I must admit, it's been ages since I read Little Women. I'm not a hardcore fan. I'm not sure which is better in this case ... is the connection to that book the hook and draw, or will readers be a little disillusioned by the harsher look at war, and the imperfections of Mr. March (and Marmee). 

While checking out thrift stores for books for my Little Free Library, I found a paperback copy and picked it up. Having a physical copy will move a book up my TBR, even though I still go with digital options overall. Here, I went with the audio BUT ... as Part2 started, I had to switch to reading. It was the same, male narrator, who had been voicing the first person Mr. March thus far, now suddenly he is Marmee? The same voice? First person, being read by a man, the same man/voice we already associate with Mr. March????? I don't care if it costs more to bring in a second (female) narrator. Do it! If it was third person ... okay, but not first person. I don't want to hear a man's voice reading about straightening her dress and caring for her husband. The final two chapters switched back to Mr. March's POV ... and I switched back to the audio. I was glad I had been able to borrow this from the library (although my main/local one didn't carry it). If I'd purchased this from Audible, I would have tried to return it.  I'm going to select the Kindle copy for my format recorded here on Storygraph!

In addition to that audio "error" (in my opinion) - I was frustrated with the Table of Contents, it was difficult to switch between formats, as the breaks weren't consistent. The TOC in Kindle was just the most basic chronological listing. There were chapter headers, I don't know why these were not included on the TOC. The physical book, per usual for today's publications, doesn't even deign to provide a TOC. I did like that the chapter headings were printed along the top of the pages. Still, trying to find a specific spot requires a lot of random flipping, rather than knowing exactly what page a chapter/part starts on. While there were headers, they weren't super informative (Bread and Shelter, Scars, Yankee Leavening ...) When there was the switch to Marmee's POV, I would have appreciated a note indicating that. Not that it was that hard to figure it out, but there were moments of confusion. I had to stop the audio, pull up the Kindle copy, see if I'd missed something (especially as mentioned above, because it was the exact same voice/narrator). 

As for the story itself  - it was very bloody, lots of death and violence (it IS war), huge focus on slavery - which did have some enlightening moments. SO many words that aren't really used regularly today, some I'd want to stop and look up, highlight (espaliered, caducity, encomium, serried, alluvium, apogee, nadir, catarrh) ... there were lots more, those were ones I just stopped to record. Others that I know but notice - hectored, sibilance, desultory, excoriation.   I made more notes in the Marmee section, I guess just feeling some connection to thoughts and feelings. 

I feel now I should probably re-read LittleWomen.