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4.39 AVERAGE
4.39 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I love Kristin Hannah books. They are devastating. And this one was too. As a daughter who lost her mom to cancer, at times this was a very challenging read. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. I definitely recommend. Also coming from the PNW and loving Alaska, this book rang very true for me. My Alaskan family is the toughest and most caring people I know.
my second Kristin Hannah book, a second 5 ⭐️! Her writing paints a picture and for me, I’m not sure any author compares. I expected the story to have tragedy, and it does, but it also has plenty of joy and redemption. she makes me not just want to travel to Alaska, but to “belong there”
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It’s Kristin Hannah. She’s an amazing author.
Is it up to The Nightingale or The Women standards? No, not really. Still favor Winter Garden more as well.
Is it emotional and heartfelt and tearful at times? Yes, of course.
Did I need to mentally prepare myself to read this? Definitely.
Maybe it was the fact that there wasn’t as much action as the other two, or maybe it was that I found it very predictable. Either way, good book, not amazing, not my favorite, but worth reading. Let’s say 3.5 ⭐️!
Is it up to The Nightingale or The Women standards? No, not really. Still favor Winter Garden more as well.
Is it emotional and heartfelt and tearful at times? Yes, of course.
Did I need to mentally prepare myself to read this? Definitely.
Maybe it was the fact that there wasn’t as much action as the other two, or maybe it was that I found it very predictable. Either way, good book, not amazing, not my favorite, but worth reading. Let’s say 3.5 ⭐️!
Truly amazing! The Great Alone left me with feelings of great hope, sadness, and utter anxiety. If you’re looking for a book that makes you feel all of the emotions, this is it! It’s so heartbreaking that it’s beautiful
Spoiler
Really well written book and had many suspenseful aspects of the story where a Vietnam vet POW moved his wife and daughter to Alaska and the dark winter caused him to mentally get worse and he found friends that fueled his crazy thoughts/ideas that Russia would come and nuke them and they needed to be ready. He would often drink and beat his wife and she never reported it. One night he really beats the mom after he got drunk and was humiliated by Mr. Walker. Matt came to the house and helped defend her and Leni and Matt go up the mountain for a night while he cools off. When they come back down, it was bad weather and Leni falls and and he tries to save her (after his mom just died the year or two before when falling into the lake) and he hits his head and breaks other things. He was able to breath on his own after being being taken off the induced coma but still was really rough and not recovering. Her father Ernt just belittles it and says he is goner and she won’t talk to him, infuriating him. Eventually she breaks and tells him she is pregnant after she finds out. Eventually, he goes to beat his daughter Leni Allbright after finding out she is pregnant with Mr. Walker’s son’s baby, and he hates Mr. Walker as he has money and has talked to his wife/jealousy, he beats Leni so Cora shoots her husband. They hide the body and run to Seattle and after several years living with the grandparents on her mom side, her mom dies from lung cancer and she takes her baby Matt junior (MJ) back to being a letter from her mom confessing and she also admits to her involvement. She is arrested and Mr. Walker pulls strings to get it dismissed. She then meets Matt and he can now talk slowly and introduces their son to him and she will stay and live happily ever after.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.5 stars really, I'm just trying to be pickier for my 5 stars. First things first, this took me awhile to get through, but so has everything with the way the world is right now. Also that's not necessarily a bad thing. I was able to sit with it more as it progressed. Before this, the only other book by Kristin Hannah I had read is "The Women". Another fantastic book btw! Going into this and seeing that it also had Vietnam War undertones I was a little worried that it was going to be the same story just rewritten a bit with different characters. Boy was I wrong. This is a completely different story all together. "The Women" was about the war. This has more to do with the aftermath. But again completely different story! Just as the other one it is DEEPLY emotional. I definitely cried while reading this. It is sad. But she writes it in a way that just absolutely pulls you in, breaks your heart, and pulls it back together (just to break it some more and on and on she wrote!) This was absolutely fantastic. The only part I was iffy on (without spoiling anything) is that the court scene was abrupt to me a bit. I felt like it went to quick and over with and that wasn't super realistic. But also I could just be comparing this to modern day and it could be realistic to what it was like in that day in Alaska! For that being my only real complaint out of the whole book I'd still say it's a pretty dang good book!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes