In a book club and starting to plan your reads for next year? Check out our 2025 picks.

Book Summary and Reviews of I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall

I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall

I Am Still Alive

by Kate Alice Marshall

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Jul 2018, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

Cheryl Strayed's Wild meets The Revenant in this heart-pounding story of survival and revenge in the unforgiving wilderness.

After
Jess is alone. Her cabin has burned to the ground. She knows if she doesn't act fast, the cold will kill her before she has time to worry about food. But she is still alive - for now.

Before
Jess hadn't seen her survivalist, off-the-grid dad in over a decade. But after a car crash killed her mother and left her injured, she was forced to move to his cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness. Just as Jess was beginning to get to know him, a secret from his past paid them a visit, leaving her father dead and Jess stranded.

After
With only her father's dog for company, Jess must forage and hunt for food, build shelter, and keep herself warm. Some days it feels like the wild is out to destroy her, but she's stronger than she ever imagined.

Jess will survive. She has to. She knows who killed her father… and she wants revenge.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. With masterful pacing, rich characterization, a dynamic voice, and a thrilling blend of wilderness survival and revenge, this is an engrossing read from a writer to watch. Grades 9 and up." - Booklist

"Starred Review. A taut, gripping page-turner with a strong female hero to root for." – Kirkus

"A gripping tale of endurance and discovery of inner strength." – School Library Journal

"An expertly conceived plot plus a true heroine (and her dog) make for an original, engrossing, and twisty survival story that I tore through compulsively. You won't regret the hours that disappear when you read this one." - Nancy Werlin, National Book Award honoree and New York Times bestselling author

"I couldn't set this book down - the words actually made me shiver. It's Hatchet meets The Revenant, infused with fierce, undaunted girl power." – S.A. Bodeen, award-winning author of The Raft

This information about I Am Still Alive was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

A.J. Morrison

This book is captivating
I love wilderness survival fiction. I've read Hatchet and all the sequels repeatedly. While Gary Paulsen's protagonist Brian is a favorite- I love Marshall's protagonist Jess and the female perspective of survival in the wild. It's raw, real, and emotionally captivating. I could see myself having the same struggles both internally and outwardly with the elements. Superbly written. I was invested in the main character immediately. This book is added to my favorites to read over and over.

Bookworm

This is an amazing read.
This book is about overcoming challenges, being smart not strong, and remembering what you hold dear.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Kate Alice Marshall

Kate Alice Marshall started writing before she could hold a pen properly, and never stopped. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with a chaotic menagerie of pets and family members, and ventures out in the summer to kayak and camp along the Puget Sound. Visit her online at katemarshallbooks.com.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more YA thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Barn
    The Barn
    by Wright Thompson
    The barn doesn't reek of catastrophe at first glance. It is on the southwest quarter of Section 2, ...
  • Book Jacket
    Tell Me Everything
    by Erika Krouse
    In her memoir Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation, Erika Krouse becomes ...
  • Book Jacket: The Schubert Treatment
    The Schubert Treatment
    by Claire Oppert
    Claire Oppert fell in love with music at an early age and trained to make a career as a classical ...
  • Book Jacket
    Murder by Degrees
    by Ritu Mukerji
    Lydia Weston is among the first wave of female physicians and professors in the United States. ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Libby Lost and Found
    by Stephanie Booth

    Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.

Who Said...

We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.