12 – Little Women #2 w/ Kendra Radke

Hello everyone! We’re back with another episode of Little Women. We finally get to know a little bit more about Laurie and we also deal with some sister drama between Jo and Amy, so be sure to tune into the episode today to find out more.

Find Kendra everywhere at @KERadkeUniverse

Find their podcast @WestcoastBooksters everywhere and Twitter at @WCBooksters

Find me at all the places at @BarelyBookish! Happy holidays everyone!

Transcript

Rachel: Hey, hi, hello everyone and welcome back to the Barely Bookish podcast. So now we are back once again reading little women with Kendra from the Westcoast Booksters podcast, which if you haven’t checked them out be sure to do that and Kendra will tell you more about that in the outro so yeah, there’s that. Also, if you haven’t listened to the previous episode on Little Women, please be sure to do that first these are very spoiler inclusive so read the book, listen to the first episode, or if you don’t really care about spoilers come hang out, that’s fine, too, but we will get right into the episode. Bye.

(Intro Music)

Kendra: Yeah.

Rachel: So after all that were on the Chapter 4, which is titled Burdens, so I wonder. I was like well that’s dark right off the bat. I was like, alright, just throw that out there. So the girls are happy to be back to their regular working days. Oh, never mind I lied. I read that wrong. So the girls are back to their regular working days, and they are not happy about it at all, and everyone seems to be having a terrible day today. And they are all incredibly grumpy at breakfast like even Beth, who’s normally in a good mood is just kind of like down. And they all end up leaving to go do their jobs after just like not having a relatively good morning. And this is when they finally say that Mister March lost his property trying to quote help an unfortunate friend unquote and then there’s no further explanation of this at all.

Kendra: So it sounds like, just by that, because I don’t think I remember reading that, that he’s maybe swindled out of his property.

Rachel: I couldn’t tell if he was swindled or like he put up a loan to help someone and the person couldn’t pay back their loan so they took his house as collateral. I don’t know. Cause they don’t really say anything like anything could’ve happened, so I’m not sure.

Kendra: That’s called being too nice for-

Rachel: Yeah

Kendra: Those out there that are listening. You don’t put your family in that kind of danger.

Rachel: Yeah.

Kendra: It’s always nice to help people, but not when you lose your house over it or your property.

Rachel: Yeah.

Kendra: Or your cattle at the time I don’t know what they had.

Rachel: I don’t know what they had, but I also wonder if it’s one of those things where the girls don’t know so the narrator was like you don’t have to know what the girls don’t know. But it’s like a?

Kendra: Oh yeah.

Rachel: You know? But I-

Kendra: Because she talks to us like that.

Rachel: Mmhmm. I know since like I just kind of wonder if it’s one of those things where it’s like this is what the girls think happened, which is that you know, he was trying to help someone and they lost it. But like in actuality maybe he had like debts, he couldn’t pay back, or he lost his job.

Kendra: We have not met the dad yet so he could be a terrible man.

Rachel: True. We don’t know. Who could say?

Kendra: Yeah, we don’t know.

Rachel: Yeah, so that’s all they say about that and then they go into the jobs of all the girls, so Jo actually works for their aunt who apparently when they were down on their luck and tried to adopt at least one of the kids which I’m like, okay, like that’s weird.

Kendra: I don’t-I mean, like it is weird. I mean, okay, so for back then, it wasn’t weird. But at the same time, this is their rich aunt, so whoever would have been adopted by her would have inherited everything.

Rachel: Yeah, had so much money. They even say like by them turning her down they’re probably written out of her will. And I’m like well who else is it gonna go to? It doesn’t sound like they have cousins.

Kendra: Well, the aunt has a parrot and a dog so could possibly go.

Rachel: Oh it’s gonna be a-er, yeah, Ernest Hemingway, right? Case where he leaves his fortune to his cats and now the city has to take care of all the cats in Key West.

Kendra: Oh.

Rachel: Wait do you not know about that?

Kendra: No I didn’t know that.

Rachel: You haven’t been-have you heard of the Hemingway House in Key West?

Kendra: No, I don’t think so.

Rachel: Okay, so basically what happened is-is he left all of his money to the cats and for the-for people who wanted to take care of the cats. So what ended up happening is the city just basically made it a historical thing and he only has six toed cats and he had like a ton of them so now they just constantly kept breeding and there’s a bunch of cats at this house. But it’s like a tourist destination, so you can go through and they make money off of the tourist paying to tour to it, and then they feed the cats. So all the cats are protected and living their best lives, but it’s, it’s interesting to go and see it. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve been really wanting to because it’s just a bunch of six toed cats because they’re all inbred.

Kendra: I’m allergic to cats, so I might die in that house, but I would like to see it as long as they don’t touch me.

Rachel: Just you know like hazmat suit, it and-or like I’ll go through with a GoPro and send it to you and then you can get like my visual of it.

Kendra: That works.

Rachel: Yeah, there, you go we’ll-we’ll figure it out. We got it Anyways, back from cats conversation, the-Jo actually says that she kind of likes her aunt and it seems like they’re kind of similar people, like they’re both equally stubborn. But it’s nice that they at least like each other and-it’s-Jo kind of talks about how the aunt has this gigantic library, so whenever her aunt is taking a nap or otherwise busy, she just sprints down the library and starts reading, which I was like, yeah, same I get it. So Beth does her lessons at home because she didn’t enjoy going to school and she’s really shy but really good at music. And Meg babysits for a little family. I guess, she kind of nannies for them, technically, but they’re like a rich family and I think they have 2, 4 kids?

