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annikamanika's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Four Winds. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to share my thoughts on it in a way that would meaningfully inform your decisions to read it. I just started typing this in a text to my book club, and I also figured it was appropriate here.
I was in tears within the first few chapters, and I found myself in spontaneous tears repeatedly. Some of it was the author’s intention, and some of it was how I perceived it through a sense of relating to my own life.
The book opens about 10 years before the Depression and the Dustbowl, and it centers around a young woman (Elsa) who is constantly made to feel and told outright that she is unlovable and even unlikable the way she is by her parents and her sisters. Their highest aspiration for her is to live a quiet life, alone in her parents' home. It centers around how Elsa learns to love herself, how she finds her voice, and how her childhood informs her adult choices.
I HAAATED the way it ended, but it makes sense. It is tragic and has many triggers, but it is beautiful.
I will also mention that I listened to this as an audio book which has commentary from the author as bonus material. I highly recommend it.
I was in tears within the first few chapters, and I found myself in spontaneous tears repeatedly. Some of it was the author’s intention, and some of it was how I perceived it through a sense of relating to my own life.
The book opens about 10 years before the Depression and the Dustbowl, and it centers around a young woman (Elsa) who is constantly made to feel and told outright that she is unlovable and even unlikable the way she is by her parents and her sisters. Their highest aspiration for her is to live a quiet life, alone in her parents' home. It centers around how Elsa learns to love herself, how she finds her voice, and how her childhood informs her adult choices.
I HAAATED the way it ended, but it makes sense. It is tragic and has many triggers, but it is beautiful.
I will also mention that I listened to this as an audio book which has commentary from the author as bonus material. I highly recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Classism, Death of parent, Child death, Violence, Gun violence, Grief, Sexism, Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia
Minor: Police brutality and Sexual content
mcnoble's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Outstanding. A story of adversity during the 1930s during the Dust Bowl that revolves around a character who finds her voice and proves over and over again that she is braver than she believed she ever could be. I started this book on a whim while waiting for other audiobooks to be available from my library and what a gift to have stumbled across this book. I loved historical fictions as a child and to no surprise, I still love them. This book is heart-wrenching yet inspiring. Kristin Hannah paints portraits with her words that describe life during the dust bowl, bringing settings from history books alive and full of emotion. Once I started this book, I could not stop and am looking forward to reading my next Kristin Hannah novel, with the hopes that it invokes the same feelings I had while enjoying this book. Easily one of the top books I have savored as an adult. It relit the excitement for reading with the same feeling as being a child and staying up late to read just one more chapter, again, and again, and again.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Miscarriage, and Police brutality
jennaviolet's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Miscarriage, and Classism
Moderate: Blood, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Violence, Grief, Excrement, Animal death, Medical content, and Gun violence
n_degeorgia's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
heart breaking, fascinating, well written
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism and Hate crime
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, and Death of parent
hanpear's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
my first kristin hannah book so i didn’t know what to expect. it was a beautiful story, and difficult 95% of the time, very gripping despite how sad & difficult it all was. i don’t think i could’ve pushed through it so quickly if i hadn’t been listening to it.
plot: 3
plot: 3
i could have read a story about any of these characters doing anything and enjoyed it, so the plot itself felt pretty middling. i didn’t know where the story was headed most of the time, it felt slow in parts, others i felt were purely unecessary. and things happened that i didn’t like at all. plus it’s just really depressing.
characters: 5
lovable characters who felt like real people. they were very flawed and often made the same mistakes, and had eventual character growth that felt very convincing and realistic. i especially loved elsa and rose. i appreciated the addition of loretta’s perspective. don’t even get me started on jack!!
world building: 5
it’s historical fiction, the world was pre-built for the author but it was so thoroughly researched. the descriptions of food, the political environment, the different types of lives US Americans were living at the time. if this has been fantasy it would have been very clear as a reader with few gaps.
writing: 4.25 a little cheesy at moments, but overall very strong, the type of descriptive that really sets a scene. i know exactly what i’m looking and what my characters look like and where we are. some things did get repetitive.
overall enjoyment: 4.25
the subject matter brings down the score here, it’s hard to truly enjoy a book about living in seemingly endless poverty. but was i gripped the whole time? did i giggle a bit at certain moments? did i feel for those imaginary people? did i cry? no, but i could have. i loved the themes of family, mother & daughter relationships, coming of age (late in life, too) and overall getting a glimpse into the lives of what could have been real people in my country less than 100 years ago
overall score: 4.3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Death
Moderate: Miscarriage
sarahfeller's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Sexism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Bullying, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Medical content, Police brutality, Excrement, and Miscarriage
baraya's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Death, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Animal death, Pregnancy, and Violence
mhorns's review
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage
abbasaurusrex's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was my first Kristin Hannah. I saw someone describe the author’s books as the Hallmark movies of historical fiction and now, having finished this, I can confirm that is accurate. Equal parts trauma porn and pearl clutching, this book just did not strike the right chords for me. I appreciated the view into a particular place and time in history that I knew little about, but found it a bit overdone, as it seems like the author is trying to address every single hardship of the Dust Bowl farmers/migrant workers through a single family’s experience. By the end of the book I almost felt sorry for the characters, not as victims of history, but as victims of the author. I just don’t enjoy watching people get dumped on, no matter how “historically accurate” the author might claim the events to be. The character development also didn’t hit. I found all of the characters to be a bit one-note and inconsistent, and their “development” (if you can call it that) seemed forced and incomplete. It’s almost like the author said, “I wanna write about the Dust Bowl,” instead of saying “here are some themes I want to explore, and I think the Dust Bowl and this particular family is the appropriate context in which to examine those themes.” She somehow manages to do too much and too little at the same time. Finally, there is not a single person of color in the narrative. I would have appreciated a more diverse perspective for a book that tries to tackle such a massive part of US history.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Xenophobia, Classism, and Sexism
Moderate: Miscarriage, Police brutality, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Pregnancy and Deportation
veepopp's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Bullying
Minor: Blood, Sexual content, Grief, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Murder, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy