamé, Emma Watson. Emma Watson. Yeah. I mean, all both movies have like allstar casts. So, for sure. Yeah. Um, so we're going to be comparing those three. So, on the count of three, we'll just go ahead and say which one we like the best. Okay. Count us in. All right. One, two, three. Book. Book. Wow. That might have been the first for a while that we said the same. So, I mean, hey, hey, it's it's they it's the book. It's great. It's the book gets Movies are also great, but the book is great. Movies are great, but the book does it the best because it gives us everything. Gives us all the context. Yeah. Mhm. Yep. Yep. Okay. So then, uh, let's just jump right into then our spoiler-free reviews, just quicky little reviews, um, of the book first. Yep. So, I this was my third I think my third time reading it. I'm not positive. I know that I read it when I was probably about nine or 10. First time. Um, I know. Like, you're daughter's age. That's so cute. Um, so that was the first time I read it. My grandma took me to go get it. This is the original copy that I have behind me of that book she took me to get. Um, and then the second time I read it, I think I was like maybe early college or something. It was actually kind of cool cuz I found like my old bookmark in it from like back then. I was like, "Oh, cute." Um, and then obviously this time and I going into it this time honestly like after doing this podcast with you and analyzing so many books and everything, I was a little bit worried. Like I knew how much I loved it. like Ann of Green Gables, but it had been such a long time since I read it. I was kind of a little bit worried I wouldn't love it as much. I was like, "Oh no." Um, immediately started rating it and it like took me right back. It was so nostalgic, just like Little Women or just like Ann of Green Gables. And I was like, "No, it's like there's no way I could rate this anything lower than a five star ever because it just is such an it's an important story, but at the same time, it's very accessible. Um, and I think that's important like out of everything that we read, it is by far the most accessible for like any all ages, anyone to read, anyone to understand. Um, and you know, as Nicole said when we were talking with her about it, it's like don't expect some grand romance. Don't expect some like insane, you know, plot twist like you know, action. It's like that's not what it's about. It is about I think just making girls and women in our lives feel important and feel seen. I think at the core of it it's like that's what it is to me. Um and you know all the different sisters and the mom which we'll talk about like have such um strong and unique and individual personalities and I think that it's like there's something for everyone who reads it. And so yeah, five stars hands down. And then just because it needs to be said, it's a zero spice. Yeah. Yep. So what about really? I think it's more like two spice. No, I'm just kidding. Imagine. Yeah. Zero zero. Hard zero. Hard zero. Uh five stars. Obviously the book was my favorite of the movies versus books. And I think it's interesting. I don't remember us specifically choosing these three books because it examines women's lives and stations in earlier history and we did. So it's just very interesting. We're comparing if you like go in comparing like Withering Heights and what that did and what was going on for women in their class. Pride and Prejudice the same thing at a different station and now Little Women. So, of the three, this is the most accessible and the most easy to read, the most easy to understand, and that deserves so much recognition for that. And I absolutely loved it. It was a great time. I immediately loved it from opening it. My 10-year-old started reading it with me. She's really into Wings of Fire right now. Shout out Wings of Fire. So, it's hard for her to like get in the mood again cuz I had to skip, you know, past her. So, um, yeah, she's going to come back to it. She really wants to. and she started watching the movie with us and she really liked it. So, we'll talk more on that in a minute, but absolutely loved it. It's such I'm so glad that we did the beginner's guide and Nicole had told us that it is a character-driven book because I primarily if not only read plot driven books like without even realizing that is like its own like thing. So, if I didn't know it was character-driven, I wonder if I would have had a harder time because once she said it's character driven, I'm like, "Okay, I'm just enjoying the story then." You know what I mean? Like, I'm not trying to get to like some pivotal grand thing. I don't have any expectations anymore. And that really helped me with the expectations that were forming while I was reading it, you know, cuz I we did that interview while I was still reading it. So, I think that's a good point cuz like, you know, we've encountered this with some other books on the podcast that we've covered, too. It's like, you know, Ashley hadn't read it as a youth. So, the nostalgia factor wasn't there for you. So, that might change your perception of the book, whereas like for me, I had, you know, it's like Little Women has been with me through most of my life in some way, shape, or form. And so, I did have the nostalgia to kind of like take me back. So that's good to know. Yeah, that's good to know. It's more like you just you get to hang out with these sisters. Of all the ones we've talked about of people having comfort reads. Of all the comfort read books that I've ever had people mention, this one makes the most sense to me. Mhm. Because you literally could pick it up and read a part of it, any part of it. you can just casually read it on the side like just to feel good comfort, you know? Even though tragic things do happen, it's still it makes the most sense in my brain, you know? Yeah. It's very like it's Yeah. The comfort reads for me would be like Little from my youth would be like Little Women and Ana Green Gables like hands down. You know, very and if you liked Anna Green Gables, if you read that with us and you didn't read Little Women, oh 100% read Little Women. It's like like all those Anna Green Gables books put into like one book, you know, and with with different people, not just an So, but it's a very similar Yeah. It's it's a coming of age. It's about family. It's like all those things that we talked about with Nicole. It's like Yeah. It's a It's a comfort read for sure. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, spoiler-free reviews of the movies before we get into any deep dive stuff. So, all right, let's just start with the 1994 movie. Mhm. Um, okay. I used to watch this movie literally like on repeat uh back in the day, but I hadn't seen it in I don't even know probably like 15 years or something like that. I hadn't watched it in a really long time. I to the point where I had forgotten that Christian Bale was was Lori. I was like, so when he popped up, cuz it's like my Christian Bale awakening happened much later with the Batman situation, you know. Um, and so I was immediately taken back. It was like, yeah, just so much nostalgia, so much blast from the past and I was like, I love this Winona Ryder. I love her. Susan Sandon, I love her as the mom. I mean, come on. Literally, she's the best. Literally. Um, I mean, aside from the new one, it's Laura Durn, who's also the best. I'm like, literally, the casting in these movies is like off the hook. But yeah, anyway, so I gave the 1994 movie a five star. I couldn't give it anything less than that. I feel like it has the essence of like the '9s, which I love. Um, so there are definitely some major differences between the two movies that I we'll talk about and get into uh later, but I feel like the it accurately represented I think what Louisa May Alcott was trying to say and the sisters were all so um like yeah, cast perfectly. Love their personalities, loved watching it, super entertaining. So yeah, five stars hands down. Yeah, and everything is zero spice across the board. So again, zero spice. Yeah. Uh, five stars. Uh, obsessed. I'm put it on and I'm like watching this. I cannot believe I'd never seen it before. I cannot believe this was not a staple in my household. As like people that it doesn't make any sense. It's very It's very Okay, so I think this has to be said for anyone who's kind of wondering it. We both grew up in very religious households. Um, that's why it would make sense that this was something that would have been in your house. Um, okay. Both of us have had to go through a lot of, and we've talked about it a lot on the podcast, but we've had to go through a lot of unlearning, healing process to get to where we are now as far as like coming from like that religious background for various reasons we won't get into at this time. Yeah. Even though religion is a fair um is fairly present, I would say, in all the different forms of Little Women. So, you know, the movies and in the book, the book the most, it was in no it didn't it didn't put me off in any way, shape, or form. Like, it didn't feel like triggering in any way. It was just It was just there. It was just there. Exactly. So, I appreciated that cuz I definitely thought about that a lot reading it this time. I'm like, how was I not given this to Why was I given Left Behind to read and not this? It's like how can I also because you know we'll go we'll go into spoilers later but there's some topics that come up that I just think were handled so beautifully and it would have helped my little brain a lot I think. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Same thing with an Green Gables. It was the same thing. My sister was reading an Green Gables. I'm sure my older sister loved Little Women and maybe I don't know. I just didn't take a I don't know. I just don't know. Yeah, she's a English major but so she had to have loved Little Women. It'd be weird if she didn't. But maybe it's just one of those that happened to fly. But how did we never see the movie at the bare minimum? That's crazy. We watched so many movies on repeat. Like why was that? I'm like instantly I'm so glad. So I had the option, right, to buy it or rent it. I'm like those all those actors I'm just going to buy it. I'm just going to take a risk. Liz says she loves it. I'm just going to buy it. So glad I did cuz I will be watching that on repeat. So you talked about a comfort watch, too. Total comfort watch. It has Christmas involved like so we can watch it during Christmas or not. Like it's so it's like how the holiday isn't super Christmy but it is right. So you can have like I love it. I mean the holiday is a Christmas movie but I can watch that all year round. So uh then um I talked about it having that '90s feel. It has that '9s feel without being crusty. Oh totally. So my daughter was instant. She's the first one to be like this is chippy. Like what is this? like, you know, and she loved it. She didn't notice. Like, instantly sucked in and it was so good. I loved it. I can't wait to watch it again. Yeah. Literally so good. Y um Okay, so that being said, so so far we're like five star, five star, five star, five star. So guys, hello. Um, okay. So, the 2019 movie, which I had only seen I saw it in the theater and then I think I may have seen it one more time but didn't really remember and so I went into this completely like I don't know like I don't remember a lot about it. Whatever. Um, literally loved it. Okay, so here's the thing. I think