March

A good friend recently recommended Geraldine Brooks to me and, while I haven't yet gotten to Year of Wonders, I did just finish March, historical fiction centered on the experiences of Mr. March, the absent father from Little Women. Brooks has conjured the person of Mr. March from the diaries and other writings of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott's father, although his experiences at war derive from Brooks's pen and mind.

On the whole, I enjoyed March. I liked the way Brooks weaved in scenes from Little Women, as well as the (true) backstory of the Alcott-Marches. I also appreciated that there were enough characters to people the story, without being so many as to send me searching through previous chapters for the most recent appearance of some minor soul. I also appreciated the style in which it is written; the flowery words often sounded straight from the nineteenth century. My one complaint is that I found the violence of some scenes to border on the gratuitous.

The only question remaining, of course, is whether I should dig out my old copy of Little Women and refresh my memory of the four March girls and their dear mother, Marmee?