I liked the fact I kept wanting Ernt to change and appreciate his wife and child who loved him.

The Great Alone- Kristin Hannah, author; Julia Whelan, narrator
This is a hard book to summarize because it goes off on so many tangents over several decades, really beginning in 1974, with a major change in lifestyle for the Allbrights, and ending with a published piece about Alaska, by Lenora Walker, in 2009. Although all the dots connect and get resolved in the end, there is a danger of giving the story away in the summary, so I must warn readers that this review contains spoilers.
Ernt Allbright and Coraline Golliher fell in love when she was 16 and still in high school. Her parents objected to him. When she became pregnant, she quit school, and they ran away and eloped. He worked as a mechanic, and they lived a vagabond sort of life until he went to Vietnam. After his helicopter was downed, he was captured and became a prisoner of war in a place known for its brutality. Cora was left alone with her daughter, until he returned, a much damaged man, prone to nightmares and violence.
One day, in 1974, a letter came from the father of one of his Nam buddies. Bo had died there and had left him his land in Alaska. As he found it hard to be in the real world, a place where Patti Hearst was kidnapped, Watergate was being investigated, and Israelis were murdered at the Munich Olympics, he decided they should move to Alaska, the new frontier, and start life again without the encumbrances of modern technology, without the government’s interference. In Alaska, there was no electricity in the shack he inherited. There was no indoor plumbing. There were no hard and fast laws to follow. Survival was the only game. His mental health seemed to improve. Then the long nights came.
Lenora was 13 years old when they moved to Kaneq. She loved Alaska’s beauty and majesty. Although it was a hard life, without creature comforts, she adjusted well. Her father was a difficult taskmaster who taught her to shoot and kill for food, who taught her how to survive. The neighbors taught her mother and her to forage for food, plant gardens and smoke meat. The neighbors helped them build outbuildings, clean the shack left to her father, and in general, to learn the way of the land in Alaska. People who survived there were strong and independent, some escaping from something and some looking to leave the rat race that society was rapidly becoming.
Cora and Ernt’s love was as dysfunctional as Ernt was. Cora could not leave the abusive relationship and often made her daughter responsible for keeping the peace by humoring Ernt to prevent him from exploding. Leni felt responsible for her mother’s safety and was afraid to leave without her. She feared for her mother’s safety. As the years passed, although just a teenager, she began to see her father more clearly than her mother did, and she began to be afraid. She wished her mother would leave him, but her mother kept making excuses for him and forgiving him. She promised he would change, and he often begged for forgiveness, promising his violent outbursts and reactions would never happen again. He even promised to stop drinking, but he never did.
The life was hard and when winter came, the darkness, isolation and weather set her father off and he often had violent tantrums, striking out at Cora, but generally, not at Leni. While attending the one room schoolhouse she met another teenager her age, Matthew Walker, and both quickly bonded. Soon that bond grew into devotion and love, but as her father became more and more irrational, he began to hate the Walkers because of their wealth and influence, and also because Walker wanted to modernize the town, with electricity, plumbing, better roads and guest houses. As he became more and more jealous, belligerent and dangerous, the neighbors rejected him and his ideas. He grew angrier and the Allbrights became more and more isolated from the community.
After a particularly violent incident, Leni and Cora tried to run away, but they skidded off the road and were injured. Cora refused to report Ernt to the police. Instead, after medical treatment, they returned to the cabin and their fear. Another time, after an incident, Matthew and Leni ran in one direction and Cora ran in another, to prevent Ernt from finding them. Cora promised she would call the police and report him. Large Marge, another settler would help her. However, in the end, she refused to press charges and he was soon released from jail. Meanwhile, Matthew and Leni were severely injured when they tried to return to see how Cora was doing. Matthew’s injuries were far worse, and he was placed in a coma, with brain damage. He might never wake up again. He might never walk or talk again. Once more, Cora and Leni returned to the cabin. Things rapidly escalated downward and as Ernt builds a fence to pen them in, they become more and more afraid, and he grows more and more dangerous. Alaska is called “the great alone”. It is a dangerous place that one has to constantly try to contain in order to survive. There was the ever present danger of wild animals, limited supplies in the winter, extreme weather and tides. Self sufficiency was a must, but it was a skill that was learned and acquired through trial and error and community cooperation. Neighbors counted on each other for help. Ernt wanted to isolate them from the community. That was dangerous.
Finally, a series of events caused him to completely erupt. When he started beating Leni, threatening her life, it was the last straw for Cora. She took matters into her own hands, at last. They were on the run, sneaking out of Kaneq, racing to Seattle where her estranged parents lived. They begged for help. Leni was pregnant. They assumed new identities. Their many foolish choices had condemned them to this chaotic life
As the years passed, Leni’s son, Matthew Jr., grows into a happy, obedient boy who brings joy to all of them. Eventually, Leni even gets her college degree. Then her mother falls terminally ill, and she writes out a confession for the crime she had committed. After her death, Leni returned to Alaska with her mother’s ashes and the written confession, as Cora had requested. She reunited with her friends and introduced her son to his relatives and his severely injured father.
The story was about soldiers who suffered from the trauma of war, it was about battered wives with no power, it was about young, romantic love and about dysfunctional love between disturbed and damaged people. It was about the foolish decisions people make. It was about people who wanted to prevent change and some who preferred it. The author states it was about people who had dreams.
The book was obviously well researched. The landscape of Alaska came to life. I felt as if I was there when the darkness that threatened Ernt, came down around him, loosening his fragile self control. The narrator read the character’s personalities so well that I was placed directly into each character’s head, experiencing their individual traumas, and there were traumas galore, so many in fact, that it felt like the author was a bit afraid to leave any experience of life out of the narrative. However, her writing style held my attention, as I wanted to find out how all the myriad problems were resolved, but the narrative often seemed too intense to imagine as a part of reality. There were just too many incidents that made me question whether or not they really could have happened. Could characters really keep making the same excuses and mistakes over and over again without learning from them? After awhile, don’t apologies for the same infractions lose their meaning? Would the “prince and princess” really find each other again? Too many problems piled up, emergencies piled up, dangerous rescues and life threatening situations piled up, so at times, the storyline simply stretched credulity and became like a fairytale.

