TL;DR: Oh my gosh this read like a boring checklist

The 22% that I did read felt like the author was just checking off a list of what she needed to include in an ode to Little Women set in Chicago:
- Four sisters and a man - check
- A neighborhood in Chicago - Pilsen, check
- A college in Chicago - Northwestern, check 
- Midwestern stereotypes - parent escapes to Florida, check; youngest becomes pregnant out of wedlock, check; alcoholic father, check; honeymoon to Lake Michigan, check

So many people told me this is a great book set in Chicago. Okay where is Chicago? You wouldn't know it was set in Chicago except for the mentions of Northwestern and Pilsen. This could've been set anywhere else in the country. No sense of place whatsoever. Chicago is so diverse is the author chooses to do nothing with it. 

Each character has the personality of cardboard. Is this how people see Midwesterners? Boring with no personality? Each character in Little Women had their own personality so I don't know what this cardboard stereotype was meant to be. 

I should've known this wasn't for me after giving Dear Edward two stars.