Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - The Four Winds

I didn’t like the part about Dalhart, Texas. The main character’s family had been in Texas for five generations, but the Civil War house in Dalhart is just not accurate. I was born in the Texas Panhandle. Those towns were not established until the late 1890s and even early 1900s after the rail road made life there possible. Little details like the Mexican maid aren’t right. Even the wealthiest people in these towns didn’t really have maids, and if they did they weren’t Mexican. This far north didn’t see Mexican immigration until way later, after WWII. And it is so far north of land where Mexican people historically had lived since the 1500s. I know it’s historical fiction, but since I live in the area of the Dust Bowl, it irked me a little. But aside from that, the book is beautifully written to capture and weave a story about Okies and those who tried to escape destruction in the Dust Bowl. It is heartbreaking but well done.

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samanthafrati's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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nmasters0616's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-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

5.0

Just when I thought it couldn't get more sad, it did. Again. And again. And again. And again?
The focus on women's experiences during the great depression was refreshing and heartbreaking. The grit that so many women from that era possessed is seldom acknowledged, and Kristin Hannah's novel paid homage to their sacrifices, strength, and courage.

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beankels's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.0

I don’t fully know how I feel about The Four Winds. I have loved Kristin Hannah books and I absolutely love a book centered on women and their resilience. I knew this book would be full of tragedy and dark times. I can’t tell how I feel about it all.

I didn’t love the first 20% of the book and got more and more into it as time went on. I love the labor movement in the last third of the book - really adds to the historical fiction aspect. I’m still not fully decided on how I feel about the book as a whole, but I am glad I read it and feel a respect for women - as I always do after reading Kristin Hannah books. You go, Elsa.

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annikamanika's review

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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.

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mcnoble's review against another edition

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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.

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