Kendra: Not a live-in nanny.

Rachel: Not a live-in nanny. I really don’t know like if Hannah lives there or not like I don’t know if we’ll ever find out either.

Kendra: I don’t, well, okay so you-I can’t remember what I read but there is a part in there that we yeah, we might find out.

Rachel: I hope so cause I’m kinda just curious now. So, and then it says like Amy goes to school but she’s also an artist, so that’s kind of like us getting to know the girls more.

Kendra: Beth has a creepy doll collections and-

Rachel: Oh yeah.

Kendra: I’ve been her sister. I think I would have been slightly scared of her.

Rachel: Yeah, I know they’re like, oh, it’s so sweet that she wants to take care of these like destroyed dolls, but I’m like is it sweetie, it’s kind of creepy.

Kendra: But it also gives me a Phoebe Buffay vibe with her in the Christmas tree episode where she goes and she buys all the damaged Christmas trees, so they could use them for their purpose of Christmas.

Rachel: Yeah. I actually haven’t watched Friends.

Kendra: Oh my God, I don’t think we can be friends.

Rachel: The joke of this podcast is the sheer amount of things I haven’t watched or read before so just like get used to that as this episode goes on because like-these episodes go on because there’s going to be quite a few times you’ll make a reference to something and I won’t understand it.

Kendra: Well, your listeners will.

Rachel: I know, but they’ll be like oh, that’s so funny and I’ll be like, yeah.

Kendra: If I could understand what you’re saying.

Rachel: I know. I kind of understand who Phoebe is. So I have, like, my sister watched it. I don’t know why I never did so like I kind of know. So all the girls are back from their day and they’re now sewing. Which the amount of things they so in this book? They like sew every night. I’m like how do you have this much to mend? Cause they actually say that they got behind on one of the days sewing and I’m like, like what are you doing like there’s four of you?  There can’t be that much to sew you know?

Kendra: That is a good question cause it doesn’t sound like they’re like into like hardcore sports or anything, so what are you mending like all the time?

Rachel: I know. Maybe it’s just Jo ‘s clothes cause I feel she would just rip everything so they’re all like everyone has to take an article of her clothing and fix it every day. I don’t know, but they sew every day. So then Jo tells them about how she read a book to her aunt and her aunt was like not about it, then as Jo leaves she realizes she forgot something and ran back out and her aunt was actually reading it and she was like, ha, told you so. And then Meg talks about-

Kendra: That’s funny.

Rachel: I know, I thought was pretty funny and then.

Kendra: Oh, I just thought about the sewing thing. I think they sew to change their outfits so it’ll look different the next time they wear it.

Rachel: Oh, that makes sense. But it’s like how can you add so much you know? Cause they’re still doing it every day so like there’s only so much you can change, you know?

Kendra: Maybe they add like lace.

Rachel: Maybe.

Kendra: Beads. I don’t know.

Rachel: I don’t know either. I just you know, cause I think a lot of people do like what’s that called like cross stitch? Is that what it’s called? When you embroider?

Kendra: Oh yeah.

Rachel: So maybe they’re doing that like embroidering things on their clothes too.

Kendra: Oh yeah, I could-

Rachel: That would take a while.

Kendra: Have on pillows and stuff like little, yeah.

Rachel: Yeah. Cause that would take a while, so like maybe that’s what they’re doing. They’re like adding lace like you said, and like embroidering and making things look cool. So then Meg says about her day that one of the older boys from the family she nannies for was sent away, but they’re not sure why, and it never is discussed again. It’s just he is gone for some reason. And I was like, maybe cause you know, I thought maybe he’d go to war, but like everyone was really like upset and like wasn’t talking about him. And like if he’s going to war, that’s not something you would really do unless he ran away to go fight for the South. Then I could see it.

Kendra: Could have been underage and-

Rachel: Yeah.

 Kendra: Ran off.

Rachel: Yeah, cause I know that was one thing when the Civil War was happening is like families would divide against each other and you know some families would be fighting on opposite sides of the war and it was like a big problem. But the families they would never discuss the kid that was on the opposite side of them. So maybe that’s what happened? I’m not really sure. So Amy says that at school some kid drew a peach-picture of the-that some kid drew a picture of the teacher and teacher saw and the girl got into a lot of trouble. And then Beth says that Mr. Lawrence brought over. Beth says that Mr. Lawrence bought the poor woman, that came into the shop, a big fish when she said that she didn’t have food for her kids and she was trying to get a job. And so the guy who ran the store said that he didn’t have anything for her to do. So Mr. Lawrence bought her a fish instead, and she was like super thankful about it.  And then Mrs. March said that she ran into a man who had four sons in the War. Two of them died, one was a prisoner, and one is currently in the hospital in Washington DC. I was like, oh, that’s sad. And I was like that’s uh, horrible. So I don’t know if she actually ran into someone or if that was like a lesson to the girls to be like, hey, this could have been you, be thankful.

Kendra: Right?

Rachel: Yeah, I can never tell with her like what’s fact and what’s fiction. So then the mother turns all the stories from the day against them and tells him a story, basically resulting in they should be thankful to all the things they already have. Which, again, that made it so I wasn’t sure if that first story was true or not.

