March

This is an interesting premise - the civil war experiences of the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women'. Both well researched historical fiction, and an engaging exploration of moral absolutism faced with the messy ethical contradictions of wartime. She manages to present engaging characters that nonetheless demonstrate the prejudices of their time. Alongside a consistently...more

This is an interesting premise - the civil war experiences of the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women'. Both well researched historical fiction, and an engaging exploration of moral absolutism faced with the messy ethical contradictions of wartime. She manages to present engaging characters that nonetheless demonstrate the prejudices of their time. Alongside a consistently engaging acknowledgement of indebtedness to the historical documents of the period, this book provides an excellent example of published fan-fiction. 'March' communicates Brooks' affection for the source text, drawing inspiration and structure from the text without being limited by the saccharine characterisations of 'Little Women'. Possibly a little bit too self-consciously 'dark'.   hide

Another amazing book by Geraldine Brooks, author of Year of Wonders. This takes the father of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" and sets it (or most of it) in first person as he leaves his family for service in the Civil War. Some literary license with Marmee rubbed me the wrong way but after reading the author's notes at the end, I understood. So richly written that I had trouble putting it...more

Another amazing book by Geraldine Brooks, author of Year of Wonders. This takes the father of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" and sets it (or most of it) in first person as he leaves his family for service in the Civil War. Some literary license with Marmee rubbed me the wrong way but after reading the author's notes at the end, I understood. So richly written that I had trouble putting it down.   hide

Quotes from - March "I could say i was ready to love Mr. Clement. For to know a man's library is, in some measure, to know his mind. And this mind was noble in its reach, wide in its interests, discerning in its tastes." "'it wasn't a lie, Father',she (Beth in Little Women) said calmly, as if reading my mind. 'i told him i had never seen a slave in this house, and that is the simple...more

Quotes from - March "I could say i was ready to love Mr. Clement. For to know a man's library is, in some measure, to know his mind. And this mind was noble in its reach, wide in its interests, discerning in its tastes." "'it wasn't a lie, Father',she (Beth in Little Women) said calmly, as if reading my mind. 'i told him i had never seen a slave in this house, and that is the simple truth. Haven't you told us, many times, that there are no slaves in God's eyes? God sees everything, and if he sees no slaves in this house, how can there be any?'" "'But i might have saved them. There was a man, Jess, he handed me a gun, i handed it back to him. I valued my principles [not to kill] more than I valued their lives. And the outcome is, they are slaves again, or dead."'   hide

Being such a lover of "Little Women", I wasn't sure I would really like this book. However I was pleasantly surprised. While the author has had to take a few liberties with the timeline of "Little Women" (which was a bit shaky to start with), she has stayed true to Louisa Alcott's original work, while weaving a compelling story throughout the tale. I enjoyed...more

Being such a lover of "Little Women", I wasn't sure I would really like this book. However I was pleasantly surprised. While the author has had to take a few liberties with the timeline of "Little Women" (which was a bit shaky to start with), she has stayed true to Louisa Alcott's original work, while weaving a compelling story throughout the tale. I enjoyed getting Mr March's perspective of the events of the Civil War, and the food for thought nature of the story. The author captures the history well, and creates characters that you can connect with as a reader.   hide

As she did with People of the Book, Brooks takes a potentially interesting premise and writes a fairly pedestrian story. She tells the story of Mr. March, whose 4 daughters are Alcott's Little Women, and what happened to him when he left them behind to be a chaplain in the Civil War. Unlike similar books, such as Grendel or The Wide Sargasso Sea, which tell the "untold" story behind famous...more

As she did with People of the Book, Brooks takes a potentially interesting premise and writes a fairly pedestrian story. She tells the story of Mr. March, whose 4 daughters are Alcott's Little Women, and what happened to him when he left them behind to be a chaplain in the Civil War. Unlike similar books, such as Grendel or The Wide Sargasso Sea, which tell the "untold" story behind famous narratives, March's story is hardly an untold one, and will be very familiar to anyone who has read a Civil War book. March is a decent man and a good character, and his experiences force him to question his ideas and opinions, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. He even learns valuable moral lessons from wise and kindly Negroes. But all that was easy if familiar going - Then, two-thirds of the way through the book Brooks calamitously changes the point of view from March to Marmee, who comes across, whether Brooks intended it or not, as mean, petty, and passive-aggressive. The book never recovers from this. I am not sure why Brooks found it necessary to tell the story - I think she really would rather have done straight fictional biography of Alcott's father, Bronson - she admits in an afterword she read all his journals and used them to capture the voice of March. And a much better book that would have been.   hide

