I was captivated from this novel from the beginning. So many factors are involved: Broken people with broken souls; family abuse; a sad portrait of a woman who tolerates abuse; the effects of abuse on a child; the tragedy of a Viet Nam Vet's post-war mental breakdown of his once good soul. For me, however, the most poignant and educational factors were the descriptions of a wild, desolate, beautiful Alaska in the 1970's. And the stories behind the characters involved who lived there - and played vital roles to the main characters. The tension is palpable. The story is mesmerizing, soulful, heartbreaking, suspenseful. It's one of those rare novels that had me breaking my rule of reading only at bedtime...I had to find out 'what's happening next?". If the following passages do not whet the appetite, I don't know what will: "Two kinds of folks come up to Alaska, Cora. People running to something and people running away from something. The second kind-you want to keep your eye out for them. And it isn't just the people you need to watch out for, either. Alaska herself can be Sleeping Beauty one minute and a bitch with a sawed-off shotgun the next. There's a saying: Up here you can make one mistake. The second one will kill you." "Even her laugh seemed at home here, an echo of the bells that tinkled from wind chimes in front of the shops." "Leni stared down at the sea, rolling inexorably toward her. Nothing you did could hold back that rising tide. One mistake or miscalculation and you could be stranded or washed away. All you could do was protect yourself by reading the charts and being prepared and making smart choices." "She was sweating hard, scooping a bucket of water from the creek, slopping it across her boots, when night fell. And she meant FELL; it hit hard and fast, like a lid clanging down on its pot." "Dad's intentions were good, but even so, it was like living with a wild animal. Like those crazy hippies the Alaskans talked about who lived with wolves and bears and invariably ended up getting killed. The natural-born predator could seem domesticated, even friendly, could lick your throat affectionately or rub up against you to get a back scratch. But you knew, or should know, that it was a wild thing you lived with, that a collar and leash and a bowl of food might tame the actions of the beast, but couldn't change its essential nature. In a split second,, less time than it took to exhale a breath, that wolf could claim its nature and turn, fangs bared." "A girl was like a kite; without her mother's strong, steady hold on the string, she might just flat away, be lost somewhere among the clouds." "Fear and shame she understood. Fear made you run and hide and shame made you stay quiet, but this anger wanted something else. Release." "There it was: the sad truth. Mama loved him too much to leave him. Still, even now, with her face bruised and swollen. Maybe what she'd always said was true, maybe she couldn't breathe without him, maybe she'd wilt like a flower without the sunshine of his adoration." "Everyone up here had two stories: the life before and the life now. If you wanted to pray to a weirdo god or live in a school bus or marry a goose, no one in Alaska was going to say crap to you. No one cared if you had an old car on your deck, let alone a rusted fridge. Any life that could be imagined could be lived up here." "It made Leni feel as if she were a coil of rope drawn around a cleat with the wind pulling at it, tugging, the rope creaking in resistance, slipping. If the line wasn't perfectly tied down, it would all come undone, be torn away, maybe the wind would pull the cleat from its home in fury." "There were a lot of bumper stickers like that out here, deep in Alaska's wild interior, far from the tourist destinations of the coast or the majestic beauty of Denali. Alaska was full of fringe-ists. People who believed in weirdo things and prayed to exclusionary Gods and filled their basements with equal measures of guns and Bibles. If you wanted to live in a place where no one told you what to do and didn't care if you parked a trailer in your yard or had a fridge on your porch, Alaska was the state for you." "The farther away you got from civilization, the stranger things got. Most people spent one dark, bleak, eight-month winter in Fairbanks and left the state screaming. The few who stayed-misfits, adventurers, romantics, loners-rarely left again." "Sometimes you had to go backward in order to go forward." "He hadn't realized how time could unspool the years of your life until for a second you were fourteen again, crying from a place so deep it seemed to predate you, desperate to be whole again." "Time was not something she usually paid much attention to. On the homestead, the bigger picture mattered-the darkening of the sky, the ebbing of the tide, the snow hares changing color, the birds returning or flying south. That was how they marked the passage of time, in growing seasons and salmon runs, and the first snowfall." "After that and all the way home, he said nothing, which should have been better than yelling, but it wasn't. Yelling was like a bomb in the corner: you saw it, watched the fuse burn, and you knew when it would explode and you needed to run for cover. Not speaking was a killer somewhere in your house with a gun when you were sleeping." "Love and fear. The most destructive forces on earth. Fear had turned her inside out, love had made her stupid." "Five out of every thousand people went missing in Alaska every year, were lost. That was a known fact. They fell down crevasses, lost their way on trails, drowned in a rising tide. Alaska. The Great Alone." "Someone said to me once that Alaska didn't create character; it revealed it." "This state, this place, is like no other. It is beauty and horror; savior and destroyer. Here, where survival is a choice that must be made over and over, in the wildest place in America, on the edge of civilization, where water in all its forms can kill you, you learn who you are........You learn what you will do to survive. That lesson, that revelation, as my mother once told me about love, is Alaska's great and terrible gift. Those who come for beauty alone, or for some imaginary life, or those who seek safety, will fail. 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." The physical descriptions throughout the novel are ethereal...you can touch and feel and see what the author paints for you. I think the author did an exquisite job with this novel - my one-time journey through Alaska will never be forgotten.

