March

My favorite book is Little Women. So I came into this book with high hopes – the story of Mr. March sounds like a wonderful idea. Instead, this turned out to be one of the few books I didn't want to finish, although I did keep going in hopes that things would turn around. The result of the book is that I like Mr. March less. I also read in the afterward that Geraldine Brooks's mother told her, “Nobody in real life is such a goody-goody as that Marmee,” which I think is a gross mischaracterization of Marmee from Little Women, and it seemed to shape the way Brooks decided to portray Marmee in her book. It would have been interesting to me to see how Marmee, who admits to Jo as to having a temper, learns to corral that passion into care for her daughters and community. Instead, Brooks creates a Marmee who seems to be always seething under the surface and who has been made to be smaller by both herself and her husband.

An additional note about Marmee is that I always interpreted “Marmee” to be a version of “mother,” whereas Brooks introduces Marmee as having had that nickname from childhood as a version of Margaret. That makes no sense to me; why would her own children call her by her nickname?

Finally, the actual Civil War was horrific, and I can't even imagine the terrors that the soldiers and the enslaved went through. But I am also not interested in reading the gratuitous violence portrayed in these pages. I barely made it through the first chapter, which is one of the reasons I almost gave up on this one. I'm sure the writing was more accurate to the actual experience, but it was too much for me.

As I read March, I repeatedly wondered why I wasn't enjoying this novel more. Initially, I thought my lack of adoration was the result of historical-fiction burnout. March feels and sounds like so many other novels I've read. And this may have been part of my disinterest. But I think a larger part of my feeling (or lack of feeling) rests in a different comparison.

March offers another perspective of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, that of the father. I've had a good record with novels that take minor characters and make a full story from them: Ahab's Wife is one of my favorites. That said, I thought I'd really like a Civil War tale about the March father. But Mr. March never really separates himself from his little women. His continual reminders leave a link I could not shake; I never felt like it was his story. As such, it was impossible not to compare.

March is written extraordinarily well. The structure and language are both great assets. As far as craft, March is a step above its predecessor. But the endearing beauty and magic of Little Women isn't here. It isn't supposed to be, as this is the tale of a father who suffers much. It is the story of a man who endures a year of horror and grit knowing radiance awaits him at home. It's a great contrast to Little Women, which I believe is the intent, but the comparisons make this novel drag in the mud behind the names Meg, Amy, Beth, and Jo. It was during the scenes with these four girls that Mr. March seemed the most real to me. Though we have only a glimpse of Mr. March in Little Women, it seems that the actions of March's protagonist are uncharacteristic, as are some of the actions and thoughts of Marmee, his wife.

This novel doesn't feel so much like another chapter in Alcott story as it does a complete reworking. Only in the final chapters did March evoke the real warmth of its inspiration. A most fitting end to an otherwise unequal novel.

March tells the story of the largely absent father from Alcott's ‘Little Women'. His is a journey that transports the reader into a time of civil war and gross abuse of human rights, especially those of slaves.

I enjoyed reading a book about a fight for liberty through the eyes of a pre-existing, yet little known literary character. I particularly enjoyed (although that probably isn't the right word considering the atrocities that occur there) the part of the novel set in Oak's Landing.

This is the second ‘Brooks' book I have read, and thought “March” was much better then “Year of Wonders.” Her style is effortless and character's believable.

Being a huge fan of novels that take place during the US civil war and the novel Little Women I could not wait to dive into this one and I was not disappointed! March is a is really well-written and researched work of fiction based on real life people/events. I am always intrigued when an author takes a well know novel or character and builds a whole new story around them. The only thing I found off putting was how Marmee was portrayed, I found her rather unlikable and she came across as a spoiled brat 95% of the time. A thumb up for this one!!

I enjoyed this historical fiction set in the early 19th century and in the early years of the U.S. Civil War. I liked reading about the Underground Railroad, John Brown, and the transcendentalist movement (Thoreau, Emerson). I think it helps to have read Little Women first so March's descriptions of his wife and daughters become more familiar.