After watching the movie
adaption, I had this tendency to read the book version, especially after
watching the bad review of the film which at first, I found a weird thing at
the fact that the majority of the film critics are mostly good. I had this hard
time choosing between the English version or the Indonesian version due to
these reasons:
1. This is a classic novel
means it has some hard vocabulary. Back in 2020 when I purchased Oliver Twist
(a classic novel), I gave up after some pages just because it stressed me out
to understand each sentence.
2. If I buy the Indonesian
version, I have to prepare the feeling of the bit forces between the casual and
formal language. Not to mention the misspelled.
However, after thinking for a
long time, I finally chose the Indonesian version one :) Yeay
This book is talking about a
March family with four daughters in which each of the girls has a different
personality that could complement each other. Meg, the oldest is described as
the beauty in the family, has fair skin, and has this willingness to be a lady
surrounded by luxury goods, and she loves attending the party. Joe, the second
is described as brave, stubborn, smart, tomboyish, and not your typical type of
girl in that era but she cares and willing to sacrifice for her family
(somehow, I mistook Joe as the oldest. Sorry Meg). Beth, the third is described
as the musical girl who loves to take care of the dolls, and very very shy. She
is closed to Joe the most. And Amy, the youngest is described as an artist, annoying,
talkative, and loves jewelry. They live with Marmee (their mother) and Hanna
(the keeper).
The early chapter is highlighting the characters and relationship of each figure. You will not find any complicated plot as this is basically talking about the daily lives of commoners. The pace is slow and I always try to find the early problem as I think the plot is very flat. Even it has a slow pace, I kind of enjoy it as I imagine how to live with many girls in a house with no man. However, I could not stand the chapter that shows the drama description. I think it is too long, more than three pages that I found boring. In almost the end chapter, I finally found the problem that makes me more interested. My favorite chapter is chapter eight when Joe regretted her action that almost makes Amy killed. The scene between Marmee and Joe is very beautiful when Marmee told Joe that she has the same characters to control the emotion as Joe but slowly she could eliminate it for almost 40 years. Everything takes to process and time :( I feel so related and it reminds me of how my characters also developed progressively.
I used to think, "Why I do not find the problem almost in the mid of the pages," that I just found out it has two volumes, the first is Little Women and the second is the Good Wives. I feel so dumb, if only I knew earlier, I would buy the second book as well :/
Overall, I enjoy reading this
book but I can not lie that the Indonesian translation is so hung up like the
translator could not determine the language style. And so many misspelled that
I really disappointed. This makes me want to buy the English version,
though. If you want to read a book with a kind of flat plot with focuses more on the characters and relationships within the family, this is the book (8/10).