Wonderful to read this book which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Loved reading about the true wilderness of Alaska, Alaskans, and their wild life. The basic story is sad but ends happy. Will be giving a book report in June. On the Best Sellers list for a reason.

You’ll never think of Alaska the same way again!

I loved this book and think it would be a great addition to any bookclub. For anyone who has visited Alaska during the summer, it’s difficult to imagine it during winter.

Could not put it down. Rich, dark and moving. Fell in love with Alaska and the off the grid communities. Characters were well drawn out. Could have used more back-history with Cora and Ernt’s relationship. Satisfying in a way My Absolute Darling wasn’t. Could be a companion piece to that book.

This was a fun read, hard to put down and a great book for book club

I really enjoyed this book. Though parts were predictable, it was so interesting to follow this family on their Alaskan adventure. Many characters are larger than life but felt real based on the environment and times. It was hard to put down and was ultimately satisfying.

Loved everything about this about this book!

I love how the author describes the landscape of Alaska. I really feel like I’m there enjoying it’s beauty in person. I also enjoyed the character development and humanity.

Another winner from Kristin Hannah!! A tale of family, survival and love with a beautiful, yet dangerous backdrop of the Alaskan frontier. You manage to go through all your emotions while engulfed in this story which starts back in 1974, while a young girl is dealing with moving, a father who was a POW, and the world after the Vietnam War. Touching, poignant, and well written!!!

Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors. This book was not one of my favorites by her. Don't get me wrong, it was a good book, just much more difficult to get through than her others.The saga of a dysfunctional family in the Alaska wilderness was somewhat excruciating to get through due to the circumstances.

I donâ??t like books on the topic of spousal abuse, so this book was really hard to get through. Kristen Hannah fleshes out her characters well and makes them believable.

