That left the others in their small little town, people we don’t often get much depth out of, meaning they are all quite two dimensional and interchangeable. So, I had no respect for the father, of course, as well as the mother.

To do that to a child is unforgivable, in my opinion, but the author doesn’t even touch on this and instead uses it to lengthen the book as much as possible. Cora even contributes herself, emotionally abusing Lena into staying. However, I lost respect quickly for Cora when she continued to stay because “she loves him too much,” not because she wouldn’t leave for herself, but because she allowed her young daughter to be a part of the abuse cycle.

I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it is to break out of the realm of fear one lives in when physical abuse and stalking is in the mix. Readers quickly learn that the relationship between Leni’s parents is a very classic one of abuse, in which the mother refuses to leave the husband that beats her, all in the name of love. Her mother, Cora, is an abuse victim of Leni’s father, a Vietnam veteran with severe PTSD. The main protagonist is a young girl, Leni, who is forced to leave Seattle to live in the wilderness, learning to hunt, fish, and build shelter all in preparation for the deadly winters that often take lives. The writing itself continued to be excellent, but the story itself is a whole different matter. Sadly, and much to my dismay, that’s about when the book started to take a slow downward spiral. Not only does Hannah show just how hard living in Alaska’s wild would be, but she does it with an elegant flair, using perfectly worded descriptions to bring the land itself to life.

The first 50 to 70 pages were quite fantastic. While this isn’t my normal go-to genre, I was eager to give it a try. The jacket copy tells readers to expect a tale of cold, unforgiving life in Alaska during the 1970s. This is a category I like to browse to learn of new authors and novels I might not have heard of in the past. I picked up a copy of Kristin Hannah’s latest novel, “The Great Alone,” solely because it was a Goodreads Choice 2018 winner.

The great alone author