Little Women and Werewolves by Louisa May Alcott and Porter Grand

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

Del Rey, 2010
ISBN: 9780345522603
Available: New
Yet another literary mash up, Little Women and Werewolves is the classic tale of Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy, four girls trying to grow up, once rich, now poor, their father gone off to the Civil War and with werewolves running around. Unlike other mash ups there is no tongue-in-cheek take on the original, just a telling of the traditional tale with the occasional line, or scene, about werewolves crammed in. If someone spliced frames from a slasher flick into a high brow romance then peppered in some morals, you’d get the same effect.
Grand mimics Alcott’s style very well, even rounding the edges a bit. Readers who loved the original will likely enjoy this tale (particularly because Alcott also wrote gothic style novels, thus the set up of this being the “original” version of Little Women that was rewritten into what we know today is fitting). While it has a certain charm it also is unlikely to appeal to the contemporary audiences of most paranormal and horror books because of an overdose of generally repressive morals and a lack of plot. The book encompasses about six years in the girls’ lives, and a lot happens. Although the writing is often lovely, it seems as if just when the good stuff is about to get going, the narrative shies away for another lesson about being “a good little woman”. Overall, despite promising prose, I found myself disappointed. Those acquiring for public collections should be assured that there are better mash ups out there. However if the library’s patrons seem to have a taste for Little Women or the “new classics”, no doubt they’ll love this.
Contains: violence and some gore