-
The Great Alone
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $31.18
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Four Winds
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.
-
-
✫✫ 4.75 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 02-03-21
By: Kristin Hannah
-
The Nightingale
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, Fiction, 2016. From the number-one New York Times bestselling author comes Kristin Hannah’s next novel. It is an epic love story and family drama set at the dawn of World War II. She is the author of twenty-one novels. Her previous novels include Home Front, Night Road, Firefly Lane, Fly Away, and Winter Garden.
-
-
Irritating Narration and Trite Writing
- By Summer Layne on 05-09-19
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Winter Garden
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters.
-
-
I thought I made a mistake
- By A. Musser on 11-29-17
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Firefly Lane
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all - beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn.
-
-
Please please please end!
- By C Sir on 10-15-19
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Magic Hour
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest - nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this old growth forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past.
-
-
Horrible narration
- By Howard Egan on 12-27-20
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Night Road
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 18 years, Jude Farraday has put her children’s needs above her own, and it shows - her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close-knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude. Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable. Jude does everything to keep her kids on track for college and out of harm’s way. It has always been easy - until senior year of high school. Suddenly she is at a loss.
-
-
Oh for heaven's sake
- By Angela on 10-24-11
By: Kristin Hannah
-
The Four Winds
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.
-
-
✫✫ 4.75 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 02-03-21
By: Kristin Hannah
-
The Nightingale
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, Fiction, 2016. From the number-one New York Times bestselling author comes Kristin Hannah’s next novel. It is an epic love story and family drama set at the dawn of World War II. She is the author of twenty-one novels. Her previous novels include Home Front, Night Road, Firefly Lane, Fly Away, and Winter Garden.
-
-
Irritating Narration and Trite Writing
- By Summer Layne on 05-09-19
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Winter Garden
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters.
-
-
I thought I made a mistake
- By A. Musser on 11-29-17
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Firefly Lane
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all - beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn.
-
-
Please please please end!
- By C Sir on 10-15-19
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Magic Hour
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest - nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this old growth forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past.
-
-
Horrible narration
- By Howard Egan on 12-27-20
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Night Road
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 18 years, Jude Farraday has put her children’s needs above her own, and it shows - her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close-knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude. Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable. Jude does everything to keep her kids on track for college and out of harm’s way. It has always been easy - until senior year of high school. Suddenly she is at a loss.
-
-
Oh for heaven's sake
- By Angela on 10-24-11
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Before We Were Yours
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Catherine Taber
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge - until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth.
-
-
I was rivetted, finished in three days.
- By Lin Cloward on 06-26-17
By: Lisa Wingate
-
The Things We Do for Love
- A Novel
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman.
-
-
Couldn’t recommend enough for anyone craving a read with which you can really connect
- By Sarah C. on 06-23-21
By: Kristin Hannah
-
The Things We Cannot Say
- By: Kelly Rimmer
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon, Nancy Peterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now 15 and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate. Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears.
-
-
Formulaic and Romanticized
- By Michael & Cora on 11-04-19
By: Kelly Rimmer
-
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated.
-
-
I’m not crying, you’re crying
- By bridget on 07-16-18
-
The Giver of Stars
- A Novel
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
-
-
Weird Similarities to “The Book Woman...”
- By MMinSouthernCA on 11-21-19
By: Jojo Moyes
-
Between Sisters
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meghann Dontess is a woman haunted by heartbreak. Twenty-five years ago she was forced to make a terrible choice, one that cost her everything, including the love of her sister, Claire. Now, Meghann is a hotshot divorce attorney who doesn’t believe in intimacy - until she meets the one man who can change her mind.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By drwm on 02-21-15
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Where the Crawdads Sing
- By: Delia Owens
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand.
-
-
Don't listen to the negative reviews.
- By Kyle on 12-03-19
By: Delia Owens
-
True Colors
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Grey sisters had only each other when their mother died years ago. Their father provided for them physically on Water's Edge, the ranch that had been in their family for three generations, each of them however, longed for their father's love.
-
-
Well written, POORLY narrated... :(
- By Brenda on 07-14-10
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Verity
- By: Colleen Hoover
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Amy Landon
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of best-selling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read.
-
-
intriguing but skip if triggered by child abuse
- By Amazon Customer on 05-16-19
By: Colleen Hoover
-
It Ends with Us
- By: Colleen Hoover
- Narrated by: Olivia Song
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lily hasn't always had it easy, but that's never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She's come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up - she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily's life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.
-
-
Disappointingly abusive disguised as romance
- By Rebecca Sarah on 12-13-20
By: Colleen Hoover
-
Educated
- A Memoir
- By: Tara Westover
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. Her quest for knowledge transformed her.
