March by Geraldine Brooks Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of March
Book Review: A travesty
Summary: 1 Stars
I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book. After all, as a Pulitzer-Prize winner loosely based on a character from Little Women, and written by Geraldine Brooks, whose vision brought a glow to Year of Wonders, it had everything going for it. Imagine my shock and horror then when I picked it up, settling down for a long, rich read, and looked up after two pages with a dreadful sinking feeling. For anyone who read and loved Little Women as a child, this book is not merely a travesty - it's a nightmare. And for anyone who loves good literature, it's that worst of all things - a book that should be magnificent, and isn't. Quite apart from the fact that the moral, upright, warm and loving father and dedicated army chaplain from Little Women is transformed into a womanizing, lying, deceitful, weak man whose only real belief rests in a complete disillusionment with the world(a character quite incapable of being the center of a classic)the entire novel is written in his voice, one of the few I've ever encountered that inspired an actual loathing in me. Brooks' style in this book, conveyed through this man's endlessly self-pitying, whining, and over-formal point of view, is strained and ultimately intensely unconvincing. This flaws in character and style could even have been forgiven however had not this entire book been written with one apparent purpose, and one only - to propagate a particular agenda. Every author, particularly the great ones, conveys in their novels some deeply held belief or question. But what makes them great is that their vision, their novel, transcends the narrow limits of this purpose - they write for all humanity, and thus deal with issues and characters that speak to and of all humanity. March is a narrow, self-limiting book utterly consumed with the self-absorption of its narrator and the mindless cruelty, racism, and godlessness which the author apparently believes were a characteristic of many, if not most, of the people in the Civil War, particularly but not limited to the soldiers of the Northern side. Attacking what has often been seen and projected as the "good" side - the North, in this case, and the whites, is a author's trick that has been used before to gain attention, but never with this particular brand of blatancy; a backwards form of stereotyping. It's a book written for the times, hence the Pulitzer, but will last no longer than the few years it takes for the world to forget that it once won the highest award the literary world has to offer. Having read many great past Pulitzer-winning novels, from Sophie's Choice to The Hours to, recently, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, this book is a travesty.Book Review: Adding dimension to a one-dimensional classic...
Summary: 5 Stars
The "horror", "shock" and "dismay" by reviewers who found March an aborhent departure from the classic that inspired this beautifully conceived novel seems more aptly suited to pre-teens than mature adults. Is it really so amazing that a decent man can be flawed? That a happily married man might, in extraordinary circumstances, stray and break a wedding vow? Or that an idealist's certainty may crumble under the grim reality of war's carnage.
This is fiction people. It uses the skeleton of a story to add flesh and bones to a character who is "the absent presence" in Little Women. It is the novel Louisa May Alcott might have written if she were not constrained by 19th century convention. If one wants that convention perpetuated, I suggest sticking to the "sequels" to Gone With The Wind and Pride and Predjudice. I for one don't care to know what a balding Rhett or a Darcy with arthritis might have been like. But I do greatly appreciate a nuanced portrait of the 19th century with all its idealism and venality. It seems to be a century very much like our own.. And that is historical fiction at its very best.
Book Review: Afraid of Chick Lit
Summary: 4 Stars
I try and read all the Pulitzer Prize winners, no matter who the author or what the subject matter. I was really afraid that this was going to be the Civil War as told by a chick-lit writer. It turns out Brooks has written a very stirring story. The ideolistic Mr. March goes off to war as a preacher and an arch abolitionist. He's a do-gooder who's good deeds always seem to backfire on him. Like giving all his money to John Brown, who then uses it to start a rebellion, or trying to teach a little slave girl the alphabet, which gets her mother whipped. Or when he tries to put his beliefs into actual practice, helpng a notherner grow cotton on a confiscated plantation, while the war continues to rage around him. All right, so March isn't the smartest man there ever was. But he's well-intentioned. The writing here is clear and precise and paints the scenes beautifully. The only shortcoming in the book, is that the narrative switches in Part 2 for about 50 pages from that of March to that of his wife, Marmee, not nearly as interesting a character.Book Review: An absorbing read
Summary: 4 Stars
[***** = breathtaking, **** = excellent, *** = good, ** = flawed, * = bad]
Mr. March is often exasperating but always believable in this vivid Civil War novel that is not so much about battles as about how the hardship of war shapes families. Chapter 2 involving Grace the beautiful slave reaches near perfection. Longer review at ImpatientReader-dot-com.
Book Review: An ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times!
Summary: 5 Stars
Geraldine Brooks has produced an ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times and has successfully drawn some of her principal characters from Louisa May Alcott's classic, 'Little Women,' creating in the process an elaboration of the life of the Revd. Mr March, father of the little women, who, whilst being an aggravating and hypocritical Yankee clergyman, nevertheless leads an extraordinary life, both in Connecticut and in The South during the American 'Civil War' (or 'War for Southern Independence,' depending upon personal preference: I prefer the latter). The fact that the author cleverly introduces Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and even John Brown (he of the body and the soul that marches on), all most effectively but without particular surprise in the context, is a tribute to her story-telling skill. The fact that Mr March learns a lot of the complications of that frightful conflict of 1861-1865 is a reflection of the author's fine research and scholarship. The fact that the mid-19th-century language seems to be 'spot-on' to one who reads and enjoys such stuff also reflects well on Ms. Brooks: she has produced another riveting tale, which I could not put down, and I congratulate her!