The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Having just read Michener's Alaska this fictional book set in the same state caught my attention.  I was eager to read a book with Alaska as the backdrop, thinking I would recognize the land that I had been so impressed with in my recent reading.  That part worked- I was pleased to recognize the setting and I felt that I appreciated the various references to Alaskan history and recognized the characteristics of the Alaskan people which were endemic to characters in both books:  fierce, almost obsessive independence, a highly developed sense of community, rampant alcoholism, seemingly automatic challenges to authority.  The book was fine; I liked it well enough.  Its the kind of book that hits the shelves every single day and does not really stand out from its brethren.  Had it not been set in Alaska, it would have been a hard pass for me, and in the final analysis I am glad that I read it.

What's it about?   Call it a coming of age story, call it a wilderness story, call it a story of domestic abuse or a story about the strength and depth of the bond between a mother and child, call it a love story...its all of those.  But none really define it.  Spanning her childhood through early adulthood, The Great Alone follows Leni as her family moves from Seattle to a remote homestead in Alaska to live as pioneers did, off the grid and independent.  Her dad is an undiagnosed PTSD victim of the Vietnam war; her mom is a strong woman whose only weakness is her love for her damaged man.  Like the mother in Caroline, or the wife in The Big Rock Candy Mountain and frankly countless other women in fiction and reality, Cora supresses her own best instincts in favor of the whims of her husband with predictably dire results, given that their story plays out in a novel.  I imagine in real life the outcome is generally far more banal, leaning more towards moderate discontent rather than life-altering situations.

Rating:  #4 Liked It