The Great Alone: A Novel Paperback – September 24, 2019

Ernt Allbright can’t run far enough to escape his demons. Going off-grid in Alaska, Ernt drags his wife, Cora, and his daughter, Leni, into a wilderness experience none of them are prepared for in an effort to start a new life. They must learn to garden, hunt, and gather as much food as possible to survive the long winter, guarding against bears, wolves, and other predators that would destroy their home. The townspeople donate livestock and helpfully train the small family in homesteading skills to improve their chances of holding on until spring. As time goes by, Leni finds new friendships even as her father alienates the townspeople. As the winter days shorten and daylight slips away, Ernt’s grip on his temper and sanity wanes and his family will pay the price.There’s a lot of love in The Great Alone: a mother’s love, a friend’s love, a family’s love, romantic love, and dysfunctional love. Some of the romances are rock-solid and life-affirming. One romance is love at its best: patient, enduring, and indelible. However, the dysfunctional love that binds Ernt and Cora intersperses abusive episodes with declarations of love, regret, and broken promises.The residents of Kaneq, Alaska, don’t understand why Leni’s mother doesn’t tell someone, doesn’t leave, doesn’t accept help, why she doesn’t stop loving her abusive husband. They don’t understand why Leni doesn’t leave her parents and escape to college. But I can relate. It takes years to grow past the fear of telling people that one of your parents is hurting the other or hurting you and your siblings. Hiding becomes ingrained. Your family closes its ranks and stands alone against the world. There’s a wall that must not be breached. Your family pretends that the bruises and broken bones are from accidents. It becomes normal to both love and fear your parent. I think Kristin Hannah beautifully captures the essence of that conflict and dichotomy.I couldn’t sleep last night, and The Great Alone caught my eye as I was perusing Kindle books and nomming on a Skor bar hoping to feel sleep sneaking up on me. So quickly was I caught by this book that half my Skor bar still remains stranded on my bureau, abandoned when I nabbed my tablet and snuck to my recliner without waking the significant other. The story was so enthralling that I devoured it in one extended sitting broken only by puppy potty breaks.The Great Alone is a chilling, emotionally wrenching roller coaster ride. Kristin Hannah has created characters that are believable and realistically populate her vision of a child caught between a parent she loves and cannot abandon and a parent who claims to love her. In the midst of becoming a warrior capable of surviving her family, Alaska, hard choices, and the tragedies that rock her world, Leni discovers the true families that love her.It’s hard to write about this book and not include spoilers, so I’ll stop here and just say that there is a lot of sorrow (ask my Kleenex box about it), growth, and even joy in The Great Alone. For all its pain, this tale is unforgettably uplifting. Highly recommended.Edited for TMI and again to add in love as an element, since my review overly emphasized the sadder elements of the storyline.

This is a story about the childhood of a girl named Leni, when her parents, Cora and Ernt, move to Alaska. It takes place in the 70s - Ernt fought in the war and when he returns home to Seattle he’s different. He decides moving the family to Alaska to live off the land will give him his life back. But in Alaska, you need to be tough and the Albright family is certainly unprepared. Lucky for them the people in Alaska help each other - but that help can’t always save Leni and Cora from the dangers that lurk inside their home.This story has a lot of joy - in reading about the beauty of Alaska and the love that blooms between Leni and a local boy named Matthew. But it also has a lot of darkness, with domestic violence and life altering injury that evokes deep sadness from the reader! Additionally, as a daughter, the love and bond between mother (Cora) and daughter (Leni) on this brought me to tears in the end.Kristin Hannah is incredibly descriptive in really laying the foundation for this story to unfold. It was very well written and an amazing read.

An incredible read, one that is almost lyrical in its style and substance, and the well-developed characters draw you in and hold you close to the very end.Kristin Hannah's "The Great Alone" is wonderful as it is heart-wrenching; the landscape is as rugged as the story itself, with no fairytale happy endings in sight.I enjoyed the read but I was not prepared for the strong emotional responses the story and the antagonist illicited. I cried more than once, yelled out a few explicatives, and I was tempted on more than one occasion to throw the book across the room.This isn't the type of book you read more than once; once was enough. It was a good read, one that damn well broke my heart.

Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone stands as one of the most outstanding novels I have ever encountered in my reading experience. From the very first page, I was completely swept away by its raw beauty, emotional intensity, and unforgettable characters. This kind of novel stays with you beyond the last page because it creates a permanent impression on your heart. I usually read thrillers and find most other fiction difficult to pace - I know I’m late to the Kristin Hannah train and I was reluctant because sometimes authors and books are just severely overhyped. In this case, I don’t think the internet can be emphatic enough about how excellent Hannah’s writing is and how prolific her prose.The novel establishes its setting in Alaska's 1970s wilderness to portray the Allbright family especially Leni who navigates her parents' marriage problems alongside frontier life challenges. The author presents Alaska through stunning descriptions that showcase both its harsh and beautiful elements. The setting functions as a powerful force within the story by delivering risk alongside enchantment and complete solitude to the narrative.The emotional depth of The Great Alone makes it stand out from other novels. The characters exist so authentically in the story that I experienced every piece of their emotional pain and hope alongside their strength. Through her transformation from a shy, unknown girl to a strong young woman Leni demonstrates a powerful and heartbreaking growth. The author presents the reality of domestic abuse without compromise but maintains a constant narrative optimism.The author Kristin Hannah demonstrates an extraordinary talent for portraying the intricate connections between mothers and daughters in her storytelling. Her skillful exploration of love and trauma together with survival and healing appears as a masterpiece through her compassionate and clear writing.I read this on a plane and laughed and cried and enjoyed all of the moments. I can’t recall a time when a book made me feel this deeply.. The book should be recommended to all readers who appreciate emotional depth and stories about human strength during difficult times.Simply put, it’s a masterpiece.