In Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone, a desperate family seeks a new beginning in the near-isolated wilderness of Alaska only to find that their unpredictable environment is less threatening than the erratic behavior found in human nature.#1 New York Times Instant Bestseller (February 2018)A People “Book of the Week”Buzzfeed’s “Most Anticipated Women’s Fiction Reads of 2018”Seattle Times’s “Books … Women’s Fiction Reads of 2018”
Seattle Times’s “Books to Look Forward to in 2018”
Alaska, 1974. Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes the impulsive decision to move his wife and daughter north where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
Cora will do anything for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown. Thirteen-year-old Leni, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, has little choice but to go along, daring to hope this new land promises her family a better future.
In a wild, remote corner of Alaska, the Allbrights find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the newcomers’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.
But as winter approaches and darkness descends, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own.
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I was in the middle of finishing up my own novel about families suffering the legacy of the Vietnam (and the next) war when I picked up Hannah’s book. I loved (and suffered with) each and every one of Hannah’s beautifully flawed characters. Her evocation of the Alaskan environment is breathtaking.
Being an Alaskan, this book made me appreciate what it’s like to live off the grid in a harsh environment. Couldn’t put this book down right from the first page. Great characters, we’ll written.
This is one of those “bite-my-fingernails and stay up waaay too late because I HAVE to finish it” books. One of my fave reads ever–loved the Alaskan setting, which was so gripping, as were the characters. Excellent read, though definitely sad in parts.
Wonderful book set in Alaska with excellent depictions of place and characters–many of their actions and problems arise from the place. But deeper familial, addiction, and bonding of community threads run through it which are tragic and reflective of reality. Very engrossing, engaging and highly accurate and believable story.
Love the Alaskan setting, the brave female protagonist, and the exploration of domestic violence. Fabulous story.
A veteran and his family travel to Alaska to claim property left to them by a former friend who was also a vet. The father is suffering from PTSD and he is a very difficult man. I learned many facts about Alaska. The story is very good. It is memorable and the characters are unforgettable.
This was one of those books I couldn’t put down. It was a difficult story to read at times because it is about a man suffering from PTSD after being a POW in the Vietnam War. He takes his young wife and 12 year old daughter to a remote part of Alaska to get away from it all in hopes he can recover. But the darkness only makes it worse. He takes his anger out on his wife, and their daughter Leni has few choices and lives on eggshells to avoid getting her father mad. But the story is also about young love and the Alaskan setting is amazing. I became so invested in the characters that I was afraid to read more knowing something bad was going to happen and hoping the author would put in a happily ever after ending which wouldn’t be realistic. But the author surprised me again and again and kept taking the novel in new directions. Most of my bookclub members didn’t love it, like I did, thinking it was a bit too long and Leni a bit too perfect. I agree with many of their points, but I’m keeping the 5-star rating because when I was reading, I was so into it, I didn’t pause to analyze it.
If you want to feel a place come alive, this book makes Alaska become a character. I’ve never been but because of her penmanship, Kristin Hannah made me feel like I had. And there’s also a really good story in all that wonderful scenery.
At its core, it’s a story of love, but not necessarily a good love. Some people cannot be fixed, and it’s hard not to hate Ernt but also feel sorry for him. PTSD wasn’t something well know back in 1974. It’s also the story of thirteen-year-old Leni who comes of age in the midst of a cruel world outside and at times, crueler inside. She and her mother have to make difficult decisions, and live with the consequences, not something that is easy in the isolation of Alaska.
The Great Alone is a very emotional read, but so worth it.
Fabulous. This book even prompted a trip to Alaska!
This was an awesome read! The characters were developed so well and the story moved fast. It had action and emotion. I also loved the description of the landscape.
Ms. Hannah is a premier storyteller and writer. This was at times excruciating to read with a family in crisis touching on a veteran of Vietnam struggling with the horrors of war, his wife…the love of his life standing by her man no matter what, and their daughter walking on eggshells trying to understand the life her parents existed in. The state of Alaska played such a prominent role in the book, it literally became a character. The ending is the reason for my five star rating…anything else I might have reconsidered a lower rating…although still a highly recommended read.
Set in the wild in Alaska, a family seeks peace and discovers strengths and obstacles that couldn’t have been anticipated.
This one packs a powerful emotional punch. Love and loss and danger–within and without.
This was a fantastic book much like all of Kristin Hannah’s books. We had selected this book for our book club and everyone was very involved in discussion. Would definitely recommend this book.
I didn’t know anything about homesteading in Alaska, but “The Great Alone” put me right there with the Allbright family and their new community who helped them survive. This is a story of family, blind faith, survival and friendship. Kristin Hannah did a wonderful job in creating flawed believable characters living in the wilds of Alaska. This story was powerful, tragic, happy and sad. I couldn’t put it down and even though I finished it months ago, I can’t stop thinking about it.
