I liked the way the story combined the lives we know from "Little Women" with the letters written by March followed by his harsh experiences during the Civil War. Marmee is written up as more of a spitfire than one would guess from Alcott's story. It did take me some while to recognize March as a separate person from Bronson Alcott, whom he was modeled after. This was quite an interesting book, but at some point it started to seem fantastical--all the ways Grace shows up in March's life are more coincidental than would occur in real life. ( )

[March] has been on my TBR shelf for far too long, but I wasn't looking forward to reading it as I have mixed feelings about other novels Brooks has written. This is the back story about Papa March from [Little Women], absent for that novel working as a chaplain and whatever is needed down in the war zone. He sees and participates (as a passive observer) in horrible things and most of his efforts to help seem wasted, eventually he falls ill, Marmee comes to nurse him, he won't go home with her, then Beth gets sick, you all know the story if you've read [Little Women] (Which I am going to assume you have if you read this novel.) So this is all about what happens to March while he is away, a window into the war. On the whole a worthy novel but . . . not compelling is what comes to mind? So carefully and thoroughly and conscientiously researched and written that light and life never fully enter in and overall I felt a little bludgeoned and truly never warmed up at all to March who, it seemed to me was suspiciously good at justifying his infatuation as being something other than what it was and came across also as being immature in his insistence of his failures. What I think is that Brooks felt that in order for the story to work, Papa March had to be a stubborn git -- but I think there would have been other better and more convincing ways to develop his character. I think she wanted to create a flawed man, and she did do that, I guess, too flawed? I don't know. I'd like to give it a *** but I am adding a 1/2 for all the work Brooks put into research. ***1/2

Geraldine Brooks has created a novel "packed with the anguish of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unique man" using the character of the absent father, March, from Louisa May Alcott's cherished classic Little Women (Sue Monk Kidd). Brooks follows March as he departs from his family to support the Union cause in the Civil War with "pitch-perfect writing" (USA Today). His experiences will fundamentally alter his marriage and put his most fervent convictions to the test. March solidifies Geraldine Brooks' status as a distinguished writer of historical fiction with its sumptuous writing and completely unique story steeped in period specifics. 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner. ( )

Great novel about Mr. March, the father in Little Women by Alcott and his experiences before and during the Civil War. Good insights on evils of slavery and miscommunication in marriage. ( )

Didn’t match my version of Mr OR Mrs March ( )