that between Okay, so it came out in 2019. That's when I would have watched it. So much for me personally as an individual changed and I think for a lot of people between 2020 and now especially being like the age that we were when that when the pandemic happened 20 like a lot of things changed society um to now. I think I appreciated this movie on a much deeper level watching it this time. Um I picked up on a lot. I made a lot of notes. Literally obsessed with it. I it it's now in my collection. I I bought it, too. It's also in my collection of like um I'll rewatch this over and over again and so I gave it a five stars like no questions asked. Yeah. Well, this is where we change paths. Interesting. Interesting. I did not enjoy it very much. I enjoyed it. My eyes enjoyed it. My eyes enjoyed it. It was very pleasing on the eyes. So, I wafer I waffer three to four stars because I don't know. I don't know that I would watch it again yet. Maybe one day when I'm more like consumed by the media. Like I literally watched them back to back. So, it's also hard to compare. Yeah. But I just it time hops a lot and it didn't time hop in a way that was easy for me and satisfying. So, it constantly jarred me. Some of the people that were cast I didn't like. So, we'll talk about that. And least favorites. And I mean, there's someone I didn't like, too. So, some things it just took me out a lot. It's like I tried really hard to like it because I loved the cinematography so much and it has such potential, but I don't think it was necessary to do it this way. And it felt like different for the sake of different. Interesting. No, I'm glad that we have different opinions because like when we just have the same opinions all the time, it's like, well, what are we doing here? Yeah. What? Well, not what are we doing here, but like it's nice to be able to like just see obviously different point of view so that we can kind of critique it on a different level. Um, it also needs to be noted I didn't piece this together for some crazy reason, but it was directed by and I think the script was written by Greta Gerwig as well. So, yeah. Um, I think that she was a, in my opinion, I think she was a good choice. Um, but we'll get into the details on that. So, you said you're waffling between three and four stars. Unsure. Yeah, because like I get I get why they did it, you know, and it's an artistic almost like interpretation. Not even artistic. It's just I just didn't like the way they I think I would have been a hard five stars if they just followed the normal timeline. See, I cuz it's also makes it inaccessible. Like I just don't know that someone who hasn't read the book or even watched the original movie, not the original, but you know, the one we like, I don't know that they would know what's going on. Totally. And Nicole mentioned that in the um reading guide. And I could definitely see that. Like I would say if you're very familiar with the lore, if you've read the book, if you've watched the other movie, if you like know what's going on, like it'll probably make I like time um hopping and it does I don't know. It's like scratches something in my brain that I appreciate. So, I liked it and it didn't bother me, but I could see how that'd be like really weirdly confusing for someone who didn't know what was happening. Like I couldn't have my 10-year-old watch it cuz she already needed some help with the context of, you know, the 1994 one and that's pretty straightforward. So, she would be like, "What what is who are we? What's happening?" Like, "What?" Cuz especially because they don't look that different between the ages that they time hop. Yeah. Because they're young and beautiful. So, it's like, "Oh, yeah." Yeah. So, yeah, it was hard. Um, and then that one also, Zero Spice. It is a I think they're both rated PG. So, they are both appropriate. Um, but the second one or the 2019 the 2019 version might just not make much sense. Yeah. Is what we're saying. Yeah. Which is like it it there's a place there's a place for that in media, you know, it's an extension and an updated upgraded version of something that's not so repetitive, you know, of like the same thing over and over again, you know? Totally. Yeah. It was a different take for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So I can appreciate it for certain things, but I can also not like it for the same reasons. Yeah. So for your obviously like ranking recap, obviously that means the book's number one and then the 1994 movie is number two and then the lowest would be the 2019 movie. Yeah. Yeah. I might surprise you. My number one is the book. My second after this rewatch is the 2019 version of the movie. And then my third is the 1994 version. I have I'm shocked. I have much notes and evidence to support my claims. We will get into that. Yeah. All right. Interesting. Interesting. I shocked myself to tbh. I shocked myself. I was like I watched the 1994 version, made my, you know, little notes, whatever. And then I like plugged my iPad in because I was like, whatever, it's fine. I'll just like I'll remember enough from watching the 2019 version. literally laying there watching the movie, I was like, "No, I need to be taking notes this whole time." Like, there's so many things that are standing out to me um that I didn't notice the first times that I had watched this years and years ago. So, definitely have a lot to say about it. Okay. Well, special shout out to I think it was either Netflix or Amazon Prime miniseries Little Women starring Maya Hawk. So, I watched the first episode because it was free and I didn't want I didn't know like if I wanted to rent it or not. We were going on vacation. I'm like, "Well, let me just do the first episode on the plane because, you know, I don't want it to time out if I'm in the middle of watching it." So, I watched the first episode and I think you would really like it. Okay. Cuz it's like an updated version. It's a little more, you know, it follows the timeline and it starts us off the way the book starts off. And Maya Hawk, who is a um who is a character in Stranger Things, okay, she does such a good job. She is Ethan Hawk and um what's her name? Uma Thurman's daughter. Oh, by the way, she's incredible. So, I love her. She's amazing and she is such a good Joe. Such a good Joe. might be my favorite Joe of those three so far. I mean, I only watched the first episode, but she makes sense cuz that's kind of she's kind of a similar character, if you will, in Stranger Things, too, so she might be getting typ casted a little bit, but hey, it works. So, yeah. Yeah, I think it's I think you'll like it. I think you should give it a try. Yeah. I mean, hey, why not? Very cozy. Yeah, very cozy. Yeah, it has the heart and soul so far. Why not? Because I'm reading a thousand over a thousand pages this week. That's why. That's I don't have time to watch TV. Well, when you need something on the background, you know, cuz you don't you already know the story. You don't have to be like fully sucked in. But but it it might suck you in cuz I was like, "Oh, just just five more minutes. I'll just read five more minutes. You watch five more minutes." So, it was cute. It was good. It takes a lot to get me to feel that way about a show. So, I love that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Okay. So, hey, should we get into the five sentence summary and the spoiler section? Let's do it. Spoilers officially starting. Coming in hot for Little Women. If you still haven't read this book yet, pause and go read it and then come back. Save it your playlist. Watch this later. But most of you probably have and you're fine. Or you're like us and you won't remember anyway. So, it's also fine. It's also fine. I think a lot of us who watched Friends might have been a little spoiled, you know, once you figure out who everybody is. I know. I thought that's okay. It didn't It didn't take away. It didn't detract. I know. Huh. I mean, that's kind of messed up. Like eventually in friend's defense, it also had been out for a hundred years. Yeah, it's like us spoiling The Great Gatsby. Sorry, guys. Sorry. Sorry. It's been 100 years. Here we go. Our five sentence summary of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Yeah. Okay. Four sisters, Meg, Joe, Beth, and Amy live in conquered Massachusetts with their wise, strong, and eternally patient mother, Mrs. March. While their father is away volunteering as a Union chaplain in the Civil War, they used to be a part of high society, but are now considered relatively poor because the father's money was lost after making a bad investment trying to help a friend in need.

I'm going to keep it short cuz it's not depressing. It's not depressing yet. Yeah. One. Okay. The Lawrenes, a very wealthy older gentleman and his grandson, live across the way. They officially meet when the marches decide to gift their Christmas breakfast to a very poor immigrant family, the Hummels. And Mr. Lawrence notices the act of kindness and pays it forward by providing the girls with an even more extravagant feast. Joe becomes fast friends with Lorie when they talk at a local ball. Both of them feeling unable to conform to the expectations of proper high society. And when Lorie offers his carriage to take the girls home after me sprains her ankle

two so sweet. The girls become very close with the Lawrenes. Lori becoming like a brother to them, joining their special Pwick Society and helping to act out their plays. Mr. Lawrence being reminded of his late granddaughter by Beth who he gifts her piano to. And Mr. Brookke, Lorie's tutor, taking a special liking to Meg. The girls navigate young life as sisters, learning to forgive each other through ruined hair, burned manuscripts, school troubles, high society encounters, and bigger tribulations like Amy almost drowning after falling through the ice during an ice skating adventure. Father becoming ill, and their mother leaving to take care of him, and Beth almost dying from scarlet fever after being exposed to a sick baby at the Hummels.

Three Three years pass, and Mr. March is home from the war. Megan is married to Mr. Brooke and shortly after has twins, Daisy and Demi. Lori is almost done with college. Joe is working on publishing her novel, but is growing increasingly restless. And Amy goes to Europe with Aunt March to study painting. Joe is greatly disappointed she wasn't chosen for this adventure. So, after Lorie proposes and she turns him down, she ventures out on her own to New York to work as a teacher at a boarding school where she meets an older German professor, Frederick Bear, and she starts regularly publishing sensational stories to help make money for her family. H four. Amy and Lorie reunite in France and fall in love and get married once he realizes that he never loved Joe romantically and she recognizes that she wanted to marry for more than economic advancement. Beth, who never fully recovered after her fight with Scarlet Fever, passes away. And Joe returns home when she writes a novel based on her life, largely inspired by Beth, which is eventually published and discovers Aunt March has passed and left her her huge house in estate, which Joe decides to turn into a boarding school co-run by her and her future husband, Frederick, who professes his love to her. The whole family is reunited, and the story closes with a hopeful, grateful tone while simultaneously acknowledging the melancholy feelings left behind from the loss of Beth.

