Status
Available
Series
Genres
Publication
Feiwel & Friends (2021), 304 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Historical Fiction. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: Four young Black sisters come of age during the American Civil War in So Many Beginnings, a warm and powerful YA remix of the classic novel Little Women, by national bestselling author Bethany C. Morrow. North Carolina, 1863. As the American Civil War rages on, the Freedpeople's Colony of Roanoke Island is blossoming, a haven for the recently emancipated. Black people have begun building a community of their own, a refuge from the shadow of the "old life." It is where the March family has finally been able to safely put down roots with four young daughters: Meg, a teacher who longs to find love and start a family of her own. Jo, a writer whose words are too powerful to be contained. Beth, a talented seamstress searching for a higher purpose. Amy, a dancer eager to explore life outside her family's home. As the four March sisters come into their own as independent young women, they will face first love, health struggles, heartbreak, and new horizons. But they will face it all together. Praise for So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix "Morrow's ability to take the lingering stain of slavery on American history and use it as a catalyst for unbreakable love and resilience is flawless. That she has remixed a canonical text to do so only further illuminates the need to critically question who holds the pen in telling our nation's story." â??Booklist, starred review "Bethany C. Morrow's prose is a sharpened blade in a practiced hand, cutting to the core of our nation's history. ... A devastatingly precise reimagining and a joyful celebration of sisterhood. A narrative about four young women who unreservedly deserve the world, and a balm for wounds to Black lives and liberty." â??Tracy Deonn, New York Times-bestselling author of Legendborn"A tender and beautiful retelling that will make you fall in love with the foursome all over again." â??Tiffany D. Jackson, New York Times-bestselling author of White Smoke and Grown… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member ang709
So Many Beginnings is a poignant story of a family of newly freed persons beginning life anew and the challenges they faced. It was sad that only those in a similar situation could understand their difficulties. It was worse that no one else really even seemed to try. I found parts very moving,
Before this book, I was unaware of the Roanoke colony. I would have liked to have read/learned more about it here.
This story worked well as a Little Women re-mix. It retained key elements (The family could have been considered forward thinking; the man of the house had been taken away by the war; the dynamic between the four sisters was there, and they had similar personalities to the original characters), but it gave this March family a history and a story of its own. I even found that I liked Amy better in this version. She was still spoiled, but she was not unkind.
I didn't feel the overall narrative flowed smoothly. Story threads seemed to be dropped and forgotten only to turn up again much later, and sometimes it was hard to keep track of how much time had passed. And then the end felt rushed. I was completely surprised to learn in the last chapter where Amy and Jo were going to be heading. As far as I know, that was the only mention in the whole book of the subject. I felt like I'd skipped a chapter.
Also, I found myself distracted by the frequent use of the phrase "despite that". It sounded awkward and incorrect but was used heavily throughout. "Despite that it made her look older", "despite that she was right in front of him," "despite that Amy had never seen one", etc. I found myself pausing to think what wording would sound smoother or to insert a synonym like "even though". That may be too much time spent in English class, though.
Overall, it was an interesting book. Thank you to Bookishfirst for the early read.
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especially when it was suggested that Jo write her own story. Also, I was quite pleased about the fate of the painting from the big house.Before this book, I was unaware of the Roanoke colony. I would have liked to have read/learned more about it here.
This story worked well as a Little Women re-mix. It retained key elements (The family could have been considered forward thinking; the man of the house had been taken away by the war; the dynamic between the four sisters was there, and they had similar personalities to the original characters), but it gave this March family a history and a story of its own. I even found that I liked Amy better in this version. She was still spoiled, but she was not unkind.
I didn't feel the overall narrative flowed smoothly. Story threads seemed to be dropped and forgotten only to turn up again much later, and sometimes it was hard to keep track of how much time had passed. And then the end felt rushed. I was completely surprised to learn in the last chapter where Amy and Jo were going to be heading. As far as I know, that was the only mention in the whole book of the subject. I felt like I'd skipped a chapter.
Also, I found myself distracted by the frequent use of the phrase "despite that". It sounded awkward and incorrect but was used heavily throughout. "Despite that it made her look older", "despite that she was right in front of him," "despite that Amy had never seen one", etc. I found myself pausing to think what wording would sound smoother or to insert a synonym like "even though". That may be too much time spent in English class, though.
