Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - The Four Winds

This is my second book from Hannah, technically, but the first one that I finished! It had a slow start but around the 60 page mark I got more into the story. It’s an emotional story with a lot of trauma these characters are put through.

Hannah does a good job of describing the atmosphere of the time period, for the most part. The novel taught me more about the Dust Bowl than I ever learned at school! We were taught about the dust storms and how it made living in the region dangerous, but I never learned just how intertwined the Dust Bowl and Great Depression were. It was eye-opening and I want to read more about the subject, especially since this is only the beginning and a lot was left out.

We read the novel through the perspectives of Elsa and her daughter Loreda. I really enjoyed the switching perspectives but they often felt repetitive and didn’t add many new things in each chapter. I didn’t love the characters, they felt a bit flat. I would’ve liked more character development especially from Loreda who blames her mom for literally everything. Elsa I liked a tiny bit more because for me, I read the repetition of her character as just trying to survive day to day for her kids and not having room to do/think about much else.

Themes of the book still felt very relevant to issues we still face today like the treatment of migrant workers and how many people are “othered”, the fight for worker’s rights, the lack of social support, and environmental disasters.

I think another reviewer mentioned the unfortunate lack of historical accuracy surrounding the striking/workers rights events as Hannah created a fictional event to center “Okies” (white migrant farmers) when a very real event took place around the same time involving Mexican migrant workers. The lack of diversity was disappointing, especially as Mexican and Black migrant workers were also central to this time period. It also became an issue as it was very white washed, I understand it’s historical fiction and you can’t fit everything into one book-but at 450 pages and repetitive dialogue, you could at least acknowledge certain aspects.

The talk about the Martinelli’s land (and Texas in general) is talked about in a “manifest destiny” sort of way. Elsa’s grandfather “fought to get this land”…failing to mention the Native Americans it was taken from. In fact, there is never any mention of them, the land just appeared magically apparently. The erasure of certain parts of history and minority groups, in favor of centering on white migrants (while conveniently ignoring their own white privilege) is at best irresponsible and at worst dangerous. Hannah chose to focus on an ugly part of history while conveniently taking out the marginalized communities mainly affected.

And the constant repetitiveness of “bad thing bad thing, but this is America” “ooh bad things are happening. In America” “this isn’t who we are in America.” YES IT IS! The constant pushing of this narrative when it is America and always has been, just not for middle class white people up until the Great Depression, was frustrating and inaccurate. It’s a real white woman moment for Hannah to have her characters constantly saying these things, ignoring history, and comparing themselves to slaves?! You may be getting paid an unlivable wage BUT YOU ARE GETTING PAID AND CAN LEAVE 😬

I was loving this book and feeling like it would be at least 4 stars, right up until this slave comparison/“oh my god how can this happen in America” nonsense. As if America is the pinnacle of freedom and there’s no way anyone could be so mistreated (except for the Native Americans, Black people, Jewish people, poor people, Mexican migrant workers, immigrants, etc etc) 🙃

Bare minimum was for Hannah to have addressed this history that she omitted in her afterword and explain why she did not include it, but instead she used that space to glorify and praise the white pioneers who reaped the benefits of the genocide.

Overall it was an interesting story that held my attention and taught me that I should look at the subject further. But the repetitive writing, lack of character development, and historical erasure was a bit disappointing. I’ll give Hannah’s books one more chance as I enjoyed this one well enough and DNFd one other, (plus I already have two more of her books on my shelves) so maybe lucky number 3 will be better!

Content Warnings

franklola's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

adamsbookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a truly amazing book. The author went into such detail with their writing and it made me sob twice. The first half was the stronger of the two but overall such a strong book!

Content Warnings

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was incredible. The themes of love and resilience were inspiring and it showed that you should always stand up for what you believe in.

Content Warnings

quixie's review

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

sks123's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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evavstheworld's review

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

2booksandacoffee's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-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

4.0

Heartbreaking. Beautiful. Despair. Hope. Resiliency.

This is story telling at its best. While this book didn’t have a ton of action, I will still glued to the pages. This story of courage, bravery and the American Dream was so compelling that I couldn’t put this down.
I truly feel this story needs to be read by anyone that hasn’t right now. While the economic crisis isn’t as bad, and the environmental distress not as urgent, this story is so incredibly important. It gives you a look into what it’s like to work your ass off for a life most people can only dream of and have it ripped away by matters that are out of your control.

To move to a new place to try and make a better life for yourself and your family to only end up being ostracized because the system is beating you down into the ground that you help make prosperous.
To have to sleep in a tent, next to a muddy river and have to use that water for cooking, cleaning and bathing. To work 12 hour days in inhumane conditions for the rich man so he can get richer while cutting your wages to .75 a day.

But this story was so much MORE. It’s about rising up, being resilient in the face of your fears because you have family depending on you, speaking up for what is right, helping and being empathetic to those who have even less than you when you have next to nothing.

This is our reminder of what our country is and what we take for granted every damn day.

Be kind, and then strive be even kinder to those around you.

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