Barbara M. reviewed on 4/8/2024 + 152 more book reviews

This is the second Kristin Hannah book that I've read. The first was "The Nightingale," which I gave three stars. About 1/4-1/3 of the way through "The Great Alone," I was ready to quit. The main character, Leni, is a 13-year old girl. Her mother, Cora, was 16 when she had Leni. Ernt, Leni's father, is nine years older than Cora (my first thought when I read that was "statutory rape"). Cora's father was a lawyer. Her parents, who lived in Seattle, definitely didn't approve of Ernt. Cora, being rebellious, didn't care. Ernt ended up in Viet Nam and came back with what is now called PTSD. He couldn't hold a job very long and was prone to rages which he took out on Cora. One of his pals in Viet Nam had died and left Ernt some land in Alaska. Cora, Ernt and Leni headed to Alaska. The property had a small cabin on it which the family cleaned up. Life was hard because Ernt had decided they were going to live off the land--not have other jobs to earn $$. Ernt couldn't escape his demons, however, and would fly into rages where he beat Cora.
I was so disgusted not only by Ernt's violence (and his excuses that he was "sick") but also by Cora's lack of spine in being unable to leave Ernt (Cora's weak excuse was she loved him). In spite of that, I kept reading. Ernt continued to unravel. There were a few surprises in about the last 1/3 of the book.
The author is a decent writer. However I don't know if I will continue reading her books given that I've now read two of them and don't consider either of them worth more than three stars.

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