Overall, it was an interesting book. Thank you to Bookishfirst for the early read.
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LibraryThing member khenkins
So Many Beginnings, a Remixed Classic based on Louisa Mae Alcott's Little Women, is such an important book. Bethany C. Morrow has taken the basic Civil War Era story of four sisters and mother (father in the Union Army) and set it firmly, but gently, in the lives of a Black family living in the
Some readers see Little Women as a novel promoting individuality and “vocation.” Two of the March sisters work to bring money into the impoverished family, and, of course, each sister is different from the others – and accepted for her developing identity. So, too, So Many Beginnings shows its readers a group of people, women and men, “beginning” new lives, growing into adulthood. Each an individual with a strong self-concept.
And the females in this novel are so wise! I wanted to mock the discussions and mini-lectures that go on in the March family (as I did when I read Little Women), but every time a new passage came along, I found myself reading and almost trying to memorize the words because of how emotionally perceptive and compassionate it was. An early, simple example is an exchange between Amy and Meg. Meg tells Amy not to pout because it's unbecoming. Amy asks, “And who have I got to be becoming for?” To which Amy replies, “For yourself, of course.”
Alcott was asked to write a story for young women, and she did so to bring in money to her family. She modeled the characters and dynamics on her own family. In taking on this story's structure, Morrow has let her extensive research and her own experiences flesh out the characters and their environment. Although this comes from a Northern woman steeped in prejudice, about Jo's story of her own life, the woman says, ”You are so skilled at juxtaposing the beauty of your family against the heinous nature of enslavement.” And this is what Morrow has accomplished with the March family.
I received a copy of this book from Fiewel and Friends publishers. This is an honest review.
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Freedmen's Colony on Roanoke Island. Writing for young adults, mainly, Morrow does not shy from the cruel realities of Black oppression when they were enslaved – and the still-cruel, but less violent oppression of Black people by the Northern Whites whose stereotyping and advantage-taking permeates Roanoke Island. But the realities and revelations are woven into the stories of the four very different young women.Some readers see Little Women as a novel promoting individuality and “vocation.” Two of the March sisters work to bring money into the impoverished family, and, of course, each sister is different from the others – and accepted for her developing identity. So, too, So Many Beginnings shows its readers a group of people, women and men, “beginning” new lives, growing into adulthood. Each an individual with a strong self-concept.
And the females in this novel are so wise! I wanted to mock the discussions and mini-lectures that go on in the March family (as I did when I read Little Women), but every time a new passage came along, I found myself reading and almost trying to memorize the words because of how emotionally perceptive and compassionate it was. An early, simple example is an exchange between Amy and Meg. Meg tells Amy not to pout because it's unbecoming. Amy asks, “And who have I got to be becoming for?” To which Amy replies, “For yourself, of course.”
Alcott was asked to write a story for young women, and she did so to bring in money to her family. She modeled the characters and dynamics on her own family. In taking on this story's structure, Morrow has let her extensive research and her own experiences flesh out the characters and their environment. Although this comes from a Northern woman steeped in prejudice, about Jo's story of her own life, the woman says, ”You are so skilled at juxtaposing the beauty of your family against the heinous nature of enslavement.” And this is what Morrow has accomplished with the March family.
I received a copy of this book from Fiewel and Friends publishers. This is an honest review.
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LibraryThing member LisCarey
It's 1863, and with the Civil War still raging, the March family--Alcott and Mamie (Margaret), and their daughters Meg, Jo (Johanna), Beth (Bethlehem), and Amy (Amethyst), are beginning free, settled lives in the Freed People's Colony of Roanoke Island. Mr. March built their home with materials
Mamie is working as a secretary in the camp administration office, the March family being among the small number of freed slaves who are literate. Meg is a teacher of young black students, and she's liked but not entirely respected by the white volunteer teachers from the north. She's every bit the homebody set on marriage and family that Louisa May Alcott's Meg is.
Jo is working on the building of new houses, and composing stories in her head. She has no paper and ink to write with, but she enjoys composing mentally, and reciting her work when there's time for people to listen. This Jo has restrictions Alcott's never did, and also, in some ways, greater independence. Mamie and Meg press her to maintain respectability, but no one expects her to be a refined lady.
