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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I kind of can't help taking away a star for the genre of books that use characters of another author's creation. That aside, it took me a while to get into this book. The first 2/3 were slow. When the action picked up, the book got better. Maybe I would add another 1/2 star back since the author is married to Tony Horwitz ;>).
It started slowly for me, but I thought this was really lovely by the end.
Couldn't finish. While I loved Little Women, the story of what happens to Mr. March while off at war couldn't keep my interest. His character oscillates from being overly pious (he is a minister after all) to unbelievably "normal." The book is not very long and won a Pulitzer prize (it is written beautifully), but just not my cup of tea.
Eh. It was alright. For a pulitzer it was not what i expected. Really abrupt ending and just kind of confusing writing at times. It had a really great message about slavery and the south and provided an interesting back story to little women...but i still liked little women so much better.
Civil War stories
An imagined tale of the husband of Marmee March of Little Women and his exploits as he was out of the home during the War. Well told.
An imagined tale of the husband of Marmee March of Little Women and his exploits as he was out of the home during the War. Well told.
This was a fun way to look at characters from one of my favorite books in a new way. It added new depth to the March parents for me.
A co-worker recommended March and prior to reading it I knew only that it detailed the mostly absent character of Mr. March in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Having finished the novel I realize it is a superb piece of ‘fan-fiction’ and well deserving of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize.
Once I realized March received a Pulitzer (about half-way through the novel) I spoke with my co-worker and she also mentioned not knowing it was a Pulitzer when she started reading it, but once she finished she felt it was a perfect Pulitzer and I couldn’t agree more. I looked up what distinguishes a Pulitzer and Wikipedia (yes I used our friendly resource) states a Pulitzer Prize for fiction is awarded “for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life.” And having just finished March, I believe perfect Pulitzer fits. I’m not referring to the writing itself, as who am I to judge, but instead to the story. Brooks wrote about a time and a place which is so uniquely American and about characters which for a long time were Americana embodied.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
Once I realized March received a Pulitzer (about half-way through the novel) I spoke with my co-worker and she also mentioned not knowing it was a Pulitzer when she started reading it, but once she finished she felt it was a perfect Pulitzer and I couldn’t agree more. I looked up what distinguishes a Pulitzer and Wikipedia (yes I used our friendly resource) states a Pulitzer Prize for fiction is awarded “for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life.” And having just finished March, I believe perfect Pulitzer fits. I’m not referring to the writing itself, as who am I to judge, but instead to the story. Brooks wrote about a time and a place which is so uniquely American and about characters which for a long time were Americana embodied.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
I didn't love this book, but I gave it four stars because I can appreciate it as a well-crafted and beautifully written piece of literature. It immerses you in the atmosphere and lifestyle of the Civil War era. I also read this at a time when my life revolved around Little Women (my daughter was Beth in her school play) and I felt this book added to my understanding of the story. I appreciate that it is Brooks's interpretation of Mr. March's life and for that ambitious task I applaud her. I listened to this book and at times the narrator embodied Mr. March and at times he bored me. My criticism is that the second half of this book has an interlude from Marmee's perspective and I found it difficult to keep track of which character was speaking. The audiobook could have benefitted from a female narrator for Marmee.
March by Geraldine Brooks is an interesting little novel. It is built around Mr. March, the father character in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, and tells his story - he is absent at war for much of Little Women and is hardly even a supporting character.
Here, Brooks writes Mr. March into a flawed, believable and heartbreaking character, and his experiences during the Civil War are intense and tragic. But, I absolutely cringed at what Brooks did with Louisa May Alcott's Marmee (the mother) character - in Little Women, Marmee was gentle and wise, patient and, although she could be forceful (I'm thinking of when she takes Amy out of school because the schoolmaster struck her hand for having the limes, and Marmee gives him a piece of her mind), she certainly had self-control. In Brooks' story, Marmee is wild and reckless, rude and, honestly, quite unlikeable. I just couldn't get past it. Every time she popped up, it was just weird.
A last interesting note, Brooks' is married to Tony Horwitz, the author of one of my favorite books on the Civil War, Confederates in the Attic. I read it for a class in college and have re-read it since. Confederates in the Attic is wonderfully researched, and I'm sure Brooks collaborated with him on her research on the war.
Here, Brooks writes Mr. March into a flawed, believable and heartbreaking character, and his experiences during the Civil War are intense and tragic. But, I absolutely cringed at what Brooks did with Louisa May Alcott's Marmee (the mother) character - in Little Women, Marmee was gentle and wise, patient and, although she could be forceful (I'm thinking of when she takes Amy out of school because the schoolmaster struck her hand for having the limes, and Marmee gives him a piece of her mind), she certainly had self-control. In Brooks' story, Marmee is wild and reckless, rude and, honestly, quite unlikeable. I just couldn't get past it. Every time she popped up, it was just weird.
A last interesting note, Brooks' is married to Tony Horwitz, the author of one of my favorite books on the Civil War, Confederates in the Attic. I read it for a class in college and have re-read it since. Confederates in the Attic is wonderfully researched, and I'm sure Brooks collaborated with him on her research on the war.
emotional
sad
medium-paced