(March by Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, 31 January 2006, winner of the Pulitzer prize for literature for the same year)
The novel deconstructs Louisa May Alcott's Little Women by writing about the life of their father March. Marmee and her four daughters live in penury while their father fights in the American civil war in 1862 at the rather advanced age of 39 years. So he is absent in person in Little Women.
The one dimensional goody-goodliness of Little Women is completely offset by 'March'.
March is a trader, chaplain and soldier. He has worked hard throughout his life and his mind is full of noble ideas. He does his best to be fair to the black slaves but is overridden by guilt as his efforts did not yield any positive results. He makes money and gives it away, forcing his daughters to work from a tender age. He loved Grace Clement, a refined black girl whom he meets at the tender age of eighteen and again as he lies in a hospital awaiting death. Marmee knows nothing about Grace as March has not had the courage to tell her. Marmee pieces together the missing part of the puzzle and brings him back to his daughters.
The novel is based on painstaking research and other reviewers have averred the historical authenticity of the background created in the novel. It is enlightening. The only other book which I have read on the north versus south America conflict in the late nineteenth century is of course, Gone with the wind which paints a picture of loss of an old world by the south and does not provide much historical information.
The novel brings the background and the characters to life and is an absorbing read.
5 comments:
The book is clearly well researched and very interesting as it deconstructs the life of March, father of Little Women. It is so novel, at least I had not heard of such deconstruction. The blogger Vasudha Joshi has "reviewed" the book very analytically and made me feel that I should read the book.
Please do. Absolutely worth your while. Also consider What we can know by Ian McEwan
Hi
I have read this novel several times. I found it so very interesting and clever as you say.. Geraldine Brooks is an excellent writer.. two other books I recommend of hers are "Year Of Wonder" and "People of the Book." Leslie
Yes, certainly Leslie
A celebrated example of deconstruction is 'Mad woman in the attic' by Jean Rhys. She has looked at Jane Eyre from the view point of Grace Poole, the mad Latino wife of lord Rochester.
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