Centering around Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women", Brooks' novel is well researched and entertaining. Starting out with high ideals and positive energy, March joins the Union Army as a chaplain but we find him full of disillusionment and defeat at the end of the book. Marmee makes an appearance in the later part of the story, and you cant help but admire her for...more

Centering around Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women", Brooks' novel is well researched and entertaining. Starting out with high ideals and positive energy, March joins the Union Army as a chaplain but we find him full of disillusionment and defeat at the end of the book. Marmee makes an appearance in the later part of the story, and you cant help but admire her for her fortitude. Brooks' portrayal of Mr. March seems to be nothing more than that of a weak clergyman unable to uphold his morals despite multiple trials during his year away from home. The book also subtely touches upon the marriage between March and Marmee, precariously held together by silent bonds. If you find comfort in sepia toned literature, then you wont be disappointed. Context from Alcott's classic is not crucial to enjoy Brooks' novel. I found this book particularly enlightening for some rare glimpses into certain aspects of the Civil war like the underground network in Massachusetts, the deployment of "contrabands"(former slaves) for wages and anecdotal references to the Harper's Ferry tragedy.   hide

This is an imagining of what Mr March, the father who is largely absent from 'Little Women', does during the civil war. Brooks weaves some details from 'Little Women' in throughout - such as when Jo cut off all of her hair to raise money, and when Beth is gravely ill - which add to the story's authenticity. It also provides the back story for the March marriage and explains their poverty. By the...more

This is an imagining of what Mr March, the father who is largely absent from 'Little Women', does during the civil war. Brooks weaves some details from 'Little Women' in throughout - such as when Jo cut off all of her hair to raise money, and when Beth is gravely ill - which add to the story's authenticity. It also provides the back story for the March marriage and explains their poverty. By the end of the book I had to conclude that Mr March was largely clueless about what his wife wanted, having attributed a number of noble deeds (that turned out badly) to his thinking that she wanted him to do it... the handful of chapters that Marmee narrates were blackly humourous as a consequence. Stylistically the novel is written in a very similar manner to 'Little Women' - another device that adds to its authenticity as a related chronicle. All in all an interesting read.   hide

Although the writing is beautiful and the descriptions dark and disturbingly real, the plot and characters are most certainly lacking. Brooks falls into something that most historical fiction authors do-- and that is spinning their characters' mindsets to more accurately reflect our modern ones rather than the un-PC historic ones. Louisa May Alcott does write the March family as...more

Although the writing is beautiful and the descriptions dark and disturbingly real, the plot and characters are most certainly lacking. Brooks falls into something that most historical fiction authors do-- and that is spinning their characters' mindsets to more accurately reflect our modern ones rather than the un-PC historic ones. Louisa May Alcott does write the March family as liberal in a sense, but more in that they were the ultimate humanitarians. Their goal was to be a good person. Brooks twists this trait, instead making the Marches almost political protestors of a sort. They essentially fund the Underground Railroad and actually hide slaves away in their attic. And... vegans? Really? I would have seen more merit in simply writing the Marches out of this book and replacing them with original characters. Despite the discrepencies between the source material and this companion, March is also quite boring. The first fifty pages are completely promising and intriguing, but later falls into description after description of poor slaves and plantation owners and teaching the poor slaves and angry plantation owners... Not to mention that the character of March himself is very boring and not extraordinarily likeable, either. Only the addition of Marmee's chapter at the end brought back some interest. All in all, the writing is lovely, but the plot felt extremely half-baked and the characters not intriguing or likeable in the slightest.   hide

***SPOILER ALERT***This novel takes an already fictional character and gives him a life. The character in question is the missing father from the book "Little Women" who goes off to serve as a chaplain in the American civil war. March is an ardent anti-slavery activist going back to his experiences as a young man working as a peddlar in Virginia where he witness the brutal beating of a woman...more

***SPOILER ALERT***This novel takes an already fictional character and gives him a life. The character in question is the missing father from the book "Little Women" who goes off to serve as a chaplain in the American civil war. March is an ardent anti-slavery activist going back to his experiences as a young man working as a peddlar in Virginia where he witness the brutal beating of a woman who wanted to learn to read. He met his wife who was active in the Underground Railway at the home of Henry David Thoreau's parents. At the relatively old age of 39 he leaves his family behind and is a first-hand sense of conscious to the soldiers and prevents some brutal acts against women in the Confederate supporting areas. March is wounded and dies of a fever in a hospital in Washington with his wife at his side.   hide