Five. Such a pretty story. So good. Yeah. So beautiful. So beautiful. Mhm. Okay. So, what was your favorite book moment? H I mean, so how many pages are in this book? Page 100 through 456. Um, I loved the whole thing, but the examination of the inner workings of the sisters and their characters and how they navigate that. I love how we get to see, hey, you have the same parents, the same household, look at how different each sister is, you know, the different choices that they make with their lives, everything. So, I love that. Uh, a specific moment that like I could take from right now in my life being a mom is when Marmy, her mother, their mother talks to Joe about her anger and patience. like patience especially because as like I mean as humans mom or not but especially in my life as a mom what's chaotic and crazy and often times frustrating and my mom who always also seemed like she has it all together and she's happy golucky you know I've been talking to her more lately about like how did you do it how are you baking with us all the time and we're getting flour all over the place and it's taking 2 hours to bake cookies that should take a half an hour you know like all those little moments So seeing like a book character also discussing that, it's like, oh, so every time you walked out of the room, you were trying not to like freak out and you're composing yourself. So it kind of like it helped it gave me some good advice, too, you know, and I love that we can still be pulling these things from older books as well. And it's just it felt I felt seen. I felt like I can learn something from that because I think also we are in a day and age where it's like your feelings are valid and they are they are valid but it's not like it's not appropriate right to be like I'm upset I'm going to make everybody else upset. So it's like how do you do that you know and it's so she kind of you know gave some tips like how do you compose yourself and she says it's hard it's hard for her to this day and that was nice and refreshing to hear that it's like oh okay like I'm not like I'm normal you know like it is hard to deal with all these different personalities all the time or keeping everything together and keeping the house together and uh it you don't just get that all all of a sudden one day like you it's something that everybody works at you know makes us feel like we're all you know we're all in this toilet together so yeah I mean it takes down the expectation I think well because I think that even though we're becoming I think as a society a little bit more uh open I guess you could say about you know yeah it's okay to feel your feelings it's okay you know like I think we're acknowledging that at the same time that I don't necessarily think that we're becoming more understanding of women specifically feeling their own feelings and then being um vocal about how their real true feelings are. Especially I feel like as a society we h still have very very big problems with women's it's any emotion we have that doesn't fit the what the norm or what we should be right so anger rage frustration criticism um I feel like as a society we still have a really hard time allowing women to freely express those emotions. Yeah. Um because we're taught that we're not supposed to even have those emotions. Um and so yeah, I put the same thing. I said the lessons that Mrs. March would teach the girls with I said some serious feminist theory and social commentary snuck in there. Um there's a line from that exact conversation. I can't remember the exact quote, but she says, you know, like you're just never angry. And her mom says, I'm angry every day. Yes. It was that It was that moment that I'm like, "Oh, like, you know, cuz Yeah. She's stoic and put together to her children." Yeah. But it just makes her very real. Yeah. Yeah. At the core of it, she's like, "I might appear this way because I've learned to, you know, I've learned what's appropriate in certain situations, what my kids need to see and not to see, etc." Plus, she does have a lot of societal expectations on her, especially in the 1800s, right? Um, but she is telling Joe, who's now old enough to understand, no, I am angry at something every single day of my life. It's just about how I choose to process that. And yeah, you're right. That was very real. And that stuck out to me, not just in the book, but in the movie adaptation as well. So, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, what's your least favorite moment from the book specifically? Obviously, when Let Beth dies. Nobody liked that. It's so sad. That's an obvious. So, I tried to do something less obvious. I did see it coming. So, yeah, even though friends spoiled it for me, whatever. Um, but like obviously they talk about her being a more frail human. So, you know, and she's just more sickly and she's just more that way. So, unfortunately, I just saw it coming is all. So, the blow was less hard cuz I thought she was going to die with Scarlet. I was like, "Oh, this is the big moment." So, if anything, I did like that. I did. I like that she didn't die for the Scarlet Fever because I thought I saw it coming then I'm like, "Oh, oh no, it's going to be bigger and grander, you know, so so sad." Um, but so I while I hated that, so many beautiful things were said. So, like I said, as a child, it would have been so great to read these things just like we saw in Anna Green Gables of like people processing death in a healthy way. like having those conversations, Joe and Beth, on her like dying days was so beautiful and such a healthy like thing that I'm like absolutely going to have my daughters read this because I think it is it helps make it less scary. Yeah. Totally. And I think that it's like such a unique thing to be able to do that and incorporate a religious perspective because that's what these people had while still resonating with, you know, I would consider myself to be completely non-religious. So it's like to resonate with someone like me and not give me the X. Honestly, that's the best way to say it. Like in a lot of circumstances like that, I'd be like immediately like my, you know, SOS red flags go up and I'm like absolutely not. I can't accept this. And like the way that it was written, I think depicted in both of the movies was done so well that even though there was that tone, it still was just a there were beautiful moments. I agree. Yeah. depending on certain, you know, religious backgrounds, it tends to be very dismissive of feelings because it's like, well, you have this, so don't be sad, you know, and it's like they were allowed to be sad and mournful, you know, and then also accepting. It was just such a good balance. So, it was very beautifully done. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. It was intentional, too, also. So her her death didn't seem like, oh, we're just trying to be tragic for the sake of tragedy. It was you. Louisa had something to say with that storyline. And so that was great. Well, and it makes it and it makes it a realistic um you know, it can't just be all like, yeah, the rainbows and sunshine all the time. It's like things happen. It's life. And it was supposed to depict like these girls growing up, you know? It's like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, while it's my least favorite part, it's also a favorite because of those reasons. I But I also put because I figured, you know, everybody probably says le Beth dying is the worst. Yeah. Um Amy burning the book. Oh, I was so mad. I'm still mad at her. Still mad.

I remember reading that. I remember cuz I mean now it's like I do all my writing on like my iPad or computer, you know what I mean? what it's like. I remember reading that when I was a kid and thinking I mean it's different too. Ashley has sisters. I have a sister. It's different when you have a sister I think because I remember thinking oh my god if Christina ever did this to me. I don't know that I would ever be able to forgive her cuz I would be writing on my little papers all the time. And I thought about that. Um, not that she ever did anything like that to me, but it's very like relatable also, I think. You know, like somebody always takes it too far, you know? So, that's the perfect example of that. Yeah. I remember it made me so mad as a kid. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And then one more thing cuz there was a lot I didn't love. Um, no, there wasn't a lot I didn't love, but there was a lot of call outs, right? um the discussion of where what wives should be doing to not lose their husband's interest. That was that moment in the book where I'm like like this is a little bit problematic. It doesn't it ends up making sense, right? Um, and she also the mom is giving like is it uh May advice you know on things some of the stuff it's like like yeah okay you know well well maybe if you were more like engaging but it's like but okay I'm also in the trenches with infants and maybe he should recognize that little twin babies. Yeah. Like she's basically like he's also a child. Like I hate that. like it's very anti like old school and I didn't like that part but I mean it works out and it makes sense and they they open up the conversation and talk and he becomes more involved and I understand I can also understand in his thinking as someone who has kids it's like well I'm trying to give you space cuz you seem like you want to just handle this but it's like I'm also that same personality similar to what Meg is where it's like no I just want you to see that I need help but I have a hard time asking for help, you know. So, yeah. I mean, it also I think is telling of the times, too, though, where it% is. It's like that thinking would be evolved for the 1800s, whereas now for us, we would be like, "Oh, okay. So, I'm at home with twins and this dude's like, I'm just going to bail out and go hang out with my friends to get out of your hair." Like, that's crazy. Yeah. Um, but it's like I feel like back then it was very much like, you know, the home was like the quote unquote woman or like family's domain and it's like outside of the home was more of like the man's domain. I'm not saying that that's right or correct. I'm just saying I think that even me asking Brooke for or even just telling him like, you know, I want you around more, like I need your help, even just like putting the kids to bed, whatever. That would have been huge. Yes, you're right. You're absolutely right. So, it is important. Of course. Yeah. But I get what you mean. Like cuz I remember reading that conversation, too, and being like, "Mrs. March, I feel like all you do is like give us so much good advice, but this is like a little rubbing me a little wrong." But you're right. It was like it was a good um And also, the author has to toy with that line, too. Like, she has to make it publishing friendly, you know? Yeah. She can't just completely like go I mean she can completely go off the rails but then it'll be like an Emily Bronte situation, right? Yeah. Um well, I had kind of an interesting one too. I was curious to hear your thoughts on this because I hated it in everything. Okay. So, across the board in every iteration of this story, I do not like Professor Bear. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. My least favorite part um was listen and I think that we might be coming from again the perspective of people reading writing existing in 2026. It was very different obviously than back then. If Joe wants to write sensational entertaining stories to make money to help support her family Yeah. Then how about you stop being so judgy like you're the gatekeeper to literature? That gave me the ex so bad. And in my eyes, I don't know that he would have ever redeemed himself to me. If I was Joe, I would be like, "Oh, I'm sorry." So I'm not reading classic literature that dudes are writing. So somehow this is lesser than because I'm writing something fun that people enjoy reading and also I need to survive. Well, like give me a break. She's going to be freaking criticized no matter what she writes. She's a woman. They're going to criticize anything. So, it doesn't matter. Well, not only that, but what you're going to write, then make your money cuz you have such limited options anyways. So, give me a get off your freaking high horse. I know. It was like, okay. Like, I just Yeah, he drove me completely insane all the time. And that was gross and gave me the X. And I was like, "Okay, so I should only write stuff that like my weird boyfriend in the beginning, right, like approves of." Yeah. Yeah. Like my writing isn't worth like it's not worth anything. It doesn't have any value unless my boyfriend thinks it does. I don't know. I hated that and it's gross and I hate him and that's just like how I feel. I don't know. Like still like it's now that I'm talking about it again, it's making me mad again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was my least favorite part for sure. Hands down. No questions. Aside from Yes. Beth dying obviously because that was terrible. Yeah. Okay. So, what about your favorite movie moments? So, we'll do like um let's just start with the 1984. Let's go in chronological order because that makes more sense. Yeah, that does. Yeah. Uh, my favorite movie moment, 1994. Christian Bale casually walks onto the screen. I was like, cuz I didn't hair like dude. Dude, let's take a moment of silence for the hair. like you thought that you liked uh I don't know JTT's hair back in the 90s, Devin Sawa's hair back in the did you see Christian Bale as Lorie in the 1994 and he's still maintained that's the thing is it's it's him like you know what I mean it's not like it's him only Christian Bale can like wear a crevat and be hot still what dude and the chemistry I'm like good luck Joe good luck luck. Say a no to that, you dummy. Like for bear,

