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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780143036661
ISBN number: 0143036661
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: January 31, 2006
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sale Popularity Level: 2431
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story “filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man” (Sue Monk Kidd). With “pitch-perfect writing” (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks’s place as a renowned author of historical fiction.
“A very great book... It breathes new life into the historical fiction genre [and] honors the best of the imagination.” —Chicago Tribune
“A beautifully wrought story about how war dashes ideals, unhinges moral certainties and drives a wedge of bitter experience and unspeakable memories between husband and wife.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Inspired... A disturbing, supple, and deeply satisfying story, put together with craft and care and imagery worthy of a poet.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Louisa May Alcott would be well pleased.” —The Economist
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Rated by buyers 
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The "horror", "shock" and "dismay" by reviewers who found March an aborhent departure from the classic that inspired this beautifully conceived novel seems more aptly suited to pre-teens than mature adults. Is it really so amazing that a decent man can be flawed? That a happily married man might, in extraordinary circumstances, stray and break a wedding vow? Or that an idealist's certainty may crumble under the grim reality of war's carnage.
This is fiction people. It uses the skeleton of a story to add flesh and bones to a character who is "the absent presence" in Little Women. It is the novel Louisa May Alcott might have written if she were not constrained by 19th century convention. If one wants that convention perpetuated, I suggest sticking to the "sequels" to Gone With The Wind and Pride and Predjudice. I for one don't care to know what a balding Rhett or a Darcy with arthritis might have been like. But I do greatly appreciate a nuanced portrait of the 19th century with all its idealism and venality. It seems to be a century very much like our own.. And that is historical fiction at its very best.
Rated by buyers 
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I had very high expectations for this book given her other book. Both my wife and I could not finish it and gave up half way through it. it is extremely well written, but I got to the point that i just did not care what happened to the main character.
Rated by buyers -
This book was a big hit with my book club. Well-developed, interesting characters and a good story. Good historical fiction by an accomplished writer.
Rated by buyers -
"Little Women" is one book that is a big sentimental favorite with me. It's the very first book I reviewed for Amazon and I still re-read it occasionally,because it's like visiting an old friend. I think Ms. Brooks has done a wonderful job with her back-story of Mr. March,the family patriarch,who is really a minor character in the original. He is shown as a highly idealistic man(especially for the times he lived in) A strict vegetarian,extremely intelligent ,unique in his spirituality(the real-life father was a Transcendentalist.) I also really liked how "Marmee" is portrayed. Almost saintlike in "LW",here she is shown as a smart,intense woman. Outspoken and at times,very temperamental,yet still likable,much like her daughter,Jo. Finally this book truly shows the horrors of war and slavery,a subject the original book lightly touched upon,as the LW was written a book for children,girls in particular. I wouldn't reccomend this book to anyone younger than 12 or 13 as there is a lot of graphic depictions of Slavery and the war itself,the injured especially,that are a far cry from Alcott's genteel writing. Overall,I found this book a fast,fascinating read and both a plausible and worthy successor to the original story.
Rated by buyers 
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I am not going to create a long rehashing of the novel -- but I do want to voice my feelings about the hazards of anyone other than the author creating a sequel to a well-loved book. My interpretations of the characters of Marmee and Mr. March were and are very different from those of Miss Brooks. I object to her entire concept. In her afterword, the author states that her mother told her that no one could be such a goody-goody as Marmee -- how wrong she is. I have known many people who are not saints or " goody-goodies" but truly try to live the best lives possible and succeed admirably. Instead of tampereing with characters who are well-loved from a book that many hold dear, why does the author not creat her own story about the Civil War era and not try to capture a ready-made audience of another author?
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