Kendra: Yeah, like you’re complaining, too much. Let me tell you a horrible story to make you feel better about you being poor.

Rachel: Literally, I was like okay, I guess, go off, I don’t know. So in Chapter 5 this is “Being Neighborly,” so I wonder what’s going to happen here. This is the same problem I had with Harry Potter, where it’s like you read the first like intro to the chapter and it’s like you know Voldemort and you’re like great, okay, guess we know what’s gonna happen here.

Kendra: Guess who we’re meeting?

Rachel: Yeah. So Jo’s leaving the house with a broom in one hand and a shovel in the other. Keep in mind we’re in the North, so it is snowing, so she ends up clearing a path through the garden for Beth to play with her dolls when she woke up. I’m like this child is going to go out in the snow to play with her dolls you’re telling me?

Kendra: Like you’re asking to die.

Rachel: Yeah. I’m like it’s cold out like no thank you, wear a jacket like, I thought that was weird. I was like just stay inside it’s so cold out why would you want to go play in the snow with dolls?

Kendra: And okay, so we’re both from the South cause, I’m originally from Texas, so I don’t think we would understand snow, even if we tried.

Rachel: I was born in Michigan.

Kendra: Oh really?

Rachel: Yeah, I lived in Michigan until I was like seven so it’s like I understand snow. There is not a time where I was ever like la la la I wanna go play in the snow no like, I was like let’s stay inside. It’s cold out there.

Kendra: There you heard it from a northerner.

Rachel: Yeah. It’s like I would go outside and play in the snow for like 20 minutes and do like you know, casual snow things. And then after that I’m like mmmm okay. That’s fine, I’m gonna go back inside there, but it’s like you don’t want to, no one wants to hang out outside. Like waiting for the bus was like the worst experience of my life, you know? Like I, there was never a time where I was just like, oh yeah, I’m totally gonna go plow the backyard so I can play in it no.

Kendra: We actually have snow in Vegas. There’s a mountain that you can drive to and there’s snow on top of the mountain. Most years, and yeah, we drive up there, it’s like an hour to get up there and you, you, you don’t stick around for longer than like 20-30 minutes and that’s it.

Rachel: Yeah. So yeah, she’s clearing out the backyard for whatever reason. And then Jo thinks that Laurie needs friends because he’s always stuck in the house. So the way to handle this like a mature adult, she goes over into his backyard and throws a snowball at the window. And then Laurie opens the window and says he’s been shut in all week with a cold. But he’s feeling better, so asks that Jo will come up to see him. Then I was like if this wasn’t a kids book I was like mmmm, but it’s a kids book.

Kendra: Now did you notice that every time that she describes these people? Maybe I should reword that. Did you notice that every time she describes the characters? She says that they are brown.

Rachel: Yeah, I did notice that.

Kendra: And I just thought that was really odd because I was thinking okay are they really brown or are you talking about tan wise?

Rachel: Well, she describes Jo specifically as being brown and says that Mary or Amy is very white and says that she is like so basically a big thing in the South was or, yeah in the South, but in America at that time was not like being very pale and having like no freckles on your hands. It was like a huge thing, so you always wanted to like be under shade. So like if you were a very pretty girl, you know you were very pale. And that was just like a thing, so I think they describe her as being like quote brown because she’s really tan and she’s not pale because she’s outside so much, whereas the other girls it’s like important for them to be pale.

Kendra: But she also I mean, okay, so she also describes Laurie as being brown and that makes sense to me because you find out in this chapter that he’s mixed, which is kind of scandalous.

Rachel: Oh yeah, he’s Italian. He’s Italian. I was like wait cause when I think mixed cause my boyfriend’s mixed, I think like half black so I was like wait what and I was like wait no yeah you’re right, he’s Italian.

Kendra: Yeah, so like him when she describes him as brown I was like, oh, that makes sense. And then she describes Jo as brown and I’m like wait but are they all brown or is it just Jo? Like is she the milkman’s baby like?

Rachel: Yeah, I think she actually means like brown as being tan because Jo’s outside all the time, but the rest of them are described as being very fair skinned. I don’t know why it was such a thing like that it was so important for them to be light skinned, but it was at that time so that’s why I think she uses brown. But I don’t think that Jo’s actually. I think she’s white. To be honest.

Kendra: Yeah, I don’t.

Rachel: But I don’t know about Laurie. I don’t know what he actually looks like, like I don’t know if he’s one of those people where there he’s actually that dark, or if like it’s so unconventional for people not to be pasty that they were just like oh! Okay, so Jo shows up with food in one hand and kittens in the other and that’s how I want to be treated all the time. I was just like with food, with small animals, that sounds great to me. So Jo picks up the room a bit and-which makes Laurie quite happy because he was trying to pick up his room, but like the parlor, his own personal parlor, but he could not get it clean enough by the time she got there. So it was like really nice to have someone else to like help him essentially. And so then Jo, they get talking, and Jo explains which of her sisters are which because he was like I’ve always seen them, but I have no idea who’s who, so she explains it. And then this is where we find out that Laurie doesn’t have a mother, because you know, before this we were like, oh he could just like be staying there, but like no, he’s lives there full time because his parents are both dead. So he admits to watching them sometimes because everybody looks so happy. And like that’s like the closest he has to like a mother is basically watching their mother. So Jo says that she wishes that he would just come over and visit with them instead of watching and just like you know, spend time. So then he’s like they’re kind of getting falling into silence and Jo’s like oh, and let me like make you laugh. So she goes into a description of like her aunt and how like crazy her aunt is like make Jo make Laurie laugh and he is like having a great time with that.

