The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah was the July pick for my neighborhood book club. I finished it almost a month ago, and I’ve been meaning to do a full review on here for our Regular Folks book club! I think I’ve read one other Kristin Hannah book before (The Nightingale), but it was honestly so long ago that I don’t even remember what I thought of it!
My thoughts changed on The Four Winds slightly after talking it over with my book club. Funny how that happens right? I think I initially gave it a higher score, and then once I talked it over, I realized that I maybe didn’t actually enjoy it as much! There were just some things that I found a little repetitive; however, I overall really thought this was a beautifully written book. Like usual, I’ll start with a synopsis if you’re just thinking about reading it, and then I will go to my thoughts and discussion which may contain spoilers– so read at your own risk if you haven’t read it yet!
I read The Four Winds on my kindle, but my mom listened to it as an audio book and really enjoyed it. If you’re interested in Audible (Amazon’s audio book subscription) you can get 3 months for free here!
The Four Winds Synopsis
Elsa Wolcott is seemingly trapped in her life in Texas in the 1920s. During a time when marriage and children is considered to be the sole purpose for women, she is now too old to marry by society’s standards. One night changes everything when she meets Rafe Martinelli. Her parents leave her with one choice for the sake of her reputation: marriage to a man she barely knows.
By 1934, the Great Depression is in swing and everything is different. Money is scarce and drought is devastating the land and livelihood of Elsa and her new family. Drought turns to dust bowl which kills the crops and the spirits of everyone. Elsa’s marriage suffers and the family’s health and well-being is being affected by the dust. Elsa has to make a choice of whether to stay where she loves even if it is killing her and her family, or if she should head to California to find opportunity there.
Thoughts (Spoilers Ahead!)
So Much Dirt
I know a lot of the book focused on her time in Texas to discuss the struggles of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. However, I was really finding myself getting tired about reading about how everything was dirty and every single dust storm. It did get a little repetitive. Did it drive home the reality of their struggle? Definitely. Was I sick about reading about dirt? Yes.
Jack Valen
I was SO excited when Jack’s character was introduced because Elsa was finally getting the romantic partner she deserved and wanted so badly. And then she dies!!! Like why did there have to be SO much talk of dirt when that relationship could have been developed more. The relationships she developed with people I found to be a lot more interesting than the discussion of the poverty and the dirt. Obviously that was important to the story, but I would have enjoyed the relationship with Jack to be a bigger part of the story.
Elsa and Loreda
The mother-daughter relationship was a big theme throughout this book and Loreda’s character development was so vital to this story. But MAN– the way she treated her mom in the beginning was so rough to read! I was getting emotional realizing that this is how pre-teens are and it hurt for two reasons:
1. I probably was mean to my mom to when I was a pre-teen and it made me feel awful
2. My child is going to be a pre-teen one day!! Is he going to hate me too? HAHA
Like this conversation between Elsa and Loreda about 17% through the book HURT!:
‘Life is tough, Loreda. You need to be tougher or it will turn you inside out, as it has your father.’
‘Life isn’t what makes my daddy sad.’
‘Oh, really? Tell me, then, with all your worldly experience, what is it that makes your father unhappy?’
‘You,’ Loreda said.
Thoughts on the Ending
Not every story has to have a picture-perfect ending– I get it! But to me, the story felt a little unfinished. It just didn’t feel like all of the loose ends were tied up. What happened to Elsa’s husband? I would have loved to know and had some justice for that situation.
Ultimately, Elsa’s death was a bit confusing to me. It felt like she died over something that she wasn’t even extremely passionate about and was very skeptical about. She wanted justice for workers, but was also skeptical of the way in which they were going about it, so it made me wonder what the moral of the story here was?
I guess all Elsa wanted was to keep her kids safe and for them to have an opportunity at an education and college. And she did achieve that. Mothers will do anything for their kids, so maybe that was the main takeaway theme. However, for her to die over a cause that she was skeptical about fighting for, rather than defending her kids in the moment was an interesting choice.
The actual scene of her dying felt so rushed and random. I actually thought it was going to all be a dream or something like that because it was so quick and breezed through. One minute she’s shot, and the next they cannot do anything. I just thought there was going to be more emotion in that scene.
Final Rating
4/5 stars
I know it seems like I kind of dragged this book, but The Four Winds was a really well written book and I really enjoyed reading it! Kristin Hannah has a real talent and her writing and description really painted such a clear picture of the 1920s-1930s.
This was also just a story about love. Elsa did not have love from her biological family, but she made her own family in the end and she loved her kids so much. She was able to break the patterns that she could have learned from her parents and instead showed her kids and told her kids how much she loved them.
“A warrior believes in an end she can’t see and fights for it. A warrior never gives up. A warrior fights for those weaker than herself. It sounds like motherhood to me” (The Four Winds)
I think the romantic in me just would have loved things to be tied up in a nice bow at the end– when in reality that wasn’t how things happened for a lot of people during this time. So I get it in that perspective. I think I just would have enjoyed a book more that left me feeling empowered that Elsa made it and she got her kids out of an awful situation and made a life for them– but instead it left me feeling a little sad at the end.
Did you read The Four Winds? Let me know what you thought of it in the comments!
disclaimer: if you purchase something through my affiliate links, I may receive a small commission; however, this will not cost you anything, nor will it affect the price of the item you are purchasing 🙂
Leave a Reply