A reimagining of Little Women set in the spring of 1942, when the United States is suddenly embroiled in the second World War, this story, told from each March sister’s point of view, is one of grief, love, and self-discovery.
In the spring of 1942, the United States is reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the US starts sending troops to the front, the March family of Concord, Massachusetts grieves their own enormous loss: the death of their daughter, Beth.
Under the strain of their grief, Beth’s remaining sisters fracture, each going their own way with Jo nursing her wounds and building planes in Boston, Meg holding down the home front with Marmee, and Amy living a secret life as a Red Cross volunteer in London–the same city where one Mr. Theodore Laurence is stationed as an army pilot.
Each March sister’s point of view is written by a separate author, three in prose and Beth’s in verse, still holding the family together from beyond the grave. Woven together, these threads tell a story of finding one’s way in a world undergoing catastrophic change.
- Title: Great or Nothing
- Authors: Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe, Jessica Spotswood
- Publisher: Delacorte
- Publication Date: March 8th, 2022
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Targeted Age Range: YA
- Content Warnings: Grief, mentions of world war ii and nazis, mentions of war typical violence, racism, death of a family member, death, sexism, mentions of blood and stitches (not graphic), physical fights (punching, slapping – not graphic), mentions of fire (not descriptive, chapter 16), mentions of plane crashes resulting in injury and death
- Rating: ★★★★
We all know how much I love retellings — I love seeing how authors interpret and update beloved pieces of literature, and I think that Great or Nothing really is a wonderful homage to Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women. In my opinion, one of the things that marks a great retelling is that as a reader, I can see the inspiration from the source material, while at the same time the characters have been written in a way that feels new and fresh. For me, Great or Nothing delivered on that.
In that same vein, I think it’s super important that in a retelling, the author — or in this case authors — feel passionate about the story they’re reimagining, and to me, it was obvious that all four authors have a clear love and respect for Little Women and Louisa May Alcott’s words. In the acknowledgments at the end they write:
“And finally, to Louisa May Alcott, whose deeply personal book has resonated with readers for more than a century. She was groundbreaking but was also constrained by her time. We hope she would appreciate the new directions we’ve explored while honoring her foundational work.”
And I felt that in Great or Nothing. We all know how special Little Women is to me, and I think that these authors did a wonderful job of celebrating the original story while putting their own spin on it. I thought the cohesion between all four parts of the story was great, which does not always happen with books written by multiple authors. I think had I not known that each March sister was written by a different author I wouldn’t have guessed it.
I loved the things that they kept from the original novel — the general dynamics between characters, base characterization for each March daughter, etc. but they made some subtle twists that I really appreciated. One of them being the scene where Marmee expresses that she’s angry nearly every day of her life. In the original story, this scene happens with Jo not long after Amy burns her book, but in Great or Nothing, this scene happens with Meg towards the end of the book. I really liked that this scene happened with Meg, as throughout the story we see her hold in so much of her anger. Anger at the war, her father and John being gone, seeing the racism against one of her students, and the aftermath of her fight with Jo and Amy. Meg tries so hard to be perfect — in both Little Women and Great or Nothing — and it was nice to see her let herself be angry, and realize that it’s okay to have justifiable anger and that sometimes you need to express it otherwise it will consume you. Meg and Marmee especially needed that moment together and it was probably one of my favorite parts of the book.
Letters are a huge part of Little Women, and I’m so glad that letter correspondence was continued in this book. I particularly enjoyed the chapter from Jo’s point of view which was told entirely through letters between her and Charlie (her love interest). That was a nice touch and I enjoyed it quite a lot!
“Grief made its home in her heart, dug a burrow and set up for good”
While I knew that this book would deal with some heavy topics as it is set during WWII, I was not fully prepared for how much my heart would ache while I was reading it. The grief of losing Beth and father enlisting as a navy chaplain has the family fractured in a way that they never have been before. The family is already struggling so much — they’ve lost a fundamental part of not only their family, but each of them lost a piece of themselves when Beth died. Then to make things worse, Meg, Jo, and Amy have a horrible falling out that leads to them not speaking at all. Reading about how the three girls feel so lost and broken without Beth and without each other had me crying on multiple occasions. I swear half of my notes from my read are along the lines of “I’m so sad, I can’t handle them fighting”.