I can't I'll never get over that. And the chemistry the chemistry between Okay, first of all, every single person cast in the 1994 movie with the exception of Bear was perfect. Was perfect. Mhm. Except for the part where everybody's beautiful. Like literally, right? Like like icon like classically perfectly. Okay. But as far as like their acting and personalitywise, everybody was perfect. Winona is also timeless. I love her. Also, I was so excited to watch her. The whole she's one of my favorite actresses. So, the chemistry between Winona and Christian to me was perfect because they are kind of brother and sister Lee. They look kind of brother and sisterly, but that love is there. The banter is so good. you are rooting for them but also not because there is like a sibling vibe. So it's just it's it was just perfectly encapsulated the feeling that I had in the book for their relationship. So I loved that. That was one of my favorite things of the movie. Love it. Yeah. Also, the discussion of women voting, like that little like behind the scenes thing I really liked and I liked um them being like uh excuse me, so women can do all of this but then not that cuz men are animals and you know what? That doesn't make any sense cuz it doesn't make any sense. It's just such a classic part. I think a lot of people um quote that part. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz it's just it's great. It's a very it was a very that's the kind of stuff that Yeah. like you should be watching when you're 10 years old and you know what I And it's like it's pretty Yeah, you're being introduced to Christian Bale and you get feminism. Hey. Well, so my daughter was like, you know, we tend to like purposely like joke and make fun of movies, right? So, she was trying to do that. I'm like, we don't do that to Christian Bale. She was trying to like, you know, she's not at that age yet where she really is interested in boys or anything. So, she's like, "Oh, why does he look like that?" I was like, "Why does he look like what? Like that?" I don't know. He said something about his hairs. Oh, is his eyebrows? I was like, "Don't you dare dare." I was like, "You go ask your father. He is attractive to everybody across the board, even your father. So, you go talk." He is undisputably recognized as an attractive individual, so don't come out here with your Christian Bale slander. She's like, "Okay." She's like, "I feel like you might be overreacting, but all right." Like, there's a line in this house and you just crossed it. I love that. And I said, and I said, and the same thing to white Ryder. Don't even try to make fun of her. She is beautiful and it's timeless and perfect and she is also perfect still to this day. I love her. Yeah. So, yeah, it was hilarious though. Totally. I I'm curious to see now does she is she not she not into the Christian Bale vibe when she gets a little bit older? We'll see. It's like I you know, that's how my mom was growing up with uh Robert Redford and Richard Gear specifically both. Okay. And it's like that's just something you don't really get until you're older. My favorite part of the 1994 movie. Okay, so Mr. Brooke, we know he's a little bit of a square. Okay, we like him, but he's a square. The fact Okay, I did not pick this up any of the other times that I read the book or watched the movies. Dude steals her glove and keeps that in his pocket. Tellak that is not dark romance coded. Tell me. Yep. Yep. I was like, "Okay, so that's just something like Yeah. And I love that they were freaking out about it." Like, "Oh my god, you know that he keeps her glove in his pocket." And I was like, like that's so scandalous. We love a man who steals something of yours and then just, you know, tucks it away just for a rainy day. Um, so I did love that. Okay, joke. All joking aside, I did love it, but that's not my favorite part. Okay, my favorite part, um, is I put when Mrs. March is explaining that a woman's amusement is always a scandal and that Lori is able to do what he likes because he is a boy and because of his socioeconomic status. So the quote is nothing provokes speculation more than the sight of a woman enjoying herself. Yeah. Woo. Still stands to this day. Yeah. Literally. H Yeah. Like I mean you could apply that quote. Oh, you're enjoying yourself. Oh, it's you're enjoying yourself reading a romance. Okay. Yuck. I just I love that it's like we're still dealing with the same things that Louisa May Alcott was complaining. I don't even want to say complaining. Bringing light to back then. It's like Yep. It's like female joy, feminine joy is such a It's like just such a triggering thing. It's so weird, which is so because it's powerful and I think they know that. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, okay. What was your least favorite part then of the 1994 movie? Yeah, it had to be because like if I have to pick anything, it's that everybody is um no one is unattractive. So, it does lose some of the context of the book because a huge theme among the sisters, right, is like Joe is conventionally not attractive except her one beauty being her hair. And it's like why I know Ryder, give me a break. She's beautiful. Everybody's beautiful, you know, and they're supposed to be kind of like mid class. So mid other than the one sister like they're just But everybody's gorgeous. Okay, who do we have? We have Kristen Dunce. We have Claire Claire Days. We have Winona Ryder. We have Sorry, I don't remember. The other sister I don't think really isn't Susan Sandon as the mother. Okay. Who's supposed to be like this gray matronly, you know, lady. Christian Bale is Lori. Like the only unattractive person is Bear and it's a lot of his personality and just like the age of which he was cast. Yeah. Well, he was supposed to be substantially older. He's supposed to be 40. That guy had too many crows feet. Sorry. Well, I'm just saying he was supposed to be substantially older than Joe, so I feel like he was appropriately cast as far as like the age discrepancy. But yeah, I don't know how old the actor was, but he did look too old for the He looked too old because she still looked so young. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So, the justosition was too hard for me. So, I think he was the only one who was cast inappropriately. Yes. But I still didn't like that choice. Yeah. But it's okay cuz we don't like him anyway. Yeah. So, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My least favorite part. I put the Beth cryometer. Okay. So, if you guys caught uh I have it right here just to show you guys. This is just our our cryometer where we measure how many tears we cried. Um, I'm like, what did we bring this out for? Which book was it? Goldfinch. Goldfinch. Yeah. Okay. So, um, this one I would say got me pretty high on the Cryometer. Not as high as the 2019 movie, shockingly enough. We'll talk about that in a minute. Um, but I put the same thing as the book. Bear judging Joe for her frivolous writing. I hated that. And it like made me hate him even more. I was like, I just the hate grows. Every time I see him on the screen, it just gets bigger and bigger. Um, I did put, as a side note, too, I thought it was odd that the only person that they recast was Amy. So, it's like after you get that fiveyear time jump or whatever, it was like everyone else was the same person, but they recast um Kirsten Dun as a new person. And I get it, but then at the same time, it's kind of odd because they didn't do that with anyone else. Yeah, but she was the youngest, so it made the most sense. like you can't age her up at a certain point, but they don't think they needed to. I think they probably cast Kristen Kirsten Dunce cuz she was, you know, Kirsten Dunce and popular. She was already doing stuff at that point. And um they could have aged her up a cuz she wasn't that young in the books. I was trying to explain that to my daughters, too. Like she was like, I don't know, seven or eight in the movie, it seemed like. And then but in the books, I think of her more as like just a few years younger than Joe. that's why she wants to do the stuff that they're doing. She's still in that whiny I don't get it phase, but like too young to be doing some of the stuff that they're doing. You know what I'm saying? So that that casting choice wasn't great. However, it's one of the best like aged up casting choice that I've ever seen cuz she looked similar enough. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I think. But yeah. No, I mean she was great and I liked the actress and everything. It's just it was more so just like a jump scare for me cuz I didn't remember them doing that and I was like, "Oh, she's different." Okay. Yeah. Like it took me a second to get used to it. Yeah. All right. So, favorite movie moment 2019. I loved the costumes, dude. It was great. Like, I've never seen a Victorian like era movie yet that I'm like, "Oo, I want to wear those." You know? like they're comfortable enough cuz they're they're not like the super fancy ones, you know? Like I didn't care for that even like when they were at the party and stuff. I liked just the everyday dresses. I'm like, "Oo, I could get on board with that." So cute. So frilly. Like it flows but it's not frilly and it's comfortable. Loved it. And the cinematography like just those all those moments were my favorite things like all the shots and stuff. Mhm. Yeah. Um I put So it was the same thing. It was another moment with Mrs. March. I loved her. They actually Greta Gerwig chose to put in that quote from the book. So she put in I'm angry nearly every day of my life. Um but then they expanded upon it and said there are some natures that are too noble to curve and too lofty to bend. Um when she's talking about Joe and her personality. So she's saying like it's okay to be angry because there's a lot to be angry about. but also I'm not trying to like tamp down like that individuality and independence and like fire that you have like at the same time. So, I did love that. Um, and then I also loved Amy and Lorie's discussion about who gets to decide what is quote unquote genius. Um, I thought that that was a really smart addition. Um, I feel like Amy in the book wasn't didn't have those ideas as clearly fleshed out as she had in the new movie, in the 2019 movie. Um, and because they get into a discussion about him basically being like, oh, well, you're just going to marry for money, so like what does that say about you? And she's like, for you, you don't have to think about marriage as an economic proposition. I have to think about that every day because my whole life