The Four Winds in Book of The Month

Mar 25, 2021 Brittni rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-fiction

Ugh I am ugly sobbing. Will write my review tomorrow.

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The Four Winds is my first Kristin Hannah and it's safe to say I had no idea what I was in for. I went into this book highly skeptical because I saw a few too many reviews likening it to The Grapes of Wrath. Perhaps I was too young and immature to appreciate its content, but 10th grade me read chapter one (which was solely about dirt and wheat) with the class and my assigned chapter 4 (in which a turtle slowly Ugh I am ugly sobbing. Will write my review tomorrow.

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The Four Winds is my first Kristin Hannah and it's safe to say I had no idea what I was in for. I went into this book highly skeptical because I saw a few too many reviews likening it to The Grapes of Wrath. Perhaps I was too young and immature to appreciate its content, but 10th grade me read chapter one (which was solely about dirt and wheat) with the class and my assigned chapter 4 (in which a turtle slowly and painstakingly crosses a road), and promptly made it my only DNF of High School assigned reading. If you are anything like me, rest assured The Four Winds merely shares its setting: The Dust Bowl.

Hannah wrote a captivating story which made me laugh, cry, shake my head, close the chapter only to plough forward, and which especially made me reflect. History always repeats itself, and in nowhere do I believe we can find a more salient example than in America. From the time the first pilgrims landed on America the Beautiful's open shores, people feared the outsider. Revolutionaries pushed out the British, north and south pushed out each other, governments pushed migrants across borders, citizens pushed out America's own citizens, and still today in 2021 we face the same xenophobia. I couldn't help but notice all the parallels from the Dust Bowl and Great Depression era to present-day America.

The Four Winds is first and foremost a tale as old as time of how one's family permeates every aspect of a child's life through adulthood. Those who grow up without love will contort to meet a drop, and those who are well-loved and nurtured will blossom and grow. I wanted nothing more than to hold Elsa close. Loreda and Elsa's daughter-mother relationship hit close to home. I found myself nodding and crying with Loreda as she matured and began to reflect on how she treated her mom and how that must have made her feel. This is a book of women's empowerment, of strength and courage, and of bravery.

The 450 pages of this book weren't enough. I cannot recommend it enough. I hope these women will build you up just as they did for me.

"Sometimes the end is worth any sacrifice."

...more

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Feb 28, 2022 HollyLovesBooks rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2022-ng-group-challenge, audiobooks

Excellent story set during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of Texas. The protagonist is a woman who has always felt like she was not worthy of love and affection. When a young man shows her this for the first time, she falls hard. This is a story of the love of a mother and between women, striving to improve the life circumstances for themselves and mostly, their children.
Very fresh new take on a Steinbeck novel, telling a similar story of the same time period, but through women’s eyes. ...more

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Apr 05, 2021 Niki rated it it was amazing

Kristin Hannah does it again. Draws me right into her story and makes me feel all the feels. I admit, I didn't know much about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Sure, we learned a bit in school but those were just facts. This, though a work of fiction, was a story that really painted a picture of what life was like then. Of how people during that time suffered. And prevailed. It made me want to learn more. The Four Winds will stay with me for a very long time. Bravo Ms Hannah! Now, when ca ...more

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Feb 27, 2021 Cathy Brister rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, february-2021-read

Oh my gracious!!! Words cannot express the power of this story! Kristin Hannah has written a tale of the Great Depression that resonates so deeply that I’m speechless. What a wonderful narrative! It will not be soon forgotten! Read it! You will not be disappointed!!!

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May 17, 2021 Ellie rated it it was amazing

I highly recommend The Four Winds. You feel like you are living alongside the characters during one of the worst times in our country's history. You feel like the dust, the pain, the famine, the agony. But the book is not just about tragedy, you feel hope and love throughout the story and in the characters. ...more

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