"March" by Geraldine Brooks

-

My first book for the year. I started it towards the end of 2008, actually, but it wasn't the sort of book you could read in a day. Well, maybe for other people, but not for me. March is the title character, whom others will more likely know through Little Women. Of course, this time, it's not Meg, Jo, Beth, nor Amy. And not even Marmee. It's the under-exposed patriarch of these virtuous females, Mr. March, who does not appear much in the book, on account of being in the Civil War.

Brooks's novel, the 2005 Pulitzer prize winner for fiction, traces the adventures of Mr. March through the Civil War, with numerous flashbacks of his youth, his courtship of Marmee, and his involvement in their nation's history. Make no mistake, this is not written in the same vein as Little Women. Yes, the language and style may be the same, but these characters are revealed to be not so virtuous after all. It is not a tell-all, however, and the four little women hardly enter the picture. Come to think of it, they don't at all, except through mention in letters. The story is about March (three-fourths of the book narrated from his viewpoint) and Marmee (the last fourth of the book). The fact that they are not the living saints they seemed to be in the original classic is both a disappointment and a comfort. No one wants their childhood heroes dethroned. But at the same time, it's nice to know everyone's human.

In general, I liked it and I didn't. I liked it because it gave depth to the characters of March and Marmee--characters in Little Women who merely served as foil to the four girls. I liked it because it makes you feel the struggle of people who are inwardly tortured, but have to present a happy façade simply because they must go on.

I didn't like it because, at certain points, I felt it was pandering to emotion and lacked originality. But that's just me.

Go read it so you can decide for yourself.

Read: 1/3/09

3/5 stars

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Soledad's Sister by Jose Dalisay, Jr.

-
Image
Soledad's Sister  by Jose "Butch" Dalisay is the first Philippine novel to be shortlisted for the distinguished Man Asian Literary Prize  in 2007. I remember reading about the Man Asian at that time and finding out about Dalisay's shortlisted novel. And I recall thinking, "Well, that sounds about right." After all, Butch Dalisay is one of the country's premier writers.This much is evident when you read Soledad's Sister . Way back in college, I was fortunate enough to have Butch Dalisay as one of my professors. The class was an undergrad course on Survey of American Literature, and I remember every single story and poem we took up to this day. I also remember him reading to us one of his essays during class. He had his Mac open on his desk and was reading his essay from the screen. Back then, I was thinking, "This should be boring. But it isn't." And I realized it wasn't boring because I was entranced by his words. The summary...
Read more

Filipino authors with internationally-published books

-
Image
Some of the books from Filipino authors published by intl. publishers. Clockwise from top left: Age of Blight by Kristine Ong Muslim; The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco; The Courageous Princess Vol. 1 by Rod Espinosa; Learning To Fall by Mina Esguerra, Smaller And Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan; The Last Time I'll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza. It seems an exciting time for Filipino authors. A Filipina YA author was at the Brooklyn Book Festival and other festivals, some Filipino authors just wrapped up panels during the Fil-Am International Book Festival in San Francisco , a few other Fil-Am authors are coming out with new books from a major publisher in the next few months ( literary fiction , young adult , and middle grade ), and another classic author was recently published by Penguin Classics. Not to mention that a few Filipino authors have been pitching at #dvpit and have already found agents . And I'm pretty sure I'm barely scratching the surface her...
Read more

The El Bimbo Variations by Adam David

-
Image
When reading a poetry collection, one of the last things you expect to do is laugh out loud. But, if you were to read Adam David's new edition of The El Bimbo Variations , that is exactly what you'd be doing. My advice: try not to read it in public, unless you're okay with people looking at you weird because your shoulders are suddenly shaking in laughter or you have a snap-happy grin on your face. I first read The El Bimbo Variations back when it was still in pdf format. Four years ago, the poet Adam David gave a talk to one of our high school junior classes during a yearly activity where we expose students to real-life writers. In preparation, he sent us  a copy of his El Bimbo Variations , and told me that we could distribute it to the students so that they'd know his work. We photocopied them for the classes assigned to Adam and, on the day of the talk, I went in and listened to his session where he got riled up about big publishers and their limited repertoire...
Read more