Category Archives: Books

Book Review: The Phantom of the Opera

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Born in 1868, Gaston Leroux was a French court reporter and newspaper drama critic who liked Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. He started writing detective stories which were serialized in the newspaper. He became intrigued with the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, which had an underground lake and suffered a famous chandelier crash. Leroux wove these details into Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, or The Phantom of the Opera.

Leroux lays the plot out as a detective sharing the details of his investigation into rumors of an “opera ghost.”

Two new managers have taken over the opera house, and the old managers showed them a memorandum book with the ghost’s requirements of a certain sum of money each month and Box 5 to be always available for his use. The new managers think the old ones are pulling their leg, so they ignore the instructions despite increasing threats.

During one performance, the lead singer, Carlotta, is too ill too sing. Her understudy, Christine Daaé, performs the role beautifully. The Vicomte Raoul de Chagny was in the audience and recognizes Christine as his old playmate from childhood. Raoul tries to see Christine after the performance, but goes into a jealous rage when he hears another man talking in her dressing room.

However, Christine and Raoul do meet later. She tries to keep aloof from Raoul, but falls in love with him. She tells him that the man he heard is her teacher, the Angel of Music that her father promised to send her when he died. But the Angel of Music—also known as the Opera Ghost or O. G. or Erik—is very jealous and dangerous.

The O. G. continues leaving instructions for the new managers. He wants Christine to sing the lead in Faust. When Carlotta sings instead, she starts croaking during her aria. Then the great chandelier falls, killing one person.

Now the new managers are angry, believing that someone is trying to extort them.

Christine begins to seek a way to be with Raoul. She plans to sing one last time for Erik and then escape with Raoul. But at the height of her aria, everything goes dark for an instant. When the light comes back on, Christine is gone.

Raoul, of course, goes to search for her and learns more about O. G. in the process.

So, though the format is a crime story, the novel also has several elements of a gothic romance. Parts of it reminded me of Beauty and the Beast and Frankenstein.

As you’re probably aware, there was a famous 1925 movie based on the book with Lon Chaney as the Phantom. Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote a successful musical based on the story in the 1980s which is still being performed today and which was turned into a movie in 2004.

I had read this book several years ago, but forgotten much of it. Though gothic romances aren’t my favorite genre, and parts of this one are a little overwrought, overall I enjoyed getting reacquainted with the story.

I read, or rather listened to this for the Classics in Translation category of the Back to the Classics Reading Challenge.

Have you read Phantom? What did you think?

(Sharing with Books You Loved, Booknificent Thursday)

Book Review: Hurricane Season

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In Hurricane Season by Laura K. Denton, Betsy and Jenna grew up as very different sisters. Their parents were both professionals and distant. Betsy was the responsible one who did all the right things. Jenna was free-spirited, willful, and apt to make a mess of things. But they loved each other fiercely, and Betsy was Jenna’s greatest advocate and protector.

As adults, Betsy married dairy farmer Ty, and they work together to make a go of the business and home that had been passed down through generations in Alabama. Their biggest sorrow is their inability to have children.

Jenna is a single mom to two young girls and a coffee shop manager. An old friend urges Jenna to go to an artist’s retreat in Florida to revive her dormant love of photography. At first it seems impossible. But a scholarship and her sister’s agreement to watch the girls for two weeks enable Jenna to go.

Betsy’s fragile peace with her childlessness is threatened by having two children full time, but she thinks she can hold on for two weeks. But then Jenna calls. She has an opportunity to stay past the initial two weeks, possibly even for the rest of the summer.

Besides the potential storms brewing  internally, a hurricane threatens the Gulf of Mexico.

The point of view shifts back and forth between Betsy, Ty, and Jenna. Their current circumstances and their past histories are shaped by their perspectives and personalities. Probably no one person has the entire perspective of a family. We need each other’s viewpoints and narratives to understand the whole.

I enjoyed each sister’s bumpy journey. My mind raced ahead to different ways the plot might go, but it ended up working our differently than I had thought it would—a good thing!

