March
by Geraldine Brooks
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Book Reviews of March
Book Review: I liked this book but didn't love it.
Summary: 3 Stars
I have never read Geraldine Brooks before and I'm glad I did. She is a wonderful writer. Her work is literary and lyrical. If I were to criticize the work, I find some of her descriptions and character's awareness especially March, to be a little too stilted and overly formal at times. I also did not like March as a character. He was for me a coward and overly idealistic to the point of nauseating. But that takes nothing away from Ms. Brooks overall work. I give this book (3.5) stars.
I also liked the sprinkling of historical figures like Thoreau and Emerson. I found their presence interesting and believable. What I did not like or found believable was March losing his entire fortune to John Brown. If anything bothered me the most in this story it was that. Now, because I never read "Little Women" I don't know if the John Brown story was brought up. If it was, I still would find it contrived and not believable.
Because I haven't read "Little Women" I am not prejudice by what some here who believe Marmee shouldn't be emotional to point of shrill. Here, I happen to agree with Brooks and what she stated in her Afterwards. People are not perfect and always good. Human nature tells me so. We all have our faults and are fallible. Considering her circumstances, I thought her emotional outbursts were real and heartfelt. And I actually liked Grace Clement's character and March's fall from grace. I found it to be understandable considering everything. What I did not find believable and rather contrived was Grace's prescient and pretentious line to March, "Write sermons that will prepare your neighbors to accept a world where black and white may one day stand as equals."
In sum I'm very impressed with Ms. Brooks beautiful and lyrical writing, I cannot wait to read her other books especially "People of the Book." If not for the contrived relationship between March and John Brown I would have given this book a higher rating.
Book Review: A Thoroughly Absorbing Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
March by Geraldine Brooks, is a fascinating and thoroughly absorbing novel in which the author imagines the life of Mr. March, the absent father from Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." One does not have to have read Alcott's nineteenth century children's novel to appreciate this tale of the very proper and high-minded preacher leaving his wife and four daughters behind as he goes off with the young men to the battlefields of the Civil War as their chaplain.
Part One of the book, roughly three-fourth of it, is told in the voice of Mr. March and his letters home to his beloved wife, Marmee, in which he tries to hide his feelings about the death and destruction taking place around him. Assigned to work in a makeshift hospital on the Clement estate, a plantation he had visited more than twenty years earlier as an itinerant salesman, he meets again Grace, a beautiful and cultured slave and the woman who had given him his first kiss.
The once beautiful estate has been transformed by the ugliness of war, but March's work there is brief, as he is assigned to set up a school for freed slaves working for wages on another plantation called Oak Landing. In flashbacks, the reader learns of March's earlier life, his courtship of Marmee, his work in the underground railroad, and his friendship with the Transcendental writers, Emerson and Thoreau.
After a Confederate attack on the plantation, March comes down with a fever and is taken to a Washington hospital. Here, the narrative switches to the voice of Marmee, for a different take on the past and her reaction to the truth she uncovers about her husband's life.
Much of March's character is derived from Alcott's transcendentalist father, Bronson, though he did not go off to war. It is the war and its horrors and their impact on a good man's life that give Brooks' novel the ring of truth and make it such a gripping read.
Book Review: Insightful
Summary: 4 Stars
I appreciated this book much better at the end than in the opening chapters where we become familiar with the trancendentalist and humanist "Mr. March" of "Little Women" fame. I didn't love Mr. March's character which made it a little difficult to stick with the first 1/3 of the book - he's a little superior while being just as frail as everyone else, rendering him sometimes just hypocritical and sometimes overwhelmed with oppressive guilt which, though occasionally quite well-deserved, was a little heavy to have to read about. I longed for the forthright characters of his "Little Women" instead! It was fantastic to finally see inside Marmee's heart when she takes up the narrative briefly while Mr. March is hospitalized and unconscious. It was an unexpected surprise and delight to read about her unruly temper and her relationship with her husband and family from her own perspective. When she could see her husband's true nature for the first time as truths about his life and his Civil War experiences are revealed to her, she nevertheless insists that he resume his former life anyway without either frankly forgiving him or truly accepting his weaknesses. That seemed truer to the book and to the period than almost anything else in it, and it redeems Mr. March in the end, as much as he can allow himself to be redeemed. The story leaves you with a feeling for the rich future the characters might have ahead, which is one of it's real strengths. Geraldine Brooks is a wonderful illustrator of the nuances of human nature in all its shades-of-gray glory and I appreciate her fine hand. Her rendition of the language of the period was wonderful and really made the book, and I agree with her that the saddest thing about Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" is the book it could have been if the author hadn't been hampered by the social restrictions of the time.Book Review: A compelling tale
Summary: 4 Stars
Geraldine Brooks' latest novel certainly deserves its Pulitzer Prize. Brooks takes the classic Louisa May Alcott story Little Women and creates an entirely different and equally charming tale. Prior knowledge of Alcott's novel is unnecessary because Brooks includes all essential information in her intricate narrative. The majority of the story is told from Mr. March's perspective, the absent father from Little Women. The novel follows Mr. March's journey through a very different civil war than that which we read about in history books. March encounters thieves, lust, and a group of freed slaves that ultimately save his life. His story is enriched by every person he meets on his journey and each character gives the novel a different and unique texture. March is (for the most part) a loveable character who always tries to do what he thinks is right, even if it means alienating several people along the way. We watch March attempt to influence those around him with his radical abolitionist ideals, which eventually lead to his relocation and demotion. Even though the narrative can be a bit repetitive at times, every event in the story is significant to the novel as a whole.
Although the plot was gripping, my favorite part of the novel was the relationship Brooks created between Mr. and Mrs. March. We see Mr. March struggle as he tries to write honest yet hopeful letters to his wife; and, towards the end of the novel, we see Mrs. March struggle with the choice between taking care of her husband or holding on to past resentment. Both husband and wife have significant flaws and throughout the novel we see both of them attempt to fix their respective problems. Overall, March is a compelling novel because of Brooks' rich narrative and truthful characters.
Book Review: A favorite author, a disappointing book
Summary: 3 Stars
Most of us are familiar with Louisa May Alcott's classic tale of Little Women. In that story the Little Women and their mother speak of their absent father, who only makes an appearance late in the book, when he returns from his ministry of troops fighting in the Civil War. Using this as a jumping off point Brooks writes the story of Mr. March and his story during that year he served the troops in Virginia.
I'm a big fan of Geraldine Brooks, I loved both Year of Wonders and People of the Book. I was therefore a little surprised that I did not love this Pulitzer Prize winning book. The story is not badly written, Brooks is an exceptional writer. The problem was the character of March, who appears to be generally naïve and a bit inept. I found the story of his courtship of Marmee unbelievable and the depiction of my beloved Marmee as a bit of a shrew hard to reconcile. The only time the story really came to life for me was when March is hospitalized (this is the illness mentioned in the original book) and Marmee comes to his bedside and the voice of the story changes to hers. Although not the Marmee I had always pictured, she still had more life and passion than March has throughout this book. In fact the only time I really felt anything for March was in the last chapter of the book when he is again reunited with his family. Although not the ending I hoped for it was the only time I felt any sympathy for his character.
I struggled to finish this book, it is a short 280 pages yet it took over a month for me to finish it, as I had no urge to pick it up between readings. A disappointment, but I will read more of Ms. Brooks books, since People of the Book was written after this and I loved it.