Kendra: For the first time in his life.

Rachel: Literally, literally.  So Laurie invites Jo down to go see their book collection cause she says how much she likes books and mentions that his grand father is not home, so she doesn’t need to be afraid, to, which Jo replies that she’s not afraid of anyone, and Laurie thinks it she, if she had caught his grandfather in a not so great mood like she would think differently. So they spend a little bit of time in the library and then the doctor comes to see Laurie and he leaves the room so she’s like looking at this painting and here’s some walking thinking it that it’s Laurie she admits that she, I lost my thought, so she admits that the grandfather has kind eyes and isn’t as handsome as her grandfather. But she thinks she likes him and it turns out the grand father, it’s the grand father walking in and he’s like, oh, that’s what you think?

Kendra: That’s like the best part that I’ve read so far in this book.

Rachel: Literally, but he seems to be like happy about it, which is good, but it’s like I was like at least she didn’t just like straight up dog on this man, you know?

Kendra: I think that like, maybe I relate to Mr. Lawrence the most, but then he’s so kind that I’m like, no, that can’t be possible, but he seems to like that straight honesty like, don’t mess with me, just tell me how it is so I can get through this already and I like that about him.

Rachel: Yeah, that’s what I always think about peoples, I’m not one that likes to beat around the bush, so whenever people are like straight with me, I’m like alright, we can get along. So I do like that about him that he was like oh! Oh, thanks you think I have nice eyes? And he goes oh I’m not as handsome as your grandfather? And she’s like oh not really, you know? Your grandfather’s quite handsome she goes, and he’s like, yeah, actually your Grandpa is pretty cool like we’re friends and that’s how you find out they were friends. So Mr. Lawrence seems happy that she’s there and says that he’ll visit her mother soon. And he can see, and as he watches cause now, Laurie’s come back, so as he watches Laurie and Jo chat he can realize just how lonely Laurie was, and he thinks that it’s going to do them good for Laurie to be around people more. So as they’re walking around and come across a piano to which Jo ask-asks him to play because she can’t really play, but she knows how much Beth loves it. And then the Grandfather hears him playing, and like you need to stop playing, like I don’t want you to play, so Laurie stops playing very quickly. And then Jo ends up going back home and told all her sisters about it. And this is the point where we had talked about earlier that Mrs. March says that Laurie’s dad married an Italian musician, which he didn’t approve of, and then they got in an accident and died. And like they don’t mention Laurie having a sister at that point, but like they briefly make-mention that he must have had a sister because the grandfather says that he had a grandson-or granddaughter and like all this stuff there, that Beth reminds him of his granddaughter, so like Laurie, must have had a sister.

Kendra: I did not put two and two together.

Rachel: So like he doesn’t have any other kids you know? So it’s like I’m like, oh, you must have had a sister, but he never says that he had a sister. It’s just his grandfather had a granddaughter. But the grandfather’s-

Kendra: Maybe she was an illegitimate granddaughter.

Rachel: Could be. It makes it interesting. I mean, I’m intrigued.

Kendra: Scandalous.

Rachel: Scandalous.

Kendra: Let me rewrite this book for you.

Rachel: I know I want the drama okay? See, it’s like reading, going from reading Classics to reading modern Classics and like switching up in between the two, it is weird how much modern classics are like about like modernism as a genre and are like the end of days is near, and that like war and fighting and rape and I’m like ha okay. I like read this and then they like and then we you know touch hands and they were in love and I was like okay, it’s just like it’s two opposite ends of the spectrum and going between each like is really screwing with my head a little bit. Like I can’t wait to read Lord of the Flies at some point because I’ve heard that one’s pretty messed up, so that’ll be fun. I don’t know anything about it except I think kids are trapped on an island or something.

Kendra: I don’t, yeah, I don’t know anything about that either.

Rachel: Chapter 6 “Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful,” so this is continuing on with the whole Pilgrim plotline that I still don’t understand. We talk more about like that quote game now, but like we still don’t get explained to the game at all.

Kendra: So is this one of those random chapters that they just talk about something that they did that day?

Rachel: Yeah, this is when everyone goes through the Lawrence House for the first time.

Kendra: Okay.

Rachel: Yeah, there are a lot of, these chapters are just very like I-I’m trying to like you know like Naruto filler chapters?

Kendra: Yeah.

Rachel: Like, have you seen that anime? We’re like we’re in the middle of a battle scene and like then Naruto’s like flashbacked like when he went to lunch once you know?

Kendra: I know okay, so I don’t watch anime but filler stuff I do know about because I, I write, so if you send stuff up to an editor once you write it all out, they’ll come back with notes and they’ll be like why is this in there? Take this out, rep-repetitive, repetitive and so it’s just like so I’m used to reading books and looking at it as not only in reader but as an editor. So if I see something twice in my head, I’m going repetitive, repetitive. Why are you telling me this again?

Rachel: Yeah.