When I bought this book, I thought it was Christian fiction. Though there are a few mentions of God, prayer, church, etc., I can’t say a faith message was overt. For that reason, I’d label it inspirational fiction.

This is the second of four novels by USA Today best-selling author Denton. Have you read any of her work? What did you think?

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Book Review: If We Make It Home

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If We Make It HomeChristina Suzann Nelson’s debut novel, If We Make It Home: A Novel of Faith and Survival in the Oregon Wilderness, was named “debut of the month and one of the Best Books of 2017 by Library Journal” according to Amazon. I can see why.

A university building used for student housing is about to be torn down, and those who lived there are invited for a reunion. Four former roommates find their way back to Carrington, Oregon. They used to be close but they haven’t spoken in 25 years.

Hope James stayed in the area, running a coffee shop. She was considered the quiet glue that kept them connected while they were students.

Ireland Jayne used to be the one that called them to prayer. But she has walked away from her faith and turned her concerns towards environmentalism and activism. She is a professor, but her job is presently hanging by a thread. She has not seen her son in years.

Jenna Savage has been a stay-at-home mom, but her triplets just fled the nest. She had cried and prayed and tried so long to become pregnant, and then loved her three so much, that she doesn’t know what to do with herself now that they’re gone. She has a penchant for food and not for exercise.

Vickie Cambridge has a worldwide ministry and TV show for women, but she has neglected her own family.

Somehow the latter three end up on a survival trip in the Cascades with an older woman named Glenda, described by one as a “mountain woman.” Jenna wants the challenge. Ireland and Vicky want the escape.

None of them has any experience, and the trip is rougher than expected. (When Glenda vetoes Vicky’s butane curling iron, Vicky quips, “This must be what persecuted missionary wives feel like.”)

But then a series of disasters tests them beyond their limits and brings out the best and worst in each one.

The chapters alternate between the different women’s points of view, giving us a window into their inner struggles and their differing views of their situations and each other.

One thing this book taught me: I do not ever want to go on a survivalist trip into any wilderness or forest of any kind. Even without the disasters.

But besides that, I thought the women’s stories and journeys were so well told. I ached with each of them in their troubles and rooted for them in their triumphs.

I loved Christina’s phrasing:

The sun beats down on us and makes me feel like a loaf of over-kneaded bread in the oven.

Vicky snivels on the other side of me. I’m in an emotional sandwich. And it’s making me swirl with unease. The lightning looks like a safer companion.

Saving nature and surviving it are two very different things. We are not saviors in the wilderness. We are intruders.

The next thing she says is a muffle of grunts. Great, we’ve lost the perky one. We’re doomed.

“How do you think the pioneers got their soap?” “They bought it before they left.”

Maybe this is God’s provision. It never looks like I imagine.

I also like that the story doesn’t end with their getting out of the woods, but continues on with the aftermath of everything that happened.

All in all, a great book. I look forward to reading more by Christina.

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Book Review: Billy Budd

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Billy Budd MelvilleHerman Melville’s last novel, Billy Budd, was set on an English ship in the late 1700s. Billy had worked on a merchant ship, but was impressed—forced—into the British navy. He went willingly and cheerfully, however. Billy was young, good-looking, well-liked, and basically a moral, upright man.

The master-at-arms on the ship, John Claggart, took an instant dislike to Billy. The biggest factor was probably envy, but Melville seems to attribute Claggart’s dislike to his own nature, which was bent toward evil.  Billy, bent toward good and a little naive, didn’t recognize the signs of Claggart’s dislike and didn’t believe it when told.

Billy accidentally kills Claggart. His captain is put in a hard position. He believes Billy was the better man and didn’t kill Claggart on purpose. But naval laws at that time were strict in the wake of a couple of severe mutinies. Justice had to be meted out swiftly and decisively to maintain order and serve as a warning.

Billy Budd was unfinished at Melville’s death, and his wife and biographer tried to piece his work and guess his intentions. Their attempts were largely considered inferior. A later biographer was given the original manuscript and notes and came up with a better version. But different versions are still circulating. I listened to the audio version at Libravox which didn’t identify which manuscript was used. But it must have been an older one, because it had a different name for the ship, and the online version includes a preface which Wikipedia says was cut in later versions.