This story handles grief so well —- it goes into how the death of a loved one affects all of us differently, how grief is a nonlinear process, and how that deep of a loss irrevocably changes you. Though there are many heartbreaking moments, there are just as many beautiful moments as we see the March girls discover new passions, follow their instincts, stand up for themselves and others, and grow into the young women that they’re meant to be. I also felt that this book was a great reminder of how those we’ve lost are always with us through the ones they loved and the lives they touched. Great or Nothing felt like a lovely and comforting reminder that although you may feel alone, you never truly are.
Additionally, I thought that the juxtaposition of having Meg, Jo, and Amy’s POVs written in prose vs. Beth’s sections being written in verse was very interesting and I liked how Beth’s sections directly addressed what happened the chapter before, or alluded to something that was going to happen in the next chapter. It gave Beth this omnipresent characterization that I found really cool and definitely played into the idea that our loved ones are always present even after they’ve died.
It probably won’t come as a surprise when I tell you that my favorite parts of the book were the chapters from Amy’s point of view. We all know that I am an Amy March apologist above all else, and I loved her characterization in Great or Nothing. Gosh, there was so much I loved about Amy’s storyline, and I think that she had the best character arc of the girls. I feel like Caroline Tung Richmond really understood Amy, and not many people that adapt Little Women do. She understood Amy’s fierce loyalty, her dedication and drive, her loving heart, and that deep down she’s a young woman who wants to be known and loved for who she is.
In Great or Nothing after Beth dies, Amy gives up her painting because it suddenly seems trivial and frivolous to her. Beth isn’t here anymore, so what is the point? It won’t bring her back, it’s not a useful thing to do with her time, so Amy gives it up to volunteer for the Red Cross and supports her country during WWII. While it broke my heart to read about Amy giving up something that she clearly loves, it reminded me so much of how in the original novel, when Beth first gets diagnosed with scarlet fever, Amy tells Marmee that she will do everything she can to stop being selfish because Beth isn’t, and she would hope that people would miss her if she died just like she knows everyone would miss Beth if something happened to her. I thought that was a good little nod to some of her original characterization, and it makes sense that Amy would make that choice.
“Ever since Laurie had crashed back into her orbit a few months before, she’d felt like she had stepped back into the sunlight”
Y’all, Amy and Laurie. Amy and Laurie! They’re one of my all-time favorite literary couples, I love them more than anything and their relationship in this book was everything to me. One of my favorite scenes between them is after they’ve gotten kicked out of the Savoy and are walking along the River Thames. There’s witty banter, teasing, some jealousy emerging on Laurie’s part, and it’s a turning point in their relationship. My heart was ready to burst when he sent her a sketch pad and pencils and asked for her to draw something for him to have next to his bunk. I thought their progression from friends to lovers was so sweet and endearing. And without giving too much away, I will say that his Christmas gift to her was one of the sweetest moments in the entire book, and then their reunion at the train station had me crying out of joy. Both Amy and Laurie are feeling a bit lost when the book begins, and with each other, they’re able to find a piece of home and a piece of themselves that they thought was gone, which I think is so beautiful.
Jo’s characterization felt very reminiscent of the original, but I loved that there were moments where we got to see her softer side with people who weren’t her family. I really loved the bond that she created with Charlie —- the sister of one of the girls living in the boarding house with Jo — and I liked seeing their relationship progress. Just like Caroline Tung Richmond understands Amy, Tess Sharpe understands Jo.
One of the plot points that definitely really intrigued me was the discussion of how Japanese Americans were treated in the US after Pearl Harbor. This is featured quite a bit in both Meg and Amy’s storylines, and it felt very reminiscent of what it’s currently like to be a person of color in the United States. And I thought that the difference in how Meg and Amy approached these situations was very interesting. At the moment I don’t feel like I am in the headspace to give this topic the nuance and gravitas that it deserves, so I’m not going to go into depth about my thoughts, but if in the future I’m able to articulate them I’ll probably do a follow-up post!
Overall, I think that Great or Nothing is a retelling that stays true to the heart of Little Women while telling the story in a new and different way. I would definitely recommend it to any fan of Louisa May Alcott!
Links for Great or Nothing: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
