"March" in this title refers to the protagonist, Mr. March, patriarch of that well-known March family from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. And I admit, I spent the first half of this book trying to figure out why Brooks decided to use Little Women as a context for her book. Eventually, I found it didn't really matter--not because the book can or should stand by itself (it probably can, but it needn't), but because I was really most interested in the little bits of information about Jo, or Meg, or Amy, or Beth that were scattered throughout their father's narration. The historical detail in March is interesting, but as I read it, I felt it needed a broader canvas. It's supposed to be the intimate first-person perspective of one man, a man confronted with his own (mostly internal and ethical) reactions to the Civil War, but I found myself totally ambivalent toward him. On later review, I came to the conclusion I was supposed to feel a little bitter toward him, and I suspect Brooks wrote the book with a feminist slant. It was only when Marmee's perspective suddenly jumped into the narrative toward the end of the book that I felt truly engaged by the novel, and it wasn't that I was more interested in Marmee's thoughts, or that I was already inclined to be sympathetic toward her because of Little Women (I was never a big fan), it was that Marmee's perspective contradicted her husband's. I was quite satisfied with the way the book ended, but I think the fact that the book absolutely cannot do without Marmee's brief first-person perspective highlights a larger structural problem.

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This was assigned to me as a book club book and I was sure I would dislike it and probably not finish it...however, I was wrong.
This spinoff of Little Women is poignantly written with a certain...well, impartialness that only a non-American can provide when writing of the civil war. The characters are rich and multi-faceted. To me the story flows as part of Alcott's original classic.
I recommend it.

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For someone who loves Little Women, this was a completely different book, focusing on the civil was and abolition, but it weaved in and out of the Little Women story, adding more context to that book as well.

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For me, this book started out a little slow and dry at first. But if you feel the same way, stick with it! It definitely gets better. I'm glad I gave it a chance. Turned out to be a very good read.

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I grew up loving Little Women, so when i heard about this book I had to read it. March, or Mr. March (the father of the Little Women) tells his side of the story and the life he lived when he was away from his little girls. I really liked this book and think i will keep it to read many times in the future.

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A beautifully written book, but some passages are tough to get through as it realistically portrays the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of the partriarch of Little Women's March family. Chaplain March is a dreamer who nearly loses everything in search of serving a higher purpose. Those of us who grew up loving Little Women will not recognize the marriage (or miscommunication and sometimes the lies told to hold it together) of Chaplain and Mrs. March. I would recommend this as a selection for a book club as there is much in it worthy of group discussion. Geralding Brooks does an outstanding job in her research for this book and it shows in her details. However, it lacks the warmth and charm of Alcott's novel.

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the author has created a story about Mr.March, the father in Little Women. she used many resources to create this wonderful yet brutal story. set during the Civil War,March joins the army from Concord as an older man and a preacher. he finds himself in one difficult situation after the other. this book is not for the queasy as it descibes the brutality done to the slaves. the story is told thru letters home to Marmee and fist person narrative that goes back and forth in the times of his life. another good one by this author.

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I enjoyed this historical fiction set in the early 19th century and in the early years of the U.S. Civil War. I liked reading about the Underground Railroad, John Brown, and the transcendentalist movement (Thoreau, Emerson). I think it helps to have read Little Women first so March's descriptions of his wife and daughters become more familiar.

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Hard to classify this book. HF? classic? 2006 Pulitzer prize winner? adult version of another character from a children's book? All of the above?

This is the story of the father from Little Women who goes to aide the Union effort by serving as a chaplain in the Civil War. We see snippets of his letters home to his wife and four girls which are taken from Little Women and, just as in Little Women, there is a letter 2/3's of the way through the book that he has been injured and Marmee goes to nurse him to health. The father character in this book was based on the author's extensive research into Louisa May Alcott's father just as Little Women is based on Alcott and her three sisters.

The father character is a transcendentalist who is friends with Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He is also an ardent abolitionist. His beliefs and values are challenged with what he sees during the war and in the south and he is transformed as a man who must come to grips with the horrors of war when he returns to his wife and daughters. He also realizes there is evil and racism on both sides of the war effort - racism among the northern Union army as well as good among many in the South. This book exposes the moral complexities on many sides while telling the story of the Civil War, slavery, and the abolition movement but also telling the story of a marriage and a family.

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Intereting perspective on the War Between the States. A let down after reading People of the Book

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An excellent and interesting read.

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