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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
If you set apart the characters you know and love from Little Women, and your own thoughts about their father and the man he is, this is a great read about a man suffering through the heartaches and battles of war, struggling with his own conscience and short fallings. A man not without sin, his character flawed, yet striving to do good and be good. You both love him and hate him, especially when he leaves his wife and children behind in more than just body, but spirit. I hate it when people rehash other peoples books and characters, and I struggled with that as I read, for the man, and indeed wife, I had in my head from a beloved book did not match the characters here, but as the book concluded I found peace with that, and could look back and see the raw reality of the hardships they faced, and actually how much of their true nature is hidden in the sweet gentle book I loved so much, especially their mother. A passionate and thoughtful book, and when you read at the end how she devised his character based on how Louisa wrote hers, it makes more sense and you can appreciate that attention to detail, and how Mr March is not the man you expect, but the man Louisa herself might have imagined. I like that you hear both mr and mrs march’s voices, it helps give a different perspective on events, and shows how when little is spoken much is misinterpreted, and you don’t know as much about your beloved as you thought, it at some point you have to make peace with that to preserve the best and beloved moments.
It's fitting I finished this book on my mom's birthday...it's the book I was reading aloud to her in the weeks before she died. A good book, and I loved reconnecting with the story of Little Women from different perspectives, but it's a book that, despite the beautiful writing, never came fully alive to me in an emotional sense.
I don't care about Little Women
I love nearly all of brooks novels, however this one personally missed the mark. I love little women and though I desperately wanted to be engaged in the story it seemed a bit too on the nose and cliche with general themes and plot points, and I found my self bored. It was actually quite challenging for me to get through it despite the short page length, solely because I could not engage with the characters.
More like 3.5 stars. 3.75 stars?
One of my early traumas was reading Little Women and finding out that. I was beside myself! I cried hysterically for what felt like hours. And as I read on it just got worse and worse: So ran my ten year old’s thoughts and feelings.
But beyond that, I kind of hated the father figure in the book. I think in hindsight that was my child self projecting, ‘cause my own father at the time had an unpredictable and violent temper that he took out on my mother a lot, and I lived in terror of him basically. So an absent father, as Mr March was for so much of Little Women, was kind of my perfect scenario and to be honest I just could not relate to the girls’ love for him and their wild welcome when he came home.
So it was interesting for the adult me to read this novel, which is written from his perspective..
Anyway, I really liked this until I didn’t. And then it wasn’t that I didn’t like it, just that I liked it less than initially. To be honest I have a soft spot for novels that focus on a peripheral/unknown character from a classic.
One of my early traumas was reading Little Women and finding out that
Spoiler
Laurie and Jo don’t end up togetherSpoiler
Laurie marries Amy! Amy for God’s sake! Jo marries that craggy old know-it-all! I mean, what the actual fuck?But beyond that, I kind of hated the father figure in the book. I think in hindsight that was my child self projecting, ‘cause my own father at the time had an unpredictable and violent temper that he took out on my mother a lot, and I lived in terror of him basically. So an absent father, as Mr March was for so much of Little Women, was kind of my perfect scenario and to be honest I just could not relate to the girls’ love for him and their wild welcome when he came home.
So it was interesting for the adult me to read this novel, which is written from his perspective.
Spoiler
I should say, largely from his perspective — the late-in-the-story shift to Marmee (ugh! Why is her pet name also the name her kids call her?) was actually really jarring, and damn she is painted as an unlikeable figure although I should say not unreasonable; I mean, all her feelings are a consequence of her upbringing in that time period but also aren’t very charitable — it's interesting the dissonance between her compassion for the escaping slaves they provide refuge to and her contempt for all the working or dispossessed black people in WashingtonAnyway, I really liked this until I didn’t. And then it wasn’t that I didn’t like it, just that I liked it less than initially. To be honest I have a soft spot for novels that focus on a peripheral/unknown character from a classic.
Oh my. It was appropriate to have read the hardback version of this from the library rather than on kindle—I felt a tactile kinship with Brooks' imagined Mr. March, reading his letters, reading about his trials. So glad to have stepped into this world for a bit—I learned so much.
In Little Women, Mr. March is a pretty absent character being away in The Civil War. In March, Geraldine Brooks takes what we know about him from Little Women and what we know about Louisa May Alcott's actual father Bronson to create this story. March takes the reader on a journey on how war can affect a man and his family. March is very haunting, real, raw, and human.
March effortlessly gave life to a seemingly absent character from a beloved classic, Little Women. While I wasn't particularly fond of the story Brooks created for a Mr. March, who Jo so roundly looks up to, I cannot discredit her from her impeccable writing. The story was scandalous and intriguing and I highly enjoyed it, I just hated thinking that the March family, whom I have come to love and cherish, were unaware of this side of their fathers life.