A few years ago, I was browsing in my teacher's library (something not unusual for me) and stumbled across this. I loved Little Women, and so it was with anticipation that I started Eight Cousins. By the end of that school day, I was almost done. The only bad thing I could really say about it was that I wished it were longer.

What sets Eight Cousins apart from Little Women is the fact that Eight Cousins is a much lighter if not equally enjoyable story. Little Women may be Alcott's masterpiece, but this is her gem. Another thing that made Eight Cousins different from Little Women was all the moral lessons. Alcott can tend to be preachy in her work, but she managed to tone it down to a tolerable amount in Eight Cousins. Doing this made the lessons Uncle Alec and everyone else taught Rose more effective and interesting to the reader. Eight Cousins covers less time than Little Women, so the plot is more tightly woven. Despite the shortness of the novel, I fell in love with the characters of Eight Cousins just as fast as I fell in love with the March sisters. Rose really grows as a characters, and her entire family is eccentric and loving.

I highly recommend Eight Cousins whether you're an Alcott fan or not. In fact, if you aren't, read this before Little Women. It will ease you into Alcott's writing style, which can be a little hard to get used to.

I read this one multiple times growing up. Fun story.

One of the 2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge categories is "A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym." I immediately thought of Louisa May Alcott, who went by A.M. Barnard. I just re-read Little Women a couple weeks ago, so I decided to try one of her other books. I picked up Eight Cousins, and proceeded to spend the next several hours painfully plodding my way through.

This is a children's book, and is quite short at 300 pages. It should only take an hour or two to get through, but it took me five hours! Why? It. Was. So. Boring. It was hard to believe that this was written by the same woman who wrote Little Women. It did say in the preface to the book that it was written as a serial novel, and is not a perfect work of fiction. However, I was still expecting something a little less... actionless and preachy? Have you ever read a family devotional story? Where little Tom and Sue misbehave, earn a consequence, learn the error of their ways, and all is forgiven? This is just as preachy. Except Rose, the main character, is thoughtful, caring, loving, and sacrificial. So instead of getting to see somebody with spunk make mistakes, we just see a girl doing everything right and being praised and adored by everybody who knows her. Once or twice, she makes a small error but immediately is sorrowful and everybody moves on.

Tldr; boring, preachy, and tedious.

LOVED it!! About a 13 yo girl who lost her father when she was 11/12 yo. Then she goes and lives in a boarding school for a year, then goes and lives with her great aunts until her uncle (who has legal guardianship of her) comes to parent her. She is frail, vain, and unhealthy when he gets there. He does all sorts of "experiments" with her for her health for a year. She has adventures with her 7 boy cousins, helps them with their problems, and grows very healthy!

A story about bettering oneself, both in terms of physical health and in spirit, and involving virtue, self-sacrifice, and being considerate.

I had read Rose in Bloom many years back and thought it high-time I read its predecessor. Now done, I can say that I enjoyed the wholesome quality of most of the characters, their interactions, and their closeness as a large family. This is definitely a cozy read.

However, I would have enjoyed this study of bettering one's character more had it been folded into another topic rather than it being the sole subject. Because of this, some might find the story to be a bit preachy. While some scrapes that Rose gets into remain relevant today, some of the sentiments expressed in the novel might come off as old-fashioned. Personally, I don't mind as it is to be expected, and I simply take it as an opportunity to study the times in which the story takes place. Speaking of which, I was pleasantly surprised to see an admonition of smoking in a novel originally published in 1875.

Loved it.
This was the first time I have read this book, as far as I know.
It was sweet.
It was wonderful.
It was full of growing girls and boys.
The main character, Rose, such a sweet girl, grows and endures many trials and even helps her 7 male cousins to grow and mature as well.
She is so giving.
Just lovely.
The Aunts... hysterical, endearing, lovely, funny, strange, Great.
And Uncle Alec is the best. Anyone would love him to be their guardian.

a quote and a wake up call for all us parents/guardians, this is one thing that homeschooling gives my husband and I a better chance at doing successfully... though we all have our moments and even days of not doing and being all we should for and to our children...

"Fathers and mothers are too absorbed in business and housekeeping to study their children, and cherish that sweet and natural confidence which is a child's surest safeguard, and a parent's subtlest power. So the young hearts hide trouble or temptation till the harm is done, and mutual regret comes too late. Happy the boys and girls who tell all things freely to father or mother, sure of pity, help, and pardon; and thrice happy the parents who, out of their own experience, and by their own virtues, can teach and uplift the souls for which they are responsible." pg 224

My children talk to my husband and I. They, mostly, respect our opinions on things and come to us with troubles, large and small. It is a privilege and a great responsibility.

I can't wait to read Rose in Bloom.
I hope I like it as well as I did this one.

This is one of those books you want to curl up with on a wintery day, by the fire, with hot chocolate in hand (of course since I live in Hawaii none of those things actually happened) to read the day away with. This heartwarming novel, in typical Louisa May Alcott style, has a moral to go along with each chapter as we watch Rose navigate her way around her new home and life. Among other lessons we learn that tobacco is bad, exercise is good, friends are important, and that giving time and money to charity is nice. Though this book is indicative of the times (just wait until you read the description of the men from China...), Louisa May Alcott does advocate women being in charge of their own finances, which was quite the feminist stance to take during the mid 1800s. Except for being a little too 'innocent' for my taste, Eight Cousins will hit the spot when you need to take a breather from the circus show that our modern lives have become.

What's this book about?

It's about Rose who lost her parents, and she has to make a choice between all of her aunts or her Uncle Alec.

What did I like about the book?

I enjoyed the friendships between Rose and her 7 cousins who are all boys. Apparently, they didn't have a lot of girls in the family even though the aunts were obviously all girls. Riddle me that one. Anyway, I half liked the relationship between Rose and Uncle Alec, and at the same time I didn't care for it.

What didn't I like about the book?
For one who speaks on women's rights, there are quite a few things I found wrong with it. It was disrespectful to anyone who is Chinese and overweight. Anyone who sits idle is practically worthless. And why didn't anyone question the Aunt who poisoned her child? Of course, it's a different time period, but nobody seemed outraged for Aunt Myrna who poisoned her daughter.

Yes, there are families who kiss each other on the lips. It does make you feel a little uneasy when Uncle Alec unfastens her belts and kisses her on the lips.


My personal thoughts?
It wasn't as good as Little Women. I can see why it wasn't a great hit for the author. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that great either. I did nod off a few times because parts of it was a chore to read at times.

I much prefer the first half to the second. As always, Louisa is a champion of women not being constrained.