Kendra: So with her this book I’m just like, was she just really bored and had nothing else to do, so that’s why she kept writing these filler chapters? Like I don’t understand them, because I think in my notes further down in the chapters, I’m like you know, what if I think, I think if Louisa was an author in our modern time, she would have never got published because there’s just so much filler in there, it’s insane.

Rachel: It’s like to me, I feel like each chapter is basically supposed to be like a 15-minute TV episode, where it’s like you learn a lesson at the end and it’s for kids and I have to look at it that way. Otherwise I’m like why are we talking about this? You know what I mean?

Kendra: So have you, did you as a child ever read that Fable book that had a whole bunch of short stories in it, and then at the end of the story it told you the lesson that you were supposed to learn?

Rachel: Ah, I don’t think I did, but I did read Green Eggs and Ham.

Kendra: Well it was like that, but not rhyming. This is what that book reminds me of.

Rachel: Yeah, obviously a lot of them are there very obvious lessons and I do think that this is something that like I’m imagining that parents would read each chapter to a kid at night and then at the end of it they feel like they learned a lesson on each chapter because, I feel like each chapter doesn’t end in a cliffhanger, each chapter can just be read and you stop at the end.

Kendra: Yeah.

Rachel: Like I don’t think they have to be read altogether.

Kendra: Only, no new characters, you just have the same characters.

Rachel: Yeah, literally. So Chapter 6 everyone is now over at the Lawrence House and Mr. Lawrence accidentally scared Beth because he said hey really loud or something. So she like ran home and didn’t go back over there and Mr. Lawrence had to come in like entice her with stories of music, then asked Mrs. March if any of her girls like to play the piano. So they could keep the piano in tune, and Beth says that she really likes it and he-she sneaks over and play the piano is very happy about it and like enjoy it. And then it’s revealed later on that Laurie actually stands guard outside of the room to make sure that none of the servants go in there while best place so that she thinks she’s actually alone and that Mr. Lawrence actually cracks his door open a little bit so he can hear her playing the piano, which I just thought that was super sweet.

Kendra: Okay, first of all I thought that old man was going to try and marry Beth.

Rachel: Oh my goodness, that is like the most 2020 thought process right now though. Like I can totally get that so bad cause it wouldn’t surprise me and-if this is a modern day book.

Kendra: And second of all, why is it that he allowed her to play the piano and was willing to listen but not Lori played the piano and listen?

Rachel: I wonder if it’s a thing with Laurie that he worries that he’ll take after his father and leave him, whereas he doesn’t have that fear with Beth.

Kendra: Oh, okay.

Rachel: Is my thought process like I thought that’s the whole reason he doesn’t want him to learn music or play music is because he has an inherent talent like his mother did because she was a musician. But his mother took like quote, took away unquote his father to Italy you know? And so like, his grandfather would then be stuck in America by himself, so he’s worried you know, if you develop that talent where is it going to put you?

Kendra: Right.

Rachel: In Italy, you know? But like Laurie already wants to go back to Europe, he seems to really like Europe so, I don’t know. So that happens and then Beth to thank Mr. Lawrence for making for letting her play the piano, she makes him slippers to thank him, which I thought was really cute and then like placed it on his desk and like runs out. So then a couple of like a day and a half later Mr. Lawrence sent back a piano cabinet or a cabinet piano, which at first I did not realize what this was, but it’s actually like a small piano apparently. And that says thanks for the slippers and it once a block, it once belonged to his grandfather or granddaughter, sorry, it once belonged to his granddaughter who died and that is like out of the blue, they had never mentioned a granddaughter before that moment and I was like okay.

Kendra: This is why I thought he was going to marry her, he’s giving her giant gifts.

Rachel: Yeah. But then, like she goes back over there and ask like-okay they do a lot of kissing in this book and I know that it’s very like 21st century of me to be like uncomfortable with that. Because like we don’t kiss, just show affection, at least like in the American culture. I know it’s different in other cultures, but like-

Kendra: Oh you’re talking about the, the cheek kissing?

Rachel: Yeah.

Kendra: I was like wow what, where did I miss this?

Rachel: She kisses him on the, she kisses him on the cheek like I’ve never kissed people in show affection, so it was like it throws me every time they do it. Cause I’m like what’s happening? So, Beth was playing the cabinet piano and is like instantly in love with it. And then she walked over to thank him herself and she’s super shy, so everyone is like absolutely shocked. And then she like kisses him on the cheek to thank him. I was like okay.

Kendra: So yeah, so marriage that there you go. Like that’s a child marriage. No, it’s not where it’s going. He just thinks it’s very innocent. He just-she just reminds him so much of his granddaughter that he just wants to kind of give her everything.

Rachel: Yeah, like spoil her because she’s like super sweet and innocent like doesn’t isn’t mouthy like her sisters are sometimes so she, he probably loves that about her. She’s like the personification of a great grandchild for anyone.

Kendra: Yeah.

Rachel: So chapter 7. Amy-

Kendra: My notes for chap-this one is about limes.

Rachel: I know literally, that’s the entire chapter and it’s called “Amy’s Valley of Humiliation,” and I’m like okay on the nose a bit for me, but alright. So immediately it started out and it says Amy owns people pickled limes and apparently it’s a whole thing. And like you know, I remember there being some weird things at school like silly bands. I went to school when silly bands were a thing and that was weird. So you know, we got our silly bands banned, and so I was just thinking about that while I was reading this chapter and I was like man, remember that was a thing? So it’s like I’m just thinking about like the weird things that came up at my school. So like the pickled limes did not seem like that much of a stretch to me.

