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"Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance. In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli-like so many of her neighbors-must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation"--… (more)
Wow, this historical novel encircling the life of one Texas woman, Elsa, and her family was heartbreaking. It mainly focused on the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years of 1934-1936. The discrimination and ill treatment of migrant families who fled to California during this time was particularly horrid. ( )
DNF wt 16%. Every single character is a terrible person whose single personality trait is either “asshole” or “doormat”. I thought maybe if I could suffer thru Part 1 it would get better but nope. One chapter into Part 2 I knew this book wasn’t for me. The writing was as bland as a drought also so that didn’t help.
KH is becoming hit-or-miss for me. And there is no in between. ( )
This book was a DIFFICULT read for me. It was incredibly well written, and the story felt more immersive than most, in my opinion. The story starts off depressing, and then it gets more depressing. Then there’s a bit of hope and happiness for the main character, which lasts for but a moment, before everything falls apart and the book continues on its downward spiral of ever-deepening depression. And then she dies.
The Four Winds was so well written that it stuck with me, affecting my daily mood. I had to take many, many breaks just for my own emotional wellbeing.
Even though this book is listed as historical fiction, this actually a very slow moving and repetitive family drama set during a historical period. I cannot say I learned much new information about the Great Depression or the Dust Bowl through this story. Although I realize Hannah is a popular author, this book just didn't work for me.
Hannah brings Dust Bowl migration to life in this riveting story of love, courage, and sacrifice...combines gritty realism with emotionally rich characters and lyrical prose that rings brightly and true from the first line
added by Dariah | editPublishers Weekly (starred review)
Epic and transporting, a stirring story of hardship and love...Majestic and absorbing.
To damage the earth is to damage your children. --WENDELL BERRY, FARMER AND POET
I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. . . . The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. --FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure. --CÉSAR CHÁVEZ
One thing was left, as clear and perfect as a drop of rain---the desperate need to stand together . . . They would rise and fall and, in their falling, rise again. --SANORA BABB, WHOSE NAMES ARE UNKNOWN
Dedication
Dad, this one's for you.
First words
Hope is a coin I carry: an American penny, given to me by a man I came to love. There were times in my journey when it felt as if that penny and the hope it represented were the only things that kept me going. -Prologue
Elsa Wolcott had spent years in enforced solitude, reading fictional adventures and imagining other lives. In her lonely bedroom, surrounded by the novels that had become her friends, she sometimes dared to dream of an adventure of her own, but not often. Her family repeatedly told her that it was the illness she'd survived in childhood that had transformed her life and left it fragile and solitary, and on good days, she believed it. -Chapter One
"Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance. In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli-like so many of her neighbors-must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation"--
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Book description
Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.
By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.
In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.
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Wikipedia in English
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It mainly focused on the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years of 1934-1936.
The discrimination and ill treatment of migrant families who fled to California during this time was particularly horrid. (