March (2005)

From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story "filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man"

[This is a review I wrote in 2008]

**Couldn't put it down!**

What a great story! 'March' is really well-written and researched and fills a neat gap in US Civil War literature.

'March' is the story of the girls' father in Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women'. In 'Little Women' the girls' father is absent throughout the novel as he is away at war, and Geraldine Brooks has picked up on this thread and woven a wonderfully inspirational novel around the story of Mr. March. Through it she tests out the theme of the morality of war which works ok with the causes of the US Civil War, and re-integration into a normal existence after war - another sensitive subject.

March is an abolitionist and goes to serve for the Union cause as an army chaplain. He joins up in a moment of town fervour, only to find that he cannot join with his fellow townspeople and is left to find his way amongst strangers from another regiment. The writing - predominantly from March's point of view - varies between letters home to Marmee and recollections of earlier times, and stories he wouldn't consider writing about to Marmee and the girls.

It's very sympathetically written and you can't help but be affected by March's journey through the landscape of war. The book doesn't impinge on 'Little Women' until right at the very end when March returns home, so there's no overlap with the all-time classic by Louisa May Alcott, and it complements 'Little Women' really well. Can't recommend it enough! ( )

I had this book on my bookshelf, most probably from 2008- 2009 (wow, ten years ago). The truth I started it, but for some reason, put it down. I have trouble with small books. They take me a long time to read them. Well, for some reason, it got out of its place on the bookshelf and on to my hands, and I absolutely loved it.
Maybe because Little Women by Louisa May Alcott was the book that I read at the age of 8 and loved it from cover to cover, Geraldine Brooks, takes his missing father, Mr. March, from Alcott's story builds his story before the civil war & during the civil war. It is a very thought-provoking book that talks about slavery, about the war, about the dilemma of going to war and killing people for liberating slaves legitimate. What will happen to those slaves that are free? Will they have the same rights and status as the liberators.
During the Little Women, the March family gets a telegraph that Mr. March is gravely sick, and Marmee March goes to Washington to see him. This part of the book is also part of this book, and the point of you on this part is Mrs. March.
This book is a book for all ages, people who loved Little Women, who love thought-provoking books. I absolutely loved the book and the writing. I don't understand why it took so long to finish this book, but I am glad that it is my first 5-star book for 2018.
I have another book of Geraldine Broos' book on my bookshelf bought at the same time as March, and I am for sure to read it this year. I think I found a new favorite author for me. ( )

An interesting imagining. Ms. Brooks has filled in some blanks in the Marsh family, the family of little women. In that book the four girls live with their mother while their father is away at war. He's rather a vague presence, known only through his letters. The family is poor but determined, each member doing her best to make life for all better. Is Dad doing that too?

In this novel Brooks creates a portrait of an idealistic man, based on Louisa May Alcott's own father Bronson, but faced with challenges and horrors that may never have faced Bronson. She injects a dose of realism both into Mr. and Mrs. March, making them out to be caring, loving persons but not perfect. As we follow Mr. March into battle,in his role as chaplain, we get to see the civil war from the ground, not from the distance. We follow him later to a southern plantation and see how a Yankee manager handles the ex-slaves, who are now working for wages. We see the conflict as the complex war it was, and how it left the south nearly destroyed.

I am not a fan of historical fiction but I did read another book by Brooks and found that her research and care with the characters made a much better job of this genre than the usual. So it is with this one. Worth reading for the insight into the time and the historical characters as well as the fictional ones. ( )

Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” focuses on the lives of four sisters during a year in which their father was absent as a Civil War Union Chaplain. Geraldine Brooks’ “March” is the story told from the perspective of the missing father. This is a quite mature and nuanced meditation on the travails of war - even when fought with good intent and purpose, how bad things might happen.

Brooks got her start as a foreign war correspondent for the WSJ, reporting from crisis flash points as Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans. So she has clearly given much thought to weighty matters. Coupling this with a historian’s appreciation of the abolitionism, and the life of Bronson Alcott - a winning combination. Brooks deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize in Literature as a result. Great book!