Like with everything these days, there is a big online community for books, which - when you think about it - is just a tad ironic since, in some ways, the internet killed the literary star. On the contrary, however, the internet has made more books, authors, and publishers accessible to fans and potential readers, and has cast a wider net in terms of passing along recommendations. No longer is it just groups of a dozen slightly buzzed middle-aged women discussing the latest New York Times best-seller; now we simply post a picture of the book online and it reaches an immeasurable amount of people in a short amount of time. It was in this way that I learned of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale (a book that I saw a woman glancing at at Costco and walked right up to her and told her how phenomenal it was), how I learned that Hannah had written a new book, The Great Alone, and how I learned that it was quickly garnering rave reviews.
As we know, judging a book by its cover is never ok. Except that it's totally ok and it's basically how we choose anything at the bookstore. Judging a book by the title is encouraged and while I cannot exactly articulate what my predispositions were of The Great Alone, after having read it, I was left thoroughly underwhelmed. The title and hypnotic book cover lulled me into a false expectation of something glacial and dramatic, and while it is certainly dramatic, it is a literary roller coaster like no other. I don't expect to be blown away by everything one of my favorite authors writes; case in point, Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree, and I pretty much live in fear of anything Liane Moriarty publishes. But Hannah left me with a new degree of disappointment - The Great Alone made me feel...uncomfortable.
Mother and daughter, Coraline and Lenora, are two peas in a pod. At least, they have to be in order to navigate both the rough terrain of Dad, Ernt's, post-Vietnam personality, and the rough wilderness of Alaska, a place they find themselves grossly unprepared for. Hopeful in the same way that Jack and Danny Torrence were hopeful at the beginning of The Shining, there are moments of this book that actually scared me. It never quite escapes that Overlook Hotel feel, and as the story progresses, a feeling of Shakespeare, Sleeping with the Enemy, and the news tags along for the ride. It is real and raw, but showcases human frailty, especially of our own making, more than anything else.
This being my second of Hannah's novels, I can say that she has a true talent for creating vivid characters, set against a magnificent backdrop, and for weaving everything together to form a remarkable, poignant story. Her writing is profound, moving, clear, and imaginative, and she digs deep to really give her books a three-dimensional feel. My trouble with this specific book, however, is that the main thing it made me feel is sadness. Where The Nightingale is sad because there is nothing about WWII that is not sad, in The Great Alone, Hannah corners the market on sadness. And just when you think that there can't possibly be anymore sadness, here is a big heaping scoop of even more sadness. It reminds me of one of the many reasons that I didn't enjoy Blind Your Ponies - it's like one Lifetime movie regurgitating every other Lifetime movie.
Cora and Leni's story is definitely dramatic, engrossing, emotional, and heart-stopping, so I understand the glowing reviews. But it's in the way that I don't relate to people who enjoy binge-watching murder shows at bedtime - this book's level of sadness and unfortunate circumstances is simply not my personal taste.
Hannah has many a book in her arsenal, including one that is currently on my shelf. I will continue to read Hannah's books, though maybe paying a little less attention to the cover and the title and the rave reviews.
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