Goldmine Reads - The Great Alone - Summarized for Busy People: A Novel: Based on the Book by Kristin Hannah

THE GREAT ALONE

Summarized For Busy People

A Novel

Based on the Book by Kristin Hannah

Goldmine Reads

Copyright Goldmine Reads

A ll Rights reserved . No part of this text may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the copyright holder.

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Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

ABOUT THIS BOOK SUMMARY

T his book summary serves as a guide to Kristin Hannahs The Great Alone. No text of the actual book is included, so if you prefer, you may purchase a copy before you proceed.

This guide includes a summary of the story of a girl and her family with each character making up the overarching story of the book shared throughout each chapter of the book. It also provides a story of the author and analyses of the book from the setting, to the story plot, and to the themes and symbolisms.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

K ristin Hannah is an American novelist who has written and published 20 novels including her runaway bestseller, The Nightingale, which was published in 2015 and was awarded the Best Historical Fiction by Goodreads. Born in California, she moved to Seattle to work as a lawyer before launching her writing career.

STORY SETTING

I n a poor neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, Leni Allbright lived with her parents. They had been moving around to evade creditors partly because of her father, Ernt, not being able to keep a job long enough for them to be able to settle in, he would either get into a fight or lose his job.

Ernt was a veteran who fought in Vietnam and was captured to be tortured as a prisoner of war. In 1975, the United States pulled out of Vietnam when Saigon fell and this caused the societal turmoil in the country. When Ernt returned to the US, he began showing symptoms of PTSDhowever, back then, it was still not a recognized psychological disorder.

Veterans who returned from war with PTSD did not receive any help or support back then, so Ernt resorted to drinkinghe considered this self-medicating. Because of this problem, he became volatile, unpredictable, and even abusive. Cora, Lenis mother, worked as a waitress but she, nevertheless, continued to placate him and cater to his needs just to keep him from resorting to violence. For Leni, whether she was at home or someplace else, she never felt that she fitted in or even safe.

Back in Vietnam, Ernt became close friends with Bo Harlan, who was a native of Alaska. When he died in Vietnam, he bequeathed his homestead in Kaneq, Alaska to Ernt; and Bos father sent a letter to Ernt, which signaled the change they were going to experience. The family then moves to Alaska and the rest of the story takes place there.

In the novel, Alaska wasnt considered simply the setting since it provides much influence towards the characters and reflects their personalities. Being in Alaska helps Leni develop her strengths like her love for learning, her capacity to work, her introspection, and her ability to keep secrets. The place had also been able to teach her skills like shooting with a rifle, hunting for food, planting and storing food for winter, trading things she had made for the things she needed. There was a big role that being in Alaska developed in the characters shown through the dangers and beauty of the place.

Alaska was also a representation of Lenis emotional isolation despite the fact that she and her family lived in a one-room cabin. The place is cold and dark which led Leni to take refuge inside her own mind. Because their homestead is located far away from town and about half a mile from their nearest neighbors, they became difficult to find and reach. Especially with their land being bordered by a cove with an abandoned mining quarry and the unpaved road leading to town.

Even Kaneq itself is separated from, Homer, the mainland since it sits on a peninsula which can only be reached by ferry. There were water taxis and speedboats available to cross the sea and other richer residents who have lived in Kaneq for generations have their own float planes. This causes Leni to be completely cut off from her former life outside Alaska.

The place affects their lives in ways they would never have imagined and there occurred numerous events which would later change their lives forever, from Lenis pregnancy and attempted escape from her father which led to her boyfriends injury and disability, to her fathers descent into losing sense and her mother shooting him. Leni and her mother moved back to Seattle where she begins college at the University of Washington and she gives birth to her son, MJ. She then graduated from college and her mother died of lung cancer. She then moves back to Alaska with her son to scatter her mothers ashes and take care of the man she left.

The story then ends in Alaska in the year 1986.