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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I just finished this book on vacation and really enjoyed it. This book takes place during the Civil War. The main character is Mr. March the father from Little Women. She did a wonderful job weaving a tale of Mr. March's absence and injury in Little Women.
Not only did I not connect with the main character, Mr. March, I really didn't even like him. I found him to be "holier than thou", overly idealistic and kind of annoying.
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The book club really liked this, which shows, yet again, that I have no idea what they like. I found the main character to be annoyingly self-righteous to the point of exasperation, and the bulk of the story was sort of the same old stuff you see in Civil War fiction. I thought that the writing was good, and there were some really great things that Marmee gets to say at the end, but it just wasn't my sort of read.
A pretty interesting story about the story of Mr. March, the father of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. After reading another of Geraldine Brooks' books, I decided to try this one and was amazed at what a completely different style it took. Written in 1st person and completely civil war era dialogue, etc. Made it a little harder to pick up and read 10 minutes here and there, but was definitely worth the effort.
For a book that juggles historical fact, and is set within the confines of a well-known novel that was loosely based on truth, I am impressed with how it turned out. Brooks fills in the missing story of Mr. March in Little Women. She rounds out Marmee's character a little, and tackles the Civil War as a backdrop.
It's a complex task, and if nothing else, puts forth the question of what, exactly, Mr. March was doing while he was away at war. Other reviewers have complained that he was weak, or whiny, or too weird to be realistic or likable. I thought his character here fit well with what was set up in the Little Women series: a man with high ideals, who fights against some of the injustice of his day, but not all of it, and who does not always consider the consequences of his actions when he feels he has the moral high ground.
"I do not ask your absolution. 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." -Grace
It's a complex task, and if nothing else, puts forth the question of what, exactly, Mr. March was doing while he was away at war. Other reviewers have complained that he was weak, or whiny, or too weird to be realistic or likable. I thought his character here fit well with what was set up in the Little Women series: a man with high ideals, who fights against some of the injustice of his day, but not all of it, and who does not always consider the consequences of his actions when he feels he has the moral high ground.
"I do not ask your absolution. 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." -Grace
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So unbelievably raw and sad but it is a story that needs to be read.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I first read Little Women when I was around 10 or 12, and it’s remained an active part of my literary consciousness ever since; I’ve returned to it multiple times over the years and have also read various retellings of it. Over time, my relationship with it has become more complicated and even fraught, but that’s an essay for another day - suffice to stay, it still has a strong emotional hold on me, as I’m sure it does for so many others, to this day.
So I was very intrigued by the premise of this novel, and then it almost immediately went in a much different direction to what I had expected, but I loved it. It’s beautifully written, of course, but also delves seamlessly into a much different world than the one presented in Little Women and does so in a way that, to me at least, makes complete sense within that narrative. I appreciated that it doesn’t let March or his family off the hook, although perhaps most of all, I admired how Brooks depicts Marmee in this retelling.
There’s so much more about this book that I’m sure will stay with me far into the future, but my brain is too tired to put it into words right now. But all in all, this was a somewhat surprising highlight of my reading year so far and I’m so glad I’ve finally pulled it off my bookshelf.
So I was very intrigued by the premise of this novel, and then it almost immediately went in a much different direction to what I had expected, but I loved it. It’s beautifully written, of course, but also delves seamlessly into a much different world than the one presented in Little Women and does so in a way that, to me at least, makes complete sense within that narrative. I appreciated that it doesn’t let March or his family off the hook, although perhaps most of all, I admired how Brooks depicts Marmee in this retelling.
There’s so much more about this book that I’m sure will stay with me far into the future, but my brain is too tired to put it into words right now. But all in all, this was a somewhat surprising highlight of my reading year so far and I’m so glad I’ve finally pulled it off my bookshelf.