-
-
Depressing
- By Holly on 05-18-19
By: Tara Westover
-
Call Your Daughter Home
- By: Deb Spera
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1924 in Branchville, South Carolina, and three women have come to a crossroads. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters. Retta, a first-generation freed slave, comes to Gertrude's aid by watching her children, despite the gossip it causes in her community. Annie, the matriarch of the influential Coles family, offers Gertrude employment at her sewing circle, while facing problems of her own at home.
-
-
Lovely story/perfect narration
- By christi mccoy on 07-08-19
By: Deb Spera
Publisher's Summary
The number one New York Times best seller
The newest audiobook sensation from Kristin Hannah, best-selling author of The Nightingale.
This program is read by acclaimed narrator Julia Whelan, whose enchanting voice brought Gone Girl and Fates and Furies to life. Kristin Hannah reads the acknowledgements.
Alaska, 1974. Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: He will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.
At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources. But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in 18 hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: They are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.
In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska - a place of incomparable beauty and danger.
The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night audiobook about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.
Praise for The Great Alone:
"Listeners, beware: You won't want to stop listening to narrator Julia Whelan's performance of this complex story of survival and family.... With pitch-perfect timing and a touch of drama, Whelan exquisitely builds the tension, creating an enveloping atmosphere of foreboding that's difficult to turn away from...a don't miss audiobook experience." (AudioFile Magazine)
"Reliably alluring...The Great Alone is packed with rapturous descriptions of Alaskan scenery.... Hannah remembers and summons an undeveloped wilderness, describing a gloriously pristine region in the days before cruise ships discovered it." (The New York Times Daily Review)
"Kristin Hannah's new novel makes Alaska sound equally gorgeous and treacherous - a glistening realm that lures folks into the wild and then kills them there." (The Washington Post)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Great Alone
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- paintgal
- 06-27-18
IT WOULD. NOT. ENDDDD....
I bought this because I truly enjoyed the Nightingale, I made a mistake.
There is no doubt that Kristin Hannah is a beautiful writer capable of making one feel like they are transported to a different place and time. But this book was excruciating to get through.
1) It’s very violent, and it’s all directed toward women. Its not that I can’t abide violence for the sake of telling a story honestly....but this is 15 long hours of the same violence over and over annnd over again!
2) Though I know that many battered women behave just the way that Cora did... it would’ve been more bearable/understandable had this book been at least 5 hours shorter! Instead, after many chapters with the same scenario on loop...the reader becomes absolutely fed up with (what most people would perceive to be) Cora’s moronic behavior and lack of regard for her daughters safety.
3) I now thoroughly detest the endearment “Baby Girl”.... I think I heard it 3,000 times.
4) For the most part, Julia Whelan is a gifted narrator. There’s just one thing that bothers me... every male that she voices sounds like a 70 year old miner, no matter what the age of the character is.
Wish I hadn’t used a credit.
75 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧
- 09-12-18
✫✫✫✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫✫✫✫
I don't even know where to begin to explain how much I loved this book or how it left me emotionally. This book is hard because it deals with PTSD and domestic violence but it is so much more. It is about a mother/daughter relationship, it is about unconditional love and it is about learning to adapt and for me especially this book is about true love even if this isn't a romance.
Set in Alaska in the 1970's, we get a true feeling of what it was like to live "off the grid" and of the land but still have community and family. It also gives us a feel for what it must have been like for Vietnam survivors with PTSD in a world where PTSD didn't exist yet. This is a story about a family with a dad with PTSD, a mom who loves her husband and remembers what he was like before the war and a young daughter caught up in a life that was anything she could have expected. Leni (the daughter) is the protagonist of this story, she goes from 13 to about 25 over the course of this book and we get to she her blossom and harden from life in Alaska. She finds true love and she has a dream and then its all ripped away. Seeing how she grows and makes the best with the life she has and the beautiful undying strength of the relationship she has with her mother melted my heart. Without giving actual spoilers, I'll just say this book made me mad, broke my heart, had me cheering like a cheerleader, made me proud and melted my heart. Every emotion I could have in a book.... they were all there in this one book. I highly recommend it!
The narration was superb! Julia Whelan completely brought this book to life, she gave each character their own voice and let me get lost in the story. PERFECT casting choice in my opinion!
#BestBook2018 #ChangedMyLife #AlaskaLife #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes
105 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dee Pizzo
- 04-27-18
Shocked By The High Ratings ...
This story was so annoyingly unrealistic that it bordered on insulting. With the exception of Marge, Tom and Matthew, there were no likable characters. "Mama" was a co-conspirator of child abuse who chose her own selfish obsession over her daughter. And the daughter - Lenny - heralded her selfish mother as some sort of saint in the end. I still have 20 minutes to go, but decided that I had painstakingly heard enough.
