Summary: A deeply disturbed former POW hauls his young wife and teenage daughter to a remote town in Alaska for a fresh start during the 1970s.
Rating & Recommendation: 4.5/5; recommend for hopeless romantics, adventurers
Review: This novel was an indulgence compared to my normal reads, but enjoyable nevertheless. It’s a simple read that explores a complex topic: among other things, the “sins of the father.” Leni's parents are stuck in an abusive and dependent marriage, and teenage Leni is left to fear her father and protect her mother. Her mother spends the rest of her life trying to atone for the problems her daughter's inherited. Is there such a thing, though, as atoning for love?
“The connection between pain and love wasn’t linear. It was a web.”
The Great Alone is about mothers and daughters, how to free yourself and your children from the horrors that bind you. In this case, it’s the tumult of the 70s, the fear, the slow progress, the fall out of war. The story takes place on the heels of the Manson Murders and Ted Bundy's rampage through the Pacific Northwest, Vietnam , Watergate... The country was seized by fear.
“You know what walls do? …They hide what happens behind them.”
Then, amidst the political and social upheaval, there were still huge gaps in civil rights and social services. Battered women were protected by neither their spouses nor the law. Soldiers were coming home with physical and mental traumas that hadn't yet been given names and were completely misunderstood.
It’s pointed commentary on how far we’ve come, but how inadequate things still are. Laws may change, but we still blame victims of domestic violence. We still treat our veterans like garbage. We still let the stigma of poor mental health weight us down. Human nature doesn't change with legislation or understanding, it just modifies human behavior.
“The natural-born predator could seem domesticated, even friendly, could lick your throat affectionately or rub up against you to get a back scratch. But you knew, or should know, that it was a wild thing you lived with, that a collar and a leash and a bowl of food might tame the actions of the beast, but couldn’t change its essential nature.”
Leni's mother is, at her core, just as broken as her husband. It takes everything in her to choose her child over herself, to choose motherhood over passion. Some people aren't built for parenthood, and this book reaffirmed my belief in that. Some people are too broken to be able to shape children into whole, good people.
“A girl was like a kite; without her mother’s strong, steady hold on the string, she might just float away, be lost somewhere among the clouds.”
The Great Alone is definitely a tear-jerker, and you can tell it’s intentional. Maybe that's why this author is so beloved? The writing is clear; the story is compelling. I do feel it dragged in some spots, like it could have been significantly shorter. At about 450 pages, it feels like a long movie, where scenes could have been cut and internal monologues and musings were often redundant.
I would recommend this, though, and I’m looking forward to more Kristin Hannah books when I’m in the mood for an adventure and a love story. Also, I guess I have to visit Alaska now.
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