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The Great Alone

Kristin Hannah

Start date: October 1, 2018

Finish date: October 31, 2018

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: October Bonus Read- Domestic Violence Awareness Month

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
[close] October Bonus Read- Domestic Violence Awareness Month

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

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What Members Thought

Sep 07, 2018 Cam rated it it was amazing

Loved this book!!!!

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May 10, 2018 Zulfiya rated it really liked it

I know that Kristen Hannah has a cult of devoted readers around the globe, but it is only my second book that I have read by this author. I personally think that I am a little bit prejudiced about the genre fiction and the author has been on the fringes of my literary interest.

I read The Nightingale; I enjoyed it, but it was not stellar. This book was different. I was enthralled by the poetic and elegiac descriptions of Alaska, this brutal, powerful, and hauntingly beautiful place.
The author a I know that Kristen Hannah has a cult of devoted readers around the globe, but it is only my second book that I have read by this author. I personally think that I am a little bit prejudiced about the genre fiction and the author has been on the fringes of my literary interest.

I read The Nightingale; I enjoyed it, but it was not stellar. This book was different. I was enthralled by the poetic and elegiac descriptions of Alaska, this brutal, powerful, and hauntingly beautiful place.
The author also expertly combined the feeling of place with the very authentic and mundane dialogue of her characters. I am using the word " mundane" in its complimentary sense. The dialogue is truly mundane, so is the life of its protagonists; they are simply trying to survive the storms of the inclement and powerful mother nature and the storms that are ravaging their lives apart.

I watched a couple of interviews with Kristen Hannah yesterday, and she confirmed what I inferred from the book as well. Although the events take place after the Vietnam War, the undertones of the story reflect and comment on modern day America. Ernt is a POW and is obviously suffering form the PTSD, but it is clear to us, readers, but not to the characters.
Ernt is in dire need of psychiatric help, but in fact, he tried to find his own cure by going to Alaska, where homesteading might help shield him from the world he detests: liberal protests, hippies, and other changes that he can not accept.

His words resonates strongly with today's political situation and remind me of the Trumpsters who think that America is being taken away by immigrants, hippies, liberals, agnostics, and atheists, etc, and ad nauseam. Both his psychological trauma and his survivalist ideas are only exacerbated by the new geographical location.

I read a number of reviews, and I might sound deprecating and belittling, but some reviews are so clueless about the political implications. On the other hand, every one takes from the novel what they take due to personal political bias, history, worldview, etc. I still find it hilarious that the elephant in the room is not discussed in some reviews.

Despite the convincing and elegiac prose, authentic dialogue, believable characters, and a very compelling plot, the book gets only 4 stars. It pains me to give four stars as I was so much immersed into it, but I think the final part is sub par. It looks like the author was trying to squeeze in two books in one book, and the second one, while being just an undeveloped twin for the bigger part of the book about family dynamics, abuse, close-mindedness, and disfunctionality, suddenly springs to life as a romance, and I am hard to please when it comes to romances because most romance novels make me gag!!!!
I am not going to lie - I did shed a tear or two, but I also understood how sappy and "romancey" it was, and even though the feeling of empathy and presence was real, I also understood that it was tacky.

The other small pique or vexation is how climatic this book was. It peaked four or five times before even coming closer to its end. On the other hand, who is to say that all books should have the same climatic structure. It might be just me, but I did feel sometimes that every emotional episode would be a turning point, but with sagas, one needs to expect such climaxes that are followed by lulls.

Overall, a very engaging book with good writing, serious messages, and intriguing enough for me to check out other books by Kristen Hannah ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 Judy Lindow rated it it was ok

Sheesh! Glad that's over. Too many catastrophes and bad decisions in this book, and frankly, in many ways weren't even plausible. A very draining read. Some of the other readers were disappointed because they liked the The Nightingale so much. What with both these books getting so many reader votes I'll see if I enjoy that book more. The writing is easy to read - I would not say it's especially 'beautiful'. There were more cliches than especially memorable quotes.

