March by Geraldine Brooks

March re-imagines the absent father in Little Women, who went to war and returned to his wife and daughters in a memorable Christmas scene. Although Geraldine Brooks adopted the elegant, rather formal language of the period, in a novel reflecting many of the moral values in Louisa May Alcott's most famous classic, March is not a children's story. It is a war story, gorgeous and eloquent but also raw and brutal.

"At the end of the novel, a year later, Mr. March returns to his family, in the delightful story-book fashion," Brooks wrote in the afterword to her novel, "to celebrate the wonderful transformation of his girls. But what war has done to March himself is left unstated. It is in this void that I have let my imagination work."

March takes us back to 1861. Mr. March, a character inspired by Louisa May Alcott's father Bronson Alcott, is a non-denominational minister, Unitarian in his beliefs. He is an idealist, a man of uncompromising ideals, and an ardent abolitionist. Inspired by the charismatic preaching of John Brown, he has spent his fortune trying to aid the abolitionist cause and finally enlisted as a Union army chaplain in The War Between the States.

As the story opens, he is with troops in Virginia, writing home to Marmee and his "little women" in a way that artfully cloaks the truth about what he's experiencing.

He privately remembers the last time he was in Virginia, twenty years ago, as a young man earning his fortune through peddling. It was then that he came face to face with slavery for the first time. As March remembers that time, the author explores the evil of slavery in a way that is unflinchingly honest, yet multi-layered.

Now, two decades later, March has left his beloved family behind to serve the Union, seeing war as a necessary evil to emancipate the slaves. This is a comforting view that we still learn from textbooks. But the reality he sees is starkly different. Few of his comrades in the Northern army share his abolitionist convictions, and they are often just as cruel in their treatment of "Negroes" as their Southern counterparts. Furthermore the violence and suffering around him strip away March's moral certainty, layer by layer.

The truth: I was angry at myself, for not having had the courage to stand aside from the crying up of this war and say, No. Not this way. You cannot right injustice by injustice. You must not defame God by preaching that he wills young men to kill one another. For what manner of God could possibly will what I see here? There are Confederates lying in this hospital, they say; so there is union at last, a united states of pain. Did God will the mill-town lad in the next ward to be shot or run a steel blade through the bowels of the farmhand who now lies next to him? -- a poor youth, maybe, who never kept a slave?

He serves as chaplain as best he can, and he is later thrust into an opportunity to teach "contraband" slaves seized by the Union army. He has a passion for teaching, and this calling creates meaning for him. However, he is unable to reclaim his moral compass. And in time, though he longs to reconnect with his wife and daughters, his brutal memories and deep guilt create a wall that seems impenetrable.

Geraldine Brooks did a tremendous amount of research on Bronson Alcott, an odd and fascinating historical figure, to help her create Mr. March, an man who is eloquent and wise, yet at the same time naive and often ineffectual. This is a beautiful book, one in which you savor the author's eloquence, vivid images and richly imagined, complex characters. At the same time, while it offers glimmers of hope, it is painful and disturbing.

Geraldine Brooks has effectively recreated the time and places in which it is set, ranging from March's native New England, which we visit through generous flashbacks, to the war-torn South. We meet actual historical figures, including John Brown, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. We also see the unfinished United States capital in Washington, D.C., drenched in mud and overrun by wartime mercenaries of various types -- I found these scenes particularly vivid. I also loved March's mindful attention to the natural world, inspired by Thoreau, that nourishes vivid, gorgeous imagery in this novel.

This is an unforgettable book about love, suffering, and the fate of idealists in the real world. I found it hard to put down, and I will find it even more difficult to forget.

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Rating: 5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks spent six years in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. As she traveled around the region, she talked to Muslim women about their lives, their struggles, and their faith. From the first page, I found it fascinating.

Brooks spent a great deal of time in Iran, which has seen a resurgence of Fundamentalism since 1979, when supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah's oppressive, secular government and seized control of the country. She explored Palestinian culture. She went to Jordan, where she chronicled the life and achievements of Queen Noor. She delved into life in Egypt. She studied life in Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to drive and have no role in public life, and United Arab Emirates, where women serve in the military. She also touched on Lebanon, Iraq, and other places.
She studied the varied, complex roles of women throughout the Islamic Middle East. She discussed hijab (traditional Muslim dress), marriage, including child marriage and polygamy, "honor killings" of women suspected of being unchaste, the role of women in politics and in the workforce, and other topics.

She also studied the history of the Prophet Mohammad, including God's revelations to him, his teachings, and his relationships with his many wives. She analyzed the way his teachings are reflected in -- or have been distorted to justify -- treatment of women.

Brooks is Australian, raised Catholic and a convert to Judaism. Her values are thoroughly Western, and she was shocked by the widespread oppression of women she saw. Nevertheless, although I have little knowledge of Islamic culture to draw on, I found her discussion to be respectful and balanced, trying to understand the faith and lives of Muslim women within the context of their own cultures.
I certainly found her work to be more balanced and complex than other things I have read or heard.

For example, after the revolution in Iran, Fundamentalist Muslims came out of hiding, establishing single-sex schools and workplaces designed to adhere to strict Islamic principles. Women were losing freedom at an alarming rate, facing violence and repression from their new government. They were discouraged from leaving their homes, severely punished for small transgressions in the strict dress code, and forbidden to travel without the permission of a male relative. For more insight into this, I recommend Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

Yet ironically, women were also gaining freedom. Fundamentalist families who had never let their daughters leave the house began allowing them to attend school, since single sex, religious education was available, and some women were afforded the opportunity to leave their homes for the first time. Now in spite of oppressive rules they face, Iranian women have a vital role in public life.

I gleaned a wealth of knowledge from this book, and I felt I gained some insight into religious freedom and Fundamentalist Islam -- from both angles. As frightening as a Fundamentalist Theocracy is, I was also saddened by the way Fundamentalist Muslims were repressed and kept in hiding under the Shah's regime. Restricting religious freedom is a double edged sword, and those who are oppressed are predisposed to become oppressors.

One thing Brooks didn't explore, perhaps because it was simply beyond the scope of her book, was the role the other major monotheistic religions -- Christianity and Judiasm -- play in the lives of women. Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism also places strict rules of females. Exploring this might put her study of women and Fundamentalist Islam in perspective.

Another drawback, though this isn't a criticism of the book, is that all the works I've read on Islam, including Nine Parts of Desire and A History of God by Karen Armstrong have been written by Westerners. Even Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I mentioned earlier, is written largely from a Western perspective. Although she is Iranian, Azar Nafisi was raised in a family that had been heavily influenced by Western thought and has lived in the United States for many years. It would be interesting to look at these issues through the eyes of faithful Muslim women, many of whom have embraced a strictly observant religious life by choice. Geraldine Brooks addressed this by talking to religious Muslim women, including some American converts, but it still left me with questions.

I believe this book is unique, and it combines the author's work as an experienced journalist with the gorgeous writing that shines in her novels, including March and Year of Wonders. Any reader interested in this subject will find it thought provoking and richly rewarding.

Read More Reviews:
Islam for Today
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Invitation to Truth: Islam Explained
Daniel Pipes
Hey Lady! Watcha Readin'?


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me