March | Geraldine Brooks | An interesting blend of fiction and history

March | Geraldine Brooks | New Insight

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March

	March Geraldine Brooks Penguin (Non-Classics), 2006 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 146 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An interesting blend of fiction and history

When a friend recommended MARCH, I wasn't particularly interested, since LITTLE WOMEN was not one of my favorite reads. But I was drawn into this book from the opening chapter, and found it hard to put down. It deals with big questions: What constitutes freedom? Who is to blame for injustice and suffering? How do we deal with guilt? I loved the characters, partly because they are flawed and therefore more real. MARCH ranks in my top 20 reads of all time. A remarkable find!

New Insight

I really liked this book and give it five stars for creativity, guts for extending a classic and writing. Brooks is an excellent writer. The notion of using Mr. March from Little Women, who we know so little about, was very ambitious. And yet Brooks did not overdo, March was a believable character and so was his wife. I think it is very hard to extend the personality of a character from a dyed-in-wool classic and takes confidence, creativity and very carefully writing.
I like how she gave a different perspective, at least for me, on the Civil War regarding March's religious orientation. I had not thought about that.
I look forward to reading her other books.

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Historically accurate and well researched! Go into this with an open mind!

After just finishing the book, I'm torn between loving it and hating it. The part of me that hates this book is that childish part deep inside of me that wants Mr. March, Marmee, and the March girls to remain exactly as I always imagined them---a happy, angelic, old-fashioned Christmas village come to life! Frolicking in the snow, sharing Christmas dinner with the poor, learning Christian lessons of charity, patience and humility at their mother's knee... I think most of the bad reviews on here come from people who want to hold on to that image of the 1860's as a better time. While I didn't want to see the dark side to the March family, I have to admit that no family is perfect and open my mind to what Brooks brings to life in MARCH.

Brooks worked very hard on research for this book--not just by reading LITTLE WOMEN---but by reading autobiographies and first hand accounts from the time. I rolled my eyes in anger and annoyance at Mr. March as a strict vegan...until I read the afterword and saw that Alcott's own father really was a vegan and started a community for other vegans! Who knew that vegetarian ideas were around even then? Granted, Little Women makes no mention of vegetarianism, but I think adding it to March helps us to see how far and how seriously Mr. March takes his ideals. The characters are all well developed and I could sympathize with Mr. March and hate him for clinging to ridiculous ideals all at the same time. Marmee also has a voice (and a personality--gasp!) for a few chapters where we get to see her temper (only hinted at in Little Women) and understand the struggles she is going through. All of the characters in the book come across as HUMAN, something I really value in fiction.

I won't give this book the last star for a 5 star rating for several reasons: 1. Brooks made Marmee's real name Marmee....it just bothered me. Why would her daughters call her by her first name? 2. For a clergyman, Mr. March had no real belief in God. He had ideals, but they weren't Christian ideals, and Brooks never gives him comfort in his faith. In fact, he hardly ever considers God, Christ, heaven, etc.! A real clergyman would get his strength from his faith, but Brooks' Mr. March is just a bumbling atheist trying to fill a Christian role. To me, this was a glaring mistake that runs throughout the entire book. Little Women was Christian, and the sequel (told from a preacher's perspective) should be the same. 3. Mr. March's almost-affair with Grace. It stood out from the story like a sore thumb and it didn't make sense for either character to go there. I kept hoping it wouldn't turn into a cheesy bodice-ripper (and it didn't) but it did lead to a ridiculous scene of a jealous and angry Marmee confronting Grace and demanding to know what happened---then after hearing the truth, saying, "Oh, I guess I can understand why he did that." Huh?

Even with these problems, the rest of the book is well written and well worth reading! Keep an open mind, remember that everything you're reading has been researched and actually DID happen during the Civil War, and enjoy discovering another side of Little Women.

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Soul Searching Read

March is a soul searching must read. Share this humanities lesson with your older kids, family & friends. Even though this is the sequel to Little Women (which I never read), it didn't matter as it stands on it's own. Read this book & pray for history to NEVER repeat itself.

dark, interesting and well written

March is a great book, but it definitely leans toward the modern ideology that there are no true heroes, and search as hard as you can you will find no person in this book that is a hero. At some points you will think you have, but you haven't.

If reading that has made you somewhat depressed, this book will do that for around 300 pages. It is well written, but too dark, to gray and not very much light. It is a good read, but not great.

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