and my family's livelihood depends upon it. So that's easy for you to say. Plus, he already has money, right? Yeah. Um, and then yeah, they're talking about who, you know, cuz she's a painter and she's like, you know, I don't think that I have the talent to become a quote unquote genius. And he's like, well, how do you know that? And she's basically saying that at this point in time, men are the gatekeepers of who gets to decide what is genius, right? Which I mean, you could argue still to this day. Um, and I thought that was really smart, too, just to add those things in there because it made the I felt like it was a good expansion of what Louisa May Alcott was trying to say, but like an updated version for now. Yes. Well, she probably couldn't say it as clearly as she would have wanted. They would have just burned that right away. Throw it in the fire. You know what I mean? Like, that's just what would have probably happened. Um, yeah. And then I did also like Oh, yeah. Talking about allstar cast, Merryill Streep playing uh Aunt March. It almost made me like Aunt March. I was like, great, now I like Aunt March because it's Merryill Streep and she's great, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um but Aunt March telling Amy that she needs to marry Will to save her entire family when she was like 14 years old. Yeah. Like no pressure, you know what I mean? But I thought that that was a great addition as well. um just because again it shows the kind of pressure that's put on specifically women and girls in society especially if you're not um you know like bored into generational wealth. Mhm. Um also sorry I had a lot of favorite parts from this movie. Okay. Well it was your fave. Yeah. Um, there's a conversation that Joe and Me are having right before me is about to get married. And Me says, "Just because my dreams are different than yours doesn't make them unimportant." Um, because Joe is trying to say like, you know, you're basically like throwing your whole life away by getting married and choosing to have kids and like choosing this life, you know, why don't you want to be free? Why don't you want to go do, you know, experience the world and do what I'm doing? And Megan is like, not everyone has. that the point is that we get to choose the freedom to choose what we want to do with our lives is the whole point. Yeah. Um and I think that in that moment that's when Joe kind of starts understanding concept a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then also I do have to give an honorable mention to in the movie where the editor that she submits her book to does not want to publish it, but then his little girls, his daughters, get a hold of it of the manuscript and read it and convince him that he has to publish it. I thought that that was really special because it showed that girls and women were probably not super used to at that point being seen in popular literature, especially not just our uh day-to-day existence and activities. Oh, we're still battling it to this day. Yeah. So, I loved that, you know, he's like, "Oh, there is an interest for this." Like there people want romance books. Oh, people want our books uh to be adapted to the onscreen. Oh, weird. Or like representation for half of the people on the planet. Yeah. And so um I loved that too because it showed how important it is to be seen in popular media, but then also it shows that it's not easy and it takes a lot of convincing as you say even to this day to get those stories told. So, I did like that addition a lot. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Um, okay. So, what about 2019 movie least favorite? It's the time hopping for me. So, yeah, it takes it takes takes me out too much. Um, and then I honestly did not like the way they handled Beth's death in the 2019 version. I because they did it where you're flashing back to her almost dying of scarlet fever and then something they do like some part I don't remember and then flash to Beth is actually dead. It's like oh it took a lot of the soul out for me. They had like a little discussion on the beach but like I I hated that way it was handled. See I liked it better. Wow. Yeah. I thought that it was more impactful for me to like my cryometer was much higher on this version specifically for that. Like I thought that going back and forth and showing kind of like how she, you know, evaded death this first time like as a kid and they thought that they had more time together and now Joe's having to accept that, you know, they have to say goodbye. it and I felt like the way that um you know Beth like the conversation that they had on the beach to me was really special. Um and so I really did appreciate that part. I liked it. I thought that yeah the time hopping didn't bother me. I think that you're you're either going to love it or hate it probably. You know what I mean? Depending on how your brain works. It was the going to the table. Oh, she's awake and she's alive. Going to the table. No, you're she's dead. that. See, that's what I that's what I liked because I think it was like it showed how quickly things can change but how also like the tone of the family can change. Yeah. Um, so I did like that. Yeah. Yeah. What was your least favorite part though? My least favorite part was Sorry guys, like I just really hate Bear. I literally put the same as the other movie in the book. Like I just couldn't stand that they that conversation. And it's so important that it's had, but I just I hate it every time. So that but then also I don't love Timothy Shalamé. So I struggled with him. I mean coming off a Christian pale it's like it's like the TU version of this is what I ordered and this is what I got. You know what I mean? It's like first of all that second of all I liked the way that Christian Bale portrayed his um realizing recognizing whatever that Joe was not in love with him like that. I think that that conversation that they have out in, you know, the woods or whatever where she's like, "No, no, no, don't say that." And he's like, "But I love And then, you know, he I feel like the way that they h played that out was very true to the book and made sense. I feel like in the 2019 version when they're having that discussion, he almost turns into this really disgusting like petulant child. Yes. Um and I was like, "Ew, ick. Gross. Red flag." Like, I hated it. It was gross. And I feel like um while that might be like I'll get I'll play devil's advocate. While that might be a more realistic portrayal of how a lot of guys may act in that situation getting turned down, I feel like that was not an accurate representation of Lor's personality. Yeah. Um and for that reason, I did not like it at all. Yeah. Yeah. So, that was my least favorite part for sure. I had it lower down in my notes for some reason because I'm disorganized today. Um and yeah, it was Timothy ruining Lor's speech. Lots of straining as I spit. Lots of straining, lots of spitting, and it gave me the ick. Yeah. I was like, "Stop doing that. You're not helping the situation." No, it's like one of those things where it's like, you know, you're breaking up with someone and you're like, "Well, if I didn't like you before, I don't like you even more." where in the book and even the 20 whatever what 19 something movie 1994 movie they're you can see them as equals you know and then it felt like the Timothy Shalamé was like trying to control like you can't say no to me and I didn't like that even though he wasn't it's just the the energy that he was giving it's totally different totally different and uh I know the the kids love Timothy Shalamé and I think that executives and casting directors probably think he looks enough like the Christian Veil uh vibe, but no, like you know, they have the same hair, they have little noses, like that's it. Do not They do not in any way, shape, or form bring the same energy in my opinion. I do not like it. I didn't like it. I didn't like it. No, it's like Lori at the core of himself, right, is a very kind, generous person. And I feel like the Timothy Shalomé version came across just too like I don't even know how to explain it. It's almost like just too kind of like a privilege like his privilege is coming through in a lot of ways that are gross. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. One more part of the 2019 movie that I didn't like. Okay. Is I felt like they made and maybe it's the actress always looks like she's going to cry. That might be the thing. But they made it seem like Joe was really upset internally and trying to hold it together about Lori and Amy. Meg. Yeah, totally. Lori and Amy. Lori and Amy. Yeah. I did not like that because that completely changes everything that we read. Totally. Yeah. Because it makes it seem like cuz Yeah. As a reader, sure, I'm feeling that way, but I'm not her. You know what I mean? It's like you're Yeah. you're rooting for them and everything, but she's not. She's very confident in her decision. And she has like a little moment where she's like, "Well, maybe I should just because I have limited resources as a woman and like that's important to her story, but at the end of the day, she doesn't love him." And she talks to the mom about not loving him, but then she still kind of goes back on it and sends this letter and like wants and is like upset when she finds out that there was the whole thing was different and I didn't like that. Mhm. Yeah. I thought that that was a little bit of a weird choice, too. I don't know why that was added in because Yeah. I mean, she's very confident in knowing that she loves Lori, but like a brother. Yeah. Like, and that's fine. And you know, I think that for anyone for anyone it would be like a little bit jarring to find out that your sister is now married to, you know, like your best friend slash like someone you grew up with slash someone who supposedly just professed his love to you last time you saw him, whatever. Um, but I don't think she would have been as internally conflicted. I think in the book and in the 1994 movie, it was really apparent that it was almost like she was relieved. like she's like yes relieved cuz she he gets to be in the family like this is this is the perfect situation and it feels like she's like yeah it's fine I'm happy for you and like I said maybe it's cuz the actress maybe she always looks like she's on the verge of tears but it seemed like it seemed like she was struggling with that information even though they did a good thing with Amy in that with their conversation is like I don't want to be second to Joe again like that whole speech was great so it's like weird heard because it's like, well, especially the way Lor's character was taken, it does feel like she's second choice. And I don't like those decisions that were made with their relationships. I did think that the way that Joe responded to finding that out was odd. I agree. Yeah, cuz it just didn't track with uh her character or the It tracks. Yeah. Mhm. It just makes her be like a jealous lady, you know? Yeah. What was your least and most favorite character from the book? My favorite character was Joe. I love her. Very relatable. My least favorite character was the [ __ ] publishers as usual. Also bear. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite book character actually this time around, which I thought was interesting, was Mrs. March. Yeah. Yeah. She really I don't know. To me as an adult now reading it, I feel like she has had a lot of profound moments and a lot of wisdom to bestow upon us. Therefore, she gets my favorite. And my least favorite was Bear because I mean, was he meant to be a villain? No. I think it almost made me dislike him more because I'm like, of course Joe ends up with him. Like really, really? I don't know. So that I don't know kind of haunts me now a little bit, I will say. Yeah. Yeah. I struggle a little bit. I struggle with that. Um, what about for the 1994 version? Susan Sandon as Miss March, their mom. I think she just did such a fabulous job. Like, yeah, sure, lookswise totally different, but she brought that character like to life 100%. And she is such a voice of reason. She Susan Sandon has that perfect balance of stoicism and still joy but like a soft quiet joy. So I love it. I love her so much. Oh my gosh, it made me want to watch Stepmom and like all the Susan Sandon movies. Yeah. Um same. I put Mrs. March was my favorite character from the 1994 movie. Yeah. So Susan Sandon hands down. Also Christian Bale is Lorie. Yeah. I mean yes. He's great. I don't know if he'd be my favorite character, but yes, honorable mention for sure. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What about your least favorite character in the 1994 movie? You know, I touched on this, but who they casted as Bear just did not make sense to me whatsoever for so many reasons. Yeah. So, it's like literally not how his character is described as looking and stuff, too. So, I was just like, "What?" I was like, "Is this supposed to be the guy? This doesn't make sense." Mhm. Like I get she'd fall for the accent like and as a different person like and not the character. Okay. But like as a completely different person. Yeah. Like him as the character is what I have the problem with. Yeah. So yeah. Mhm. Yeah. For you same. Agree. Mhm. Yep. Um what about 2019? Who was your favorite in 2019? Literally I put Amy, Mrs. March, Joe, Aunt March, Mr. Brooke. Like literally, I loved I think in the new movie I loved literally everyone aside from Bear and Timothy Shalamé as Lorie. Like I I felt like a I put Amy as number one for the 2019 movie because I feel like they fleshed her character out a lot better. Yeah, I love Joe as well. I think she did an excellent job. Um but I think Amy brought up a lot more interesting points. It's almost like Amy in the new movie was critically thinking through a lot of the feminist like topics that Joe was acting out through her actions. It's like Yes. Um and I loved that. I thought that that was done really well. Um obviously M Mrs. March was great. Like who doesn't love Laura Durn? She's literally amazing. Um, Aunt March, Merryill Streep Brah, I mean, she brought that character even though she's such a like minor character, right? She was great. I loved who they cast as Mr. Brooke because I feel like he just was he fit the part perfectly in my eyes. Um, so I also really liked him and appreciated him a lot. Um, yeah, I I just I loved the casting. Yeah. Um, I did not like that mom. That actor casted as the mom. I love her. I love her, but she's so sweet and softspoken and just just one of those sweet moms and faces that I'm like, this is not my Miss March. This isn't this isn't. I disagree. See, I always picture her in Jurassic Park and I'm like, that's my Laura Durn. And so I'm just like, yeah, she made she made sense. I've seen her as mom a lot like you know in the last decade and so that's hard for me. It was hard cuz I and I felt like she was being really sweet. I forgot about I'm like I don't know. I just feel like the book one is she's just more stoic, you know, and almost rough. It's like a different tone rough. She's been through a lot, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um I put that my least favorite character is Bear. Shocking, I know. Yeah. Um although I do have to give a jump scare honorable mention to um Just Call Saul playing Mr. March. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously when this like I don't know the timeline of like when that stuff would have come out. I don't remember when I watched Breaking Bad. Um but seeing him as the dad I was literally like what what like this is weird. And he also didn't feel right either. Like just the acting for him I didn't feel was good. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. So he wasn't my least favorite character necessarily very minor in all the iterations. Yeah. He he was just like what? You don't fit. Like that's weird. Yeah. Yeah. Like you're wearing a costume,

you know? Like you just don't fit in. Who let this guy in? Like totally. That's how it felt. It felt like someone can't win them all though. I guess accidentally like pulled him out of like the Breaking Bad set and just like stuck a little like uh you know war outfit on him and like was like you're in Little Women now go. And he's like all right that's weird but sure. Yeah. Are there any tropes in any of the iterations that you want to bring up that you particularly appreciated or enjoyed? Yeah, obviously character growth and development is a big one. Mhm. I put friends to friends. A Yeah. Just put that I put that too. Yeah. They don't always have to become lovers. They don't always have to become enemies. It's like friends and like even better friends, you know. Yep. And then love above all else is beautiful. Yeah. That's at the heart of it. Yeah. I put, you know, our FMC since the, you know, majority of the book is told through Joe's perspective. Our FMC not ending up with quote unquote the guy as expected. So that's basically what you're saying. Um, and then I put, you know, really great character development and very deeply embedded but smart social commentary. Yeah. Yeah. So those were my favorite I would say like tropes um that I would picked or that I picked out of all of these. And then is there any trope that you really disliked in any of these? I couldn't I couldn't find like tropes specifically that I didn't like. Maybe you'll have one that I'll agree with. Do you have any? I have a big one. Mhm. Okay. The male gaze determining behaviors even within a feminist context. That's what I put. So, yeah. Now that I'm I'm like I love it when I articulate something actually in a way that I feel like makes sense. Okay. So obviously we put here bear discouraging Joe from writing quote unquote fluff because she was too good for it. Okay. So that's again it's a it's essentially like having to write for what your man thinks is acceptable in this case, right? Um or he is determining that by writing this, you know, stuff that she's writing to get published to make money, she's not quote unquote living up to her potential. Okay. Again, that's problematic. Yeah. A big theme throughout the entire book, too. I don't know if you noticed this, even though the father was a very minor character, and he was almost not present in I mean, almost all of the novel, um, it a consistent theme throughout the book was the girls needing to be quote unquote good for their father's approval. Yeah. Specifically, I think that that mirrored um kind of a little bit of like the religious piece, too, you know? Um, and so yeah, I think that's what it comes down to. It comes down to we're making, you know, social commentary, feminist commentary on women's, you know, behavior station, etc. But we're still and you know Louisa May Alcott, we don't know she may have been doing this intentionally, but we're still very aware throughout the whole book of how that is um the women's behavior, the girl's behavior is being funneled through the male gaze for the approval of a society that exists for male advancement specifically. So that is a trope that I didn't love. However, we don't know. Maybe that was part of it for her. Maybe she was like, "We can't tell this story without including that because that's a huge piece." So maybe that was her way of calling attention to it and the fact that it's problematic. Or maybe at that point in time it was just so normalized that there was not a way to tell the story without including that. Yeah. Um but I mean it says a lot about morality too because you know Yeah. that you need to be good so that when your father comes home he'll be happy. It's like and that was mentioned a lot of not just once but numerous times throughout the book and so yeah that was something that I did not love. Were there any themes that you want to call out that you feel like we haven't called out yet? Love versus marriage for money. So that was a heavy topic and we could see it throughout the different sisters relationships. um familiar I always struggle with that word like interf family relationships like and how those how we navigate those and then personal ambition versus duty. Personal ambitious or personal ambition versus duty. Is that what you said? Yeah. Yes. Like and what each woman in this book is responsible for. You know, you have the first sister who very like classically is married young. She doesn't marry for money though. She marries for love. And then you have the second Joe who can be a little bit more frivolous with her decisions if you want to call it that. Selfish if you will. Mhm. In those times, right? Um and then you have the third who is told, "Well, you're going to have to carry on." Well, I guess she's the fourth. No, sorry. The third dies, so sorry. And then the fourth, you know, as uh what's her name tells her like it's up to her now. now she has to do this and so she already has those ideas in her head anyways is like oh I know I've always known I'm going to marry rich because it's like she sees all these families struggling and she doesn't want it for herself you know she doesn't want it for her family so there's a taking back of your power by acknowledging that and making that be your choice that you want anyways like that's also something that can be a dream it can be a dream for the oldest sister to get married and have kids and do that. And it can also be a dream for the youngest sister to want to be in a comfortable life with less struggle and strife. Totally. Financially. So, yeah. Interesting. Yep. I love those dissections of each relationship. Yeah. I think that that was done really well just through the personalities and choices of like each sister and through like I felt something that something unique here. It's something that was very different than Pride and Prejudice, for example, and something I appreciated because we were kind of dealing with like, you know, similar themes, I feel like in Pride and Prejudice, but it was just through completely different lenses. And I feel like one of the big ones was, you know, in Pride and Prejudice, we're dealing with a mother figure who is her main motivation is secure secure financial security for her family because of the property rights, right? And so that is her main motivation to have each of her daughters marry for money essentially to keep them, you know, um just basically from having nothing once their dad passes away. Um you know, this story is told through the lens of a mother figure who is basically like there are a lot of different ways to live your life and while money is useful, so are all these other things. Um, and just acknowledging that she's not necessarily trying to push them into any one thing as long as their happiness is coming as at the top of the list. You know what I mean? So, I think it was just a different perspective, but it still was a really good examination of like women's roles and the options that were available. Yeah. Yeah. And then also, you know, I just put here like the class examination um just with, you know, the juxtapositions of the marches and um the Lawrenes just right there across the way, right? It was like that's what that was about. Well, all three and the um people in the Havvel, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Hummels. Forgot the name. The Hummels. Yeah. Yeah. Um for sure. So, I think that that was it was a class examination for sure without um but it felt organic. It didn't feel like forced. It just felt like part of the story and it made sense. Yeah. Um and it also showed too that you could have three families living in such close proximity in very s like very similar circumstances but living very differently which I thought was really useful too. Yeah. Um and then I just put for the third one too like morality and religion. So to me that was a big theme. Um and but you know we've already talked about that a lot. I feel like for the most part the religion like the religious themes did not bother me throughout this book but I did feel like equating morality to an acceptance of what the is appropriate for the male gays did bother me. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we already said this is a zero spice across the board um series. You know, if you guys or fandom, whatever you want to call it, just in case you guys are curious if it's appropriate to share, you can absolutely share it with all ages. And when all is said and done, Ashley, are you happy with the conclusion and ending?