I enjoyed reading about Alaska Sheesh! Glad that's over. Too many catastrophes and bad decisions in this book, and frankly, in many ways weren't even plausible. A very draining read. Some of the other readers were disappointed because they liked the The Nightingale so much. What with both these books getting so many reader votes I'll see if I enjoy that book more. The writing is easy to read - I would not say it's especially 'beautiful'. There were more cliches than especially memorable quotes.

I enjoyed reading about Alaska and homesteading in the wilderness. The love of the place and how a place feels like home in our bones was poignant. The love between the mother and daughter was touching, however a little trite; often glaringly dysfunctional. (spoiler) I sort of saw the final twist at the end - more like a slow curve - 2nd time this season I got the lovely experience of reading about a brilliant young adult partially recovering from brain injury (The Witch Elm). Egads, hope this doesn't become a trend.

-- Review after middle of book --

OK. Leni has made it into the University. She's got someone she loves, who loves her who wants to live with her. 3 friends who have offered to pay AND she's saying "Dad won't let me go". This would never happen. She's smart, she's met all the challenges. If this is believable at all, I have to arrive at the conclusion that the mother is equally responsible for child abuse, and two, that the child has really inculcated the same co-dependency, fear, or whatever that the mother has. Perhaps this kind of blind obedience is evidence of the dumb power it took to indoctrinate my whole gender: the country of women.

-- Review at middle of book --

Something about this story doesn't ring true. Both the mother and daughter have been offered help at many times by more than one person. Mr. Walker, his son, her parents, large Marge: all of them smarter, kinder, wealthier, and more honest than the husband. I know that there's "no explaining why women stay with their abusers" and of course there are a variety of reasons posed. But in this case, the women aren't dependent on drugs, alcohol, they've been given options, they've got each other. I can only imagine that they're Dumb and Dumber - and yet they've been described as thoughtful and intelligent or in the mother's case, at least emotionally intelligent. Yet. The mother gets taken behind a locked door to get beat up like clockwork and the daughter bangs on the door, again, to no avail. They walk around on pins and needles and act like prisoners - and yet this does not change the husbands random crazy behavior. I think most women of their caliber would have left by now. Perhaps one reason women stay in bad relationships like this is: it's what they know, it's familiar. Ironic, that they're two competent wilderness women, surviving in the Great Alone (I.E. Alaska) and they're afraid of the Great Alone. The other thing I'm finding hard to deal with emotionally is that the daughter is learning all this strange co-dependent behavior from her mother and not having a normal childhood. It's a crazy kind of Co-dependent taking care of a Co-dependent. Ah, well. Trudging on.

-- Review at beginning of book --

When I read, "The truth was that the biggest danger of all was in her own home" you could see my eyes roll. I considered making this a DNF. We've already been given not just clues - but examples of this man's violence towards his wife and others. We've been leading up to the long, dark, cold days of the Alaskan winter and fueled by alcohol, mental illness, PTSD, entitlement, and anxiety -- this man's jaw and fist are clenching ever tighter.

The mother of course is of course enabling, so in many ways one of the main themes of the story is a cliche. If it wasn't for the easy to read writing, the lovely and interesting descriptions of homesteading and Alaska, and the reality checks we get from the younger characters, I would start another book. In any case, hating to be manipulated, I'll admit the author has built up the suspense quite well and I'm really curious about how winter will go! Who knows, maybe somebody will get their leg gnawed off. ...more

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Nov 12, 2018 Donna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bullying, death, friendship, relationships, love, teen-reads, young-adult-lit-fiction, multicultural, family-life, fiction

I read this book for my Diversity in all Forms Book Club. It was awesome!! The author told a compelling story about domestic violence and what some women endure for the sake of love. I tell you I cried for the last 50 pages. I just couldn't help myself.

Such a beautiful love story in spite of the abuse that took place. But as the saying goes: "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger". The proof of that is in the pages of this book.

...more

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