Because Melville hadn’t finished the book, it’s hard to know his intent in writing it. Was it a basic good vs. evil conflict, in which the good doesn’t always win out in this life? Was it a reaction against naval laws, a warning that they needed clarification? It’s hard to say. it’s interesting that Billy’s old ship was named The Rights of Man, and as Billy leaves it, he calls out, “Goodbye to you, old Rights of Man.” Perhaps this is symbolic.

Billy is presented as innocent to the point that, when the chaplain calls on him, Billy listens out of politeness but doesn’t “receive” the message. The chaplain concludes that “innocence was even a better thing than religion wherewith to go to judgment”  and leaves off. But no man is so innocent that he can face judgement without Christ.

I chose this book for the Abandoned Classic category (one you started but never finished) of the Back to the Classics challenge. Reading Billy Budd was an assignment for a college class, but I never finished it—odd, since it’s a short book. I was docked points for not finishing the reading assignment, and have rarely thought about it since. But it was one of only two classics that I could remember not finishing.

It was an interesting story. Many consider it a masterpiece for Melville second only to Moby Dick. It’s not the type of story I’d generally gravitate to. But that’s one thing I like about the Back to the Classics challenge: it expands my reading horizons. I’m glad to be acquainted with Billy story which, as most classics do, provides much food for thought.

Have you ever read Billy Budd? What did you think.

Book Review: Waves of Mercy

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In Lynn Austin’s novel, Waves of Mercy, 67-year-old Geesje de Jonge is asked to write some of her experiences immigrating from the Netherlands for Holland, Michigan’s 50th anniversary celebration. She’s reluctant to delve back into the hardships and struggles of faith that accompanied her journey, but her son and neighbor finally persuade her to.

Meanwhile, young socialite Anna Nicholson had accidentally stumbled into a Chicago church that was unlike any she had known before, which stirred up questions about faith and God. But her fiance had not approved of this new church and forbid her to go back to it. Their disagreement was so severe that they broke up. Anna gets away to a hotel on Lake Michigan with her mother to think and recover. A storm on the way causes a recurring nightmare to resurface in which she and her mother fall into the sea during a storm.

On her long walks on the beach, Anna meets a young seminary student who tries to answer her questions. Her mother is no help at all, since she doesn’t think polite people talk about such things as religion. Her fiance wants to get back together, and her parents encourage their reunion. But Anna feels she needs to get some things settled in her heart first.

As the Amazon description says, “Neither Geesje nor Anna, who are different in every possible way, can foresee the life-altering surprises awaiting them before the summer ends.”

I enjoyed this book a lot. The Netherlanders had left their home to escape religious persecution arising from their wanting to pull away from the state church. America was a land of freedom and opportunity. They knew it would be hard to build a community from scratch, but they were willing to work for their and each other’s freedom.

However, they had no idea the difficulties and heartbreak that would be involved. Anna often struggled with despair, even rage. While I agree that we can be honest with God about our feelings, doubts, and questions, I disagree with Geesje telling someone who had suffered a loss, ““You have every right to be angry with God right now.” However, she does go on to tell this person, “No matter what, don’t ever stop trusting Him. I believe that God is as grieved . . . as we are.”

I enjoyed Anna’s story as well. She’s often tempted to give up her questions and go along with the pressure of her parents’ and fiance’s expectations. But something keeps propelling her forward.

The sequel to this book, Legacy of Mercy, continues Anna and Geesje’s stories. I’m putting it on my birthday wish list!

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Links do not imply 100% agreement)

Book Review: Be Concerned

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Be Concerned commentary on minor prophetsThere are twelve minor prophetical books in the Bible. They are not called minor because they are any less important than the major prophets: they are just shorter books. Warren Wierbe divides his “Be” commentaries on the minor prophets into three different books. He didn’t group them in the order in which they are listed in the Old Testament. Be Concerned (Minor Prophets): Making a Difference in Your Lifetime covers Amos, Obadiah, Micah, and Zephaniah.

