Virginia Kantra's Meg & Jo

In the middle of a pandemic, with no clear timeline for any of us getting to leave our homes anytime soon, comfort reading is in order. Virginia Kantra's Meg & Jo seems like the perfect fit for right now. It is an adaptation and modern retelling of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, which was one of my favorite childhood books. Jane Austen adaptations are an industry of their own, but Alcott's Little Women has gotten very little attention from novelists. Despite the many screen adaptations, I can only think of one other novel version, Geraldine Brooks's March, which tells the story of the March sisters' absent father while he is on the battlefront. Are there others that I'm missing?

Meg & Jo illustrates one very good reason that there may be fewer adaptations: it is hard to hit the right tone. The characters in Little Women fight and undergo hardships, but there's an underlying cheerfulness that sometimes seems hard to believe. While Kantra has found a creative way to update Alcott's story, it's heavy-going at some points because the characters are so weighed down by burdens and unhappiness. In some sections, the novel misses much of the original's joy.

And then there are moments where it veers a bit too far into heavy-panting romance and over the top language. When Jo's in the throes of a romantic encounter, she tells us that "he kissed like this was the main course instead of merely an appetizer, like he could go on kissing me for hours." She describes sex as "hot and wet, carnal and wonderful. I was drowning in sensation. In him." Her love interest declares that "I have such a taste for you, Jo." In response, Jo describes feeling like "His whisper sparkled along my nerves, burst in my chest like a fistful of glitter. And my breath went all over again." What does it even mean that her "breath went all over again"? The writing in these sections feels more like a cheap romance novel more than a witty updating of a classic.

Despite this, I did enjoy the novel as a whole, especially in the second half when the different plot lines start converging. Kantra is tough on the father, which doesn't feel entirely out of place given how small his presence is in Little Women. Just like Alcott's novel, Meg & Jo celebrates family in a way that doesn't feel contrived or artificial. Despite my misgivings about tone and the writing, this novel is a light read for a pandemic.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.