Beth is sweet, gentle, and a gifted, skilled seamstress. She remakes dresses abandoned when the slaveowner families fled, and makes new things from scraps and fragments. She becomes ill, too, but it's a different illness, and her story has a different arc.
Amy still has an artistic bent, but she's a dancer, and, I have to say, a lot more likable than Alcott's Amy. Strong-headed, doesn't always pause to be considerate, but it's mostly impulsive thoughtlessness, not selfish indifference. She has a real talent that's going to take her, and Jo, and Lorie (Morrow's version of Alcott's Laurie) to Boston.
Some of the most interesting changes involve Jo and Lorie, who are best friends, very devoted--and Lorie would be delighted if Jo were interested in marriage. Where their relationship really goes is, for me, heartwarming, though perhaps not everyone will agree. There are indications, no stronger than would be acceptable in a novel written in the book's period, that perhaps Jo is asexual.
This may be too much of an overview, but I don't want to say too much about where the plot diverges from the original. The characters are extremely well done, and we see slavery and the end of slavery, including the frustrations and changes for the freed slaves, and the conflicts between the interests of the freed slaves, and northern blacks who were never slaves, who enjoy many of the benefits of being free in the industrially developed north, but not all of them, and still have the need to both preserve respectability, and to avoid being too critical of their "betters."
The four sisters are intelligent, raised to value the education they got in the shadow of slavery where it was illegal, honesty, and kindness. Each has real talents, and each is ambitions in her own way.
I loved this book, and I'll say honestly that I like it a little better than Little Women. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
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supplied by the Union Army. As the book starts, Alcott March has gone off to the Corinth, MS Contraband Camp to offer advice and labor there.Mamie is working as a secretary in the camp administration office, the March family being among the small number of freed slaves who are literate. Meg is a teacher of young black students, and she's liked but not entirely respected by the white volunteer teachers from the north. She's every bit the homebody set on marriage and family that Louisa May Alcott's Meg is.
Jo is working on the building of new houses, and composing stories in her head. She has no paper and ink to write with, but she enjoys composing mentally, and reciting her work when there's time for people to listen. This Jo has restrictions Alcott's never did, and also, in some ways, greater independence. Mamie and Meg press her to maintain respectability, but no one expects her to be a refined lady.
Beth is sweet, gentle, and a gifted, skilled seamstress. She remakes dresses abandoned when the slaveowner families fled, and makes new things from scraps and fragments. She becomes ill, too, but it's a different illness, and her story has a different arc.
Amy still has an artistic bent, but she's a dancer, and, I have to say, a lot more likable than Alcott's Amy. Strong-headed, doesn't always pause to be considerate, but it's mostly impulsive thoughtlessness, not selfish indifference. She has a real talent that's going to take her, and Jo, and Lorie (Morrow's version of Alcott's Laurie) to Boston.
Some of the most interesting changes involve Jo and Lorie, who are best friends, very devoted--and Lorie would be delighted if Jo were interested in marriage. Where their relationship really goes is, for me, heartwarming, though perhaps not everyone will agree. There are indications, no stronger than would be acceptable in a novel written in the book's period, that perhaps Jo is asexual.
This may be too much of an overview, but I don't want to say too much about where the plot diverges from the original. The characters are extremely well done, and we see slavery and the end of slavery, including the frustrations and changes for the freed slaves, and the conflicts between the interests of the freed slaves, and northern blacks who were never slaves, who enjoy many of the benefits of being free in the industrially developed north, but not all of them, and still have the need to both preserve respectability, and to avoid being too critical of their "betters."
The four sisters are intelligent, raised to value the education they got in the shadow of slavery where it was illegal, honesty, and kindness. Each has real talents, and each is ambitions in her own way.
I loved this book, and I'll say honestly that I like it a little better than Little Women. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
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LibraryThing member NadineC.Keels
Meg: a proper teacher.
Jo: a passionate writer.
Beth: a gentle seamstress.
Amy: a lively dancer.
The four young March sisters are coming of age in the Freedpeople's Colony of Roanoke Island during the American Civil War in So Many Beginnings by author Bethany C. Morrow.
Yes, hearing that this YA
I didn't pick up this book with nostalgia, expecting to "relive" Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. And I think others who love that classic should know that this remix isn't merely or essentially a work of fanfiction with brown faces swapped in for white ones.
