When I saw the description ad premise of this book I knew It would be one I would have to read. I think this idea of retelling the original Little Women in a different time period is so cool. There was a lot I loved about the book. The characters still felt very much like they were in the original story, but there was also new sides to them. The WW2 is setting is also very fitting for this story. One thing I thought was impressive was how the different authors managed to put together the chapters seamlessly. If I didn't already know there were multiple authors, I don't think I would've been able to tell. Overall, this book was unique and a good read.

I loved this Little Women retelling, and thought it really captured the characters and overall spirit of the novel. The World War II setting was fascinating and felt both classic and modern.

Beth’s chapters were clever— beautifully written and heartbreaking. The rest of the sisters’ stories were equally well written, and I especially loved their slow burn romances. I want for this group of actors to take on all the classics.

#netgalleyarc I usually really enjoy reading retellings of books, especially retelling of Little Women, I can’t say that about this retelling though. I was intrigued by this retelling taking place during WW2, but I had a hard time being engaged by this book and had to force myself to finish reading it. I’m sure someone out there will enjoy this book, but I did not.

The Little Women retelling is like a perfect reunion with old friends. If you’ve seen the 2019 movie, it’s almost like this fills in that gap between the loss and the epilogue (with one major change to jo’s storyline which has kind of been a longtime, underground fantasy for many). I personally enjoyed each sisters’ take on helping the war effort and dealing with their grief and Beth’s poetry was a beautiful addition. I welcome more time with the March family, but I can see where die hard Little Women fans might not love some of the changes, though I believe everyone should give it a shot. It’s a light, easy read thats well-written and covers some beautiful & tough topics.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book. I thought this was a delightful adaptation of Little Women. I was sad to see that Beth was already dead when the book started but I loved that her portions of the book were in verse. I just generally loved that we saw all four sisters' unique perspectives and there wasn't one solid main character. The time period change lent itself to the story well (the March sisters living through WWII instead of the Civil War). I also appreciated that there was more buildup to Laurie and Amy getting together than there is in the original story. Overall, this was lovely and I would love for my students to read it.

OH. MY. GOD.
I wish I could give this a million stars. I knew from very early on that this would be a five-star read for me, but I have very rarely had books where I feel 1000% confident giving them five stars. this is one of those books where I can't think of a single thing I disliked. it deserves all the stars and more.
great or nothing is a little women retelling set during world war 2. immediately, the premise of this had me hooked. I've never actually read little women (sorry), but I think that with some basic knowledge of the march sisters, this book stands perfectly well on its own. each sister's voice was unique, but there was a wonderful thread of consistently great writing throughout. I loved beth's poetry, and JO MARCH IS QUEER!!! I REPEAT, JO MARCH IS CANONICALLY QUEER.
this book was also the absolute perfect length. the pacing was great, it was slower-paced but still flowed well, all of the characters were amazing, the dialogue was good, and the side characters and plots all felt fleshed out and genuine. the history in this was wonderful, you could really tell how much research went into it and I just literally could talk about this forever. READ THIS BOOK!! it was so incredible and worthy of a million stars.

A WWII-era retelling of “Little Women” written by four authors each taking the perspective of one March sister. As a stand-alone story - for a reader unfamiliar with “Little Women” - it is an easy, enjoyable read. Readers more familiar with the original story may find the lack of connection between the sisters problematic.

It doesn’t take a genius to know which March sister I identify the most with.

(Meg.)

(Just kidding, it’s Jo.)

It hasn’t always been Jo — back when I was a little kid, I identified most with Beth, who played the piano and preferred to stay inside. You can imagine I was devastated when she died.

At some point, things shifted, and now I, along with every other student at Wellesley College, identify so strongly with Jo March that I have Saoirse Ronan’s attic monologue fully memorized. But “Great or Nothing” made me remember that the other March sisters are just as important to the story.

The premise is pretty simple — “Little Women,” but set during World War II, shortly after Beth’s death. Jo works in a factory making planes. Amy goes to London working for the Red Cross. Meg stays at home, teaching at the local high school. All of them are heartbroken.

Each of the sisters’ narratives are written by a different author: Meg’s by Jessica Spotswood; Jo’s by Tess Sharpe; Amy’s by Caroline Tung Richmond; and Beth’s by Joy McCullough, written in verse as she watches her sisters from the beyond.

Meg’s partner, John, is off at war, and she experiences the trials and tribulations of being a young teacher. Jo has just turned down Laurie’s proposal and is coming to terms with the fact that she may never like boys. (Yes, you read that right: Jo is gay in this one.) Amy is alone in London, having lied to her family about where she’s gone and to the Red Cross about her age, but then Laurie, a lieutenant for the US military, shows up in the same town.

