March by Geraldine Brooks

A friend of mine who's an expert in all things pertaining to books said Geraldine Brooks was her new favorite author so I had to read one her books. Initially, I felt lukewarm about using Little Women as a jumping off point but once I started reading the book I found it engaging. The story line is that Mr. March of Little Women fame is the lead character and the novel explores his civil war experiences and the changes those experiences wreak on his idealism. The March character is heavily based on Louisa May Alcott's own father Bronson Alcott. He was a contemporary and friend of Thoreau and Emerson. The author uses quotes from Bronson Alcott's own writings as well as Thoreau's and Emerson's writings. Brooks uses this history to further explore slavery, the Civil War, and the limitations of an individual's abilities and responsibilites in a period when historical forces are set loose. Actually, I found some of the themes explored similar to other great literature like War and Peace (which I read for the Classic Challenge last year). It's a fairly short book and not a difficult read. Brooks won the Pulitzer for this book and has also written at least two other historical fiction and a book of non-fiction about women in the Islamic world. I look forward to reading other works of hers and recommend this one.

Classic Challenge 2009

I'm happy to do this challenge again especially since I had a couple of leftovers from 2008.
My list is: Count of Monte Cristo
Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Far from the Madding Crowd
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Dead Souls