The Great Alone

Product Information

Now “Firefly Lane” is on my list. It’s also gonna be TV series with Katherine Heigl (I’d better read and skip the show because I don’t want to hate story for wrong casting) McNary, Dave (February 5, 2018). "Sony Buys 'Nightingale' Author's Alaska Novel 'The Great Alone' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Retrieved March 13, 2021. Charles, Ron (February 6, 2018). "Kristin Hannah's next hit: A brave girl confronts her disturbed dad in the Alaskan wild". The Washington Post . Retrieved March 13, 2021. Cadden, Mary; Schnaars, Christopher (January 5, 2019). "Michelle Obama's 'Becoming' is USA TODAY's No. 1 book of 2018. See the others in top 100". USA TODAY . Retrieved March 13, 2021.

but what i am grateful for, most of all, is how i was able to read about a place i have never been and fall in love with it, how i could find an undeniable softness for the harsh landscape of the alaskan wilderness, how i could come to understand the pure beauty of a place i have never seen. But, there were some warts and flaws, and I think maybe the author skimmed over the research she should have done, which is why I can’t in good conscience give it a five star rating, although I am tempted to. Combined Print & E-Book Fiction- March 18, 2018". The New York Times. March 18, 2018 . Retrieved March 13, 2021. Cora was engaged in a continual quest to find herself — taking spiritual workshops and human potential courses. Sure- when you’re hurting - seeking help and support makes sense. Leni shook her head, feeling a familiar sadness creep in. She could never tell him how it felt to live with a dad who scared you so much sometimes and a mother who loved him too much and made him prove how much he loved her in dangerous ways.’ (p.71)

1974

And yet...and yet... Leni is slowly finding her home. In the friendly neighbors, the kind townspeople and the animals surrounding their little homestead. All the other characters: Ernt, who I don’t like, for good reason, but I sympathize with because of what he’d gone through in war; Large Marge, who is hilarious and an ex-lawyer (that surprised me!); Mr. Walker, who I’m still upset Cora didn’t end up with because he’s a sweetheart; Matthew, who I freaking love and he had almost, almost made me cry when we had that accident. And of course, all the other characters were wonderful and realis

What do you think about Ernt’s character and how he treats his wife and daughter? Do you think he could have sought support in the 1970s even if he wanted to? Let’s start with Leni’s life before they move to Alaska. It’s already turbulent, with her family moving around often to find some peace. When Leni is told she is moving to Alaska, she accepts it. Welcome to Kaneq, Alaska… I’m making a correction. This was not family decision. Ernt made her family move there. His wife Cora who is suffering from his anger management issues left from traumatic experiences from war and his smart, brilliant, young daughter Leni is also confused to start at a place they couldn’t locate on the map. They reluctantly obey his decision and did their best to make him happy by creating a new house life left in the middle of nowhere. It's to the wilderness of Alaska, this "Great Alone", a most fitting description, that Leni Allbright and her parents go, seeking yet another place that her mother hoped would be the place that made her dad happy. Kristin Hannah with vivid descriptions takes the reader here and while I've never been to Alaska, I certainly felt as though I was. Ernt Allbright, a POW who returned home from Vietnam a very different man could never keep a job and moved his family from place to place, clearly suffers from PTSD. It isn't until they move to Alaska that 13 year old Leni , realizes just how bad things are and the imminent danger in their lives. I couldn't help but love Leni. She's wise for her age recognizing what might set off her father's rage. As she grows and her character develops, into a strong , amazing woman in spite of all the tragedy and heartache, I loved her even more. My favorite passage is from Leni's college application several years later: "Books are the mile markers of my life. Some people have family photos or home movies to record their past. I've got books. Characters. For as long as I can remember, books have been my safe place. I read about places I can barely imagine and lose myself to journeys to foreign lands to save girls who didn't know they were really princesses. Only recently have I learned why I needed those faraway worlds."Kristin Hannah really takes her time laying the foundation for the Allbright family and the tedious work the Alaskan wilderness demands and you know what, that was okay with me. It was around the halfway mark, when she switched gears, that everything came crashing down.

