Cora Allbright and her husband Ernt, a recently-returned Vietnam veteran scarred by the war, uproot their thirteen year old daughter Leni to start a new life in Alaska. Utterly unprepared for the weather and the isolation, but welcomed by the close-knit community, they fight to build a home in this harsh, beautiful wilderness.
At once an epic story of human survival and love, and an intimate portrait of a family tested beyond endurance, The Great Alone offers a glimpse into a vanishing way of life in America. With her trademark combination of elegant prose and deeply drawn characters, Kristin Hannah has delivered an enormously powerful story that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the remarkable and enduring strength of women.
About the highest stakes a family can face and the bonds that can tear a community apart, this is a novel as spectacular and powerful as Alaska itself. It is the finest example of Kristin Hannah’s ability to weave together the deeply personal with the universal.
Comment: I had this book in the pile for years and I've finally decided to start it because it would suit one of the topics for a challenge I'm doing with one of my GR groups. I have read other things by the author before (only one other book since I've started this blog, though) so I knew I was going into an emotional read.
Leni and her parents are moving to Alaska following a letter her father received letting him know a friend had left him his house there. The Vietnam war did leave a mark on him and, like so many others, he returned a changed man, always anxious, always on the move. At first, things go on well enough and the small community there helps them prepare things for winter. However, not even a new way of life is enough to give her father a new look on life and the same habits, the same patterns start to emerge again and Leni and her mother now need to be aware of how to behave around him. When things start to change around their small town, their routines are once more turned upside down but this times they have established lives and leaving would not be as easy. Is there any hope for them to reach the happiness they sought by moving to Alaska?
I knew this would be emotional and challenging, in the sense that things would not always go as one would expect, especially considering the fact some places in Alaska still are quite inhospitable (I have also seen some hints on it while zapping National Geographic shows) and living there would not fit everyone.
I do think the author did a wonderful job in portraying Alaska as a place of immense beauty at the same time it show cased its danger and complicated lifestyle of those who wanted to live there. While reading, I will confess I was both enthralled by the idea of living there - but no, I would not be that brave - and kind of in a trance while reading the descriptions of all the dangers and struggles. Sometimes I did have some difficulty picturing it as real thing, that people do choose to live that way. I think I'd opt to be a silly tourist only and visit during the summer.
I liked Leni as the main character. The book is divided into three main parts, 1974 when the family arrives in Alaska, 1978 when Leni is a teenager and the major events happen, and then 1986 when we get the see the aftermath of a huge plot point. Throughout all of this, Leni grows up to love Alaska, to feel at home there and to trust the skills she learns, and the people she connects with, while feeling protective of her parents, in particular her mother. I think Leni is very likable because she isn't perfect, she isn't the best, but she is humble to learn, to be a good person who only wants to see her family well.
Of course, things aren't easy and the main reason is that her father, clearly with what we now know is PTSD from the war, is becoming more and more unstable and the Alaskan community, with its features and isolation are perfect for him to start creating this other reality around him, one in which it's them against the world. I can understand this and how one's surroundings might affect perception even more, and the author set up things quite well, for her father ins't crazy, isn't evil, but experiences and trauma did reset his way of thinking. I also liked it that he wasn't always mean or bad, that it was something so gradual that, for Leni and her mother, it felt like something they had to control.
The element I feel was the most developed was the bond between mother and daughter. Leni and her mother Cora have adjusted to things that could help Leni's father and by trying to support/guide him somehow, this made the two of them a team, two people who need to know how to read the vibe, how to understand his moods, so that they could be in control of what he might do. How tiring this must have been, and how much wright for their bond as well. I think the psychological elements of all the relationships were great food for thought content.
There's also a little bit of romance, and a certain coming of age experience for Leni. I also liked the neighborly feel the community had, which made this extra special, for I imagined animosity for newcomers might be an issue. What I wasn't as fond of was how so much "tragedy" seeped in to these characters' lives, and how seemingly avoidable certain situations were. I understand the point is to highlight resourcefulness and adaptation to harsh conditions, but some things felt a bit too much shock factor.
I still felt gripped for the most part, even when things were dragging a little, or being a bit repetitive. When the 1986 section comes along, of course other issues were also highlighted by how unfair they looked. It did feel sometimes that the point was to show case the drama of everything... I would, personally, prefer to not have this but some things ended up contributing for the greater good, I suppose.
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