The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 

I picked up Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone a few years ago because I kept seeing it everywhere. It saw it featured in ads, I saw it recommended on Amazon and Goodreads, and it was always featured prominently on the shelves at Barnes and Noble and Target. I thought the summary on the inside flap sounded interesting and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I never got around to reading it back then, so I put it on my 22 in 2022 list. Finally, I picked it up this month.

The plot of the novel follows fourteen year old Leni Allbright. As the novel begins, it is 1974 and she is living with her mother and father in Seattle. The family moves around a lot because Leni's dad, Ernt,  is struggling with severe mental health issues after returning home from the Vietnam War. He has PTSD and has difficulty controlling his anger, depression, and paranoia. As a result, he is unable to hold down a job and is becoming increasing abusive to Leni and her mother. It's a difficult situation, but the family is hopeful when Ernt inherits a piece of land in the Alaskan wilderness. The family moves to the property, thinking that getting away from city life and working the land will help him heal.

They soon discover that they were woefully unprepared to make a home in the remote Alaskan wilderness. Their property has a small, one room cabin on it, and basically nothing else. There is no electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Their tiny town only has a bar and a small general store. There are no police or hospitals nearby. They have a lot to learn about survival in this type of place, and winter is quickly approaching. Luckily for them, their neighbors band together and help them figure everything out. At first, Ernt's health appears to improve as he throws himself into taking care of his new homestead. Leni also comes to love their tiny Alaskan home and learns how to fish, hunt, and farm alongside her parents. She even becomes good friends with the only other kid her age in town, a boy named Matthew. She finally feels like she belongs somewhere.

The good times, however, don't last. As winter finally sets in with its freezing temperatures and increasingly long periods of darkness, Ernt's issues resurface and his behavior takes a terrifying turn. Their property is in a place so isolated that there are not resources easily available to help families in trouble. Leni and her mother are basically on their own, and they must figure out how to survive and build a life around Ernt's volatility and violence.    

This was my first Kristin Hannah novel, and I thought it was fantastic. Leni's story was beautiful and terrifying and sad in turns. It was easy for me to fall into her journey and root for her to finally find some happiness and stability. The plot spans several years, and watching her grow up and change throughout that time was very satisfying. There were moments I felt bad for her, moments I was cheering her on, and moments I was very frustrated with her, which just goes to show that I was really getting into the plot. I cared what happened to her. Ernt's character was pretty effective as well. He was vile and scary, and I strongly disliked him. He was a formidable obstacle for Leni and her mother to overcome. His story was sad, as many of his issues stemmed from the trauma he sustained in Vietnam, which served to make his family situation more complicated. His relationship with Leni's mother was toxic and obsessive, and that combined with his veteran status made him a difficult character for the rest of his family to walk away from, even when it was blatantly obvious that they needed to do so.

Hannah's depiction of Alaska was one of the strongest elements of the novel. She truly makes it come alive with beautiful language choices and vivid descriptions of its landscape and weather. It was interesting to read about all the farming, hunting, cooking, etc. that was required to survive there. I'm not a very outdoorsy person myself, but reading this novel made me want to give it a try for a little while. Hannah makes it clear that this is a dangerous, difficult, wild place to try and live, but she also makes it sound incredible to experience. I wasn't surprised to learn from the back flap of the book that she lived there herself for a time. Her love for the place shines through the pages. It is essentially another character in the story, and it was probably the characters that was the best developed too.

One slight criticism I had as I was reading was that the ending of the story was a little bit rushed. The rest of the novel moves at a relatively slow pace and spends a long time developing the characters and plot points. The ending section, in comparison, basically moves at breakneck speed. A lot of important events take place in what is probably an unrealistically short time. It really didn't match with the earlier sections of the novel and felt a bit jarring. However, this was not something that spoiled my reading in the moment. Rather, it was something that I thought was off when I reflected back on it. I remained extremely engaged throughout my actual reading time, so it wasn't that much of an issue for me. 

The Great Alone ended up being  surprisingly good reading experience. I really enjoyed the characters, the dramatic storyline, and the rugged Alaskan setting. I am definitely looking forward to checking out Kristin Hannah's more famous work, The Nightingale, at some point. A lot of reviews I read liked that one more. With how much I enjoyed this novel, I'm excited to see how they compare for me.

Challenge Tally

22 in 2022: 6/22

Total Books Read in 2022: 23