Behind a Mask: or, A Woman's Power by Louisa May Alcott: An Audiobook Review #NovNov23

🎭 Who would have thought that years after reading Little Women (which I found flat and too stereotypical), I would be fascinated by Louisa Alcott's writing? And yet, here I am, surprised at finding such a brilliant novella I had no idea she's ever written!

🎭 Behind a Mask or A Woman's Power is one of Blood and Thunder Tales, a thriller series, which Alcott had written years before Little Women. The first of these was a novelette titled Pauline's Passion and Punishment which she wrote while in financial straits. After she entered it in a competition, and won the prize, Alcott published it anonymously under the name of A. M. Barnard.

🎭 Behind a Mask told the story of Jane Muir, a deceitful governess who came to join the wealthy Coventry family, to guide the 14 year-old Bella Coventry. The household consists of Mrs. Coventry (Bella's mother), Gerald (oldest son - an idle gentleman), Edward (youngest son - the romantic young man), and Lucia Beaufort (a cousin who loves Gerald, and regarded as his wife-to-be). There's also Sir John Coventry, uncle to the children, who lives near their house.

🎭 Jane Muir arrived as a shy, demure, polite young woman of 19, who had been persecuted by endless marriage proposals of her former employer, a guy called Sidney, who happened to be Gerald's acquaintance. But right after she was alone in her bedroom at the first night, we saw immediately that she was actually a thirty years old actress, who was in disguise with wig and fake teeth.

🎭 Mrs. Coventry and Bella were instantly charmed by Miss Muir, while Edward fell head over heels for her. Sir John also gradually found comfort in this girl's company. Only Gerald and Lucia who were suspicious. Thus, it was amusing to watch how Miss Muir gradually won over the family's heart. Even the skeptic Gerald was soon infatuated by her, after she confessed that she'd actually come from a respectable family, and an equal to her employer. Jane's enemies are now Lucia - who's watching her lover slowly slipped away from her, and Lucia's faithful maid.

🎭 Jane's aim was certainly to marry one of the men, to be a Coventry; but the question is, which one? To succeed she must act quickly before the truth overcome her plot, otherwise she would be ruined - penniless and homeless. Will she succeed? Moreover, will this story make her a heroine - a lower class woman's ambition to secure a better life, or will it be 'truth will win over evil' - a condemnation of ambitious female sex in 19th century a la Thomas Hardy?

🎭 I loved everything about this novella! It's like watching a genius actress performing her act, live. Alcott's narrative described Jane Muir's gestures in little details - her sighs, drooping eyelids, her tremble, voice modulation, hand on the heart - everything is perfect. She performed each in the right time, with right amount, to create the right effect. It's so satisfying to read and follow her actions. I know she's deceitful, but I can't help wishing her successful, and the suspense was delicious right to the end.

🎭 Needless to say, this was one of the best novellas I've ever read. No matter what people call this kind of story - a thriller? a sensation novel? - it works for me. What an satisfying read of a brilliant writing! Or should I say 'a satisfying listening', because its was the audiobook version which I've enjoyed for this novella - and it was superbly performed (as usual) by B.J. Harrison. He was such a brilliant performer - not only narrator. He gave each character a perfect modulation in speech, and gave this sensation novella a credit by making it 'live'.

Rating: 5 / 5

This book counts for:

Novellas in November 2023
hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books and Rebecca @ Bookish Beck

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The only reason I read Little Women was because high praises have been attributed to it by most of my fellow book-bloggers. My first encounter with Alcott was in Eight Cousins, which left me no impression at all. With Little Women, I had a slight expectation that it might have something more meaningful than Eight Cousins. Plus, I picked it because Alcott had influence in Transcendentalism, which I am tackling this month for Literary Movement Challenge. But after finishing it, well, I still can’t see why people praise it so much. It was really an enjoyable reading, and I think Alcott is a good writer, but that’s all to me. It left my mind as soon as I opened another book, and I even have to google it right now to write this review (I finished reading about a few weeks ago).

Maybe my favorite part of Little Women is the family bonding of the Marches. It is always great to be accepted and loved as we are, and to have a home where we are belonged to. The characters are memorable, but sometimes seem unreal. But unrealistic—angelic in this case—characters, like those of Dickens, are indeed memorable.

From the four sisters, I think Amy is the most natural one, for her age. Beth is too good to be true; she is more like an angel than a little child! Megan and Jo are typical contradiction in books’ characters; they even reminded me of Anne and George in Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five. It seems that girls are mostly divided into two categories. The feminine ones love pretty dresses, play with dolls, like to cook, and always think about getting a husband. While the tomboy ones like to be called with boy’s names, dislike dresses, and do boyish games. Amazingly their names are always similar to boy’s names… Georgina to George, Josephine to Jo. Plus these tomboy girls are usually hot-headed and stubborn. These childish stereotyping is sometimes annoying!

Apart from that, Little Women taught us to place virtues over vanity, which was the theme of Enlightenment literature. In every event of their lives, Mrs. March always reminded her family to keep praying and practicing Christian values. It’s good, but sometimes I think it’s a bit patronizing. I prefer books that don’t tell us to do something straight to the point, but hide ii between the lines. The finding of the hidden moral is often the most valuable point of the reading.

Three and a half stars for Little Women.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I read Puffin Classics paperback

This book is counted for:

7^th book for Literary Movement Reading Challenge:Transcendentalism

4^th book for Back to the Classics 2015: A Classicby a Woman Author

92^nd book for The Classics Club Project

Eight Cousins

Kesedihan tak dapat kita panggul sendirian. Kadang kala kita membutuhkan orang lain di luar diri kita untuk membantu menyembuhkannya. Itulah pelajaran yang kudapat dari membaca buku Eight Cousins karya Lousia May Alcott ini. Kisah ini ditulis pada akhir abad 19, dan ditujukan bagi para para gadis remaja yang segera akan memasuki masa dewasa. Louisa meletakkan dasar pembentukan moral bagi seorang wanita pada jaman itu lewat kisah ringan dan ceria ini.

