From the Bookshelf of Crazy Challenge Connection…

The Great Alone

Kristin Hannah

Discussion: Yearly Challenges

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 19 topics — 1,865 comments total

Yearly Challenges

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Yearly Challenges - The Thrill of Victory
By southpaw285 · 1 post · 809 views

last updated Jan 09, 2013 05:54PM

2025/26 Reading Roulette
By Barb , Moderator · 162 posts · 88 views

last updated 2 hours, 58 min ago

showing 10 of 139 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Feb 09, 2020 Elle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, 5-star-reads

13-year-old Leni Allbright is moved to the wilds of Alaska when her former POW father inherits land in The Great Alone from another soldier of the Vietnam War who didn't make it back home. There are a thousand ways to die in Alaska and Leni quickly learns that her family is woefully unprepared for the wildness they have thrown themselves into. Add into that the tension and fear that stems from her father Ernt's vicious PTSD and his paranoid ideas and life in Alaska just became a potentially dead ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2019 Almeta rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: revue, double-dog-dare, hissy-fic, hear-ye, awards

Domestic violence doesn't make this a happy book. A husband suffers from PTSD after a tour in Viet Nam. Although the disorder should make me more sympathetic, the angry outbursts were just too frequent and as an excuse, too difficult for me to forgive.

The subject matter was not my cup of tea, however if you are interested in survival in Alaska and the off-the-grid people who love it there, it is yours! ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2019 Colleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, drama

This was a book of well written characters and intense family drama set with the backdrop of a wild Alaska. I liked Leni and her coming of age story was poignant. Having grown up in small towns in similar times, albeit with a very dissimilar family, I felt that I could understand the times and the community that felt out of step with present day society.
I liked that the author wrapped up the story and didn't just end around the time Leni graduates - that could've made a logical ending, but I li ...more

Like · see review

Jan 29, 2021 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, becca-s-2021-popsugar-challenge, 2021-becca-aty-challenge

I don't know if this book will end up being my favorite book read in 2021, but it's definitely my first 5 star book and favorite book thus far. I have never read a Kristin Hannah book before, but it was so well done. I was a roller coaster of emotions throughout. First I was so angry because of the horrible things that happen throughout the first half of the book, and then I was profoundly sad, and then hopeful and lastly in love. I don't want to give anything away because it's a story that need ...more

Like · see review