THE GREAT ALONE is said to be a second departure for Kristin Hannah, the first being THE NIGHTINGALE. Her other books that I've read are what I call “chic lit,” young female centered and, to one degree or another, revolving around their love lives and petty issues like their need for a new hair style or outfit. While some women like that type of book, I don’t.

I can’t yet speak for THE NIGHTINGALE, but THE GREAT ALONE is different, mostly. A married couple and their 13-year-old daughter flee Washington state and move to the wilds of Alaska. We read about their struggle to survive in such a harsh environment. The man gets violent often, especially during the winter, when days are short. That’s not chic lit.

But most of the story is told from the point of view of the teenage girl. Although it is in third, not first, person, Hannah refers to the adult main characters, the parents, as “Mama” and “Dad” and uses their names only in dialog. It made feel like I was back in 8th or 9th grade.

For that reason, even though THE GREAT ALONE is not chic lit, I give it only three out of five stars. I admit, though, I would have given it four stars when I was younger.

this was just an ok read for me. certainly a decent one and glad I read it, but not the 4-5 stars everyone else is giving it. I should say that I really like this author so was excited to read it. but from the beginning, i felt i knew pretty much most of what was going to happen. Having said that , its not an easy story if you know anything about abuseive relationships....so from that perspective , it truly hits home. And having children that lived in Fairbanks for only one year, ON the grid, , her descriptions of life there are right on point. I just felt like i loved her other book better.

Loved!!!!

This story is captivating. The characters stay with you. Kristin Hannah’s writing just keeps getting better and better

I enjoyed reading this book. There is always something new and exciting waiting to be discovered.

You won't want to put this book down. Beautifully written.

The story was riveting. I wanted to know what was going to happen, but didn't want to read it too fast for fear of finishing it! There were so many twists and turns. Great book for a discussion.

adventurous, interesting,dark : I never been to AK author made feel as if I was actually there seeing the sites through my imagination DARK - because I know nothing about nor have I experienced physical abuse I had to put the book down a few times to just give myself a break from the written abuse & disrespect.

Awesome

The book was interesting and well written, but not as good as her other novel “The Nightingale.” I felt like it could have gone deeper on the subject of the Vietnam War” and day to day life in Alaska in the late 1970s.

Amazing story of life in remote Alaska. The characters are brutal and strong at the same time.

LOVED, loved, the book! Learned a lot about living off the grid and you felt like you were in Alaska in the bitter cold with all the challenges that went along with it. if you loved reading the Nightingale, you'll love this one too :-)

I didn’t like this one as much as her first. I felt a lot of the scenes were unrealistic. Approaching the end of the book and it seemed that she was just trying to finish it to get it completed for the publisher. It seemed to end too perfectly after all the turmoil.

The Great Alone was a fantastic story about a family trying to escape in Alaska.

We gave this a B+.

Captivating, compelling story with twists, turns and surprises. Issues of PTSD, domestic abuse, and living off the grid. Characters well-developed and writing very descriptive. Large Marge a favorite character. Character of mother immature and selfish. Title very appropriate to the content.

This was a fascinating book just reading about the difficulties of living in Alaska year round as well as dealing with PTSD of a military man.
The story was well written and I couldn't put it down.

One of our favorites

This book was extremely insightful as to life in deep Alaska. The darkness of the environment and the darkness that was a constant within the household kept me on the edge of my seat! Highly recommended!!!

Easy read, couldn’t put book done. Great story

Ernt Albright is a veteran who was a POW during the Viet Nam war. The man who came home from the war is very different from the man he once was. He has dark and violent moment. His wife and daughter live in fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. Whine a former veteran dies and leaves him his cabin in the Alaskan wilderness the all believe this will be a fresh start for them and the end of Ernts nightmares. They are not prepared for the long, dark and brutal winter and what they will have to do to survive.
Once again this is a fabulous story which is extremely well written. The author makes you feel as if you are right there with her.

This book was okay, story very formulaic and one you’ve probably read 100 times.

Loved everything about it!

Good family dysfunction story about alaska

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