Book Review: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 

Title: The Great Alone

Author: Kristin Hannah

Genre: Historical Fiction

About the book: Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown. 

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

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 daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature. (From Goodreads)

My Thoughts: I really liked this book.  I will admit that it is my first Kristin Hannah book, though she has been on my radar for years. I listened to this book on audio and as it was going to "disappear" at midnight from Libby (someone else has it on hold) I sped up the narration so I could finish it!  This isn't something that I would normally do, but I had to see how it ended!   I believe that I will most likely re-read this in the future so I can really enjoy the story and the setting more fully.  I liked all the characters in the book, both the good and the bad, and enjoyed all the strong women that survived up in Alaska. The way the community came together as a family to support newcomers is something you don't always see, especially today.  I can't wait to read another book by Kristin Hannah in the future!

Waiting on Wednesday: Winter Garden

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Winter Garden
by Kristin Hannah
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, Feb 2010

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother?

From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are. (Amazon)

Winter Garden
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, Feb 2010
ISBN: 978-0312364120
400 pages

What are you waiting for? Waiting on Wednesdays is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Library Loot: 1-13-2010

More great books this week - These are all to be blamed on fellow bloggers!

Library Loot is hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures.

The House of the Spirits

by Isabel Allende

Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget.

ESTEBAN - the patriarch, a volatile and proud man whose lust for land is legendary and who is haunted by his tyrannical passion for the wife he can never completely possess.

CLARA - the matriarch, elusive and mysterious, who foretells family tragedy and shapes the fortunes of the house of the Truebas.

BLANCA - their daughter, soft-spoken yet rebellious, whose shocking love for the son of her father's foreman fuels Esteban's everlasting contempt...even as it produces the grandchild he adores.

ALBA - the fruit of Blanca's forbidden love, a luminous beauty, a fiery and willful woman...the family's break with the past and link to the future. (inside cover)

Waiting for the Moon
by Kristin Hannah

Before she soared up national bestseller lists with her contemporary fiction, Kristin Hannah wrote stunning historical tales of destiny and magic. Waiting for the Moon is one of her most unforgettable novels--a haunting, lyrically written tale of obsession, redemption, and the healing power of love.

Selena doesn't remember who she is or how she came to the hidden mansion on the isolated Maine coast. Lost in a confusing world filled with strangers, she finds comfort in a man whose eyes reflect her own desperate loneliness. Dr. Ian Carrick invites her into his mysterious sanctuary where he has retreated from the world that betrayed him. For her, he begins to believe in himself once more. But even love cannot protect her from her own terrible secrets... (back cover)

The Wedding Girl
by Madeleine Wickham

From the author of the internationally bestselling Sophie Kinsella novels, Madeleine Wickham's The Wedding Girl is a delightful comedy about a secret that becomes the ultimate wedding crasher!

At the age of eighteen, in that first golden Oxford summer, Milly was up for anything. Now, ten years later, she is a very different person. Engaged to a man who is wealthy, serious, and believes her to be perfect, she is facing the biggest and most elaborate wedding imaginable. But one small episode from the past has the power to completely derail her carefully planned nuptials. Milly has locked away this history so securely that she has almost persuaded herself it doesn't exist--until, with only four days to go, her secret catches up with her...And when "I do" gives you deja vu, it could be a problem. (inside cover)

One Good Turn
by Kate Atkinson

On a beautiful summer day, crowds lined up outside a theater witness a sudden act of extreme road rage: a tap on a fender triggers a nearly homicidal attack. Jackson Brodie, ex-cop, ex-private detective, new millionaire, is among the bystanders.

The even thrusts Jackson into the orbit of the wife of an unscrupulous real estate tycoon, a washed-up comedian, a successful crime novelist, a mysterious Russian woman, and a female police detective. Each of them hiding a secret, each looking for love or money or redemption or escape, they all play a role in driving Jackson out of retirement and into the middle of several mysteries that intersect in one sinister scheme.

Kate Atkinson "writes such fluid, sparkling prose that an ingenious plot almost seems too much to ask, but we get it anyway," writes Laura Miller for Salon. With a keen eye for the excesses of modern life, a warm understanding of the frailties of the human heart, and a genius for plots that turn and twist, Atkinson has written a novel that delights and surprises from the first page to the last. (inside cover)