Geraldine Brooks' "March": A Gripping Tale of Love, Loss, and the Power of Hope

Molly KED: Any Little Women fans, Civil War interests will appreciate the insights and the humanity of this book. Brooks is magical.

United States on Dec 07, 2023

Ruth Evans: I have read all of Brooks books and especially enjoyed the diverse subject matter of each. March is a special read in that it incorporates the dialogue of the early 1800’s and definitely brings the quality of each character to life.
I highly recommend this book for it’s originality and connection to the classic “ Little Women “.

United States on Nov 27, 2023

Kindle Customer: An exploration of Mr. March from L.M. Alcott's "Little Women". Well researched in terms of the Civil War, slavery, abolitionists. Masterful job of weaving the two stories together and developing the parents into full (albeit imaginary) characters.

Canada on Oct 31, 2023

Lynne M. Spreen: In this civil war story, the father of Alcott's Little Women writes back from the battlefield as he talks about his life and his current circumstances. March (he is called by his last name) is an idealistic, gentle man. His wife, as depicted in this story, is a temperamental person, passionate about her work as a stop on the Underground Railroad, but her temper is like a demon living inside her, and she often loses control and wounds people. March talks about his life from single young adulthood to courting his wife to fatherhood and soldier. It's interesting, if gritty. He's in love with his wife, but an old flame, in the form of a redemptive (of course) mixed-race woman, saves him and his wife over and over again. I gave this book high ratings because it was well-written, but March and his wife both annoyed me too much to recommend it.

United States on Oct 21, 2023

Les West: Geraldine Brooks always writes wonderful prose and researches her subjects so thoroughly that the characters and situations she depicts seem astonishingly real.
March, like all her works, is superbly crafted.
Having said that, the reader should be aware that this book portrays scenes from a brutal war without tempering the horror in any way. If you want to fully appreciate this book you need to be prepared to witness many disturbing incidents.
It’s very much worthwhile reading the afterwords to this book, to fully grasp its origins and structure.
Very highly recommended.

Australia on Jun 16, 2023

Mary E. Trimble: March, a novel by Geraldine Brooks, published in 2006, has as its main character the absent husband and father from the beloved classic novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott that was first published 138 years earlier, in 1868.

March, written in first person in the voice of Robert March, begins by recalling when he was a single young man from the North peddling assorted goods to people in the South. He stops at a plantation and is given lodging as a guest. He meets Grace, an extraordinary young black woman who is educated, unusual at a time when it is illegal to teach a slave to read.

Years later March, now forty years old, a scholar and minister, returns to the South as an Army chaplain to aid the Union cause in the Civil War, leaving his wife and four daughters behind. He stays at a plantation that has been ravaged by Union soldiers, the once lovely home trashed, crops burned, livestock and tools confiscated, leaving owners and the now freed slaves without adequate resources to make their livelihood.

Although it is now legal to teach Negroes to read, March finds resistance among many in the South. Nevertheless, he endeavors to educate those on the...

United States on Dec 29, 2022

Cliente Amazon: Like the other book (Horse) I read by this former journalist/war correspondent author, in this narrative a historical event/period is experienced in a new and profound way through the personal experiences of a few of its heroic but hitherto unknown protagonists. Here the dramatic event is the American Civil War, portrayed with unspeakable cruelty and pervasive prejudice on both sides. Since it is written in the first person, both the style and the dialgue reported seem to be in keeping with the historical context and the cultural and social background of the characters. Quite a tour de force for the author, who by her own admission has immersed herself in personal letters and journals of the times. Aesthetically beautiful prose and gripping storytelling make it an instructive and satisfying read.

Italy on Aug 23, 2022

Miriam Ketani: The novel is supposed to be from Mr. March's point of view, but there is too much of Bronson Alcott's philosophies and beliefs, with a glob of anachronism. To really learn what the March parents were like, you need to read both parts of Little Women, AND read the follow-up, Little Men. Marmee was nowhere as hot-headed and belligerent as in this book, and she was always doing for others as well as her girls. She was compassionate, not passionate, and although she tells Jo that she is angry every day of her life, the only hint of it is her folding her lips when reading Aunt March's scolding letter that had the money she needed to get to her husband. Father was portrayed in Little Women as a gentle, wise man whose feelings of what is right lead him to give priority to helping his country, even though it means leaving his wife and 4 daughters to manage without him. He is a sage who lifts up his daughters with his wisdom and support. There is not a hint of the tortured soul in Louisa May Alcott's writings that is portrayed in the novel March.

United States on Jul 13, 2022

Wordwatcher: I enjoy historical novels, some of which are much more interesting than mere "genre" fiction. This particular one relies on a literary conceit. It's supposed to fill in what Louisa May Alcott left out of Little Women: what happens to Mr. March during the Civil War. It works in literary terms, to some extent, because Brooks writes in the style of a nineteenth-century author: the narrator for much of this story being March himself. Okay, she allows a few linguistic anachronisms such as "multiple," a mathematical word that no one until very recently would ever have used as a substitute for "many." But by and large, as I say, Brooks succeeds in her use of nineteenth-century dialect. Even allowing for the general prissiness of that era, though, this is probably more like the dialect of a woman than that of a man. Brooks does allow at least one significant historical anachronism. All the nurses in this novel are women. In fact, they were men.

Brooks tries very hard to see the world through the eyes of a male protagonist. This is crucial, because he lives through a war (albeit as a chaplain). Far from suggesting that the war was amusing or even glamorous for the soldiers, most of...

Canada on Dec 10, 2012

Ben M: "March" ist nicht einfach ein Spin-off - der preisgekrönte Roman schildert die Geschichte des Vaters von "Betty und ihren Schwestern", der im geistlichen Dienst in den amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg zieht und gefangen ist zwischen Unmenschlichkeit, Dehumanisierung - und einer schönen Sklavin, die bereits vor Jahren einmal in sein Leben getreten war. Fernab von der friedlichen Idylle, die seine Familie umgibt, befindet sich March inmitten der Entscheidung von Leben und Tod. Seiner Familie gaukelt er in seinen Briefen etwas vor, in Wahrheit steht er am Ende seiner Kräfte und glaubt nicht mehr an die Rückkehr nach Hause.

Wo "Little Women" als Familiengeschichte für Kinder und Jugendliche konzipiert war, folgt mit "March" die "Erwachsenen"-Variante. Geraldine Brooks weicht nicht davor zurück, den Krieg in all seinen Grausamkeiten zu beschreiben, direkt darin ein antiheroischer Ehemann und Vater, der eine falsche Entscheidung nach der anderen trifft und nicht nur das Leben anderer, sondern besonders das eigene stückweise zerstört.

"March" spielt mit der Vorlage, entreißt warmherzigen Charakteren wie Marmee die Güte und setzt sie nicht nur in den Krieg selbst,...

Germany on Jul 02, 2008