Wiersbe gives a little background of each of these prophets, the times they lived, the kings who were in power at the time, and the prophets’ major messages and concerns. Then he offers a suggested outline of the books and his commentary.

A few words about each of these prophets:

Amos was a shepherd and caretaker of sycamore trees. He was a layman, not a member of the religious establishment. For those reasons, he would not have been respected or easily accepted. At this time, Israel and Judah were abounding in luxury, but also in sin and injustice. They performed religious rituals that did not touch their heart. Amos had to warn them that judgment was coming if they didn’t turn from their ways.

Obadiah’s book is short, just one chapter of 21 verses. He prophecies mostly to Edom, the nation that descended from Esau, Jacob’s brother. God deals with them about their treatment of Israel (Jacob’s descendants).

Micah’s preaching helped lead to a reformation under Hezekiah (Jeremiah 26:18-19). But at this time, some of the wealthy of the land were buying up the smaller lands of the poor in defiance of Jewish law. Micah rebuked them, foretold the coming judgment under Assyria, and called the Israelites back to true worship of their God. But they didn’t repent. Micah 7 is one of my favorite chapters in the OT, especially verses 8-10 and 18-20. Micah’s name means “Who is like the LORD,” and that’s echoed in 7:18: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.”

Zephaniah mainly preaches about the day of the Lord, a time of coming judgment. Many of the prophets do, but this day is a major theme in Zephaniah and Joel. Zephaniah 3:17 is another favorite passage.

One advantage of a commentary like this is the background information it provides that you wouldn’t pick up just from reading the text. For instance:

Eight times Amos used the phrase “for three transgressions and for four,” a Jewish idiom that means “an indefinite number that has finally come to the end” (Location 135).

Micah used a series of puns based on the names of the cities similar in sound to familiar Hebrew words. For example, “Gath” is similar to the Hebrew word for “tell.” Thus he wrote, “Tell it not in Gath.” Beth Ophrah means “house of dust.” Thus he wrote, “Roll in the dust.” The people of Shaphir (“ pleasant, beautiful”) would look neither beautiful nor pleasant as they were herded off as naked prisoners of war (Location 1438).

The prophets call people to repentance from their oppression, hypocrisy, idolatry:

To seek the Lord doesn’t mean simply to run to God for help when our sins get us into trouble, although God will receive us if we’re sincere. It means to loathe and despise the sin in our lives, turn from it, and seek the fellowship of God and His cleansing. “A broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51: 17 NKJV) (Location 679).

Wiersbe warns, “Whenever a prophet foretold the future, it was to awaken the people to their responsibilities in the present. Bible prophecy isn’t entertainment for the curious; it’s encouragement for the serious (Location 1672).

It’s true in our day as well as theirs that “It’s indeed a great privilege to have God speak to us, but it’s also a great responsibility. If we don’t open our hearts to hear His Word and obey Him, we’re in grave danger of hardening our hearts and incurring the wrath of God. ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’ (Heb. 3: 7–8 NKJV; see Ps. 95: 7–11)(Location 321).

The way we treat God’s Word is the way we treat God, and the way we treat God’s messengers is the way we treat the Lord Himself (John 15: 18–21). “God … has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. … See that you do not refuse Him who speaks” (Heb. 1: 1–2; 12: 25 NKJV) (Location 642, emphasis mine).

Most of the prophets say that, despite fierce and righteous judgment coming on God’s people, He will leave a faithful remnant. Wiersbe concludes with a chapter titled “The Company of the Concerned,” with advice for the faithful in our day.

Malachi 3: 16 is a good description of the kind of “company” God is looking for: “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name” (NKJV) (Location 2341).

I’m not talking about people motivated by anger so much as by anguish. Certainly there’s a place for righteous anger in the Christian life (Eph. 4: 26), but anger alone may do more harm than good. “For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1: 20 NKJV). When righteous anger is mingled with compassion, you have anguish; and anguish is what the “company of the concerned” feel as they behold the moral and spiritual decline of the nation. “Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law” (Ps. 119: 136 NKJV). “Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my delights” (v. 143 NKJV) (Location 2311).

