Book Blog #423: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 

Title: The Great Alone

Author: Kristin Hannah

# of Pages: 544 (paperback)

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆ (GR: 4.25)

Synopsis: 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 it 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 eighteen 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.

Review: This is the third Kristin Hannah book I've read (following The Women and The Nightingale), and it further proves that she can consistently write engaging stories.

While still soap opera-esque, this book is equally if not more gripping than The Nightingale. Going into this book, I knew the story took place in Alaska and had something to do with a Vietnam War veteran, but I didn't actually read the full synopsis. I was expecting a nature survival story, and while there were elements of that, the crux of the Allbright's problems were actually rooted in mental health and domestic abuse. 

The story is told in third person primarily from Leni's POV. Despite being a kid, Leni is unrealistically self-aware of her toxic family dynamic. The family struggles with what it means to love someone in the face of abuse and demonstrates (frustratingly so) how difficult it is to break out of toxic cycles when mixed together with positive moments. Hearing about this from Leni's 13 year old perspective in the beginning of the book wasn't as gripping because she sounded like an unusually wise observer of this toxicity with little agency herself. This improved as she aged up with the rest of the story, which contributed to the story becoming more gripping in the second half the book. 

I found this book to be less emotionally compelling compared to The Women. While I still was emotionally engaged, particularly as tragic events unfolded and deepened the family conflict, the romance aspect didn't have me as hooked as it did in The Women. It was still a page turner, and I was still rooting for the relationship, but the male love interest was very flat as a character. His existence seemed to revolve around the woman he loved without having much of a personality on his own.

It shouldn't have surprised me that this book focuses on women and the beauty of unconditional love between them. After three books of this, Kristin Hannah has solidified her position as a women's fiction writer. She also proved again that she is a master of writing historical fiction by weaving in details from the time period into the story. In this book, the social and legal landscape for women (even for something as simple as getting a credit card without a cosigner) really underscored the struggles Leni and her mother Cora encountered.

The ending was extremely rushed; Kristin Hannah seemed to be in a hurry to tie up all the loose ends as quickly as possible without leaving space for the reader to sit with the stress of the high stakes. Despite the uneven pacing, I would still recommend this book.

Book Blog #422: American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee

 

Title: American Hagwon

Author: Min Jin Lee

# of Pages: 640 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (GR: 3.25 stars)

Synopsis: In schools and churches, hotel rooms and nail salons, law firms and fried-fish shops; in cramped, dingy apartments and luxury, gated communities, the men, women, and children in American Hagwon struggle to find satisfaction and meaning in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with each passing year. Once comfortably middle class in Korea, John and Helen Koh and their three children—Bo, DH, and Mido—find their lives upended, first by a shocking betrayal by John’s oldest friend, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Desperately striving to regain their footing, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in Southern California—where new vistas of opportunity open up for the children as their parents, strangers in a strange land, must adjust to a new life in which their experience and education mean little, and they set their sights on whatever it takes to provide for their children’s futures. The Kohs, their friends, relatives, and even their foes move in and out of each other’s lives as they navigate new courses across the years, always nursing the almost all-consuming faith that education will lead the next generation to success and security. In American Hagwon, Min Jin Lee has crafted an unforgettable, panoramic novel where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions, where the bonds of family and of memory twist and fray but rarely break, and where willful self-sacrifice—for the benefit of loved ones and even strangers—is a kind of prayer.

Review: This book could have been so much better.

It's been a long time since I read Pachinko, but I remember being emotional invested despite how much the book took on (spanning multiple generations, multiple third person POVs, time skips, historical accuracy). American Hagwon is similar; it focuses primarily on the Kohs (John, Helen, and their three kids) but also includes some tangentially related characters like Danbi (John's coworker), Yun (Mido's friend), Sonya (Helen's sister), Peter (DH's friend), etc.

Unfortunately unlike Pachinko, American Hagwon doesn't achieve the same beauty and richness in its story. The start was slow (as to be expected to build up a large cast of characters). However, the story only had a few compelling moments but otherwise stayed flat in pacing. There were a lot of slice of life moments where is usually okay for an in-depth drama, but MJL would reiterate key events or character traits as if the reader would've already forgetten something that happened a few chapters ago. 

This book read like a Jodi Picoult book; it's clear MJL wanted to tackle the topic of education/learning and its societal expectations being bad for children. It was blatant when MJL used a character to deliver an argument on this topic, which came off as preachy and read like a fantasy (unrealistic). I wish these points were better woven into the story rather than having the characters (especially Peter and Lion) tell other characters (and therefore the reader) over and over again.

The best chapters were the ones that focused on Danbi (love to hate her) and Sonya (juggled more interesting relationship dynamics than other characters like Mido). The characters would have benefitted from being more nuanced; the morally good characters are too good that they're boring, and the morally questionable characters lean into the "villain" role a bit too much.

Overall, didn't meet my expectations unfortunately. This book was very put-downable, and the story would have been much better if it were more focused, concise, and immersive since I wasn't too attached to the most of the characters.