Back of book:: As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the Civil War, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, Mr. March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in the mean times. From vibrant New England to the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott's optimistic children's novel. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks's place as a renowned author of historical fiction.

Sent in the mail today to Perryfran as a trade to restart a stalled bookring. Enjoy!

Received in today's mail. Thanks passiontoread for your trade so "March" can continue as a bookray! Traded for "Mayada, Daughter of Iraq". This book will be continuing on its journey soon.

Bookray

This is a replacement bookray for my original copy that is stalled. For prior entries see this JE.

If you are interested in joining this bookray, please PM me. Bookray will remain open until last person has the book.

Participants:

. azuki from Florida, USA (USA or Canada preferred)<----Asked to be skipped
. FeralReader from California, USA (international)<----Already read the book
. msjoanna from New York, USA (North America only)
. Isabel-Batteria from Puerto Rico, USA (International except UK)
. ExemploDucemus from Georgia, USA (international)

This bookray appears to be Lost in transit. Isabel-Batteria advised me that the book was sent on to ExemploDucemus but it has not been received. Waterfalling provided a replacement copy to continue this bookray. See THIS JE for the replacement copy.

Update 6/4/08: Book was returned to Isabel-Batteria.

RELEASE NOTES:

In the mail to msjoanna in New York, NY.

Enjoy!

This has arrived in New York. I just finished another ring book, so will start this one tonight. Thanks.

The author is excellent. She masters scenes and is able to use vivid imagery without getting overly bogged down into details. I also thought the examination of the miscommunication in marriage that she was able to wrest from the story toward the end by switching to Marmee's viewpoint was excellent. Throughout, I was a bit frustrated by what felt like forced revelations, where a character would, in a somewhat over the top way, "see the light" and change behavior. I also thought the author was sometimes concerned that the reader might miss the moral point if not bashed over the head with it.

Still, I enjoyed the book and found the story creative and compelling. I don't have a totally clear memory of Little Women, so I didn't find the connection to that storyline especially interesting, but it nonetheless seemed to work for the book.

ETA: I have the address, but haven't been able to make it to the post office this week. Mailed on Monday, Nov. 5.

MARCH is a book of many charms, surprises, and contrasts. Although set in a time of bitter anguish, the tone is understated, the voices reflect delicate sentiment, and one senses kindness and courage in the many scenes of cruelty and despair. As with YEAR OF WONDERS, Geraldine Brooks educates us with her imaginings, enlivens long-dead historical characters by providing them with fictional companions who can introduce us to the climate of thought and the natural and social environment of their day. I belive Louisa May Alcott would be pleased with this story-behind-a-story. I certainly was.

Got it.

My notes about this book:
I didn't like it. I was very eager to read it because I had utterly loved "Year of Wonders," but this one I found very slow and the story didn't interest me much. It is beautifully written, though, but that wasn't enough for me this time. I am super glad to have read it anyway, and I will continue to read anything that Geraldine Brooks publishes, in hopes to find again what I got with "Year of Wonders."

I'm starting a new bookray with this copy.

While the point of the ring is to make the book available to welcoming readers and have a good time seeing the book travel, I consider some rules should be set, to make the experience smoother.

1. Please take care of the book. Other people are waiting for it, and you wouldn't want to receive a destroyed book. Take care of it as if it were your own.

2. Please don't stall the book. If it got to you in a timely manner, repay the kindness sending it in a timely manner as well. Please try to read the book in 3-4 weeks.

3. If the person you're supposed to send the book to declines, send it to the next in line, and let Isabel-Batteria know, so the list can be updated. Also, let me know if you want to be taken out of the list (which I hope no one does!).

6. Please don't fail to make release notes, so we all know where we stand in the line.

7. This book ring will remain open until it reaches the last person on the list. If you want to be added, PM Isabel-Batteria with your request and your shipping preferences (your preference to ship internationally or only within your country).

8. The mailing order may change based on geography, mailing preference of participants or originator's whim.

Book rays work based on good faith and responsibility. Please help us make this ray a success!

HAPPY READING!!!

