An Old-Fashioned Girl

By: Louisa May Alcott

Narrated by: Anne Johnstonbrown

A country girl named Polly is visiting city friends and comes to realize that this world is quite different than which she has left. Here people are judged according to their dress and manner of speech rather than for their honesty and hard work. Yet all who meet Polly cannot help but be enamored of her; her sweet simplicity is unlike any that they have ever seen, and soon everyone comes to realize that Polly is not someone to be laughed at and ridiculed, but someone to put upon a pedestal for failing to become willing prey to the cynicism of the times.

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Narrated lovely

Enjoyed hearing this classic story narrated as it brought the characters alive and made it interesting

A Revisit of a Childhood Favorite!

I was excited to find this childhood favorite in Audible's catalog! I enjoyed listening to it. I enjoyed the narrator's regular reading voice, but didn't like the southern accents she put on for the characters voices. It wasn't how I imagined Polly, Fanny, Tom or anyone else talked. Sometimes it was a stronger accent than others and I even became so irritated at times that I stopped listening and switched to a different book for a while to give my ears a rest. I did finish listening and still love the story very much!

Upbeat and Wholesome

A light-hearted book with a positive outlook on life. Always good to read Louisa May Alcott books when chaos is happening in the world.

Character Development

I enjoyed this story, and how it lifted up strong character, integrity, and compassion even when it was not popular. It made me happy, and on a deeper note, it inspired me with the strength and morals of the main character. Although the reader was skilled with distinct voices, some of the accents of the reader were not my favorite, but it didn’t get in the way of my enjoyment too much.

Great book, but the voices we're hard for me

This is one of my all-time favorite books, and I was really excited to find that an audio version was made. However, the fact that the characters were read with southern accents in a story set in Boston really threw me off. That wasn't how I had always read it, so it was quite disconcerting.
Having said that, I don't know if the voices smoothed out some by the second half, it if I just got used to it, but by the end it was ok to me, and I loved it as much as I loved reading the book for the first time some 35 years ago.

Every young girl NEEDS to read this book

Where does An Old-Fashioned Girl rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Honestly, I have read this book about 5 times all at different times in my life and it always has something new to bring me. I mostly listen to Louisa May Alcott's books, because I enjoy her so very much! This book is not my least favorite of hers but not my most beloved either. But listening to the audio book is a lot more fun! I would have to say this book hits the upper middle

What did you like best about this story?

This story has so many good morals, but it NEVER preaches. All of the morals are taught in such a sweet way that you like to learn them. This story is full of diamonds if we only look for them. There is no fear of finding fools gold, only the purest of truth makes it into Alcott's books. They are the simplest truth told with a beautiful story. This book not only have morals, but also a great story line. You will love the characters and can learn a lot from each and everyone of them.

What does Anne Johnstonbrown bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The voices are wonderful! You can tell who is talking even before the book tells you. Anne brings the charters to life by personalizing each charter with his/her own voice and only using that voice for the charter. Anne has a lovely voice that is easy to listen too. She has a way with words that make it pleasant to hear her read. All in all she makes the story come to life a lot better then it would just reading the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes!!!! This book is no thriller there are only a few twist and turns. But it is so pleasant, it brings a feeling of peace and adds sunshine to your life. If the hearts of our young girls could all hold a bit of this book it is my opinion that our world would be much better off.

Absolutely great book!

Every boy and girl should read this book. It is so well written and very good to teach in a nice way how we should live rightly… ❤️

Excellent story, poor recitation

This is one of my favorite books but I was really disappointed with the performance. The accents were all wrong. Polly sounded like she was a southern Belle, not a New Englander.

Excellent story. Beautifully narrated.

How can one go wrong with Louisa May Alcott? She's a master storyteller. I admire her ability to share nuggets of wisdom with the reader/listener without making them feel preached at.

Great story!

I love this story! It is so well written. It’s just a shame that the reader was so bad. She did a southern accent for the kids which didn’t seem to fit at all. Save yourself the money and just read the book.