And Beth watches all of them as they grieve her and miss each other, unable to be the glue that brings the family together. Her poems were one of the main causes of my tears.

I’m going to be honest: I never loved Meg or Amy until this book. But Spotswood and Richmond have made me think again.

Meg knows what she wants, and she wants a simple life. It took me a while to understand that. But her voice shines in this book; her caring nature is a strength in the end. I loved her scenes with John because you can tell how much they’re in love with each other, but I also adored her scenes with Dorothy, a girl she teaches who is also grieving.

Amy’s arc made so much sense — impulsively joining the Red Cross to prove herself is exactly what Amy March would do. Her character growth, of all of them, might have been the most captivating for me: learning that she’s not second to her older sisters, and learning about her white privilege. I believe Richmond is the only BIPOC author among this group, and I think she did a great job addressing the anti-Japanese racism after Pearl Harbor.

But at the end of the day, it’s Jo who I love the most. She’s stubborn and a little arrogant and refuses to talk to her family. She is trying to work hard at her job and is pissed off that women aren’t being properly acknowledged by society. She misses Beth fiercely, the grief carrying her through her work. And then she meets a girl, a writer like her, and it changes everything.

I mean, how can you not love that?

The overarching themes of the novel are love and grief. All of the sisters miss each other dearly, and Beth most of all. Time and time again, you’re reminded that the March sisters’ dynamic is what makes them them, and when they’ve gone their separate ways, it’s like there’s a massive hole in their hearts.

My siblings are kind of like my own Amy and Beth (except they’re alive lol), so it’s no surprise that I love “Little Women” with my whole heart. Reading this book is a reminder to me that I sure don’t like existing without them.

Needless to say, I will be shoving “Great or Nothing” in everyone’s face when it comes out on March 8, 2022, International Women’s Day. Many thanks to Delacorte Press for allowing me to read and review this book early; I am obsessed.

This is such an intriguing concept. A beloved classic set during World War II? Perfect. Unfortunately, while the idea is perfect the execution was not.

Let’s start with the pros. I loved how this book was written, with a different author writing a different sister. Their writing styles really meshed well together, and I honestly couldn’t even tell that it was coming from different people. I especially loved the poems that were written from Beth’s perspective (presumably from heaven, definitely from beyond the grave). They were beautiful and poignant and in incredibly haunting at times. In addition to this, the setting just fit really well with the March family. Hearing about Meg put on lipstick or plant a victory garden felt completely normal.

The second part I loved is that we get to see more of Amy and Laurie’s relationship. I feel like this gets skipped over a lot in the book and movie adaptations, and so I liked that we actually get to see their relationship as it progresses (plus they're really cute together in general, so I'm always up for them to get more screen time).

Where this book lost me was in how it represented the March sisters (warning: significant spoilers ahead). The whole reason that we love Little Women is because of the strong family bonds that it represent. However, in this book, Beth’s death drives the sisters apart instead of bringing them together, and they spend more time focusing on their individual love interests than they spend in reconciling with their sisters. Jo felt especially out of character, though this may have been largely due to the fact that she is portrayed as queer. Personally, I feel like this change to her character didn’t fit, and felt like it was included more for the shock factor than for anything else. Also I genuinely missed Professor Bhaer.

The second problem I had was that the book is four hundred pages long, and yet nothing really happened. Amy’s was the only plot line that had any form of action or really anything resembling the traditional narrative arc. Meg and Jo’s stories felt more like a-day-in-the-life style, focusing on their emotions instead of their actions or anything going on around them. When I finished the book I thought surely it had only been 250 or so pages with the amount of plot it contained.

Finally, the ending was just off. I felt like with all of the tension between the three sisters, there should have been a longer, more meaningful conclusion and not just a phone call. Their reconciliation was the main plot, and so the brief conclusion felt particularly lacking as a result.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but plot and character building could have used some more work.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I kept trying, thinking that it would get better for me, but no. I felt that it was too slow. Most of the teenagers that I work with don't enjoy historical fiction in the first place, so I definitely won't be recommending this book to them and won't be purchasing it. So sorry, I hate giving poor reviews.

I loved this book! It was so wonderful to see the continuation of my favorite characters from Little Women growing up and moving on in life. I was so pleased to see the way Jo was written, and I thought everyone reached a point in their lives that would finally bring them some happiness. Very well done!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of GREAT OR NOTHING by Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe, and Jessica Spotswood. I thought it was a cute Little Women retelling set during WWII. My favorite parts were the Beth sections written in verse from beyond the grave—it had the most beautiful lines. I also connected to Meg's POV the most, I think mostly because I relate to her in my current stage of life. Amy working for the Red Cross while Laurie recovered from injuries was a fantastic idea that I enjoyed. Jo's storyline, honestly, was the least compelling for me. There was just a lot about her factory work that I didn't find very interesting. I did think it made sense for her to be queer, and once that love interest for her really got going I got more invested. The whole book was a little slow for me because I think when you have this many separate story lines going at once it just takes longer to get them all past the build up stage. Still, I over all enjoyed it and thought it was a really sweet book.