As always, I appreciate Wiersbe’s help in understanding these books.

(Sharing with Books You Loved, Booknificent Thursday)

Rose in Bloom Review and LMA Challenge Wrap-Up

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Rose in Bloom in Louisa May Alcott’s sequel to Eight Cousins. In the first book, Rose was orphaned as a young girl and sent to live with her uncle Alec. She was also surrounded by several other great aunts, aunts, uncles, and seven boy cousins.

In this book, Rose and a few of her cousins are in their early twenties and about to embark on adulthood. They wrestle with possibly occupations, projects, and potential love interests. Evidently it was considered acceptable to marry first cousins in that era, because there’s a lot of speculation about whether Rose will marry one of hers.

Rose is set to come into a large inheritance, and her uncle has tried to train her well to be responsible and philanthropic rather that frivolous, self-important, and wasteful. She faces some temptations in these areas and wants to try the lifestyle of her friends for a while. This seems to involve a lot of parties and dancing at friends’ houses until the wee hours of the morning. She learns that some people are only interested in her because of her wealth. She has to decide between the “fast” life and a sedate but more useful one.

One of her cousins, Charlie, also known as Prince, has been indulged all his life and is in danger of going the wrong direction, especially in regard to one particular bad habit. Rose tries to help him overcome his wayward tendencies.

Louisa says in her preface that “there is no moral to this story. Rose is not designed for a model girl, and the Sequel was simply written in fulfillment of a promise, hoping to afford some amusement, and perhaps here and there a helpful hint, to other roses getting ready to bloom.”

When I was growing up, I warmed to stories like this that encouraged being good, or becoming better. Modern readers might feel it goes a little overboard. But I still find it a sweet story, and I think others would if they gave it a chance.

I was surprised that young people this age were still considered boys and girls at the time of this writing, and not read to marry or launch out on their own yet.

Much is said about Rose being a strong-minded girl. Evidently this was pushing the envelope even in Alcott’s day. A few sentences from the last paragraph of this exchange were included in the newest Little Women movie:

Rose’s voice was heard saying very earnestly, “Now, you have all told your plans for the future, why don’t you ask us ours?”

“Because we know that there is only one thing for a pretty girl to do: break a dozen or so hearts before she finds one to suit, then marry and settle,” answered Charlie, as if no other reply was possible.

“That may be the case with many, but not with us, for Phebe and I believe that it is as much a right and a duty for women to do something with their lives as for men, and we are not going to be satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us,” cried Rose with kindling eyes. “I mean what I say, and you cannot laugh me down. Would you be contented to be told to enjoy yourself for a little while, then marry and do nothing more till you die?” she added, turning to Archie.

“Of course not; that is only a part of a man’s life,” he answered decidedly.

“A very precious and lovely part, but not all,” continued Rose. “Neither should it be for a woman, for we’ve got minds and souls as well as hearts; ambition and talents as well as beauty and accomplishments; and we want to live and learn as well as love and be loved. I’m sick of being told that is all a woman is fit for! I won’t have anything to do with love till I prove that I am something besides a housekeeper and baby-tender!”

That’s not quite as anti-domestic as it sounds, because Rose values both housekeeping and baby-tending. But she wants to accomplish something else before that stage of her life.

I enjoyed this exchange about novels with Rose and her friend, Kitty:

“I’m sure I’ve read a great deal more than some girls do. I suppose novels don’t count, though, and are of no use, for, goodness knows, the people and things they describe aren’t a bit like the real ones.”

“Some novels are very useful and do as much good as sermons, I’ve heard Uncle say, because they not only describe truly, but teach so pleasantly that people like to learn in that way,” said Rose, who knew the sort of books Kitty had read and did not wonder that she felt rather astray when she tried to guide herself by their teaching.

In Eight Cousins there was also much discussion of books one aunt felt were harmful to the younger cousins. I wondered how these compared to the “blood and thunder” books Louisa enjoyed writing.