I’ll start this off with a confession: I’ve never read The Nightingale, or any other book by Kristen Hannah before. Her books are consistently on every bestseller list, so I don’t know why I’ve never had the urge to dive into one of her stories before now.
The Great Alone is a coming of age story (my personal favorite genre). I love it when a book takes me to a place I’m unfamiliar with, and the setting (the outskirts of unsettled Alaska in the 1970’s) not only educated me, but captivated me. I was literally ticked off every time I had to put the book down and return to work, cooking dinner or some other nonsense…arghhh…the demands of my real life.
Leni and Matthew are such a wonderful characters. You will find yourself pulling for them throughout the story. Leni’s parents and the townspeople of this odd, off the grid community are also so well developed, you feel as if you are there, one of them, observing from within.
I’m officially a fan and highly recommend The Great Alone.
Some urbanites might not identify with the rugged solitude described in this book, but as a lover of wild places, I certainly did. Describe the beauty and brutality of Alaska, and add in the horror of domestic violence in a remote place, and as a reader, I devoured each page while holding my breath, waiting for something terrible to happen. This is by far my favorite book of Kristin Hannah’s.
This book gives such a vivid picture of Alaska- it feels like you are right there. There are such happy moments and then there were times that I just bawled. It was a wonderful story. I highly recommend it.
I’m a huge fan of Ms. Hannah’s writing. Exquisite is a word that comes to mind often while reading the way she describes a setting or a feeling. A setting like Alaska, and a decade like the 70s, gave her a lot of material to work with, too, and she didn’t disappoint.
I was immediately drawn into Leni’s story (or her family’s story, more appropriately). I have never been to Alaska, so I enjoyed seeing it through Leni’s eyes. I’m not sure I could survive that lifestyle, but it was infinitely interesting to read about.
I flew through the first half of the story, but then put it down for a day because I saw something horrible on the horizon and had to steel myself to get through it. At this point, I became very frustrated with Cora. I empathized with the struggle–what do you do when you feel an event has broken someone you love and you can’t abandon them despite emotional or physical abuse? However, it is highly unlikely that there were no signs of physical or emotional abuse prior to Ernt’s service and capture. Yes, the trauma and PTSD would’ve escalated pre-existing problems and formed new ones (like his extreme paranoia), but most abusive partners have always been that way (starting with emotional manipulation and increasing from there).
**SPOILER ALERT**
If Cora had chosen that life for herself, I might’ve been able to go along with it up to the bitter end. But as a mother, I really began to dislike Cora for making her daughter suffer through that life, too. To give up any kind of normal life. To have to hide and walk on egg shells and witness abuse over and over. The emotional and psychological damage living with and witnessing all of that should’ve caused Leni (in terms of her ability to have a healthy loving relationship of her own) was not explored by this novel. It was not even addressed, and Leni was able to form a deep attachment with a boy her age. Knowing something about the scars of being a child in an abusive home, this was not believable to me, and is part of the reason I could not give this book 5 stars.
The other thing that bothered me was that we invested our time and emotions in hundreds of detailed and layered pages building up to the climax–and we suffered tremendous heartbreak along the way with what happened to Matthew–and then–boom–so many things happen in the last few chapters. We skip through time, Cora gets cancer and dies leaving Leni an alleged “way out” and voila, all of the scary conflict (the big “murder” worry and lie) got resolved in less than a chapter once Leni returns to Alaska. Amazingly, we get an HEA, of a sort, at the end, too. I think the power of the story and message got shortchanged by those choices (although I certainly didn’t want Matthew to be a vegetable for the rest of his life).
That said, this is still one of the best books I’ve read in the past twelve months. I’m in awe of this writer and wish that I could come close to writing anything this textured in my lifetime!
If you want another great book about Alaska, check out the Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. This book was an emotional ride, full of life and death situations, and the all consuming power of love. At times it was harsh, brutal, and downright nerve-wracking. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Before I begin just remember that this book starts off slow but if you keep reading it will turn into a great story. Alaska, the Great Alone can be a place of beauty and also a place where nightmares circle and then take your soul. Such is the Alaska that Leni moved to at age thirteen with her parents. The trials and tribulations of her Viet Nam Vet father and her mother have during the four years they spend in Alaska are both hard and sad with sprinklings of happy. Ernt, keeps losing jobs and the family keeps moving from place to place until Ernt receives a letter from the father of his Viet Nam buddy he was captured with that he has been left his friend’s property in Alaska. This is where the already difficult family saga turns from bad to worse when they journey and then live in the Great Alone. The story will capture you as you find yourself experiencing Alaska with them.