Reviews

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

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tyreadsbooks_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

★★★★★ 5/5 stars

✦ 𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒑𝒔𝒊𝒔

After returning home, deeply damaged from the Vietnam war, Ernt is in need of change. He uproots his wife & young daughter, moving from suburban Seattle to an isolated cabin in the wild of Alaska. There, the Allbright family will be exposed to dangers of all kinds - the wilderness, freezing cold temperatures, isolation & each other.

What unfolds is a story spanning decades about family, love, loss, & resilience.

✦ 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 :

- 70s historical fiction

- outdoors/adventure/survival

- Alaskan wilderness

- strong female characters

- family relationships & mental health

- settings that feel like a character itself

- loveable side characters

- small towns

- unforgettable stories that will stay with you

-Julia Whelan (aka the queen of audiobooks)

✦ 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔

I’ll be honest, I put this one off for a long while because the blurb just didn’t sound like something I’d enjoy.. boy was I wrong. I’ve spent a week trying to find the words to describe how much I loved it.

This book was the definition of an emotional roller coaster. It broke my heart & by the end, put it back together again. It made me feel something. I tried to savor every page because I didn’t want it to end.

Kristin Hannah's attention to detail was incredible. I felt so immersed, so connected to this story - I was in awe of the wildness of Alaska & these beautifully flawed, brave, bold characters that you can’t help but root for (shout out to Large Marge, I adore her)

The Great Alone is now one of my forever favorites & will definitely be one I recommend (and reread) again & again. If you haven't read this yet, bump it to the very top of your list!

karijones's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

mcnallyswife's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

izachime's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition

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I got well into this. It doesn’t shy away from the nitty gritty detail of the struggles of setting up a home in the Alaskan wilderness. I did find it somewhat heavy handed at times; author really piled on the suffering. Seriously melodramatic action and dialogue, or with people speaking and behaving woodenly to advance plot in particular directions but not in keeping with how actual humans behave and think. Think her greatest strengths writing wise lie in the descriptions of the landscape, setting and mood rather than characterisation.

Also a small quibble, but I found the censored ‘g-damns’ really distracting… I mean, you have a character who regularly beats his wife, who swears and drinks and says whatever is on his mind, but let’s censor the god damns? And odd choice imho, considering the word ‘God’ on its own does get a mention. Just say ‘damn’ if you have issues with it being used in a swearing context?