Leni, an only child, had gone to four new schools in five years during her early pre- and teen years. She didn’t make friends easy - or at all - at these new schools- and she worried about her parents constantly. Your mother was a kite string. Without her strong, steady hold on you, you might just float away, be lost somewhere among the clouds.” (126) If you have faced the loss of a loved one, did you find this quote to have special resonance for you? What did the author get right about this sentiment? How else would you describe a mother’s influence? In many ways, The Great Alone, is a mother-daughter love story, but one with a broken spine. How did Cora let Leni down in life, how did she save her? Do you think Cora was a good mother? Ernt was a prisoner of war for several years. We know now about PTSD and the ways in which Ernt would have been suffering and the ways in which he could now be helped, but that help didn’t exist in the seventies. Additionally, the Vietnam vets were often treated badly by people upon their return. How do you think Ernt’s war experiences changed him? Do you believe, as Cora tells Leni, that he was “changed” when he came home? Did the war and PTSD “make” Ernt violent, or do you believe he was violent before? Leni meets Mr. Walker's new wife, Atka. They all go to see Matthew. His face is still disfigured and he needs a wheelchair to get around, but at least he is conscious. His speech is imperfect because he needed to re-learn how to speak and read because of the brain damage. The Great Alone begins with the image of a wonderful little family: Cora, Ernt, and Leni. Sure, there are underlying problems but every family has problems, so you don’t think much about them. That is, until the story continues and you begin finding out bits and pieces of things you didn’t have a clue were going on.However, they could not have possibly prepared themselves for living ‘off grid’, in this raw, startlingly beautiful landscape, which is sharply juxtaposed against the harsh, brutal winters, the intensity of mother nature, and the terrifying odds of surviving in such extreme isolation. Yet for Cora and Leni, the danger that lurks around every corner, is within the confines of their own four walls. In the vast expanse of this unpredictable wilderness, you will either become your best self and flourish, or you will run away, screaming, from the dark and the cold and the hardship. There is no middle ground, no safe place; not here, in the Great Alone." But, moving on- This is not the only problem I had with the book. Please everyone in the US. Look up 911. Learn the history of it. It was around, but not common, even in big cities. We take it for granted now, so this might not have registered, but in the early seventies, calling 911 was not a thing. I also noticed a few other gaffes, like Cora smoking on her last cigarette, only to miraculously have a fresh supply the very next morning. After Ernt loses another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he is going to move his family to a small town in Alaska, and settle on some land left to him by a fellow soldier. The thought of moving somewhere so remote, so dangerous, so unknown, is tremendously frightening, but Leni's mother, Cora, has never abandoned her husband no matter what he has done, so she's willing to follow him into the wilderness, in the hopes this may be the fresh start he needs.

She knew fact from fiction but couldn’t give up her love stories. They made her feel as if women could be in control of their own destinies. Even in a cruel, dark world that tested women to the very limits of their endurance, the heroines of these novels could prevail and find true love.” Never haa the setting of a book been so intoxicating to me than the Vietnam-era Alaska that Kristin Hannah described. On numerous occasions, I found myself googling “Alaska 1970s” to get an even clearer picture of the beautiful state which was itself the main character in this book. (That’s what I call a real book hangover!)

1986

The torment she inflicts upon her characters is just so excessive. It doesn’t feel real. It’s impossible to believe that all this awfulness could happen to one person. Kristin Hannah already stole my heart and took all the tears a human body could produce with her masterpiece “Nightingale” (For one year, I suffered from dry eye syndrome! I cried for months and made little children traumatized with my red-rimmed image. Even Step King inspired to write a book named “Red-rimmed” after his “Red-rum sequel”. The story focused on a redhead woman stealing people’s cry and swallow them at night. Yikes! You can imagine he dropped out the project!) Cora declines to press charges so Ernst goes home. Months later, Matthew still isn't better. He's moved into a care facility in anchorage. Leni declines to leave for college, since she is waiting for him. Leni finds out she's pregnant. Leni tells Ernt and he starts to hit her. Cora shoots him. Just so you know where my thoughts are coming from, I am the wife of a twenty-seven year military veteran, and I initially connected with this story and my heart ached for the family whose lives were changed forever due to the traumas of war, but then I became perplexed and then disturbed with where the storyline was heading, especially regarding the actions of the father, named Ernt. In a manner of speaking, I wasn’t buying what was being sold. The “explanation” of his actions, one in particular, which he committed over and over again, wasn’t resonating with me at all.