This is a different story. A different narrative. And I read it for its difference.
Not for its difference from Alcott's novel but for its difference from a lot of newer fiction set in the Civil War era. Not a humble story from the perspective of noble abolitionist characters or the perspective of "slaves runnin' away from Massa." But a story that includes different elements of American history that are too rarely taught or considered and the challenges that surround them.
The reality is that believing slavery is wrong isn't synonymous with accepting and fully respecting all people. And there's a difference between emancipation (from slavery) and freedom (to truly live).
I read this book specifically because it deals with that difference.
Now, as a work of fiction, the novel felt more like a sketch than a full picture to me at times. That's understandable, given that there are four sisters' and their mother's experiences to cover over a few years in one book, and this wasn't the time for a 500 or 600-page novel. Also, the perspectives switch around between characters during the scenes—something I didn't used to notice in fiction but that I now find a little distracting if I'm not prepared for it.
Nevertheless, I appreciate that I couldn't predict everything the characters would think and say or every turn their days and lives would take. The plot and characters kept me curious, and the achingly beautiful parts kept me on my toes.
I'd recommend this read for young adults and adults alike who can appreciate an unsugarcoated but ultimately warm and thought-provoking story of dissimilar individuals who make up a strong family.
Jo: a passionate writer.
Beth: a gentle seamstress.
Amy: a lively dancer.
The four young March sisters are coming of age in the Freedpeople's Colony of Roanoke Island during the American Civil War in So Many Beginnings by author Bethany C. Morrow.
Yes, hearing that this YA
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historical novel is A Little Women Remix certainly got my attention. But that isn't the reason I read it. I tend not to jump at retellings of classics. On the rare occasions when I do try them, I bear in mind that the two stories are separate works.I didn't pick up this book with nostalgia, expecting to "relive" Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. And I think others who love that classic should know that this remix isn't merely or essentially a work of fanfiction with brown faces swapped in for white ones.
This is a different story. A different narrative. And I read it for its difference.
Not for its difference from Alcott's novel but for its difference from a lot of newer fiction set in the Civil War era. Not a humble story from the perspective of noble abolitionist characters or the perspective of "slaves runnin' away from Massa." But a story that includes different elements of American history that are too rarely taught or considered and the challenges that surround them.
The reality is that believing slavery is wrong isn't synonymous with accepting and fully respecting all people. And there's a difference between emancipation (from slavery) and freedom (to truly live).
I read this book specifically because it deals with that difference.
Now, as a work of fiction, the novel felt more like a sketch than a full picture to me at times. That's understandable, given that there are four sisters' and their mother's experiences to cover over a few years in one book, and this wasn't the time for a 500 or 600-page novel. Also, the perspectives switch around between characters during the scenes—something I didn't used to notice in fiction but that I now find a little distracting if I'm not prepared for it.
Nevertheless, I appreciate that I couldn't predict everything the characters would think and say or every turn their days and lives would take. The plot and characters kept me curious, and the achingly beautiful parts kept me on my toes.
I'd recommend this read for young adults and adults alike who can appreciate an unsugarcoated but ultimately warm and thought-provoking story of dissimilar individuals who make up a strong family.
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LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
In this retelling of the classic, the March sisters and their Mammy are just as tender, loving and close. But being formerly enslaved and living in a freedpeople's colony, they are fully aware that the intentions and attitudes of white Union soldiers and abolitionists are not always accommodating
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of Black people's interests. The girls express this awareness with cutting observations, particularly Jo who writes piercing opinion pieces for abolitionist publications. Show Less
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
This Little Women remix is set in the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island during and shortly after the Civil War. The Marches are newly-freed slaves. While Alcott March is in the camp at Corinth, Mammy and her four girls are making a new life in the colony. Mammy works in the office, Meg is a
I think I would have appreciated this book more if it wasn’t a retelling. Even though the author varied many of the plot elements, the story was still constrained by Alcott’s original plot and characters. The Freedmen’s Colony was new to me, and I am glad to have learned about it in this novel.
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teacher, Jo builds houses, Beth is a seamstress, and Amy, the youngest, dreams of dancing.I think I would have appreciated this book more if it wasn’t a retelling. Even though the author varied many of the plot elements, the story was still constrained by Alcott’s original plot and characters. The Freedmen’s Colony was new to me, and I am glad to have learned about it in this novel.