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ontha
- 03-21-18
don't bother. predictable. narration irritating
very difficult to listen to. You can predict the setup, the behavior of characters and the irritation in the narration I couldn't listen too much longer. I sent it back
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Morro Schreiber
- 04-11-18
A Long, Hard Slog Through Endless Despair and Heartache
I really wanted to like this book. The writing was excellent, technically. But it was just ONE BAD THING AFTER ANOTHER for these characters. There was NO LETTING UP, no comic relief to break the tension, no happy moments in between all the horror and terror and death and despair.
I don't usually write reviews. But I had to warn people. I also don't usually read contemporary adult fiction. So maybe it's all like this; I don't know. However, if it is, I have no further desire to read any. B I'm going to compare this book briefly with another book that had a lot of heartache and despair, "Birds Without Wings" by Louis Something I Can't Remember. He also wrote "Corelli's Mandoline". Another book with heartache. But somehow, these books had redeeming features and humor and characters you could like and root for.
In "The Great Alone", it's like watching a horrible train wreck in slow motion...you know every little thing that is going to happen WAY before it actually happens, but you're powerless to stop it and somehow you can't look away. I guess I was hoping the author WOULD have a little more imagination, and maybe NOT take the most expected path to every tragic conclusion, but -SPOILER ALERT- she doesn't, and she does. You pretty much listen for a few chapters and you know EXACTLY what's going to happen to almost everyone. By the middle of the book, I could have written the epilogue and been 99% correct, even down to minute details.
The author clearly knows and loves Alaska well, and it shows. Having lived there myself, I can attest to the authenticity of the descriptions and vocabulary. But I just couldn't handle the endless grief with no break. And the unbearably heavy-handed foreshadowing that pretty much gave away the entire plot.
I'm sure professional critics will love this book. It's well written and very depressing, and since that what they seem to go for in adult fiction, the author has a winning combination. I don't think I'll get another one by her, though.
The narrator does a STELLAR job. She's probably the reason I kept listening long after I knew everything would play out the way it did, and she's the reason my review gave as many stars as it did. I would get another book read by this narrator in a NEW YORK MINUTE, which is WAY faster than an Alaska minute, or so I'm told.
276 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Deborah
- 02-07-18
Riveting!
I have never read anything by this author before; the review sounded interesting, but what drew me was the narrator. I love Julia Whelan! I have mixed feelings about the story. The author captured my attention with her descriptions of Alaska, and what it would be like to move there. Since I work in the field of Domestic Violence, it was hard to listen to this story at times. Thankfully, we have come a long way in helping victims/survivors of DV. Once I started listening to The Great Alone, I was hooked. I wanted to listen straight through. It’s been a long time since I stayed up half the night, consumed by a book! I shall be reading more by Kristin Hannah, I’m sure. What a story!
235 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jan
- 02-09-18
Such a talented author and narrator...
I recently read The Nightingale... and loved it to pieces. So I bumped this book by the same author to the top of my list when it came out. The books are so different, only the beautiful writing feels familiar. Kristin Hannah took me right into this family, their move and the new community in rural Alaska they joined.
I could see the train wreck coming for hours but couldn't look away and couldn't stop listening until the book was over... have to admit I cried. This won't have the universal appeal that The Nightingale had, my husband wouldn't listen to such a relationship oriented book and domestic violence is just a plain old hard topic. However, I found it's message of the power of community, friendship, family and the resilience of the human spirit to be uplifting. Made me wish I was Alaska tough... like the characters I met in this book.
230 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Linda
- 03-17-18
Very disappointing
I don't understand all the rave reviews. I always look forward to Kristin Hannah's books and loved The Nightengale. This book just meandered and seem to go nowhere with the story except forward in time. I don't want to give spoilers, but I kept waiting for something to happen. I found the characters cliched and stereotypical and just lost patience.
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- keasha
- 04-11-18
Couldn’t finish it.....
I love this author and I’ve read most everything she’s written. Bought this without a second thought. Really disappointed. Kept waiting for the story to get better but it just went on and on repeating the same scenarios. Very predictable and very disturbing. Had no idea I was wading into a story about domestic abuse. That’s on me. I’ll be better at reading the synopsis of a new book despite it being by a beloved author.
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mamabetz
- 02-24-18
Not my favorite by this author
Would you try another book from Kristin Hannah and/or Julia Whelan?
I have read and enjoyed every other book by Kristin Hannah, and this is not up to par. I did think the narrator was excellent.
Would you be willing to try another book from Kristin Hannah? Why or why not?
Yes, I will look forward to her next project.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
It would take a couple of hours to sit through the movie. The book goes on and on and on.
Any additional comments?
The characters were all written sympathetically and I'm sure it gave an unvarnished truth about domestic abuse, but that was part of the problem. I found myself continually frustrated by the refusal of the abused wife and mother to do anything to help herself or her daughter. The frustration turned to fury about half way through, and still the story kept on and on, repeating and repeating. It engaged me to the point where I kept listening because I cared about the characters, but it was exhausting.
78 people found this helpful