The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah
Summary: The Allbright’s move to Alaska and endure all the hardship that comes with living a sustainable life. The snow, the 12+ hour a day darkness, the drunk father, the abuse, loss, the SNOW again. This is a story about a family who tries to create a better life for themselves in a community that offers all the right things to help them, but for reason keeps getting the short end of the straw no matter how hard they try.
Thoughts: I have mixed initial feelings about this book. At first, I tried reading it and it was tough for me to get into so I put it down and read something else. A while later, I picked it up and gave it another chance. I am so glad I did because this book has been one of my favorites this year. This book is such a great story with tons of different elements to it. The setting of this book is ALASKA! so I might be based because I’ve always taken interest to bush living. This is definitely a book I would want to read again at a later date. I’m getting it for my arsenal.
Criticisms: This book had a theme of domestic abuse which I didn’t know about before hand. The abuse written about in this book is ALMOST on the same level as the abuse written about in “A Child Called It”. It’s tough to read and you need to be in a good place in order to get through some of these scenes. There were moments where I had to put the book down, take a break from reading for a day or two and come back because I didn’t want to read through that part.
Rating: 4.75/5!!
