I was basically forced to read this novel for a college survey course in American Romanticism. I had read 'Little Women' in high school and didn't think much of it. Too morally heavy-handed and contrived and not entertaining at all. 'Moods' suprised me. The same criticisms apply, but I did find the book a pleasure to read. The criticisms that the book places against the society of the times about women's behavioral expectations, while not exactly revolutionary, were well thought out and not as in-your-face as the messages found in 'Little Women'. The characters are not as one dimensional as in 'Little Women' and I thought Sylvia's dilemna was belieavable. Like I said before, I was suprised at how much I liked the book.

As Alcott's first novel, this book is much more than a precursor to Little Women. It was also her attempt at serious literary recognition. Its intertexualities with the Transcendentalists, particularly Thoreau and Marget Fuller, make it an important book, as does its serious examination of a taboo subject in the 1860s: marriage and divorce. Although Alcott was not satisfied with the book, due to the many cuts required by her publisher, Moods exhibits a very ambitious Alcott finding her voice as a writer and addressing the difficult and controversial subjects with which women were wrestling. Alcott's first novel was influenced by Jane Eyre and The Scarlet Letter and bears reading alongside those two classics.

Sarah Elbert does an excellent job charting a cursory but thorough biography of Louisa May Alcott and her parents. Tying the development of philosophical beliefs and life events to her literature, Elbert demonstrates the role of Alcott's intense committment to abolition and women's rights in her work. She conducts particular in depth analyses of several of Alcott's "adult" novels as well as the March family series (Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys). I was especially interested in the family conflict Alcott felt between her domestic obligations of supporting and caring for her mother and father and her dedication to her career. Things haven't changed all that much have they? I was previously unaware of Louisa's long struggle with illness brought about by the treatment for typhoid she received after being infected while working as a Civil War nurse. An excellent resource and well-written.