I also smiled at a section where Rose and cousin Mac discuss the benefits of reading Thoreau and Emerson, knowing that both men were friends of Louisa’s family.

Although the Alcotts were ahead of their time in many ways, Louisa still seemed to hold to the idea that different classes ought not to marry: either that, or she was illustrating problems with that idea by her characters. Phebe started out as a maid from the orphan house in the last book, but was so sweet and industrious and bright that Rose and her uncle sought to give her a good education. Now grown up, everyone loves Phebe—until one of the cousins falls in love with her. Since she’s an orphan of unknown origin, her family tree could contain anybody, and what would it do to the good Campbell name if it should be joined with someone that could be unsavory? That seemed to be the thinking of the aunts, but Rose and Alec and a couple of others had no problem with Phebe becoming part of the family. But Louisa had Phebe prove herself worthy in other ways.

Overall, this was a sweet story of the choices and trials of growing into maturity.

Louisa May Alcott Reading Challenge

I’m going to wrap up my reading for Tarissa’s Louisa May Alcott Reading Challenge here instead of in a separate post. I read:

I also watched the newest movie version of Little Women that was in theaters last year.

I always love spending time with Louisa and appreciate Tarissa’s challenge every June.

(Sharing with Books You Loved, Booknificent Thursday)

Book Review: Rain Song

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In Alice J. Wisler’s debut novel, Rain Song, Nicole Michelin was born in Japan to missionary parents. Her mother died in a fire when Nicole was two. Her father brought her back to America, where she was cared for largely by her maternal grandmother in Mount Olive. NC. He was a broken man forever after, and would not answer any of her questions about her mother’s death or their time in Japan.

Now Nicole is in her early thirties and teaches high school English in Mount Olive. She has a slew of quirky Southern relatives and regularly makes pineapple chutney with her grandmother. She keeps saltwater fish in her aquarium and writes columns for a fish web site. And she battles anxiety and bites her fingernails. She has three resolves. She will never ride a motorcycle. She will never fly in an airplane. And she will never go back to Japan.

An email question about koi from her fish column leads to a correspondence with a man who seems nice. He even sends her a poem that she can’t get out of her mind.

There’s only one problem. He lives in Japan.

And then—he reveals that he knew her when she was a child in Japan.

My thoughts:

I loved this book. I can’t believe I’ve had it in my Kindle app for years and just now got to it.

I loved the Southern flavor. I loved Nicole’s grandmother’s Southern Truths. I loved Nicole’s faith journey. And I loved Alice’s writing. Here are some samples:

I threw my head back and laughed like Uncle Jarvis. Swing your head back, open your mouth, and let laughter flow like a rushing waterfall in the North Carolina mountains. It sounds like sunshine in your ears.

We’d like to think we are brave, capable, and strong. But the minute we lose our luggage or are delayed, we’ve been known to break into pieces.

You are a gutless one, Nicole. You have never watered your gift of faith. It is so small; it’s still a seed in the ground.

I thought the author must have actually lived in Japan by the way she wrote about it. She did: she was also the child of missionary parents there.

This book is the first in her Heart of Carolina series. I don’t think the characters carry over from book to book: at least, it doesn’t seem like it from their descriptions. But it looks like they all take place in NC.

I found this book both funny and touching. Have you ever read any of Alice J. Wisler’s books?

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Booknificent Thursday)

Book Review: Monday’s Child

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Monday's Child novelIn Linda Chaikin’s novel, Monday’s Child, Krista von Buren models jewels across Europe from Gotthard Enterprises in Zurich. Her fiance, Paul, is Gotthard’s nephew. Recently, Gotthard’s has started helping Interpol in small matters, sometimes involving Krista.

When a new client suddenly comes to town and asks for a private showing and for an opportunity to speak to Krista alone, everyone’s suspicions are up. The meeting doesn’t go as planned, and Krista suspects this woman and her lawyer are not who they appear to be.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Meanwhile, an investigation has been opened into Swiss banks which were trusted to care for some of the riches sent ahead by European Jews before WWII but which have never been returned to the families. Could the strange happenings Krista encounters be tied at all to the banking scandal? One Mossad agent thinks so. But perhaps Krista is not who she appears to be, either.

