The Great Alone Summary and Review

Some books are meant to be devoured. Others should be savored. I devoured The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. With ever-increasing stakes and intense themes like survival, love, and abuse, you can’t help but binge read it.

Summary of The Great Alone

After losing yet another job and inheriting a house in Alaska from a fallen comrade, Ernt Allbright, a Vietnam veteran, tells his wife, Cora, and his daughter, Leni, that they are moving to Alaska. In Alaska, the Allbrights get a crash course in homesteading. The sunny Alaskan summer combined with the manual labor helps Ernt’s PTSD. Leni and Cora are hopeful that things will be better in Alaska, but Leni quickly realizes that Ernt’s good mood won’t last long.

Leni starts school and meets Matthew. The rest of the book is Leni’s coming of age story. She falls in love with Matthew and grows up while dealing with her erratic father and ineffectual mother.

Review of The Great Alone

PTSD aside, The Great Alone is an engrossing book. I finished it in a few days. Writing-wise, The Great Alone is consistent with The Nightingale, flawless and gripping. Like The Nightingale, The Great Alone is written in third person but focalizes on two characters, Leni and Matthew. For a 464-page book, it moves quickly. I have mixed feelings about the plot twist, which I won’t spoil here, but it is jarring. Overall, the story is a bit dramatic for my taste. But the drama made it all the more engrossing, and I liked the end even if it was a bit cheesy.

The Great Alone

by Kristin Hannah