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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
While I enjoyed this book, I wanted to love it as much as I loved "Little Women", but I didn't.
It is an interesting novel about Mr. March the father of the Little Women. It spans the timeframe of when he was gone from them, involved the Civl War. There are also "flashbacks" to when he was younger.
It is an interesting novel about Mr. March the father of the Little Women. It spans the timeframe of when he was gone from them, involved the Civl War. There are also "flashbacks" to when he was younger.
Very good companion to Little Women. Tells the possible story of Mr. March's story that parallel's Little Women while he is away in the civil war. His character is partially based on Louisa Alcott's father.
emotional
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:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
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
Well, it takes place during the civil war so it is a bit of a downer. The idea is fun, but there was so much heartache it was hard to get over it. I loved the Grace character, but that just made me hate the book more because of all she had to suffer.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
March is not at all a 'sequel', or 'companion' to Louisa May Alcott's Little Women... It did hold some interesting conversations of what it could have meant for a man to go off into such an idealized war with the opinions Mr. March was depicted as having held (although the whole vegetarian/vegan thing seemed a little superfluous to me, but that's just my opinion). I enjoyed the novel, this isn't my first experience with Geraldine Brooks... but it didn't grab me the way the most recent Pulitzer Prize winners did. March struck me as an interesting story, but I couldn't help but feel that using Mr. March of Little Women, versus any other family man, was merely to heighten the pain and suffering that we see this man go through, as we who are reading this novel are assumed to have been exposed to the March girls and the idealistic picture of family life they have represented in literature, either in film or the novel. I must admit to being shocked by the characterizations. Indeed, the most compelling drama in the novel was for me, that of the contraband slaves, as the socio-political status of Freedmen during the war and in the early days of Reconstruction, has always struck me so gray and hopeless. Give this novel a chance, but don't expect to be as moved by this Civil War drama as I was by, say, Cold Mountain.
Really enjoyed this book. It is very well-researched and clever. I don't remember the details of Little Women as much as I probably should; I might have gotten more out of it if I had reread that book first. Still, I really enjoyed hearing Mr March's side of the story, as well as the historical aspects of this novel.