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LibraryThing member framberg
A remix - rather than retelling - of Little Women, So Many Beginnings finds the March family working to build Roanoke Island, a colony of freed Blacks. The personalities of the March sisters and the basic plot elements familiar to readers of Little Women remain, but the remix invites readers into a
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different Civil War era narrative. Bethany Morrow does an excellent job of contextualizing the story of this Black family from 1863-66, providing valuable insights about that time and our own. Show Less
LibraryThing member bell7
Meg, Joanna, Bethlehem, and Amethyst are four Black young women living in the freedmen's colony on Roanoke Island during the Civil War. While their father is away, they draw close to their mother and each other for support as they start their new, emancipated life together.
This book was a mixed baggo to Boston escorted by Jo and Lorie, and why does this happen before Meg's wedding, and how exactly did their father suddenly get back from the war? And I thought one choice of Beth's very out of character for her. The characters can get a little preachy but, well, so did the original. And probably because I was already on the fence, I found myself getting hypercritical about the writing style, especially a quirk where the author writes "despite that" when she just wanted "though": "His shoulders were exactly as broad as Amy remembered, despite that she'd been so young when he visited" or "{he} was never made to feel unwelcome in the home, despite that he still wore the vest he'd brought from Roanoke". Ultimately, I would have preferred to see what Morrow would have done with historical fiction about Roanoke that wasn't constrained by the outline of the classic.
This book was a mixed bag
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for me. Some of it was definitely the reader's fault - or, at least, my preferences for what I would have liked to see in a [Little Women] retelling. I could appreciate some of the changes she made, such as Jo's writing being impassioned articles regarding their experiences in the colony and the nature of Beth's illness. Others simply confused me - why does Amy Show Less
LibraryThing member tornadox
Reimagining of Little Women from the POV of a recently emancipated Black family living in the Roanoke Colony in the 1860s.
The March sisters, of course, are at the forefront. Each of them navigate their new world in their own way. Although they have different life goals, they love and support each
I cried a lot.
The March sisters, of course, are at the forefront. Each of them navigate their new world in their own way. Although they have different life goals, they love and support each
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other immensely. (They must also deal some well-intentioned white Northeners.) It also depicts them choosing how to cope with some of the emotional traumas experienced by newly unenslaved in a nuanced (and accessible) way. I cried a lot.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow is a YA remix of the classic “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott. Like the original, this book takes place during the American Civil War but the March family in this book are black former slaves who are now part of a Freedman Colony on Roanoke Island.
The story is a nuanced take on what life was life for the newly freed Black people. The author also includes the cultural divisions between Southern Black people like the Marches, who lived through enslavement, with those of Northerners who never experienced being slaves firsthand. While the story definitely has a familiar feel, there are many differences from the original that may surprise some readers yet the author manages to bring this family to life as the four sisters come into their own and face first love, health struggles, heartbreak and new horizons.
“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott is one of my all-time favorite books and I have lost count of how many times I have read it. This book, while enjoyable, will never replace the original in my heart. Nevertheless it is heartening to see a book that is packed with Black history and representation wrapped in such a familiar story. So Many Beginnings is a clever adaptation that stays true to the tone of the original story yet still offers a unique point of view.
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While Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are growing and coming into their own, they face many different issues from that of the young women in the Alcott version.The story is a nuanced take on what life was life for the newly freed Black people. The author also includes the cultural divisions between Southern Black people like the Marches, who lived through enslavement, with those of Northerners who never experienced being slaves firsthand. While the story definitely has a familiar feel, there are many differences from the original that may surprise some readers yet the author manages to bring this family to life as the four sisters come into their own and face first love, health struggles, heartbreak and new horizons.
“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott is one of my all-time favorite books and I have lost count of how many times I have read it. This book, while enjoyable, will never replace the original in my heart. Nevertheless it is heartening to see a book that is packed with Black history and representation wrapped in such a familiar story. So Many Beginnings is a clever adaptation that stays true to the tone of the original story yet still offers a unique point of view.
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Awards
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (High School — 2023)
Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 (Selection — 2022)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
304 p.; 8.25 inches
ISBN
1250761212 / 9781250761217