The Great Alone

I was prepared not to like this book because I thought it would be too heavy, partly because it centers around a Vietnam vet and partly because it's set in Alaska. It was definitely dark, but not a slog - the pages felt like they turned themselves. The author did a good job creating a sense of place without it feeling as sparse as The Call of the Wild. I'm curious to know what the author's experience of young love is, because it keeps showing up in her books in a way that feels almost saccharine to me. If I could change one thing to make her books feel more substantial and less formulaic, that would probably be it: don't rely on teen protagonists in love to drive or pull the story together. Still, as a book club book, this should lead to an interesting discussion.

This reads like a “young adult” novel — maybe that’s what it is, but I came across it on a list of recommended “regular” fiction, so that’s why I picked it up. Like many YA novels, it features a saccharinely perfect, pure, and passionate teenage romance that is, of course, expected to last forever — that was what bugged me the most, as I prefer characters in flawed but realistic relationships, myself. It also suffers from inadequate editing (lots of repetitive scenes that don’t add much, especially with the father and the boyfriend). Ultimately, if you’ve already read “My Absolute Darling” this year, you’re off the hook for having to read this one too. Or just quit 3/4 of the way through, when you can already see the ending coming a mile away.