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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War
As an AVID Little Women fan I was super excited to read this. It's basically a short novel about what Mr. March was up to at war.
It was well written and gave a unique perspective of the civil war. However, it was hard for me to picture Mr. March the way the author described him. It just didn't match up to my picture of Mr. March in my mind. He was a very flawed person that I felt often didn't do the right thing. But that's likely a personal problem.
It was well written and gave a unique perspective of the civil war. However, it was hard for me to picture Mr. March the way the author described him. It just didn't match up to my picture of Mr. March in my mind. He was a very flawed person that I felt often didn't do the right thing. But that's likely a personal problem.
Geraldine Brooks weaves together the characters in Little Women with the untold story of Mr. March. It's a fascinating look at a marriage and the realities of war.
I liked this. I didn't adore it, but I liked it.
First, I have to say that it worried me a bit. The snippets of Little Women Brooks included made me wonder if I remember it as much less corny than it really is. Also, March himself was a patronizing bastard. I appreciated this--I think Brooks understands her idealist chaplain in the way I understand that had I been around for the Summer of Love, I just would have been really annoyed. Idealists are wonderful. And necessary. But boy, they can be annoying and useless and narcissistic.
I did love Marmee, though. In a total departure from my childhood opinions of her (even then, I thought she was a sap), here I found Marmee strong and passionate, and stubborn as hell. Much better.
The Civil War is every bit as brutal as you'd expect it to be. The extra-heartbreaki9ng scenes knocked me for a loop.
This is certainly worth reading.
First, I have to say that it worried me a bit. The snippets of Little Women Brooks included made me wonder if I remember it as much less corny than it really is. Also, March himself was a patronizing bastard. I appreciated this--I think Brooks understands her idealist chaplain in the way I understand that had I been around for the Summer of Love, I just would have been really annoyed. Idealists are wonderful. And necessary. But boy, they can be annoying and useless and narcissistic.
I did love Marmee, though. In a total departure from my childhood opinions of her (even then, I thought she was a sap), here I found Marmee strong and passionate, and stubborn as hell. Much better.
The Civil War is every bit as brutal as you'd expect it to be. The extra-heartbreaki9ng scenes knocked me for a loop.
This is certainly worth reading.
I did end up enjoying this one. This book is about Mr. March being off in the Civil War during the book Little Women. We also see flashbacks though of when he was younger and even getting together with a younger Marmee. This book is about hard issues like the horrors of war and even the horrors of slavery so it is no light read.
-For to know a man's library is, in some measure, to know his mind.
-I remember arguing that moral greatness had little meaning without action to effect the moral end.
"No one I know in Illinois would give quality goods like this to Negroes, in wartime, when there are whites in want."
"Well, perhaps you need to widen your acquaintances in Illinois."
-I simply ask you to see that there is only one thing to do when we fall, and that is to get up, and go on with the life that is set in front of us, and try to do the good of which our hands are capable for the people who come in our way.
-For to know a man's library is, in some measure, to know his mind.
-I remember arguing that moral greatness had little meaning without action to effect the moral end.
"No one I know in Illinois would give quality goods like this to Negroes, in wartime, when there are whites in want."
"Well, perhaps you need to widen your acquaintances in Illinois."
-I simply ask you to see that there is only one thing to do when we fall, and that is to get up, and go on with the life that is set in front of us, and try to do the good of which our hands are capable for the people who come in our way.
This is on the lunch table at work, so it will take me a while to read - although what will probably happen is that I'll get caught up and take it home to finish. One line plot synopsis: what was happening with Colonel March while the Little Women were back at home.
Brooks did an excellent job capturing the historical time period--I especially liked the transcendentalists and the underground railroad details. I loved the references back to Little Women, as well. However, I expected there to be more parallels to the original book. I wasn't a fan of the change she created in Marmee (admittedly too good to be true in Alcott's story, but certainly not the bitter, resentful wife portrayed toward the end of March). I also didn't enjoy the Grace story line, which was a pretty significant focus of the novel, and I could have done without some of the in-depth descriptions, especially on the battlefield. The second half of the book was incredibly sad, and it never bounced back to the comforting, happy tones of Little Women. March is an interesting historical story on its own, but as it follows the patriarch of Little Women on his journeys, I'd expected it to stay more true to the characterization, mood, and overall style of the original.
The second part was better than the first. There was some good history ("contraband" especially.) However I didn't like Brooks' attempt to rewrite the character of Marmee.
I feel like this book would be so good if it was written now and not the nineties. Stick with me here. There are these amazing moments of like shock and drama and the possibility for salaciousness and then they’re left up to the reader’s imagination. But I liked this book a lot, particularly that it’s a reimagination of Little Women, even more so that Mr. March’s white savior complex got served several helpings of humble pie.