It took me a few chapters to get into this novel, but wow—all of a sudden I was riveted and couldn’t read fast enough.

This is the first book in Linda’s Day to Remember series. Each of the books is based on a line of the poem that starts, “Monday’s Child is fair of face.”

Krista is a fledgling believer at first, but learns through her experiences to trust in God and not her “fair face.”

An excellent, clean, very exciting story.

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Book Review: Eight Cousins

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Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott was published in 1875.

Rose Campbell is 13 and newly-orphaned. Her mother had died when Rose was young, but her father just recently passed. She’s sent to live with several aunts (their house is known as the “Aunt Hill”) until her appointed guardian, her father’s single brother, comes home from sea.

Rose had never met her father’s family. The aunts embody the truism of too many cooks spoiling the stew, with their different and sometimes opposite views on how she should be raised. One, something of a hypochondriac herself, has Rose almost convinced she has “no constitution.”

When Dr. Alec finally arrives, he puts his foot down with the aunts that Rose is to be raised his way for a year without their interference. Then they can evaluate how she’s doing and whether they need to make a change. The aunts can’t help but share their opinions occasionally, but they abide by Alec’s wish.

Alec starts slow with Rose, changing her diet and activities to healthier ones, not by decree but by persuasion. Rose regards her newfound uncle kindly because he is so like her father and seems to care greatly for her, so she acquiesces for the most part. She struggles to give up her little vanities, like wearing her belt so tight she can’t take a full breath so her waist looks smaller.

Much of the book involves Rose’s interactions with her seven boy cousins. She didn’t think she would like boys: she had never been around any. But she soon grows to love them. They all inadvertently teach each other lessons.

Alcott gets in a lot of opinions about what’s good and bad for young people. Some of the fashion sense Alec prescribes, we would consider common sense today (like doing away with corsets and having clothes loose enough to move comfortably in). Some of the vices her characters try to steer each other away from might sound funny to modern ears (like slang. Or maybe it’s that slang in that day is acceptable now.)

Wikipedia says Rose’s instruction and training for the wealth she will one day come into was “revolutionary” for the times, because women didn’t have much control over their own “money, property, or destinies” then.

Alcott uses the adjectives “good, old-fashioned” often, and this is a good, old-fashioned tale. Through “frolics” and “scrapes,” gentle admonition and learning by experience, the young people grow and develop good character.

A  couple of quotes I especially liked:

When Uncle Alec tells Rose he wants her to take up something special, housekeeping, she says, “Is that an accomplishment?” He replies: “Yes; it is one of the most beautiful as well as useful of all the arts a woman can learn. Not so romantic, perhaps, as singing, painting, writing, or teaching, even; but one that makes many happy and comfortable, and home the sweetest place in the world. Yes, you may open your big eyes; but it is a fact that I had rather see you a good housekeeper than the greatest belle in the city. It need not interfere with any talent you may possess, but it is a necessary part of your training, and I hope that you will set about it at once, now that you are well and strong.”

When one of the cousins takes Rose on her first pony ride, he chooses a gentle one named Barkis. Then the book says Barkis was “willin’,” an allusion to David Copperfield in which a man named Barkis lets Peggotty, David’s nurse,  know that he’s interested in marrying her by sending the message, “Barkis is willin.'” Hearing that phrase made me smile.

I listened to the audiobook at Libravox, a site for free audiobooks. The last time I used them, there was some disruption in the loading of individual chapters. That process went smoothly this time, but they’ve added some annoying ads every few chapters. The narrators at Libravox just read the books: they don’t put inflection in them like those at Audible. But sometimes a book is short enough that I don’t want to use a full Audible credit on it, and I am thankful for the option of Libravox. They also have some books that Audible doesn’t have.

Rose in Bloom is the sequel to this book, and that’s next on my reading list for Tarissa’s Louisa May Alcott Reading Challenge this month. I had read both books years ago and enjoyed revisiting them.

(Sharing with Carole’s Books You Loved, Booknificent Thursday)