A TV, shelves of books, and a reel of film

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving (2008)

November 8, 2017January 6, 2026Leave a comment

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving (2008)
Rated PG

Description (from the film case): Based on a short story by the acclaimed author of Little Women comes a holiday story of family and forgiveness. Recently widowed Mary Bassett (Helene Joy) and her three children have hit difficult times on their farm. Things are so bad this year that they can’t even afford a turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. Suddenly, Mary’s wealthy and estranged mother Isabella (Jacqueline Bisset) comes to visit. Although she finds a kindred spirit in Mary’s eldest daughter, Tilly (Tatiana Maslany), Mary resents her mother’s attempts to help them out of their financial difficulties…

My thoughts: Okay, so even though the description doesn’t make it clear, the story here is led by young Tilly, and I rather like this heroine. She’s got some fire but doesn’t wildly burn around, she longs for more but isn’t a total brat about it, and she has some growing up to do but isn’t immature. Plus, she’s a writer, which I always admire.

And, yes, I’m taking the liberty of tagging this as a Christmas film, since Thanksgiving is the lead-up to the holiday of all holidays. The movie originally aired on the Hallmark Channel, and it certainly has the quintessentially “Hallmark” kind of wholesomeness, warmth, and delightfulness wrapped up in an hour and a half.

An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

September 8, 2017December 19, 2022Leave a comment

Vintage Book

Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.

4 Stars

An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Polly finds out she’s not quite like other girls when she goes to visit her cousins in the city. It may lead to some awkward situations, but perhaps Polly’s differentness will prove not to be such a bad thing in An Old-Fashioned Girl, a coming of age novel by Louisa May Alcott.

Okay, so I’ll confess right out the gate that Alcott’s admission at the beginning of the last chapter ruined the end of the book for me. But as I came to like the characters so much, I can forgive how their creator deals with them in the end.

I enjoyed much of this book’s wording. How the characters speak, and how the author speaks about them, is what most makes these folks a pleasure. On the whole, I like Polly and Tom the best as children. Their dance at the party in Chapter 7 is…well, it’s just flat out cute.

The music struck up, and away they went, Tom hopping one way and Polly the other, in a most ungraceful manner.

“Keep time to the music,” gasped Polly.

“Can’t. Never could,” returned Tom.

“Keep step with me, then, and don’t tread on my toes,” pleaded Polly.

“Never mind. Keep bobbing, and we’ll come right by and by,” muttered Tom, giving his unfortunate partner a sudden whisk, which nearly landed both on the floor.

But they did not “get right by and by”; for Tom, in his frantic efforts to do his duty, nearly annihilated poor Polly. He tramped, he bobbed, he skated, he twirled her to the right, dragged her to the left…

Too many perfectly worded parts and tidbits to name. There’s Polly’s evening of flirtation as a young woman at the opera, the “bitter smile” on her face at the end of it, Tom bending to ask her, “Are you tired, Polly?” to which she answers, “Yes, of being nobody.” There’s Fanny’s observation of Maud that she directs at Polly, saying, “Blessed innocence! Don’t you wish you were a child, and dared tell what you want?”

A rather delightful and old-fashioned read from the author of Little Women.

The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott

April 5, 2017November 25, 2025Leave a comment

Vintage Book

Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.

The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Edith, an impoverished orphan in the bloom of young womanhood, wins the favor of her wealthy friends (and the love of noble Lord Percy) with her kindness and gentle spirit. But when an envious rival, Lady Ida, schemes to rob Edith of her position, Edith may be forced to reveal the secret hidden in her locket in The Inheritance, a novel by author Louisa May Alcott.

Ah. One of those rare instances when I like a story’s movie better than its book.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy reading this, hence two stars instead of one. Over the top in its drama, in an almost Shakespearean fashion, this little work of fiction leaves nothing to subtlety or nuance, penned by an obviously unseasoned hand. “Gay,” “noble,” and other forms of the two words, along with a handful of other oft-repeated terms, appear on practically every page, sometimes several times a page, and the heroine is sweetly perfect to the point of becoming something of a nuisance to read about.

Still, though, knowing that this was Alcott’s first novel, which she did not publish, I didn’t plan on taking it too seriously, and about as much as I enjoy reading Shakespeare, I enjoyed this–as a quick, in between, taking-a-break kind of read with an “old-fashionedness” that I am partial to in literature.

I’m happy to know that Alcott did get better, after this.

Little Women (1994)

January 28, 2015December 23, 20241 Comment

Little Women (1994)
Rated PG

Description (from the film case): With her husband off at war, Marmee (Susan Sarandon) is left alone to raise their four daughters–her “little women.” There is the spirited Jo (Winona Ryder), conservative Meg (Trini Alvarado), fragile Beth (Claire Danes), and romantic Amy (played at different ages by Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis.) As the years pass, the sisters share some of the most cherished and painful memories of self-discovery.

My thoughts (maybe a little spoiler-ish if you’ve not seen one of the movies or read the book): The cast, the costumes, the score–all a triumph. It takes genius for a film less than two hours long to make a viewer feel like she’s really lived all those years with the characters. No, I’ll never be totally reconciled to Laurie’s “switch over” from one little March woman to another (a deliberate and, I think, stubborn choice on Louisa May Alcott’s part), but, strangely, it doesn’t make me love the story less.

One of those rare occasions when I saw a film before reading the book it’s based on, and an even rarer occasion when I love the film and the book equally, despite their differences. And that’s saying something, since Alcott’s novel is one of my all-time favorite reads.

My corresponding reading: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.