mixed feelings. This had a warm tranquility to a lot of it, with the dramas and heartache to be expected in this Civil War era. 
 From a modern perspective, this is horrifying -- the implication that marriage is the only way to live a good life, the gender roles that are so expressly stated, the class issues that are front and center. But it's also a very brave book -- the character of Jo putting more with on her own life than what life would be with a husband, and her unwillingness to be subservient to anyone. Even when she does accept a man into her life, it's only when she's sure that her own Needs will be met, and not put aside for her husband's desires. 
 Everyone else is pretty boring, though, and a firm lesson in Why I'm Glad I Didn't Live in 1870.