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A review by niklit
So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I don't know where to start with this book.
I love retellings of fairytales, folklore and classics, but I've never thought of them as a vehicle for a message separate from its source material. Usually, if a retelling diverts too far from the original, I'll question why they even bothered to reference the source instead of marking it as something entirely unique. I felt that way about the most recent Cinderella adaptation with Camilla Cabello, for example. I'd have liked it more if it hadn't pretended it had anything to do with Cinderella.
That said, this calls itself a "remix" of Little Women. And while the named characters are the same (the four March sisters, Jo's best friend Laurie) and the arrangement is mostly the same (managing life and coming of age as women during the Civil War) the big difference is that the Marches are a Black family. Which, understandably, makes a HUGE difference in the makeup and trajectory of the story.
They're very recently emancipated and are living in a freedman's colony on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. I've never read a Civil War Era book in which the Black people are emancipated, but still living in the South. Lots of stories of them finding/struggling their way North, or set before emancipation like many Antebellum stories are. And this is the first I'd ever heard of colonies of previously enslaved people living and working (as we see in the books, marginally) independently, before sharecropping.
As I've said before, one thing I really like in a retelling is when certain annoying characters or relationship dynamics are changed for the better. This book had a lot of that, too, and I really appreciated how it was handled
I love retellings of fairytales, folklore and classics, but I've never thought of them as a vehicle for a message separate from its source material. Usually, if a retelling diverts too far from the original, I'll question why they even bothered to reference the source instead of marking it as something entirely unique. I felt that way about the most recent Cinderella adaptation with Camilla Cabello, for example. I'd have liked it more if it hadn't pretended it had anything to do with Cinderella.
That said, this calls itself a "remix" of Little Women. And while the named characters are the same (the four March sisters, Jo's best friend Laurie) and the arrangement is mostly the same (managing life and coming of age as women during the Civil War) the big difference is that the Marches are a Black family. Which, understandably, makes a HUGE difference in the makeup and trajectory of the story.
They're very recently emancipated and are living in a freedman's colony on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. I've never read a Civil War Era book in which the Black people are emancipated, but still living in the South. Lots of stories of them finding/struggling their way North, or set before emancipation like many Antebellum stories are. And this is the first I'd ever heard of colonies of previously enslaved people living and working (as we see in the books, marginally) independently, before sharecropping.
As I've said before, one thing I really like in a retelling is when certain annoying characters or relationship dynamics are changed for the better. This book had a lot of that, too, and I really appreciated how it was handled
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Slavery and War