Kendra: Yeah, like whenever somebody, whenever Jessica was explaining this chapter to be on our podcast, I was like limes like?

Rachel: Yeah what?

Kendra: And she was like you know how in school when you have that popular one thing that everyone brings and trades she’s like, well there’s was limes.

Rachel: Yeah.

Kendra: And I was like okay. But she never said pickled limes. Now that you’re saying pickled limes like I must have totally dozed over that part. Who wants a pickled lime?

Rachel: I don’t know. It becomes even weirder with the fact that you know that it’s a pickled lime now, like what does that even taste like? Like I don’t like pickles because I don’t like vinegar, so it’s like imagining that type of taste with a lime feels even worse to me.

Kendra: Like I so want to try a pickled lime right now.

Rachel: I know it’s like I’m vaguely, I’m like mildly curious, but I also don’t know how I show up at the store like hey, by the way, do you have any pickles limes? Because apparently I need to try that. You know, it might be good in a Corona. Actually, actually I-I can’t imagine actually just eating it by itself, but like I could see it in a good beer maybe.

Kendra: Wonder if they sell them? I’mma have to Google it.

Rachel: I got some like local markets here that I can probably because we have an Asian market that basically has anything and we have a Mexican market that has also anything so between those two combinations and Publix, I’m sure I might be able to find it if I find it, I’ll send you a picture.

Kendra: Okay.

Rachel: And then I’ll just like buy it and like make someone else eat it and tell me how it is. I can probably.

Kendra: Buy it and send it to me.

Rachel: Yeah, I’m just like hey, your Mail shows up and it’s even spicier because it’s been pickled for longer and you’re like why did you do this? It’s gonna be like 20 bucks to ship it, and I’m going to insure cause it’s probably in a glass bottle and I’ll be like it was worth it.

Kendra: Oh my God.

Rachel: Expect whenever I find those to get your pickled limes and.

Kendra: Like oh my God, my cheeks hurt.

Rachel: Or hear me out, I’ve been wanting to go to Vegas, so what I do is I get a checked bag, put the pickled limes in the checked bag, they’ll be like you have anything to declare and I’ll be like don’t look at my checked bag, okay.  Like I swear I don’t. I’m like lining the checked bag with tin foil. And they’re like it has to be a hard sided suitcase only because always pickled lines are gonna get crushed.

Kendra: They’re gonna bring it out and be like what is this?

Rachel: Like bubble wrapped in there and I really like hoping and praying they don’t just explode in my checked bag.

Kendra: Oh man.

Rachel: You know one of-Meg gives her sister like a quarter to go buy pickled limes, and so she bought 24 pickled limes and it’s the talk of the school. So Miss Snow, who is like, seems to just be like one of those Mean Girls informed the teacher that Amy had pickled limes on her desk and apparently they’ve been banned from the classroom last week. So the teacher makes her take all of her pickled lines and throw them out the window. And I’m like, is she, I hope at least she opened the container and she’s not like throwing glass out the window because I’m like, you know, they’re probably in a jar if you’re pickle, if you have Pickles, it’s not like you take out a single Pickles, put them in a bag, you keep them in the thing so they can soak up as much flavor as possible, so like is she like dumping this? Or is she like hey nice glass jar like hope this doesn’t shatter on some poor innocent child.

Kendra: Well I know whenever she dumped him out the window they said there was a bunch of children below the window eating them.

Rachel: Yeah. Yeah.

Kendra: Which I don’t know how well that would go cause like oh, I guess if they brought their own knives to cut them open. Or are they already cut open?

Rachel: Can’t you peel a line like you peel an orange? I’ve never tried it, but I feel like.

Kendra: I’ve never maybe.

Rachel: I don’t know.

Kendra: This is like a whole new territory.

Rachel: The two of us having never really actually investigated limes. Yeah so she snitches and then the teacher makes Amy throw all the lines out and then strikes her hand and he doesn’t say what he strikes her with. But it’s leaves cuts because they have to like heal them later and then makes her stand on a platform until recess, recess which is only like fifteen minutes. And all the girls talk about it tonight. She like literally leaves in the middle of the day during recess leaves goes home. Like that would never happen because you can’t walk out of school like this day and age, but like she leaves goes home and her mother is going to let her take a small break from school before they decide what they’re going to do. So Jo literally walked in the classroom with the teacher there everyone’s still in class, she picks up all of Amy’s stuff and walks out. And like drops a letter on the teacher’s desk. And I was like alright. And then at the end they’re trying to get Amy to not become not be so conceited because she’s becoming a little terror.

Kendra: Oh Jo, for that day and age was it was bold of her to do that.

Rachel: I was like straight up Queen.

Kendra: Had it been me because like I said, when you do something, if you do something to me and I don’t like it, I’m loud and obnoxious about it, so if that had been me and I was Amy, me and the teacher would have got into it. I would be like no, I’m not throwing away my limes.

Rachel: Yeah absolutely. Like you-literally most people would be like okay, put it in your backpack, don’t take it out, you know? But like this teacher is like throw it away. I know you spent money on it but throw it in the garbage and I was like ah no.

