Hopefully you had a chance to read Kristin Hannah’s latest book, The Great Alone. And hopefully, you loved it as much as I did.
Years ago I was first introduced to Hannah’s work when I read Firefly Lane. And I’ll be honest, I can’t say that the book stuck with me one way or another. Fast forward 10+ years, I stumbled upon Nightingale, and decided I needed to read this book solely because of the great reviews it had on Amazon. And it was one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time.
So when I saw that Hannah was releasing a new book, you better believe it shot up to the number one spot on my “books to read” list. Boy, am I glad that I did.
The story lines in these books could not be more different. Yet, in both Nightingale and The Great Alone, Hannah weaves a story that tugs at your heart. In The Great Alone, Leni Allbright, the book’s main character, is a tween growing up in the 70’s. Her mother, Cora, is an attractive, free-spirited hippie. Her father, Ernt, was a prisoner in the Vietnam War, feared dead, until he returns home one day. Ernt struggles to assemble back into society, clearly struggling with what we identify now as PTSD. By happenstance, one of Ernt’s old war buddies that died over in Vietnam, leaves Ernt a cabin in the great Alaskan wild. And so the Allbrights pile into their VW van with limited belongings and money, and set off to Alaska in an effort to help Ernt get his happy back.
The Allbrights find themselves in truly the Alaskan wild. Their cabin has no running water, and the bathroom is in the form of an outhouse. Even more concerning are the locals continuing to remind the Allbrights that they need to prepare for winter. They need to grow and can crops, preserve fish and other meat, and basically have everything they need to survive the harsh winter. Luckily, the community rallies around them and helps them prepare for their first winter.
Leni immediately takes to their new home and community. However, it becomes evident to Leni that her father has more issues than just being unhappy. Ernt emotionally and physically abuses Cora, a fact that Leni cannot ignore given the small one room cabin they now find themselves in.
Contrasted with her parents’ co-dependent relationship, is Leni’s own relationship budding relationship with the son of the “rich guy” in town (the dad also has a thing for Cora). Also rising to the surface throughout The Great Alone is the ongoing town debate on how to handle growth and tourists, something that I think many remote and small towns face – those residents that want growth and progress, and those residents that want things to stay the same.
Hannah captures readers’ attention throughout the entire story, hitting all the right highs and lows to keep you wanting to stay up way past your bedtime to finish another chapter. In the end, like Nightingale, Hannah paints a beautiful story about a teenage girl that is forced to grow up entirely too soon in a time and place where she ordinarily would have been able to remain a kid for a couple of years longer.
I’m interested to hear your thoughts! Did you love it? Hate it? Tell me!
Looking forward to meeting you here next month to discuss the CCReads May book pick – The American Marriage, one of Oprah’s book club picks for 2018. Happy reading!
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