Was the story of Little Women only happening in Jo's book?

Question

I recently saw the new 2019 movie, Little Women. There is this part at the beginning and at the end, where Jo is meeting this book publisher Churchill-like character about publishing her book.

I feel that the message that we should get from it is that the whole story actually was only happening in the book that Jo wrote.

Is that true?

Was the story of Little Women only happening in Jo's book?

Answer 1

No, the film is simply told out of chronological order.

Gerwig’s film is the first of this novel’s many Hollywood adaptations to be a work of art in its own right. By telling the story out of chronological order, it shows the extent to which the childhood self is part and parcel of adulthood. When we are young, our possibilities seem almost limitless. Years pass, and we learn our limitations. Yet a small part of us remains free and unconquered. Tattered but untamed, the spirit of youth survives into our grown selves, and it powers and makes possible our most rewarding triumphs. Supremely conscious of this truth, Gerwig’s Little Women is a document of hope. It is a Little Women for our times—and for all time.