The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
St. Martin’s Press, 2018
Alaska, 1974: unpredictable, unforgiving, untamed. For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival. 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 stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.
The Great Alone is not a story that readers will soon forget.
Kristin Hannah paints Alaska’s magnificent landscape with crisp clarity, and the struggle for survival—whether in the wild outdoors or inside a shuttered cabin of domestic violence—is described in uncompromising detail.
Readers experience life as teenage heroine Leni does, and throughout the story, the characteristics of love are questioned. What does love look like in its truest form? How far can we taint it with our own fears and insecurities before it ceases to be love? How much control does anyone have over how and why they love? As Leni matures, she begins to uncover the layers and complexities of loving, living, and dying.
After finishing The Great Alone, I reached for a light read with a happy ending. I sat in the sun, talked to a friend, and hugged my husband. Sometimes it feels exceptionally nice to return from a book world to my own.
What will you remember about The Great Alone?
And if you, like Leni and her mother in The Great Alone, are living with domestic abuse, please know you have options. Consider seeking help from a trusted friend, pastor, or the National Domestic Abuse Hotline (Tel. 800-799-7233).
