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On the other hand, there were several parts and characters that were deeply upsetting and frankly just pissed me off, and as a result I had a hard time enjoying the book. What I’m trying to say is I think I’m too much of an escapist for a book like this. It was very well written, again offers a new look at history, but it took me a minute to get through it. So I’m giving it 3 stars as a middle road between the two sides of my feelings about this 😂
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, Pregnancy
“A warrior believes in an end she can’t see and fights for it. A warrior never gives up. A warrior fights for those weaker than herself. It sounds like motherhood to me.”
I'm a fan of Kristin Hannah's writing, and I've been meaning to read The Four Winds ever since it was published four years ago. Somehow it took me a lot longer than expected to finally do so... Probably because part of me worried about how I would react to it after seeing more than one mention of just how bleak and depressing this story was. And there is no doubt about it that The Four Winds is one of the most depressing stories I've read in a while. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it almost felt like the author researched just about ever bad event that happened in the time period, and then dumped it all on the main characters. It's one thing to read about characters trying to overcome a bad situation, but when you pile up too many tragedies it's hard not to become desensitized to it all. On top of this, I found the characters to be quite cliche and I kind of wish they would have been developed more... There was a lot of repetition going on with certain interactions and events appearing over and over. As for the characters: I absolutely hated the selfish daughter Loreda and the way she kept behaving. Elsa wasn't much better to be honest her constantly repeating that she is ugly and not worthy... This also made the ending even less credible, because after everything you've read it's hard to believe she finally finds her self-esteem. I wasn't a fan of the ending in general to be honest; I actually already suspected it was coming and it seemed the author wanted to go in this direction to add even more tragedy. Like I said before, I was already completely desensitized by then, and the only thing the author got from me was an eye roll and a sigh. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad. I did love Ant and the grandparents, and I loved learning more about the time period. Still, sometimes less is more, and this story would have benefitted from a little less tragedy and more hope. I can't say it was my favorite Kristin Hannah, but I'm still glad I finally read it.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Miscarriage
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, Pregnancy
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent
Minor: Child death
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Death of parent, Abandonment, Classism
Moderate: Blood
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, Deportation
Update: so I got bored and stuck in a place where I had nothing else to do and no wifi, and this was the only book on my phone. I ended up finishing it and it was actually better written than it seemed from the first couple of chapters? not sure how I feel about this tho, I don't think I like it very much.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Pregnancy
Minor: Child death