Mostly. Okay. I would have rather Joe not gotten married. Same. Especially to him. I think, and I know this is a popular theory, but I do think that Joe might have been lesbian. Mhm. Yeah. And um this is probably the best case scenario for her at that time. I guess you know them older gentlemen. In my fanfiction, that is like what happens, right? It's a compromise. like you're safe, you're secure. Maybe he also is LGBTQ, you know, and so they can just have that uh marriage on paper, marriage of convenience, that kind of thing. And a business a business partnership ultimately a business partner. Business partner. So, in my fanfiction, that's really what's happening with that marriage. Okay. Because on paper, no, I don't like it. I can share my fun fact right now about that. Yeah, do it. I mean, we're already in the spoiler section. Yeah. So, fun fact, um, Alcott refused to have Joe marry Lori. Alcott, who never married herself, wanted Joe to remain unmarried as well. So, while she was working on the second half of Little Women, fam clamoring for Joe to marry the boy next door, Lorie. girls right to ask who the little women marry as if that was the only aim and the end of a woman's life. So Alcott wrote in her journal, "I won't marry Joe Delorei to please anybody." So I do think she ended up having to have her married off like we see in the movie, I think that was the 29 movie, as long as the main character is either married or dead. Yeah, that is a quote from the beginning of that. So, I think that was very intentional from Greta Irwig um to call that out. So, I don't love that Joe married this dude, but I think she probably had to to get it published. Well, that's what So, that's my theory. One of my That's not a theory. One of my fun facts is you are entirely correct. So, Elcott was a committed anti-romantic. That's how she would refer to herself and intended for Joe to remain single. But fans and publishers forced her to marry Joe off. So she chose to marry her to the quote unquote dull Professor Bear instead of the popular choice Lori out of spite. Yeah. And I could see that. Ah, yes. Okay. Yeah, it makes totally sense. Yeah. So, I'm okay with that. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz at least it got published. Yeah. So, we had to have she had to do something. So, yeah. That's funny. She's like, "Oh, you want me to marry her off? I'm going to marry her off to the guy who sucks." It's like, yeah, well, that sucks in general, but at the same time, it's like when you know the lore behind it, it's like she's sticking it to the band to the very end in the ways that she could. You know what I mean? So, hey. So, that's why in fanfiction, in my brain, it works. Yeah. Mhm. Cuz it's the 1800s, you can't be openly gay. No. So, maybe they have just some kind of, you know, decision they made between each other. Yeah. Or literally, maybe it is just cuz, you know, she inherits the, you know, big manor from Aunt March and they open the school together. Maybe it's as simple as that. It's like a marriage of convenience that's essentially just a business partnership. Like, we don't know, you know? Yeah. Cuz he is a teacher, so he's going to teach a school. So, hey, whatever. Yeah. Um, and I don't know exactly how that works, but it would probably be a heck of a lot easier to like own and run a business and own a property like if you're married, right? I don't even know with the inheritance laws like how that would work, but how much it was different cuz Pride I'm sure it was different because Pride and Prejudice was set in England, right? Where this one is America. I know that she could have I know that Joe could inherit the property, but I'm just saying I wonder how much agency you would have within that to open a business or run a business or keep a property or pay property taxes or whatever you have to do. It's like you probably can inherit the property, but then you probably can't do anything with it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um so maybe they were like, "All right, this works for everyone. Cool." Yeah. you know, um I would agree with you. I don't know. Yeah, I I mean, I don't really know or speculate about Joe's sexuality in particular, but I would say that a marriage of convenience in some way, shape, or form um would make sense, even if she had accepted like I just don't want to get married in general, so I'm just going to like like just do what makes the most sense on on paper. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. cuz or at the very end of the day like she didn't want to be married. So that is the most disjointed part to me is like wait she's marrying this guy. I thought she was just going to be single and that's okay too because we need representation for that too cuz that is a choice and that is okay and you could just you can be straight in those times and just not want to get married. Yeah, you can be childless by choice, right? You can do all of those things. Yep. It is okay. But according to the publishers and the fans, it was not okay. Therefore, she had to do this. So, as people reading this 100 years later, it sucks. But yeah. Yeah, it is what it is. But yeah, I mean, that would be my only gripe with it as well. And knowing that she did that intentionally to make it like a little bit of protest does make it betterish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, okay. So, hey, will you be reading any of the sequels? Uh, probably not. For some reason, my daughter's really interested in that. I don't know what that's about. So, she keeps bringing it up. So, if she wanted to read them, I would read them with her, but otherwise, I'm good. Yeah. So, I looked it up. I guess there's Good Wives, which came out in 1869. Little Men, which came out in 1871, and Joe's Boys, which came out in 1886. Um, you know, I don't know. I might try it one of these days just for like a cozy read if I'm in the mood, you know, to read something that I feel like will be just easy on the brain. You know what I mean? But yeah, but at the same time, it's not like at the top of my TBR. I'm not like against reading it, but I'm also it's not at the top of my list. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But you guys let us know. Did you read all of them? And are they worth reading? Because we found out with Anna Green Gables, most of them were worth reading. Yeah. After. Yeah. So, and we had a great time. Let's talk reviews real quick. So, on Goodreads, we've got 2.4 million ratings and it gets a 4.17 average. So, pretty good for having that I mean that many million for sure. Yeah. Um I looked up the most popular audio book because obviously there's 10,000 versions. Um the most popular one is the Barbara Caruso version, which I really enjoy at this point. Shout out to Barbara Caruso. Literally, I think that she's just popular within those like classics kind of. Yeah. Um, and you know, it has uh like 3,600 ratings, which for an Audible audio book, honestly, is pretty high. And it gets a 4.6 average, which is pretty good. Yeah, that's high. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. So, if you're looking for a version, I know Barbara Caruso isn't for everyone, but she grew on me and is now like my favorite like grandma read me books at night kind of like. Yeah. So, do you have movie reviews? Rotten Tomatoes. the critic reviews, which is the tomato meter for the 1994 movie, 92%. So, pretty high. Pretty high among critics. So, that's refreshing for a female driven movie. Yeah, literally. And then 84% for just like the average viewers, everyday viewers like you and me. So, that to me was low compared to the 2019 version. I was shocked that more people seem to like the amount is different though. So for the 20, sorry, the 1994 version, the older version, it had over 50,000 ratings. So that does make a difference, right? And then for the most recent 2019 adaptation, which we have to think about how many people actually went and watched it other than people that were already obsessed with Little Women, cuz that came out right before co uh 20 thou or sorry, 10,000 reviews, which isn't as many. 10,000 reviews left it at 92% on the popcorn ometer. So 7% higher rating on average than the older adaptation and the critics 95%. So and that actually had more that had more reviews but it's more recent, right? So that's also critics reviewed it more from like a a female director writer perspective. Like that's positive. That's positive. 