Review: The Great Alone

Unrated, because honestly, I essentially skimmed the entire second half. I can't give what is clearly a well-written, well-researched, interesting and resonant book a low rating knowing I didn't actually give it a full, clean chance. I didn't connect with it, on multiple levels, but it's giving season - I feel like being generous. (Full disclosure: I read a full chapter-by-chapter summary so I do know how things unfold, and how it ends.)

It has a fascinating premise. The Allbright family, consisting of Cora, veteran Ernt, and young daughter Leni, travel to Alaska for a fresh start. Ernt suffers from PTSD and abuses Cora frequently, unable to settle or provide properly for his family. Alaska - harsh, isolated, promising death at every corner - gives them a chance for happiness, he feels. The community welcomes them, helps them, teaches them, and prepares them for survival. But winter is coming, and the tension that rattles Ernt never fully fades.

The story dragged, for me. I kept thinking I had read the climax and then realized I still had most of the book to go. I also found the young people - Leni and especially Matthew - to be written without any sense of realism. It's really rare to find an author who can write pre-teen and teenage boys even semi-realistically, so maybe I should be more gentle, but both struck me as way too... articulate, open, in touch with their emotions and able to express them. I'm also not a huge lover of the true love of it all, and the unfolding of that just solidified my incredulity about the two.

I commend the author, though, for painting such a harsh and true portrait of domestic violence. Almost a little too textbook, honestly, though I realize that makes me seem hypocritical. My favorite parts were the passages about Alaska itself, the homestead lifestyle, the community, their initial discovery of their new home and their determination to inhabit it. Alaska was the  most fascinating character, to me, and I would love to travel there to get even a taste of what the author describes so vividly. 

I can see why this book is so popular. I'm not NOT recommending it. Frankly, there's enough going on in my life right now that I suspect my reaction is timely and not book-specific. This is a very dark, disturbing story, and my heart was in my throat most of the time while reading it. The themes are incredibly important and are worth a good, long chew before swallowing. But yeah, truthfully, I wasn't feeling it. 

The Great Alone on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads