BOOK REVIEW: Beth is Dead

 

BETH IS DEAD
by Katie Bernet
Available January 6

I was an enthusiastic partaker in that era of weird literary rewrites. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and the like. By the time we hit Android Karenina, though, I was burned out. I realized I wasn't personally interested in new takes on literary classics solely because they were new takes on literary classics. That's easy enough to do, and will generally keep an audience on board for one go 'round. What's difficult, and what has more staying power, is finding new territory to explore within that space: retooling the original in a way that has value beyond that first burst of novelty.

When I first heard about Beth Is Dead, Katie Bernet's new take on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, I will admit I was extremely worried that I was wading back into that old scene once again. That the whole point would be the shock value of a beloved literary classic being tense and bloody, and that's all. And while it is definitely a very tense read, I'm glad to say my initial fears were unfounded.

Beth Is Dead is, first and foremost, not a strict retelling of Little Women. It's a modernization of the original, close but with wiggle room. Think Emma vs. Clueless or Pygmalion vs. Selfie. The characters are there, they are recognizable as themselves, but with a realistic influence of modernity on the story. But there's one thing that notably sets this apart from those other examples: Little Women, or a version of it, exists in the world of Beth Is Dead. In this version of the story, the March family patriarch is a struggling author who finally finds success, and scandal, when he fictionalizes the story of his four daughters. There are two major changes from reality, however. The first is that Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth are streamlined, semi-idealizes versions of themselves. The second, and weightier, is that Beth March dies in a car crash which she survived in reality. And as Beth Is Dead opens, the girl who fought to prove to the world that she is alive has been found... well, dead.

Told from the points of view of the three remaining March sisters in the present and all four in the past, the novel follows the family as they attempt to make sense of Beth's passing and find who's at fault. Fans of the original novel will recognize modernized versions of familiar characters as the case proceeds. Laurie finds himself torn between Jo and Amy, Sallie Gardiner shares a flawed and uneven friendship with Meg as they attend Harvard together, and Beth in flashback pushes herself to be more ambitious to prove her presence to fans of her father's novel. The questionable fame brought about by the book, combined with a number of secrets and personal drives, means that nearly everyone is a suspect at some level. Could Jo have killed her sister in order to have a compelling hook for her own book? Did Amy and Beth's falling out about art school figure in? What about their father, who disappeared in the wake of the book's publication to protect his family?

After the issue mentioned at the beginning of this post, my second concern going into Beth Is Dead is that the story would be used to vilify one or more beloved characters, or perhaps even Louisa May Alcott's characterizations. I needn't have worried. The way the mystery and its fallout are handled is skillful, ensuring that this version of the story doesn't negatively rewrite anything in the literary canon. I can't say much more than that without spoiling things, but I'm pleased with how it was approached.

It's also worth mentioning that Beth Is Dead isn't a takedown of Little Women at all. It's an understandable fear to have, as there are adaptations and remakes out there that aim to "fix" or "future-proof" classics. If anything is being interrogated concerning Little Women, it's the readership. How much of our perception of the March girls is Alcott's intent, and how much is the weathering that comes from decades in the zeitgeist? Are the sisters as quickly and easily defined as we like to believe? Beth Is Dead posits that, even in the original fiction, it is impossible to sum them up in a word or two. They are more than just "strong" or "bratty" or "a dear," and they always have been.

Beth Is Dead is not an attempt to "fix" or "improve" Little Women. Rather, it's an invitation to understand these beloved characters as complex and real by presenting a "what if" that modern readers can relate to. It's one of those solid reimaginings that helps you dig deeper into the original in the best possible way.

TEA PAIRING: At the Waterfront
A Little Women-inspired book deserves a Little Women-inspired tea! At the Waterfront is an herbal tea with mint, honeybush, and floral notes, featuring new art of the March sisters on the package. Use my code KARA15 at checkout for 15% off this and more bookish teas from Chapters!