The average user rating for this Book is 7.3 out of 10 (based on 16 Votes).
Michael A gave it a5: There are fine descriptive narrative passages here and about, however as the characters develop - like cretins- there is a lapse of creditiability especially with the Pearl , the albino negress, who is left the burden of heroine to this second Gone with the Wind. Really , Doctorow actually sinks in my overall assessment as a writer. Hitherto, I was a great admirer of his earlier work
michael s gave it a10: All I am going to say is Good Job Doctorow!
Mark G gave it a9: Those not familiar with Doctorow’s style may have an initial problem with this book. Doctorow is infamous for paragraph-long sentences and multitudes of characters (both factual and fictional). Once the appreciation is realized that the author’s style is more impressionist than photographic, The March becomes a moving picture in words and provides the reader a sensual experience, bringing the reader into the story as a participant in events, rather than an observer. Having read and enjoyed some of his other works, Ragtime (The March’s Coalhouse Walker’s son featured as a key character), Billy Bathgate, Loon Lake and World’s Fair, The March is far less ‘difficult’ a read. Doctorow remains true to using words as Renoir brush-strokes, myriad touches of color that together make an amazing picture, but moves the story more quickly. The March is the blur of experience one might have had being part (or a victim) of Sherman’s march to the sea. This is a great read for Doctorow or Civil War fans.
michele m gave it a9: my book club is reading The March and we are really caught up in the story. Our book club has been reading books for 41 years; we pick a list by committee and they chose The March. Good choice.
John B gave it an8: I enjoyed the book. Quotation marks were not needed after I got the idea and it read more like a diary. I did not think history and precise fact was the point here. Rather, I got the feel of being on the march, meeting different people at diffierent times. I got the sense of actually participating in the events which must have occured including murder and killings on both sides. I read a great deal about the Civil War era and found this very different and very enjoyable. Especially the view from the newly freed slaves and the rank and file soldier. In the end do you really care what happens to each and every character in a book? This was like life where people come into your life sometimes and then move on never to be heard from again. I highly recommend the book.
CJ gave it a5: I guess making things tough on the reader is "art". Some passages are very nice but the whole is a mess.
Judy J gave it a6: I was reading for more history; I got fragmented characterization. Sometimes I had to reread just to find out who said what. I viewed most of the male characters as insensitive and ruthlous. What horror that must have been!
Dos S gave it a4: Meh. I just finished this book last night, and while it was a quick and somewhat-compelling read, overall it's just so much fluff. I'm actually kind of shocked by the above glowing assessments given by the major media - did they really read it?? How is it that the Library Journal seems to be the lone practitioner of journalistic integrity? My main problem is that there are too many characters who are superficially developed for little purpose, the story meanders, and very little historical context is given - if you're not already versed in the particulars of Sherman's march, you won't find much insight here. The overall feeling left with me was not, unfortunately, was not that of a deep and thoughtful character study, or even an examination of the impact of the march on the South either physically or emotionally, but rather some stuff that happened to some people, and breezed over in a fairly superficial manner. Killer Angels this ain't.
Ray gave it a9: I listened to the book on my iPod. Joe Morgan was the reader. I'll give him a 6.5. I like the book. I like the messiness of it and the very fact that characters appear, are established, some die, others move on. I enjoyed the author's playing with time to build converging threads. I am a big fan. I'm slowly working my way through "City of God." I appreciate reading an author that tries new things, re-works older ones, and retains their voice. How about CoalHouse Walker? Is he CoalHouse's (Ragtime) grandfather? Now I have to re-read Ragtime... What is up with the reviewers at Salon? People of the world relax ...
Validator West gave it a4: Read this book in one sitting, so I can't say it was boring! I was intrigued to know more about this story, as scions of the old families in Atlanta still speak in the first person, of when "Sherman burned us" to explain what "was" in the city and why it does not exist any more. The story did seem unstructured and more frequently given to weak, unsupportable manipulations than I enjoy. And of course there is the mystery as to what happened to the last two pages. I actually spent some time on those, trying to puzzle out and rearrange sections there - of what was being said, thinking that the author's work may have been badly edited or poorly sequenced by mistake. The sense and flow was entirely lost, as it was at other less annoying times when characters abruptly exited into some tidy eddie that swallowed their humanity and credibility off the main current of the story. It would have been very handy to have some explanation of what if any key characters beyond the "military hall of hero registry" were real or based in some way on actual characters and their contributions to history or medicine. I certainly agree about the greatly missed but absent quotation marks. This book was great on loan for a rainy day, but I won't be coming back to the genre.
Sparky gave it a5: Very disappointing. And I consider myself a Doctorow fan, too. The book just kind of rambles on. Characters are established but then killed off, or at least seldom heard from again; other important characters barely manage to arrive on the scene before the end. Black characters are all good. Female characters are mostly all good. Black female characters are downright holy And white male characters are rutting fools at best -- heartless killers at worst. For some reason, Doctorow completely eschews quotation marks; I never appreciated the importance of these little puppies more than when trying to understand who is saying what in this book. The book has strange parallels with Geraldine Brooks' Civil War novel, also called "March." Pearl, in this book, is almost exactly like Brooks' superhumanly noble, capable, and uncomplaining black female character (sorry, I forgot her name).
Dennis K gave it a10: Doctorow's language pleases the ear as well as the mind. The downside to his prose, is that it compels the reader to reread passages just for the emphatic experience evoked by his rich and moving language.
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