This ray started in April 9, 2012.

angelface46 (Colorado, USA) us
imawinn2 (Wisconsin, USA) int'l
pippis (Finland)

I'm sending this book to Colorado to the first person in the short ray. I hope you enjoy it!

Just received! Couple ahead but I'm reading like crazy

Just realized that I had a copy of this book. I'm going to contact imawinn to get this moving on.

March has arrived to Wisconsin... the book that is. Thanks so much for sending it my way angelface46. I have just started reading a book (a small one) and that should take me about two weeks. After that, I will start on March.

I enjoyed this book very much. Geraldine Brooks did a wonderful job filling in the story of Mr. March which was never disclosed in Louisa May Alcott's famous Little Women. The reader gets Mr. March's perspective of life as a Union chaplin through his narrative and letters to home, as he serves his country during the Civil War. I have read Geraldine Brooks' works before and she is a wonderful author. From the first few pages of this book, I can see she is quite mindful of details such as writing Mr. March's letters in 19th Century style. This gives the reader a feel for the times and helps to immerse them into this story of love, war, hardships and racial divide. Thanks for sharing this historical fiction.

I have pippis' address and will send this book off this coming week.

Book is now off to Finland where pippis is waiting to read it. Happy Travels! Happy Reading!

March has arrived to Finland, thank you imawinn2! Weather-wise as well, since all of a sudden we've lost almost all of the snow :( But I simply love the sight of this book, it is apparently well-read and well-loved! Can't wait to tuck in...

A very slow read, as said, and quite a bleak one too. On the other hand it's a bit surprising a female writer would work on such a heavy piece, but then again the text was so obviously written by a woman. I would have liked the book to concentrate on either historical fiction or on being part of the Little Women world, not both. I love historical fiction, but March didn't become a favourite, though I expected to really like it like other works by Brooks.

I'm holding on to the book for a while, since we have a literary prize winners' book box starting among Finnish crossers and I want to add this book to it.

March won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2006.

March is travelling again...

Little Women has never been my favorite, I'm more like Emily of New Moon type. I'm not the kind of reader who yearns for historical novels either. Still, the thought of a novel about the father of Jo and her sisters is just irresistible. I just had to have it. Thank you so much for putting this book in Palkintokaappi (Finnish Forum Virtual Trophy Cabinet), pippis! Also, thanks a lot for the postcard. You really must be psychic. I've always thought that if I would collect post cards, they would be pictures of libraries. I've never thought myself as a collector, though. Thanks to you, I now have two library postcards. (The first one can be seen here in JE 5, btw. The one you sent, Turku Main Library, library building completed in 1903 is, of course, in this entry.) Is it a small collection or what? ;-)
I'm sorry I couldn't journal this book earlier. It arrived last Thursday but I didn't make it by the computer until now. But better late than never, eh?

Geraldine Brooks in Wikipedia
Geraldine Brooks, Homepage
March in Wikipedia

I must agree—at least partly— with pippis. Right now I can't remember any other novel that would have been this slow read. I had to struggle myself through March, yet I did like it. The way Geraldine Brooks writes sprang to mind the article on Balinese cockfighting written by anthropologist Clifford Geertz. It was thick description, and so is the way Brooks writes. Her text is full of details and lots (maybe too many?) of words. I think that's why I found reading such an effort.
Then the main theme. While reading, I remember the times I did my North American Studies and took a course on historical movies. After watching Amistad one of my fellow students said it was 'typical American self-whipping'. The same could be said about March. I'm afraid you need to be American to be able to fully appreciate the plot.
Changing the viewpoint near the end irritated me at first. But admittedly, Marmee made me see the whole story more personally. I suddenly found myself thinking about my father having nightmares. I just learned he's had them since the war, last 70 years or so. I thought about civil war in Finland, too, and those deep wounds it left. The war ended almost a century ago but sometimes it feels like it ended last week or so, especially here in Tampere.
So. By no means March could be called an easy read. It took me more than a month to read it. However, I did like the book. And in the end it proved to be quite thought-provoking. Thank you all for sharing!

I offered March in greenbadger's One book a month thread. In the draw, it was won by Janeka. The book is now reserved for her.

Happy reading, Janeka!

I'm so happy I won this draw :)
Thank you so much for the offer, Tarna.