95% from critics is rare. Yeah. So I wonder if it won any awards or anything. I think both of them did if I remember correctly. Yeah. So Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation won one Academy Award for best costume design which was one of my favorite things about the movie. I mean it was really good. There you go. Yeah. Um also um there were a ton of nominations as well for other things. And then uh I can look up the other one if you want. Yeah. I'm just curious. Yeah. Hey, they'll give her something. But it's going to be for the dresses. It's not going to be for the Okay. Sounds familiar. Hey, when will Greta Gerwig finally win like the Academy Award for best screenplay or best directing ever? Yeah. Okay. Academy Awards won by uh Winona Writer. Oh. Best actress. Yes. Be best actress in a leading role. Cool. Best costume design. Um best music. So yeah, that she gets it. That's awesome. Winona. Awesome. My Nona, that's a big one. That must I wonder if that was her first. So, I love her. I love her. It's great. Now I want to watch freaking Girl Interrupted. One of my f That Hey, listen. Do you guys want us to cover Girl Interrupted? Cuz I bought that book probably 15 years ago and I've never read it. Me neither. Ooh. Yeah. And it's like very short. It's like we could read it in a day. So, literally Hey, I forgot about that. That was like I watched that so many times. Oh my god, it was so good. Okay, anyways, whatever. I'm like I'm going to get sidetracked and become like be like I need to go watch that right now. Maybe I'll watch it tonight. Okay. Yeah. So, no, I need to be like reading the thousand pages I need to read. Yeah. Yeah. Stay on the rails. Don't go off of them. I know. Well, good luck. Yeah. So, Ash, do you understand the hype and fandom around Little Women now? I get it. I get it. I get it. Thank you for showing me the ways. Yeah, obsessed. If I I'm like even more now. Like I said, I I didn't have an obsession with the new movie until I watched it this time and now I do. So, hey, just come on in. Like, join the club, you know? Yeah. Yep. If you if you didn't like it the first time, try it again in 10 years. Yeah, why not? Um, okay. So, let's sign off with Well, first of all, we're going to do a Smasher Pass Little Women random things edition because we thought it'd be fun. Okay. Um, and then we'll be announcing finally, if you've stuck around this long through this Little Women conversation, we will be announcing what we're reading. Little Long Women. Uh, starting in July. Okay. So, let's do rapid fire. Smasher Pass Little Women edition real quick. Okay. All right. Do you want to go first or do you want me to go first? Sure. All right. Go. Smasher Pass. Marrying Lori. Marrying Lori. Is that what you said? Yeah. Smash. But Christian Bale only. Yeah. Smash. Both the book. Yeah. If I was I would have done it. Yeah. The book version and the Christian Bale version. Timothy Shalomé version would be a no pass. Yeah. Ick. Mhm. Yep. That's funny. That was my first one. Yeah. Okay. My next one is just as a person and a friend. Uhhuh. James Lawrence. Who? James Lawrence. The grandfather. James. Oh, the grand Oh, smash. Yeah. He's so Just as a person, as a friend. I don't know if I was an old lady. Smash. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. He's nice. I want like he would be like the nicest grandpa. He was so sweet. I know. He's so sweet. Oh, so like Oh, I loved how he just was. I know. Okay, now you go. Smash or pass? Giving away your Christmas breakfast. Smash to people in need. You say pass. I said smash. It broke up. The Wi-Fi broke up. Like he smash. Smash. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Um, okay. What do we have? Oh, um, Mr. Brooke pass. He's a smash for me. Nice. Yeah, he I appreciated the conversation that they had after she bought the fabric for the dress. Yeah, it was a kind soul. You know what I mean? Smash or pass them deciding to not take Amy to that uh opera musical ballet thing that they saw. I mean, I would say Smash cuz it looked like a double date, right? Yeah. It was weird. Yeah. Like I get why Amy wanted to go, but like come on. Yeah. But she's like it's just it's totally typical of that dynamic that sisters have at some point or siblings. I'm old enough to go. It's like, no, you're not. So, like, we're literally on a double date. Chill. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Aunt March. Oh. Uh, yeah. Smash. Mhm. Cuz you know, though she has some antiquated ideas, she's older and she also has good ideas, like good words of wisdom, too. So, it's it's needed. Yeah. Totally. Mhm. You got any more? Ah. Uh, I mean, we liked it so much, so it's so hard. Um, I think that's it. Okay, I have a couple more for you, which one of them I think I know your answer to. Forgiving Amy in one day for burning your book. Pass. That's sticking with me for a while. She had to freaking fall through. I would have saved her in the ice and then like dust her off, make sure she's good, and then be like, I'm mad at you again, though. Good luck. You only get me this way. I'm I'm bad with I have to try to not hold grudges. Things will stick with me for a while. I wouldn't hold a grudge, I don't think, so much as I would be like it's just hard for me to get over it because I have to rewrite my whole book by hand and like remember everything. I probably wouldn't be able to move on from it until I did that. Yeah. Which that could take a long time. So that's what she did. That's the choice she made. She went too far. It's a prank that went too far. It's not a prank, but you know, same thing. Winston. Too far. Too far. Yeah. Everybody I loved that everybody agreed that she went too far and didn't try to minimize Joe cuz that's what I was scared of. Totally. Mhm. Like I love that everybody and we knew that how important it was before it happened. Like she wrote that all so well because I'm so used to people like something getting destroyed or ruined or something not working out that you've been holding out all your hope for or working on and people being like but oh well. like, you know, but it's it's not that important. It's not that big of a deal. So, I love that everybody's like, "Ooh, no, you went too far. It's going to take her a while to get over this, and you need to deal with that consequence because not only is it validating to your life's work, um, or even whatever is important to you, even if you're a child, you know what's important to you. But also, if they let her just get away with it, that would have been like a villain origin story. like she would be so bad like then she's going to be going to the worst things every single time you know so she needed that life lesson as well and I think that's important too that as people in society as parents that we are making sure that like yes you know someone a little kid messing and ruining something of their siblings if you don't squash that it's going to get so much worse right because it might not you know, it's a it's a squish mall or something like it might not be that important when they're an adult, but it's important to them now. And you can't just let your kids ruin each other's stuff cuz that is going to be bad news bears. Well, yeah. It's just respect for other people's things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. My last one would be publishing quote unquote sensational stories to make money. Yeah. Um, smash. You got to do what you got to do. And also, what's wrong with that? Don't tell me what to do. Don't tell me what to do. Gosh. Yeah. Okay. So, they're still fighting it to this day. Great. I know. Literally because of people like their I but grabbing my stress ball. But I I love that. That was like Louisa May Alcott's like stick it to the man moment. So, we'll accept it and move on. But still. Okay. So, Ashley, should we announce what we're reading in July and August over the summer? Let's do it. Here we go. We are covering an deep diving bonus series for Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Oh my goodness. Whiplash. Let's go. Let's go. We have no idea what we're in for. No clue whatsoever. All we know is that you guys love it. We've been hearing such good things about it and we need to know. We need to We need to know. It's highly recommended. It's been requested from a lot of you guys for us to cover Red Rising. Dystopian is really hard for me right now and like the last year or so, two years. Um, no, year. It's been a a year and a half. Um, but we'll do it. And hopefully I can separate things enough Haha. Yeah. I mean, well, you did really love the Hunger Games. It was before the fall. Oh, yeah. I'm like of the storm. I see. Okay. I'm like, cuz that was that was pretty dystopian. Things were still hopeful back then. I see. I see. I see. Um Yeah. I mean, I I think this is technically categorized as dystopian science fiction. I'm curious to see what Yeah. just like what the hype is about, if we're going to like it or dislike it. I mean, this is a pretty hefty series. It looks like Pierce Brown is working on I don't know if it's the final one or just the next one, which would be like what, book six, I think, or something like that. Seven, I think. Seven. So, yeah, we've got our work cut out for us, but then that way at least we'll be caught up on the lore by the time the new one finally comes out. Um, yeah. So, yeah, let us know. Are you guys excited? We are excited. And yeah, my plan, it's funny because you know, me and Rinda are doing a road trip in a couple weeks and she asked what audio book we're going to listen to and I was like, "Oh, we're going to be listening to Red Rising." Yeah. Um I've heard the audio books are excellent. So that is and they're very very highly rated also. And I got them all on sale on the last Audible sale. So there you go. Nice. Yeah, there you go. Um so I am excited to start it, but that's what our summer is going to consist of. Yeah. Mhm. as well as so many other things. And then we're buckling up for fall, guys. Fall is going to be crazy. Our fall bonus series is going to be um less intense, so that'll be good, but still fun. Um and I'm glad that we chose it that way because otherwise our brains would have broken. They might still break to be honest with all of the huge releases that are going on. But we're doing our best to cover the ones that we think that you guys want to see the most. Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. Well, I think if you feel good about it, I feel good about our coverage of Little Women. And yeah. Yeah. The classics until next time. Yeah. Mhm. Yep. There you go, you guys. Another two hour episode for you. If you stuck around this long and you're not subscribed yet or you're not following, well, you might as well. That way you get notified when we post another episode, which is every Tuesday, unless we're doing a bonus series, which means not only Tuesdays, but also Fridays. So, make sure like, follow, and subscribe. And you can also check us out over on Instagram, Tik Tok at besties the books podcast everywhere. And you guys, we'll see you next Tuesday. Next Tuesday. Bye.