Kendra: Yeah no that’s not gonna happen.

Rachel: Can they as students not store their food in like because most of the time when you have those types of desks, you store all your belongings in that desk, you know it’s not like they had cubbies or anything. It’s like, how does he know that’s not her lunch for the day?

Kendra: Right?

Rachel: Like what right does he have to be like hey, yeah I know that’s your food but throw it in the garbage so she-

Kendra: I mean he did ban it, but he could have just said okay bring them up to me and then he could have ate them like let’s not be wasteful here.

Rachel: He said he doesn’t like the smell of them, but it’s like you can’t ban a particular food item if they’re going to eat him for lunch.

Kendra: They do do that though in schools.

Rachel: Oh yeah peanuts.

Kendra: No, that-not just peanuts, but like there was a school that banned sweets. In Texas.

Rachel: What?

Kendra: I keep up with some of the stuff so they banned like cookies and like fruit rollups and stuff like that. And if like I can’t remember what happened if the children brought it to the school, but yeah, they weren’t allowed to. And then there was a mom that actually like sent some stuff there and I can’t remember what happened exactly. But it’s like how are you going to tell somebody what they can and cannot eat like you’re not buying groceries for them so?

Rachel: Yeah. Okay so chapter 8 “Jo Meets a Polygon.” It’s like Apollo with a Y before the O and N at the end, so Polygon I guess. Jo and Meg are going somewhere and won’t tell Amy which she’s not really happy about. And we find out that they’re going somewhere with Laurie, and I believe it’s a theater, and then I was confirmed correct it was indeed the theater. And that Amy starts crying because she can’t go and tells Jo because she asked if she can go and Jo’s like no, we’re not going to be rude because Laurie only invited the two of us we’re not going to like buy another ticket and he reserved these seats. So, like you really can’t come and Amy tells Jo that she’s going to be sorry for not letting her go, so the next morning.

Kendra: I don’t know how she didn’t know that was rude like.

Rachel: Yeah, literally Amy is so selfish and she’s just like a terrible person, but she’s also a child but like still terrible. You know? Like I have sisters, so like I couldn’t imagine like every being so angry at my sister that I burned something that she cares about.

Kendra: Yeah, that like it’s like she burned her book and then she’s like oh, but I’m being ignored, and until it’s already been a day, why hasn’t she forgiven me?

Rachel: Yeah.

Kendra: You deserve to be ignored for like the rest of the year.

Rachel: Literally like so my youngest sister loves to draw and she actually designed my logo, if you haven’t seen it like she drew that for me. Yeah.

Kendra: I’ve seen it. It’s cute.

Rachel: Thank you. She drew that and it would be like me going and like destroying her art like I would rather die, than destroy her art or anything like touch it anything like that. Like I just couldn’t imagine being so hateful towards my sisters and like destroying something you know she cares about. It would be one thing if you like were mad at her so you hid it, you know, and we’re like oh haha like you can’t find it but like she literally as it’s revealed in the next morning, Amy burns her fairy tales she’s been working on for several years and has no backup of. Just like burns them to a crisp.

Kendra: That was yeah and well, okay so she’s only Jo is only 15, so it’s like as a writer when you’re writing at 15.

Rachel: I know, I mean it’s not, it’s like the if they’re not going to be good, but it’s like the feeling behind them you know? Like my 15 year old stories that I thought were fantastic and should be published, I read them back the other day and I was like, oh ouch. Yikes, those are not good that is cringey

Kendra: That’s what you burn on purpose at that point so nobody can read it.

Rachel: I know, but it’s like the sentiment behind it, it’s like you were working on these for years. And you’re like these are amazing, not like you learn as you get older, but like at the time, if someone had told me that my writing was terrible, I would not have believed them when I was like 14, you know?

Kendra: Yeah, that’s true.

Rachel: Like Jo is Superman obviously, and she has a right to be and Amy is starting to actually feel guilty now and I’m like as you should, because you were being absolutely awful towards her. Like you know how much she cares about her writing. Another day goes on and Amy thinks that she should be forgiven by now and she’s like kind of mad that Jo hasn’t forgiven her. So Jo goes out onto the ice to go ice skating with Laurie, and Amy decides that she’s going to go and try and get Jo to forgive her again. So Amy tries to catch up to them and falls into the ice because she didn’t hear Laurie say that you can’t go in the middle cause it’s too thin. And Jo, because she was mad at Amy, didn’t repeat it and then saw her go out in the middle, didn’t yell a warning or anything and then watched her go down in the ice. So Amy, they were able to pull her out really quickly and got her home, and she’s fine, but now Jo feels guilty because she literally almost let her sister drown if Laurie wasn’t fast acting. And so Jo’s confessing to our mom and she’s like, very worried that one day she will let her temper get the best of her, and she’ll make everyone hate her. And I’m like as someone with a short temper this hit a little too close to home for me.

Kendra: Right?

Rachel: I was like oop.

Kendra: But in reality, if you really think about it, like from a parent point of view, Meg should have never told Amy hey yeah, just go follow her she’ll forgive you everything will be okay.

Rachel: Yeah. No.

Kendra: Like they’re going ice skating, so obviously it’s not going to be the ice skating that we go to. Like a rink, you know it’s going to be on a lake that’s dangerous, Jo has already gone, so she doesn’t know that Amy’s following you know what I mean? Like there’s so many dangers like, oh yeah, go follow her, whatever you know. Get out of my hair.