Rose baru berusia tiga belas tahun ketika ayahnya, satu-satunya orang tua yang ia miliki di dunia, pergi meninggalkannya dalam kematian. Sebelum meninggal, ayahnya memberikan hak perwalian bagi Rose kepada saudaranya, seorang pria berpembawaan riang, seorang dokter yang suka berlayar. Rose memanggilnya Paman Alec.

Sambil menunggu Paman Alec pulang dari pelayarannya, Rose dititipkan ke Aunt-Hill. Yah...dari namanya, anda mungkin bisa menebak bahwa Aunt-Hill adalah tempat tinggal para bibi. Terdengar membosankan bukan? Satu bibi sudah cukup, tapi bagaimana dengan enam bibi? Dan para Mrs. Campbell ini, para bibi Rose, tinggal di suatu kompleks yang berdekatan satu sama lain.

Para bibi ini masing-masing mencoba membuat Rose yang berkabung menjadi lebih ceria. Segala cara mereka lakukan. Mendatangkan seorang gadis kecil untuk menemaninya salah satunya, sayang Ariadne Bliss ternyata gadis kecil yang menyebalkan. Lemari boneka dan hal-hal yang harusnya bisa menghibur anak perempuan telah dicoba oleh Bibi Plenty dan Bibi Peace, namun Rose tetap berdiam diri dengan wajah pucat dan tubuh kurus berpenyakitan. Para bibi sudah hampir putus asa....

Para bibi yang hampir putus asa itu menyiapkan sebuah manuver terakhir bagi keponakan malang mereka. Kejutan itu hadir suatu sore dengan cara yang heboh. Tujuh anak laki-laki berbaris di ruang duduk, semuanya berambut kuning dan berpakaian ala Skotlandia. Itulah "Klan". Tak butuh waktu lama bagi Rose untuk mengetahui bahwa mereka adalah sepupu-sepupunya, dan bahwa mereka anak-anak laki-laki yang sangat ribut! Padahal...ssttt...selama ini Rose sangat membenci anak laki-laki dengan semua kelakuan dan kegiatannya.

Tapi "Klan" bukanlah anak laki-laki sembarangan, mereka semua hadir dengan keunikan masing-masing sehingga ujung bibir Rose sudah mulai membentuk senyuman dalam pertemuan pertama ke delapan sepupu ini. Bagaimana tidak, kalau Archie si kepala klan yang tertua dan selalu bersikap terhormat, Charlie "The Prince" yang flamboyan, Mac si kutu buku, Steve "Dandy" yang pesolek, Will & Geordie si bandel, dan si kecil Jamie, semua berkolaborasi untuk menyenangkan nona kecil kita?

Namun kebahagiaan sesungguhnya mendatangi Rose dalam sosok Paman Alec. Ia orang yang ramah, baik hati, penuh perhatian pada "gadis kecil"nya. Paman Alec dulu mencintai ibu Rose, namun ternyata ibu Rose memilih saudaranya. Untungnya Alec tak mendendam, dan kini ia mencurahkan waktu dan pikirannya untuk sebuah proyek besar. Proyek itu adalah mengambil alih pengurusan Rose dari para bibi ke tangannya sendiri, dan membuat Rose menjadi lebih sehat, ceria dan normal. Proyek itu berlangsung selama setahun.

Selama setahun itu Rose perlahan tumbuh menjadi gadis yang ceria dan sehat, berwawasan luas serta dipersiapkan menjadi seorang wanita yang "baik", meski tetap keceriaan remajanya tetap muncul. Paman Alec memberikan contoh yang baik bagi remaja putri. Alih-alih mengenakan gaun berat berkorset plus high heels, Paman Alec memilihkan pakaian yang nyaman dan sederhana bagi Rose, yang justru menampilkan kecantikan seorang gadis remaja. Kegiatan-kegiatan di luar rumah membuat Rose sehat dan segar. Sementara pelajaran-pelajaran keilmuan dari Paman Alec serta ketrampilan mengurus rumah tangga dari para bibi, mempersiapkan Rose menjadi ibu rumah tangga yang tetap berwawasan.

Banyak petualangan seru dan asyik dijalani Rose bersama Paman Alec dan tujuh sepupunya. Namun di sela kegembiraan itu, Rose juga sempat melakukan "pengorbanan". Ia mengorbankan saat-saat indah liburan di pulau demi Phebe, gadis pelayan yatim piatu yang ia angkat menjadi saudaranya. Ia juga meluangkan waktu untuk menemani Mac saat anak laki-laki itu menderita sakit mata. Dan saat ada pertengkaran di antara sepupunya, Rose-lah yang mendamaikan mereka.

Akhirnya, setelah masa setahun itu selesai, Rose harus memutuskan di mana dan bersama siapa ia akan tinggal setelah itu. Siapa yang paling dicintainya dan paling membahagiakan hidupnya?

Eight Cousins ini jelas buku yang membawa kegembiraan bagi pembacanya, tapi di dalamnya juga tersisip pelajaran moral yang baik bagi remaja pada umumnya, dan remaja putri khususnya. Persahabatan, pengorbanan, kepercayaan, dan baaanyaaak keceriaan akan anda temukan di sini. Tiga bintang untuk kedelapan sepupu ini!

Judul: Eight Cousins
Penulis: Louisa May Alcott
Penerbit: Orange Books (Mizan group)
Terbit: Februari 2011
Tebal: 375 hlm