Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

94 reviews

cassiejean's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Animal death and Slavery

hjengelson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The best historical fiction I've ever read. I don't often cry at books, but this one, I sobbed. Such a beautiful story or resilience, perseverance, and bravery. I could not put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Bullying

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

Finished reading: February 16th 2025

“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. 

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Content Warnings

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, and Classism

drpthy's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, and Alcohol

kennedyejohnson's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

amy14's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

devinm1214's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

makerealityvanish's review against another edition

4.0

I liked it, but did not love as much as her other books I've read. 
It was very emotional journey focused on all kinds of human relationships. The main one being a very complicated mother-daughter relationship. There was also several found families, topics of finding your voice and courage and fighting for your rights. 
The book was set in a time period that I knew little about and is not used a lot in historical fiction. It was sad and eye opening how much and how little has changed since then.
I highly recommend reading this and any of Kristin Hannah's books for that matter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, and Gun violence

serialsnark's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Kristin Hannah truly knows how to punch you in the gut. Though this novel started more slowly than others, it’s worth getting through the beginning set up to witness the character development. Of course Kristin Hannah writes badass women, and Four Winds is no exception. What I didn’t know is that she finished this book in 2020 during the pandemic and how eerily relevant a story set in the 1930s is to our political and economical climate both then and 5 years later. Hard times don’t last, but love does. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Classism