March
by Geraldine Brooks
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Book Reviews of March
Book Review: A Literary Spin Off
Summary: 3 Stars
Geraldine Brooks' story of what happened to the missing father from "Little Women" is beautifully written. Conflicted by his desires to end slavery and maintain peace, Mr. March enlists as a chaplain only to find that the commitments to the war's cause of those around him are muted if even existent. The challenges surrounding this make for a difficult year for Mr. March, yet almost bull-headed in his attempts, he continues to push for what he believes.
The story that Ms. Brooks has created is constructed around the few pieces of information available about Mr. March in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." I am not sure if that makes Ms. Brooks' effort more or less clever. On the one hand, unlike authors who approach their work with a blank slate, Ms. Brooks had to make the novel work in the context of another author's roadmap. Conversely, one could argue that the outline for the story was already there due to Ms. Alcott's efforts, and all Ms. Brooks had to do was fill in the blanks. Some might make a modern day comparison with Michael Cunningham's use of "Mrs. Dalloway" in writing "The Hours." However, his creation was fundamentally different in that the story of "Mrs. Dalloway" was used to reflect on the life of the original novel's author, and then was also transported into the future as a construct for the tales of two women not actually present in "Mrs. Dalloway."
Regardless, "The Departed" just one Best Picture, so if you're going to give an Oscar to a remake, why not a Pulitzer to a literary spin off.
Book Review: Flesh and bones at last!
Summary: 5 Stars
Geraldine Brooks has taken that most enigmatic figure from "Little Women" and put flesh and bones on him. The mostly absent father, Rev. March, goes to war...but it turns out not to be the idealized war of his dreams, but the real war of which nightmares are made.
"March" follows him as he confronts the unspeakable horror of war, and comes home a different man.
As always, Ms. Brooks has done her research well. She knows the Civil War as well as she knew the plague in her outstanding book "Year of Wonders." She doesn't skimp on details, but makes one feel as though you are lying in the ditch with bullets whizzing overhead. But Ms. Brooks also knows human nature, and we see the difficulties of trying to maintain one's humanity when all around you everyone else is losing theirs.
The book covers the time period in "Little Women" that Mr. March is away at war, but also events that transpired when he was but a youth peddling books, and a bit after. In addition to telling Mr. March's story, Marmee and her children are not forgotten. And the inter-racial relationship between Mr. March and Grace are told with delicacy and with all the confusion such a relationship required.
Peppered with people from Alcott's real life, the story has a reality that is difficult to master in a work of fiction. But, as usual, Geraldine Brooks has made Mr. March's story more than just believable - she has made it a work of art.
All in all, an excellent read. I couldn't put it down.
Book Review: Surprising
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure what to think when I bought this book. I loved "Year of Wonders" but this book was about the American civil war and as an Australian, it's not a war I'm familar with in great detail. Also, because I grew up with "Little Women" (my mum was a huge fan) I knew Brooks was taking a huge risk. These are well known, much loved characters and she could get it really, really wrong.....she didn't.
I loved "Marmee" in March, she's strong, intelligent, courageous and compassionate, a woman who loves her husband but struggles with his idealistic view of the world. She's the glue that holds her family together but it comes at a cost.
I also loved the character of Peter March. He's a noble man at heart and although he's an idealist, you feel his passion to make a difference But there is no nobility in war, it is wanton destruction and cruelty. Men will do all they can to stay alive and March has to come to terms with his own human failings and the failings of mankind as a whole.
Also, although March went off to save mankind, it came at the expense of his family, especially his wife. He failed to see the impact his actions had on those closest to him. He was a minister, he was not needed in war, but he went anyway. Is it a form of selfishness? There are no easy answers in war.
Anyway, when I heard Brooks won the pulitzer I thought she deserved it. I know that everyone won't like this book, it's not a light read but I highly recommend it.
Book Review: Such feet of clay
Summary: 3 Stars
The character of Captain March, father of the four daughters in the L.M.Alcott novel, Little Women, is one that set my teeth on edge right from the beginning. He is one of those self righteous clergymen, preaching, prating, full of self importance and only too willing to point out and correct, the faults of others. When HE is discovered to be at fault, HIS sins are worse than anybody else's, and his remorse is loud, long and public. The story begins at the same time as Little Woman does, with the American Civil War in full swing and with Mr. March, now Captain March, working on the battlefield as a chaplain, ministering to soldiers and displaced black ex slaves alike. He and his family had been very active in the underground railway, helping escaped slaves to reach safety in Canada. In the hope of gaining glory in the eyes of his wife, Marmee, he gave away all of his money to the infamous John Brown who squandered it foolishly, leaving the previously comfortable March family on the brink of poverty. March's way out ideas even forbade the drinking of milk, as he declared that the cow's milk should belong exclusively to its calf. The author has also diminished my previously held view that the character of Marmee, mother of the March sisters, was beyond reproach and has painted her as an uncontrollable termagant, whose fits of temper border on the psychotic. I just hated having characters that I had loved, being shown with such massive feet of clay.Book Review: Beautiful Novel of a Familiar Character
Summary: 5 Stars
I was prompted to read "March" by Geraldine Brooks when the novel recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and I'm sure glad I did! It's a remarkable novel, beautifully written, interesting, educational, emotional, thought-provoking, riveting and it has that wonderful and comforting touch of the familiar because just about every woman and girl (and even some males!) in America already knows the March family.
I won't re-hash the plot; suffice it to say that Brooks offers us a unique view of the Civil War and one that will stay with the reader long after the last chapter. I'd love to see this novel taught in schools along with "To Kill a Mockingbird", I hope some forward thinking teacher will try it.
In addition to this exceptional story, I recommend "The March" by E.L. Doctorow, which was short-listed for the Pulitzer and provides another riveting look at the Civil War with vivid and varied characters from both sides and from both races and ways of life. And just one last, quirky recommendation; for a work of juvenile fiction that touches on the transcendentalists of Concord, Mass., (Alcott, Emerson, Thoreau) I recommend with joy "The Swing in the Summerhouse" by Jane Langdon. It was my first glimpse into that world and it's a story that is loved by at least two generations now.