𝔹𝕆𝕆𝕂 ℝ𝔼𝕍𝕀𝔼𝕎📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Great or Nothing by Caroline Tung Richmond, Joy McCullough, Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe.

I was really excited when I read it was a retelling of Little Women but I personally did not enjoy this book and I’m a huge fan of Little Women.

I was upset that Beth died so soon into the book. There is a miss connection with the characters and why the are apart for what seems to be the whole book. I did enjoy the poetry at the end of each chapter, that was my favorite part of the book.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC.

Have you ever been excited about a book, to only be disappointed in the end ?

I have adored 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott since I was young, and I found this reimagining by four authors each bringing one of the four March sisters to life in the 1840s during World War Two absolutely brilliant.
I have always been a Jo March fan, and this iteration of her character doesn't disappoint. In fact, I may even like her ending in this book better than the original. But this is still a book about sisters, and getting to see Meg wanting her dreams at home to be seen as equally valid and important to those of her adventurous sisters, Amy wanting to be taken seriously as an adult while grappling with her fears of how others may perceive her, and Beth's perspective in verse, as she observes her sisters try to find their way back to each other after her own passing.
Great or Nothing was a brilliant idea with brilliant execution, and I'm grateful to Netgalley, Random House, and Delacorte Press for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.

Doing a rewrite of a book as compelling and loved as Little Women had to be a difficult task. This one is told thru the eyes of the four March sisters. Med, Jo, and Amy tell theirs thru prose, Beth thru poetry. for the most part, it is a well-written book, given the difficulty of rewriting and updating a classic like Little Women.

While the loss of Beth is a central premise of this book, little is said about how it actually happened, and the events prior to her death, her long illness, and her profound effect on the lives of others is not well told in this new book. I feel that lack of background leaves a great deal out of the original story written by Ms. Alcott.

The book centers around World War II and the lives and loves of the March girls. Without the interrelationships of the Laurence family, Mr. March, and little about the aunt, some of the story is lacking. The writers do a good job of telling the love stories of two of the girls within the context of events of World War II. The characters have been brought into an era where women were beginning to have rights on and of their own but were still subject to a great deal of gender bias as well as racial and cultural issues. Many will like the book for its updating of women's roles but that is a bit premature for 1940s America. Young Adults of today will undoubtedly like and appreciate the characters as they are presented. I hope they would have read the original classic before reading this updated version. Thanks to #NetGalley#GreatorNothing for the opportunity to review this book.

I wished I liked this more. The lives of the March sisters continue on in this reimagining storyline. 1942- WW2. We get the separate points of view from each of the sisters, all reeling from the death of their sister Beth. The sisters go their separate ways each doing their part for the war effort. I enjoyed Beth's poetry/prose the most. I think where I had trouble is that they seemed to be out of character from the original and most likely that is the grief. They seemed a bit childish about their "big fight" I just realized that this is written as a young adult story so maybe that is my problem. I would definitely recommend it to students who like Little Women but it just didn't work for me. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read Great or Nothing.

Little Women has been my favorite book since forever so I was very excited about this book. I loved the change in scenery and how it was set in WWII. The only thing I was a little less crazy about was that the sister relationship was second to the love interests in terms of the plot. It may just be because I adore their relationship in Little Women that I expected more but none the less I did very much enjoy this. I love retellings and this done did not disappoint.

Originally I was thinking of giving this only 3 stars because for the majority of it I just felt it was fine. However, when I got to the last 20% of the story I couldn’t help but bump it up to 4. The ending was so sweet with Jo accepting her feelings for a woman and finally calling Meg. Amy was by far my favorite character with Jo being a close second. It was neat having Beth’s parts being in verse. Even though she was dead for the story, you still got the feeling of her being present.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC to review. I did not particularly like this retelling of Little Women. The story focuses more on romantic relationships than the relationship of the sisters. I just couldn’t connect even with the WWII backdrop which usually intriguing to me.

This was a well-done reimagining of Little Women set during WWII. For those familiar with Little Women, the story picks up some months after Beth's death. Each chapter alternates POV between the four sisters, include Beth, who appears to be watching her sisters from heaven. Beth's chapters are told in verse, which works nicely to set her chapters apart from those of the other three sisters, whose chapters are all in prose. The story was different enough from the original that I felt it added something new and unique to the story, and I don't think you need to have read Little Women to still enjoy this story.