March, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Geraldine Brooks (review)

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March is the literary equivalent of fan fiction. Based on the absent father from Little Women, this is a historical fiction saga of a man who leaves is family to serve the North during the Civil War. Bronson March is a clergyman, one who has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Emerson and Thoreau. From them and his own faith, he is a fervent abolitionist, and the answers to human problems are clear and well-defined for him. But his experiences will show him that not only are many of the Unionists no better than many slave-owners, but even he is weak and flawed. It is this aspect of humanity—that nothing is black and white (pun intended)—which makes this a powerful literary work.

Brooks’ writing skill is excellent. Her prose transports the reader to the roughness of life in that period, the social expectations, tensions, and innocence of a more proper age. Yet she is also able to portray characters with the fullness of what we find in life: the noble, the decadent, and those who fall somewhere in between. While most of the book is written in the first-person by Mr. March, near the end it switches to the protagonist of Little Women, thus entwining the two books. The narrative itself occasionally dips back in time (through the memory of Mr. March) to his earlier life, before he married Marmee, as well as periods and scenes from their married life.

Some have criticized the character of Grace, a slave who is later freed, as one-dimensional. It is a fair critique, for despite the indignities and suffering she endures, and then the subsequent success as a medical assistant, she is too perfect—a caricature of a perfect human in misery and in fortune. Perhaps Brooks meant her as a symbol and not a true character. Others have characterized the author’s pedantic style (at times) as a bit too heavy, though I did not find it so.

Writing such “fan fiction” is bold, especially if it is based on a classic. Brooks pulls it off well, however, in being true to the original story and setting, and even retaining much of the prose style. The historical research behind the novel is sound. (Having said that, I do wonder why this would win a Pulitzer. It is well done, but it is derivative.)

If you enjoy Little Women and like literature, you will enjoy this novel.