Rachel: Literally, it’s like there was a lot of things that should not have happened. And like for the fact that Amy did not get any sort of reprimanding for the fact that she burned a prized possession of her sisters, I was like I mean like the guilt will teach you a lesson enough no, no, it won’t. Like he should have gotten some sort of actual reprimand for doing that, like she really hurt her sister.

Kendra: Maybe because she was the baby.

Rachel: But it’s just it’s so annoying it’s like you wonder how she’s growing up to be like conceited and terrible when they treat her like this and like give her the best of everything. So Mrs. March then admits she too has a temper, but after 40 years she’s learned not to show it. So now we’ve established how old Mrs. March is, she’s in her 40s.

Kendra: Yeah, so that means that the dad has to be older and then he went off to war?

Rachel: Yeah. Yeah, I guess I don’t know.

Kendra: And in that day and age he could have been 10 years older than her, so he could actually be like 50 going off to war. And it’s like, really, you thought that was a good idea?

Rachel: I know, like basically everyone went off to war, so it’s like if a man of the house was home, it was seen as weird, like the fact that Laurie was even home like with how young he is is still kind of strange, cause I think they let you sign up in that time for the military like 16.

Kendra: Maybe his grandfather wouldn’t let him.

Rachel: Probably.

Kendra: Or maybe he was so sickly they were like no, you can’t go.

Rachel: Hopefully yeah, I’m not sure like there was this whole theme with Gone With The Wind how all the girls couldn’t find husbands because all the men were off to war and there was like very few that were still home.

Kendra: Oh, imagine if you got stuck with those, yeah?

Rachel: Most of the ones that were still home were like either like basically every family had to send at least like one boy, so it was either like the younger boys that were still home, or like you didn’t go to the military for a reason like you were either like sickly or like you had you had gone to war and then you came back because you got injured or whatever. Like most people went, so it was like very strange for anyone to actually be home. There was like a whole thing of people getting like rush married and they would like get married before they sent their now husband off to war and they’d be like married. They’d court, date, get married like-it-all within like two weeks. Like meet, start dating, get married.

Kendra: I can’t, no I can’t with it.

Rachel: Yeah. So then Mrs. March talks about how their father helped her get through a lot of her temper because he’s so patient and I was like, well, that’s kind of cute. And then Amy and Jo hug and make up and I was like, really, cause like you both just did like terrible things. Neither of you-like Jo I feel like learn from her lesson and Amy really didn’t. It’s kinda how I felt. So Chapter 9 “Meg Goes to Vanity Fair.” This chapter I didn’t really like to be honest.

Kendra: I thought it was fun like that’s the funnest chapter I read so far.

Rachel: I-I think I didn’t really like it, cause I don’t enjoy gossip. Or like these types of circuits like I don’t enjoy them happening to me, so like reading it I was just kinda like I always put myself in the place of the character and I was like, oh I would hate this circumstance. Okay so that’s all we’re going to talk about today. Kendra where can all the people of the Internet find you and your podcast? And if you want to tell everybody a little bit more about it and those kinds of things, I know you already did in the intro, but if you want to add anything, you know, feel free.

Kendra: So me personally, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, I think that’s it and it’s all at KERadkeuniverse. So they’re all the same.

Rachel: And I’ll add that to the show notes.

Kendra: Yeah, and then for our podcast it’s on Instagram it’s at Westcoastbooksters and then on Twitter it’s WCbooksters cause it was too long for Twitter. And then I also made a Pinterest for the podcast, but it was kind of like a joke thing because I teased Jessica about tentacles.

Rachel: What?

Kendra: So, yeah we have a like a joke about tentacles and how she likes her tentacles. And then she’ll tell, you know, I don’t like them Kendra likes, but anyway so I have like a whole Pinterest board of just decor for her tentacles.

Rachel: I love a meme Pinterest board.

Kendra: On Pinterest, I don’t think she’s ever seen it like I don’t even know she’s aware of it. But it’s under Jessica’s decor.

Rachel: I love that.

Kendra: And I think we’re also on Facebook for West Coast Booksters too.

Rachel: Okay, perfect yeah so make sure y’all check them out, check out their podcast and all that good stuff and we will catch you in the next, recording. Bye!

Kendra: Bye.

(Outro Music)

Rachel: Thank you all so much for joining us on this episode of the Barely Bookish podcast. I hope you guys are enjoying this read through of Little Women. It’s kind of like wintery, you know a lot-it’s for a lot of people it’s a comfort read so I hope you guys are enjoying it. Thank you once again to Kendra for being on this episode. I hope you all are having a great holiday season and you’re finding some way to make it special even though we’re in quarantine and we are, you know, not able to see our friends and family like we normally would. I hope you guys are just finding your own way to enjoy the holiday season to make it special too. I don’t know, maybe do something you enjoy, like read one of your favorite books these next couple weeks. I don’t know, but yeah, I hope you guys are staying safe. Being happy. All that kind of fun stuff. If you wanna follow me, I am at BarelyBookish on basically everything. Our logo was designed by my little sister Sarah and our theme song is by Raphael Krux from freepd.com so that’s all I have for you guys and this one I will catch you in the next episode. Bye.