This is a story about the childhood of a girl named Leni, when her parents, Cora and Ernt, move to Alaska. It takes place in the 70s - Ernt fought in the war and when he returns home to Seattle he’s different. He decides moving the family to Alaska to live off the land will give him his life back. But in Alaska, you need to be tough and the Albright family is certainly unprepared. Lucky for them the people in Alaska help each other - but that help can’t always save Leni and Cora from the dangers that lurk inside their home. This story has a lot of joy - in reading about the beauty of Alaska and the love that blooms between Leni and a local boy named Matthew. But it also has a lot of darkness, with domestic violence and life altering injury that evokes deep sadness from the reader! Additionally, as a daughter, the love and bond between mother (Cora) and daughter (Leni) on this brought me to tears in the end. Kristin Hannah is incredibly descriptive in really laying the foundation for this story to unfold. It was very well written and an amazing read.

A book club pick that I wouldn't normally read but am glad I did. !$@% this book is intense. Talk about a book hangover, this book will have you up late finishing it. You get a visceral feeling of what these characters are going through. An in depth look at a terribly toxic relationship and the impact it has on absolutely everything. Alaska definitely feels like a character in the story. Beautiful but deadly you feel like you're there. Large Marge is a supremely interesting/full of heart character. I was like no notes, I just adore her. The time jumps work well to enhance the story and where the story ended up (you see more of the journey of everyone. A surprising twist or two/turning of expectations, especially the ending leads to a real page turner of a book.

Amazing characters and descriptive locations. A story of love, adventure, loss, finding yourself, and the meaning of home ❤️ So good!

Kristin Hannah, the author of “The Great Alone” is a master at character development. This book is the ultimate emotional roller coaster ride. I loved watching Leni’s development from a young girl to a woman over many decades of her life. This book taps into themes of love, abuse, loss, loneliness, forgiveness, and complex family dynamics. The Great Alone features a central theme of unwavering love that can be both beautiful and cruel. I loved this book and truly appreciate it as a piece of real literature with poetic descriptions of life’s harsh realities. Just beautiful.

A beautifully written and captivating story that touches every emotion. Love, loss, guilt, pride, adventure and discovery. Highly recommend this book.

The characters, the description of Alaska, the overall narration. Great.

I just finished The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, and wow, what a story! This is the third book of hers I've read in the past few weeks, and I’m officially a serious fan. Kristin has a way of pulling you into her characters’ lives, making you feel everything they go through. This book was no exception. The story takes place in Alaska, and the descriptions of the wild, rugged landscape were breathtaking. It felt like I was right there with the Allbright family, experiencing the isolation and beauty of the place. At times, the story was heavy and heartbreaking, but it was also filled with hope, love, and resilience. I couldn’t put it down, even when it was hard to read because of the struggles the characters faced. Kristin’s writing always gets to me, and this book is a great example of why I keep coming back for more. I’ll definitely be looking for my fourth book by her soon. If you haven’t read The Great Alone, I highly recommend it. Just be ready for an emotional ride—you’ll need some tissues!

I rarely write reviews but in this case ... This is, by far, one of the best books I've read in a long time. As always, Kristin Hannah spins a wonderful tale .... plot, character development, everything is outstanding, but what grabbed me by the throat emotionally was her obvious visceral love for the State of Alaska. It shone through on every page. I'm not a crier but this story had me in tears I'm happy to give it 5 stars - wish I could have rated it higher.

This is an amazing story and I cried buckets towards the end. Fascinating learning about life in Alaska and the very different love stories and friendships described in the book. One of the best books I’ve ever read.

Wasn't sure I would like this but it turned out to be my favourite of this authors so far, having read the other more popular books she has written. I really liked this, it captivated me. A recommended read 👍🏻

I have just received my book and it either wasn’t in sufficient packaging to protect it or it is not new. I haven’t read the book yet.

It is beautiful story written beautifully. I love it. Leni and Cora both were the fighters. I admire them both. Looking forward to visiting Alaska very soon.