THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah

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If I was exiled to a deserted island and could only take 5 books with me, “The Great Alone” would definitely be one of them. I had already read an outstanding book by the same author, “The Nighingale,” and highly recommend It. 

“The Great Alone” had me hooked right from the start, learning about the dynamics of the troubled Allbright family and the environment in which Leni grows up in. 

Mama could never leave Dad, and Leni would never leave Mama. And Dad could never let them go. In this toxic knot that was their family, there was no escape for any of them.

We learn in the first couple of pages that daughter Leni is once again the lonely new kid in school, having attended five schools in the past four years. Her parents’ dysfunctional relationship prevents her from forming real attachments to others.

She could never tell him how it felt to live with a dad who scared you sometimes and a mother who loved him too much and made him prove how much he loved her in dangerous ways. Like flirting. These were Leni’s secrets. Her burdens. She couldn’t share them. All this time, all these years, she’d dreamed of having a real friend, one who would tell her everything. How had she missed the obvious? Leni couldn’t have a real friend because she couldn’t be one.

Also we learn on page 2 that her Dad (Ernt) has nightmares and her Mom (Cora) believes he needs help. Ernt fought in the Viet Nam War and back then in 1974, the time period when the book starts, we did not know about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and anything about treating it.

Ernt receives a letter from Bo’s father, which acknowledges his son’s close friendship with Ernt during the war. The letter reveals that Bo said if anything happened to him in Viet Nam, he wanted Ernt to have his cabin and land in remote Alaska. So the three pack up and move to Alaska, where they believe life will be better for the family. 

Living in Alaska, we learn, is not for the faint of heart. The winters are brutal and the entire summers are spent preparing for the cold, including creating the entire food supply. We observe is that surviving the harsh winters in Alaska is less challenging than withstanding the torment within the Allbright home.

All this time, Dad had taught Leni how dangerous the outside world was. The truth was that the biggest danger of all was in her own home.

One of the ways that Leni copes with her dysfunctional world is through the use of a camera by which she can portray her world in her own way and gives her a sense of control over her uncontrollable world.

Instinctively, she lifted her camera and minimized her view of the world. It was how she managed her memories, how she processed the world. In pictures. With a camera, she could crop and reframe her life.

While life during the Alaskan winters is isolating to the extreme, we do meet a couple of the neighbors who ultimately play major roles in the story.

The writing is exceptional, the characters are well-drawn and the story keeps you engrossed till the end. A must read!

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