Book Review : The Great Alone

The Great Alone:
Kristin hannah is a very tempting writer. She indulges emotional attachments into making herself a famous book author.

The Kristen Hannah fans will be more than happy to read this book. She already has awards for best book of the year. And for her best work Nightingale.

This story is about the Allbrights family consisting of Ernt, his wife Cora and their daughter Lenora. In 1974, they move to Alaska’s town Kaneq having inherited a cabin from a friend. Ernt has been a Prisoner of War and struggles with PTSD issues. His nights are streaked with war nightmares, his anger gets out of control at times and his decisions are mostly rash and insensitive. However, the love that Cora has for him is deep and loyal. Understandably, the 13-year-old Lenora and Cora share a strong friendship. The mother-daughter duo works out clumsy ways to steer away from Ernt’s temper. They are aware that, as a family, they need to stick together.

Their normal day in Kaneq constitutes of laborious work like washing, cooking, farming, hunting and storing food for the winter. June is Spring, July is summer and August is fall. The rest of the year constitutes the winter! The dark, cold and dangerous winter not only brings a heavy downpour of snow but also bleak moods, emotional upheavals and depressing tendencies.

Part one is when Lenora is an adolescent and goes to a school that has a handful of children. She sees many happy days with her family. However, the winter shatters the calm and the fatal accidents bring waves of sorrow to the small community. The community also gets divided into 2 parts where some people want progress and technology to change their life whereas the others do not want Alaska to be corrupted with tourists and commercialism. Few of the people are lawbreakers and understandably, they do not want any authorities running the show.

Part two of this longish book describes Lenora as a 17-year-old young girl who has fully adapted to the harsh life in Alaska. She is bright, mature and hardworking. She is a great huntswoman and an integral member of the community. Her love story with a neighbor brings a lot of adventure to the last 100 pages of the book.