I chose this as the June read for my library's book club. It's a group of about 15 ladies who meet once per month. I mostly selected this because of the high ratings and praise for Kristin Hannah's previous novel, The Nightingale, which I have not read. I enjoyed this book and wanted to see how it would end. I wouldn't say it's a great book, however. I did cry once or twice, but feel that was more because of the author taking us for a ride on an emotional roller coaster than due to experiencing a well-written story with well-developed characters. I found a few parts of the plot unbelievable. I found Hannah's heavy-handed foreshadowing almost insulting. I recall rolling my eyes at one point when she wrote for the 100th time about how the unpredictable dangers in Alaska were not only in the wilderness but also in their home because of the abusive, mentally ill father. It was good, but not good enough to prompt me to go back and read The Nightingale.

I was not impressed with this book. It was not as fun to read as Kristin's other books. It took a very long time to get into.

This book about killed me. My book club chose it for our April book and while I knew everyone loved Kristin Hannah I had never read any of her books. The writing is so so good and well plotted, but the tension with her dad kept making me put the book down. Logically, I was fine, but certain situations had my heart racing and at one point I had to "put it in the freezer" for a few days. Highly recommended, but only if you're made of strong nerves.

I was loving this book when I first started it. It completely drew me in and enraptured me. I got about a quarter of the way through and then it lost me. The story is about a girl who moves to the wilderness of Alaska with her parents when her nomadic father makes an impulsive decision to drag the family on a new adventure. Kristin Hannah is wonderful at painting the scene and bringing the story to life, and although she is known for writing lengthy novels, most of them can stand up to the excess of pages, like The Nightingale. This one, however, took a nosedive. Once the family arrives in Alaska and begins to establish their homestead, I lost all interest. I also found parts of it to be grotesque and a tad bit unbelievable. *ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Kristin Hannah is very skilled at emotional writing. Recommend to fans of Nicholas Sparks or YA romance.

I loved this book so much. It’s entirely too long and the author uses several turns of phrase over and over again but the story is so engaging and suspenseful against the Alaskan wilderness.

Kristin Hannah's best work yet. The Great Alone was a wonderful read that I didn't want to end. So happy that Hannah chose to tell Leni's story through adulthood.. When Cora moved Leni back to her parents, after Matthew's acciddent I expected the story to go a different way. Beautiful work!

A sweeping picture of life in Alaska that captures the beauty and danger of life on the edge. Good character
development but a little too predictable for me.
It is a good quick read.

St. Martin's Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Great Alone. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

In Kristin Hannah's capable hands, readers are transported to rural Alaska in the 1970's. This epic tale follows thirteen year old Leni Allbright on a perilous journey, both in regards to the harsh landscape and her father's volatile temper. Given the opportunity to put down roots in Alaska, after her father is willed a piece of land from a Vietnam soldier friend, the family quickly realizes that they are not prepared for life in the wilderness. Help from the close-knit community sets Leni, Ernt, and Cora on the right path, but will the looming winter and Ernt's deteriorating mental state doom the family to failure?

The Great Alone gives a grim picture of domestic abuse in the 1970's, before battered women were encouraged to seek help from the authorities. Author Kristin Hannah's descriptions of rural Alaska, with all of its beauty and its perils, was captivating and gave the book a believable foundation. She captured Leni's hopelessness and her frustration over her mother's choices perfectly, providing her with the right amount of backbone and strength. There were a couple of plot points, especially towards the ending, that did not seem realistic given the relationships that Leni and her mother formed. Overall, The Great Alone is a fantastic portrait of the Alaskan wilderness and the characters contained within the story are realistically portrayed. Readers who are fans of Kristin Hannah's previous novels will not be disappointed and those new to the author will be quick to seek out more of her works because of The Great Alone.

The setup and the beginning of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is intense in the characters, the setting, the situation, and the emotion. It has a sympathetic main character to care about. The events seem frighteningly real. However, as the book proceeds, it seems like a race to incorporate every bad thing that can happen into this one story. Let's just say that it goes too far and undermines the "reality" of the powerful setup of the book.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/05/the-great-alone.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

I've been pondering what to write for a week, beyond "I loved it. Read it". After contemplating, and even writing notes for, an english class level exploration of the turns of seasons in Alaska as an allegory for the lives and relationships of the main characters, I realized it would ruin your experience and set up weird expections. Instead I'll keep it simple. "I loved it. Read it".

Loved everything about this book and could not put it down! With a father who is a Vietnam vet with PTSD and crazy ideas and a mother who loves and enables him, Leni knows how to play her part in the family well. After a move to Alaska, she makes friends and becomes a strong independent survivor who learns how to fight for what is right (with the help of her community) even if that means turning against her own family. Full of twists and turns, family, love, community, acceptance and forgiveness Kristin Hannah has created an emotional roller coaster of a read. Will be recommending to all and especially book clubs!

This book was a fantastic read. I couldn't put it down. The author spins a tale so realistic, you feel you are a part of the story. Ms. Hannah wowed me again!

It took me a bit to get into this novel (50-100 pages or so) but once I did, I was IN. The best part of this novel is Alaska – the place is as much a character as anyone else. And Hannah does an amazing job setting the scene and making Alaska come alive in all its glory. The Albright family is a train wreck waiting to happen and so the book moves along with a subtle darkness and suffocation because you know this isn’t heading to a happy place. The novel explores mental illness, PTSD, isolation, community and more. Leni is a wonderful character and I really enjoyed following her experiences. She really amazed me in so many ways throughout the novel. She has an inner strength that was refreshing to see. I don’t want to say much about one of the themes that the book explores because it contains a big spoiler but I will say that the family dynamics were handled very well in this novel. It was gripping and heartbreaking and I could not put it down. I love how Kristin Hannah’s work has developed over the last few novels. She does such a great job of telling a story with emotion and heart. And this book is exactly that – full of emotion and heart. It will make you feel … it even made me cry a few times. I highly recommend this one!

This book took me a bit to get into, but once I was into it I enjoyed it. The Nightingale (a 5 star read!) was a hard act to follow, and may have clouded my enjoyment of this one a bit.

Wonderful descriptions of Alaskan wilderness, but not terribly sympathetic or well fleshed out main characters.

Kristin Hannah is such a gorgeous story teller. This novel is fascinating and her portrayal of The Alaskan wilderness makes me want to go there. This story is sad and painful and you feel each character. I loved it and thought nothing could top The Nightingale, but this may have!

An intense story of survival, fighting the harshness of nature and of toxic relationships. Leni moves to rural Alaska in the 70's with her father Ernst, a violent Viet Nam veteran, and her mother Cora, who endures the violence, believing he will find his way back to being the loving man he was before the war. The small community supports them as they get accustomed to life in the wilderness, but, just like the winters, Ernst's moods are dark and long lasting. As Leni grows up and begins to understand the truth of her family's dysfunction, both she and Cora must make some difficult decisions to keep on living. The action heats up quickly here; the ominous feeling sets in within the first few pages. The narrative and characters are so well drawn you can feel the intensity of both the setting and the people. Another stunning novel from Kristin Hannah.

This is not quite as good as The Nightingale but she does it again with a tearjerker about a young lady growing up in an abusive family. Yet after all she suffers, she comes out with a good life. Pregnant at 18, boyfriend seriously injured in a fall, family feuds. I would classify this as a modern romeo and juliet story. It gets very exciting towards the end. You definitely root for the underdog and cry at the family loss.

Give this a shot but have tissue close.

Alaska is a major character in this story of growing up. The wilderness can make or break a person. And that's what happens in the Great Alone. Some are broken and some grow strong. Great Book.