We sat on the floor flicking the pages, waiting for the cannabis to wear off, which we had unwisely bought in an alley behind a suburban Starbucks “What is this stuff?” I asked tiredly after a couple of tokes. “How amusing! But why would Andrea have this book?” And above the table hover portraits of Rose’s seven male cousins. She perches on a green chair next to a round table covered with a matching green velvet cloth. Our newly-excavated 1927 Grosset and Dunlap edition had a cute orange cover, adorned with an illustration of the graceful, seemingly grown-up heroine, Rose, who wears her long hair flowing down her back and dresses simply in a dark orange dress. And, pay particular attention to the development of Mac, her bookworm cousin.Joan, my loquacious roommate, was delighted by our find of the treasured Alcott book. There are some delightful episodes, such as the 'freedom suit' her uncle orders for her (the opposite of a corset).

By the end of the book she's well on her way to being a truly healthy young girl with high spirits and noble ambitions, who can also make her 7 cousins toe the line. She arrives a tired, droopy little thing who survives on strong coffee, is proud of her tightly cinched little waist, and is about as uneducated as most girls of her class. In this book, orphaned Rose comes to live with her guardian uncle, and her neighbors are 7 boy cousins and a bunch of other corresponding aunts and uncles! Her ladylike presence automatically inspired people around her (namely, men) to be their best selves! So much gentility and respect! This impressed me mightily! I subconsciously stored this fascinating social education away, only to find that's not quite how it goes.īut while it's a bit out of place in the modern age, and occasionally some would say naive, I'm glad it was part of my youth and wouldn't trade it for anything! A lot of my world view was shaped by this innocent wholesomeness, exemplified by Rose, the main character. those were the days.Īnyway, revisiting a book like Eight Cousins reminds me exactly how I was influenced by these characters. I even made an informational web page about them on Angelfire. When I was in my early teens, there was a trifecta of authors that I devoured: Jane Austen, L.M.

Eight cousins