Book Review: Fruitlands

I had to try another Gloria Whelan book, so I selected a small book, Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect. I identified so much with the character of Jo in Alcott's Little Women and Little Men, that when I was in high school, I actually used to sign my own personal journals with the name "Jo." Plus, I spent a period of time in graduate school studying early American utopian communities (for a paper on Nathaniel Hawthorne, who lived at the Brook Farm utopian community).

This book was a very enjoyable read. It is a fictionalized account of Louisa May Alcott's actual experiences during her family's attempt to create a more perfect life on a farm called Fruitlands. Gloria Whelan, who does extensive research for her books, based this account on the nine remaining journal entries Louisa wrote in her journal during this time (other entries were possibly destroyed by her father).

Her story is set up by juxtaposing a journal Louisa keeps for her parent's perusal and one she keeps as a private diary to contain her most honest, personal thoughts. I found this idea intriguing. Indeed, I often think about how different my blog might be if I were writing anonymously with the intent of pouring out my deepest, most intimate struggles. I have to acknowledge that my blog is sanitized. I do write it primarily for myself, but always with the niggling thought that others are also reading what is written here. Those honest, personal thoughts seem only fit for a private journal, so I can appreciate Whelan's decision to reveal two journals side-by-side.

In fact, I will share a particularly poignant quote from Louisa's first journal entry:

"Father says that a journal is the way to come to know yourself, and it is only by knowing yourself that you are free to become yourself."

I wish I knew if this is an actual quote from Louisa or from her father, Bronson Alcott. It is a great truth about the value of journaling.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the life of Louisa May Alcott or early American utopian communities. I would also recommend it for teachers of students ages 8-12. It gives a faithful and humorous account of the difficulties encountered while trying to do something noble. I would even recommend it for anyone living in the shadow of those who claim high ideals (pastor's kids definitely fit this category), because ... it ain't easy tryin' to be perfect!

Someday, I would like to read those actual nine journal entries from Louisa May Alcott's pen. Someday, I would like to visit the museum of the Fruitlands experiment, in Harvard, Massachusetts, to see the attic where Louisa slept with her sisters (will it be tiny and cramped, like Poe's cottage???). And, of course, someday I will come to know myself and really feel free to become myself!