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The Great Alone

Kristin Hannah

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What Members Thought

Mar 22, 2019 Anne ✨ Finds Joy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, favorite-fic-hist

I thought this book captured the beauty and harshness of Alaska (and of life) so well! The domestic violence aspect was definitely hard to read about, but the story line really drew me in with its depth, and I loved all the different turns it took.

I listened on audio, and was riveted, listening pretty much straight through. Julia Whelan's narration suited the book really well, and the listening experience reminded me of her narration of Educated. ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2018 Kate rated it really liked it

4.5/5

An incredible, beautiful, and captivating book. It tells the story of a young girl and her parents who are drifters. They find themselves settling in Alaska, and this is the tale of the challenges and obstacles they encounter and overcome - not just the physical challenges of the state, but emotional challenges too.

12 likes · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2018 BookishStitcher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a wonderful book that was very hard to read at times. It's the story of a man who after suffering as a POW from the Vietnam war he decides to move his wife and daughter to remote Alaska when he inherits some land from a buddy who died in the war. The novel is told from the point of view of the young daughter Leni. As they quickly find out, Alaska is not a great place for her father who already has anger issues. There is a lot of domestic violence in this book. There is also a love of th ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2018 Jackie rated it really liked it

Shelves: edingus, goodreads-author, kindle-books, book-clubs, 400-to-500, with-sis, doorstops, north-america, alaska, united-states

This was a moving story. It was a book club choice and all I knew about it was that it was about Alaska.

A couple and their teenage daughter moved to Alaska to get away from the bad things that were happening in the lower 48 states. Although they were very unprepared to live there, especially in the winter, with help from their neighbors they survived. The father was a Vietnam veteran and came home with a lot of mental issues. Hoping that Alaska would help him (and for a while it did), things go ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2018 Kristin rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-fiction, 2018-books, 5000-books

I was so excited to read a copy of The Great Alone early because our library won one of the ARE's from Goodreads. Thanks Goodreads! I have enjoyed reading many other Kristin Hannah books and this one also did not disappoint.

The early 1970's was a time of turmoil for many American families, mostly because of the Vietnam War. In this book, Hannah uses the war to showcase how Ernt Allbright becoming a POW affected the life of the entire family. Lenora, or Leni, becomes the storyteller in this tragi I was so excited to read a copy of The Great Alone early because our library won one of the ARE's from Goodreads. Thanks Goodreads! I have enjoyed reading many other Kristin Hannah books and this one also did not disappoint.

The early 1970's was a time of turmoil for many American families, mostly because of the Vietnam War. In this book, Hannah uses the war to showcase how Ernt Allbright becoming a POW affected the life of the entire family. Lenora, or Leni, becomes the storyteller in this tragic tale of her father Ernt's inability to overcome the atrocities he faced during the war and how he took it out on his family and neighbors.

The 70's was also a time of rugged individualism that spilled out into riots and demonstrations. In the Allbright family, this is manifested by Ernt's drastic decision to move to the wild areas of Alaska to get another "fresh start" that he, his wife Cora, and their daughter desperately hope will ease Ernt's tortured mind. Hannah does a splendid job portraying the Alaska scenery and individuals who populate the village the Allbright family settles near. The Allbright family is pathetically unprepared for the way of life in the Alaskan wilds. The neighbors realize this immediately and take the family under their protection to prepare them for the long deep winter to come.

Unfortunately, the summer Alaskan days which are spectacularly long, give way to the even longer Alaskan winter days and Ernt soon reverts to his unpredictable behavior that frightens both his daughter and wife. This book shows the results in brutal ways and I found myself dreading the turning of the page to find out what Ernt did next. Expectedly, Ernt is not a particularly sympathetic character, but to my mind neither is his wife Cora. Cora constantly puts her husband's wellbeing ahead of her child's and I cannot forgive her for that. Leni is portrayed as a very grownup teenager in this dangerous situation. In fact, I found her to be unrealistically mature in most of the book.

This was an important time in my own life, as I was approximately Ernt's and Cora's age. My husband almost got drafted during Vietnam, and he often has told me we might never have met if the lottery hadn't been created. I knew several classmates who were killed there and brothers of friends who went to Vietnam. Many came back with severe drug addictions that followed them for the rest of their often short lives.

As I got near the end of the book, I at first thought the book should have ended earlier, at a point that provided what I thought was a natural closing event. However, Hannah wanted to bring this book full of pathos to an uplifting ending which eased my mind as I finished the last page.

Be sure to read the acknowledgement at the end, as it sheds light on how Hannah was able to show Alaska in all its stark beauty and wildness with great believability. ...more

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Oct 09, 2018 Linda C rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance-historical

When Leni is 13 her Dad, a returned Vietnam vet with trouble adjusting, decides to move his family to Alaska and live off the grid. As Leni and her mother adjust to the rugged life, her Dad seems to grow increasingly aggressive alienating everyone around him and growing more abusive toward her mother. The story is told by Leni who becomes more of a parent to her fragile mother. Despite the impending feel of the story and the harsh life, Alaska works its way into Leni's soul; almost a character i ...more

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Mar 04, 2024 Olivermagnus rated it really liked it

Shelves: x9, coming-of-age, ya, fiction, zmarch-24, 2024

The Great Alone is about a family that moves to Alaska in 1974. Husband and father, Ernt Allbright, is a former POW who came home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. He impulsively decides to move his family to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last frontier. His wife, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for Ernt, even if it means following him into the unknown. Their thirteen-year-old daughter, Leni, is caught in the middle of her parents’ passionate and sto ...more

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