Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Four Winds

At this point I would probably read a menu if Kristin Hannah wrote it.

The Great Depression and Dust Bowl was a hard time for the United States. The Four Winds is a look at what it was like for one family to survive.

Elsa had a rough childhood, never felt like she fit with her family, and was always looking for her place in the world. One night she meets a young man and they procreate. As soon as her parents find out they dump her at his parents house and pretty much never speak to her again.

Elsa finds her place in the world among this new family and is thriving helping run the farm. When the Dust Bowl hits Texas they are hit hard. Elsa has to decide what is the best thing to save her family. When she decides to take her children and move to CA she thinks this is the beginning of a new life for them. Little did she know that they would be treated like pariahs.

As the families in CA grow more and more desperate to survive, the ones that have are getting more aggressive with the have nots.

It is sad to see how in some ways history is repeating itself with people blaming immigrants for their problems.

Content Warnings

claraocab's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

mandi4886's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

Content Warnings

gm_vak's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

Content Warnings

hungryandhappy's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

*Netgalley arc*

Brutal, raw, emotional and hopeful. I don't think I can put into words all the feelings this book put me through. I was so lost just like Elsa, and infuriated, just like Loreda! I wanted to scream so loudly.

Elsa comes from a family that didn't give her love because, in their opinion, she was ugly so not worthy. She takes the love or what looks like it, from the first boy that's willing to give it to her and who sees her more than her parents do. This leads to Elsa marrying into a immigrant italian family of farmers in Texas.

It stops raining and things start looking horribly for the family and Elsa is left by her husband and she has to make a hard decision when the awful sandstorms and just too hot weather risk taking one of her kids away.

Elsa, her daughter Loreda and Ant, the little son, embark on a journey to look for a better life. What they find isn't better; they get treated worse than animals, underpaid, exploited, denied basic human rights, and more.

What touches you about the story is not only the events, that still happen too often, but the courage of this woman, left alone, who will do anything to give her kids a better life and future. The strength of these two women, mother and daughter, will make you cheer for them and will take you to an emotional journey like not many others.

Content Warnings

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