Isolated, With No Help In Sight

Leni’s childhood is in a constant state of upheaval. Her father, Ernt, hasn’t been the same after coming home from the Vietnam War. His erratic behavior and his inability to hold down a job have the family moving from place to place, not staying long enough to call a city home. One day, Ernt reveals he has lost another job, but found a great opportunity: the wilderness of Alaska. He sees it as an opportunity to be his own man, living off the land, and not having to report to anyone. Leni is forced to follow her father on his new far-fetched adventure. She wonders whether the move will make their family better, or will isolation intensify the darkness they already had. 

I don’t think people realized who their loved ones really are until they had to quarantine with them during COVID. It forced people to be around each other 24/7 without an outlet or places to go to get away from each other. It often led to two different outcomes: people grew closer because of the shared experience, or people clashed because they started to realize each other’s habits are getting on their nerves or making them angry. In my case, it made me realize that I am okay on my own, whereas my family went stir crazy not being able to go places or have an outlet for their energy. 

This is something Leni begins to realize when her family moves to Alaska. She views her parents as irresponsible because they tended to do things on a whim, and that her parents had a great love story. However, when her parents and she are alone in a cabin in Alaska, she begins to notice the cracks in her family. Her father’s erratic behavior becomes full-blown now that they are in an isolated area. The more shocking thing to Leni is that she discovers that her parents’ epic love story is tragic. Ernt has isolated Cora since she was a teenager and turned her against family and friends so that she would only rely on him. He also beats her, which intensifies in Alaska when Leni first discovers the level of abuse. She becomes terrified of her mother, especially since Cora won’t leave, even with being abused constantly. 

It made me angry to think about Leni’s family situation, especially since their neighbors in Alaska know about the abuse. I didn’t understand why people didn’t intervene on their behalf or call the police. I was also irritated that Cora didn’t walk away, not only for herself, but to take Leni from the terrible environment. It wasn’t until one of the characters, Marge, said something about the climate of abuse charges in the early 1970s. Marge watched her sister be abused by her husband. Marge thought that since she was a lawyer, she could do something. However, her sister died at her husband’s hands, and the law didn’t do anything about it. He was allowed to walk free. 

I personally thought it was crazy that would happen. I looked it up myself to see what domestic violence laws were like in the 1970s. In the early parts of that decade, domestic violence was ignored in the legal, medical, and social spheres. “Disputes” between husband and wife were considered a private matter, which made most people unlikely to butt their nose in. It wasn’t until the late 1970s and early 80s that shelters were created for battered women and domestic violence was finally recognized. Even if Cora or Leni had gone to the police or hospital out of town, they would most likely be turned away and not believed.

I hate that Cora and Leni have few options. I know people may say that Leni and Cora could have left. However, not only would they constantly have to be on the run, Ernt could force both of them back with the help of the police and beat them to death without any repercussions. In hindsight, I realize that Cora and Leni were between a rock and a hard place because of how society was back then. 

If you can’t tell, I hate Ernt with a burning passion. He is not only abusive, but also manipulative, selfish, and won’t seek help. But I began to wonder if Ernt's behavior was also indicative of the 1970s. Could Ernt have gotten help for post-traumatic stress disorder? He had the tell-tale signs of it when he came back from the Vietnam War: nightmares, flashbacks, rage, and paranoia. He refused to go to the doctors, but even if he had (as I researched), he wouldn’t have received the right treatment because doctors didn’t know about ptsd at the time. Awareness of it didn’t start to form until the 1980s. If he had access to the right medical care, things would have been different between Ernt and his family, but we will never know. 

I am glad that I was introduced to this book by Katie Garcia’s book club. I would have never read it on my own because, as you all know, I tend to stick to horror, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, and dystopian novels. However, I found the book an unexpected delight and one of the best books that I have read this year. It makes you wonder about the effects of being in isolation with a small group of people for long periods of time. History has shown that it can get lonely and maddening, as the book accurately portrays. Speaking of history, the novel also makes you realize that the laws that we have in place for the protection of veterans and women haven’t been in place that long. It is a reminder of how bad things were, and hopefully we learn enough from history to never fall back into awfulness from that time period again. 

Sources

National Library of Medicine

Military