The Great Alone

The Great Alone

Kristin Hannah

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
🏔️
❤️‍🩹
🥶

Alaska, 1974. Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed. For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival. Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown. At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources. But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves. In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.


From the Forum
  • "Large Marge" & her largeness

    So Large Marge is obviously an absolutely beloved character, and I couldn't stop thinking about the interesting way her size was continually brought up and leveraged in different ways over the course of the book. For example - during a conflict Ernt says to her "fat chance, fat lady" (as he frequently mentions her size in a derogatory way), versus her very empowered and threatening response "I'm a big woman with a big mouth." I found her character so healing in so many ways, and one of them was definitely how she unabashedly takes up space and makes her presence felt, both emotionally and physically. I think another interesting angle to this is that the book is set in this environment all about strength and survival, and so Ernt (described around the above scene as being very thin and having had issues getting sufficient resources for his family's well-being) lobbing insults at Marge about her fatness actually feels like it isn't just rudeness but more akin to his disrespect of wealth and means in general, which Marge evidently has. Would love to hear if anyone else had thoughts about this topic!

    2
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Reading Update from 100%

    I am so unwell right now 😭😭😭 don't read this if you're hormonal I've been in tears for like half an hour

    2
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Reading Update from 41% (page 190)
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    2
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all posts
    Recent Reviews

    Your rating:

  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all reviews
    Community recs if you liked this book...
    Where the Crawdads Sing
    2
    Educated
    2
    Migrations
    1