When I was about 8, I had four favorite books: Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, and Eight Cousins. And Pollyana. Okay, that's five. I really need to do a re-read of this one.

3.5 stars.

I found the very transparent moralizing a bit tedious. Also, the romanticization of women and girls as being like, emotional support animals for men was kind of irritating. Otherwise, a sweet story.

The audiobook reader I listened to mispronounced a bunch of words, like bosom, comeliness, curtsy, and others.

I listened to "Eight Cousins" by Lousia May Alcott as an audiobook performed by Barbara Caruso, who is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. I have enjoyed her readings of several of my most cherished childhood books - the Anne of Green Gables series and Homecoming/Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt.

In "Eight Cousins," Rose Campbell is recently orphaned through the death of her beloved father and comes to live with her large extended family on the "aunt hill," surrounded by aunts and 7 boy cousins. I thought the first chapters were very good, and they had a strong flavor of LM Montgomery to me, both in plot and style. There was a touch of Anne (orphan, talk of "bosom friends"...which literally was something I thought Anne/Mongtomery invented), a smidge of Emily (dead father, cluster of busybody aunts arguing about how to raise her), and even a sprinkling of Storygirl (cousin escapades). But that impression of similarity might have been mainly founded on Caruso's voice and my memories of her renderings of Anne.

As the book progressed, it seemed to lose steam...and to become less and less comparable to Montgomery. "Eight Cousins" is highly episodic (even more so than AofGG), and some of the chapters were more engaging than others. It was a bit preachy and moralistic. And Rose just never really becomes a fully-fleshed character with depth like an Anne or an Emily. She seems more like a prop for Alcott to promote some of her pet theories about education and childraising. I was personally hoping for more of a storyline about Phebe, the maid, and Rose becoming friends (or "sisters" as Rose promises at one point). But that was not an arc that Alcott pursued.

Overall, this is a cozy and clean book that I could play even with my kids listening, and Barbara Caruso's beautiful voice carries it along well. But it was just lacking a spark that I was hoping for. It is not surprising that this book is not as well-known as "Little Women." And Rose is just not...Anne.

I read this when I was a kid (several times) and it always left me feeling as though I ought to be more energetic and busy. Still feel that same way. To modern ears, it feels preachy. All the same, it says what is true- modern ears just don't want to hear it.

Such a fun story of family life and how it makes you feel when it's a good family. The transformation of Rose from sad orphan to family butterfly is enchanting from start to finish. Deduction from 5 stars just for the constant references to "yellow people" when a friend from another land is introduced.

A quick and charming little book, but not nearly as well written as "Little Women".

A quick and charming little book, but not nearly as well written as "Little Women".

Rose has been recently orphaned, and after 13 years of being an only child, has been sent to live on Aunt Hill where she finds six aunts and seven boy cousins. They rough her up, she calms them down. One of Alcott's best, I think.

Could be otherwise titled, 'a bunch of women utterly fail to parent a young girl until a childless dude turns up and tells them how to do it'. Maybe I would have liked this better had I read it when I was young, but I doubt it. The characterisation is incredibly weak, the cast prolific and indistinct from each other, and the plot barely existent under the syrupy, moralistic rubbish. I can hardly believe it's the same author who wrote Little Women; that at least had a story and characters that were enjoyable to read about. There's none of the wit and realism of that book here - just platitudes, galling paternalism, and enough saccharine to choke you. It would have been a far more interesting tale had Alec and the cousins just stayed well away, and had it been about Rose, Phebe and the aunts, about women's thoughts and lives, about education and choices.

Ada beberapa kata yang maknanya kurang, dalam menerjemahkan yah.
Satu atau dua kalimat penggunaan tanda bacanya belum ada. Sedikit membuat bingung saat dibaca dan perlu jeda untuk memikirkan nya.

Dan ini buat kecepatan cukup lambat.