Scan barcode
A review by bookswithmaddi
Great or Nothing by Jessica Spotswood, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe, Joy McCullough
5.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Great or Nothing has been on my TBR since the moment I saw it on Goodreads. A book with Joy McCullough about some of my favorite literary characters is an immediate win for me and it certainly didn’t disappoint!
Great or Nothing is a retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women but reimagined during World War II. We are privy to the narrative of each of the four March sisters each of whom is written by a different author. The characters held true to the outline of Alcott’s characters while exploring the opportunities that a new time period and setting provides.
This book had so many strengths it’s difficult to know where to begin. The choice to utilize different authors for each of the different sisters added an element to this book that could not be recreated by a single writer. Each author had a distinct enough voice that the narratives didn’t blend together or get too confusing. Joy McCullough’s verse as Beth was particularly powerful and really encapsulated the strengths of her writing.
Another strength of this book was the clear research and work that had been done to make it historically accurate. The addition of pop culture references from the time period and significant events and mindsets worked to ground the reader in the time period. The way that these authors handled issues of racism and sexism of the time period was both graceful and powerful. The dissatisfaction of the women who were underappreciated was clear without being overbearing as they emphasized the importance of both leaving home to work and staying home to comfort. The commentary on the racial prejudices against Black soldiers and Japanese Americans was handled very well. It demonstrated imperfect white characters who needed to grow and change, and did, without creating a white savior complex.
I think the biggest flaw of this book is its pacing. The beginning moves slowly sometimes including details that seem unnecessary. Because of this, it feels like the end of the book ran out of space and had to end rather abruptly without a full resolve. I can totally understand the literary strategy of the way this book ended, but for me, I would’ve preferred slightly more resolve.
Overall, I absolutely adore this book and it will be one that I think about long after I have finished it. The end of it had me nearly in tears. It is a beautiful and powerful novel that revives and reimagines Alcott’s characters in powerful new positions.
Great or Nothing has been on my TBR since the moment I saw it on Goodreads. A book with Joy McCullough about some of my favorite literary characters is an immediate win for me and it certainly didn’t disappoint!
Great or Nothing is a retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women but reimagined during World War II. We are privy to the narrative of each of the four March sisters each of whom is written by a different author. The characters held true to the outline of Alcott’s characters while exploring the opportunities that a new time period and setting provides.
This book had so many strengths it’s difficult to know where to begin. The choice to utilize different authors for each of the different sisters added an element to this book that could not be recreated by a single writer. Each author had a distinct enough voice that the narratives didn’t blend together or get too confusing. Joy McCullough’s verse as Beth was particularly powerful and really encapsulated the strengths of her writing.
Another strength of this book was the clear research and work that had been done to make it historically accurate. The addition of pop culture references from the time period and significant events and mindsets worked to ground the reader in the time period. The way that these authors handled issues of racism and sexism of the time period was both graceful and powerful. The dissatisfaction of the women who were underappreciated was clear without being overbearing as they emphasized the importance of both leaving home to work and staying home to comfort. The commentary on the racial prejudices against Black soldiers and Japanese Americans was handled very well. It demonstrated imperfect white characters who needed to grow and change, and did, without creating a white savior complex.
I think the biggest flaw of this book is its pacing. The beginning moves slowly sometimes including details that seem unnecessary. Because of this, it feels like the end of the book ran out of space and had to end rather abruptly without a full resolve. I can totally understand the literary strategy of the way this book ended, but for me, I would’ve preferred slightly more resolve.
Overall, I absolutely adore this book and it will be one that I think about long after I have finished it. The end of it had me nearly in tears. It is a beautiful and powerful novel that revives and reimagines Alcott’s characters in powerful new positions.