Four Winds Novel Kristin Hannah ebook Reviews Summary

Writing Style

Pros:

• "The text itself is well written, and the story does move along nicely."
• "It's well-written and rich in historical facts."
• "The writing is excellent and the reader is transported to experience every emotion with Elsa and her children."
• "Hannah’s writing is ultra descriptive."
• "Her writing style pulls you along through the story, making the book difficult to put down."
• "The writing is beautiful."
• "I gave this book 5 stars because her writing is absolute poetry."

Cons:

• "Too often, the author fell into overly simplistic transitions within scenes - basically telling the reader what happened rather than pulling them in as deeply as needed."
• "The story telling misses the dramatic touch, the building of compelling scenes and the showing of raw emotion that pulls a reader into the story."
• "The story just rang false to me."
• "The story, however, has seemed one noted and a bit dull."
• "She does into exact detail on tiny, minute and mundane occurrences that do not necessarily move the plot along."
• "The language was like Instagram motivational posts crammed into dialog."
• "I found the lyricism of the narrative to be lacking."

Historical Context

Pros:

• "On the up side, I thought the book shared an important historical lesson on the depression and dust bowl and the danger of greed and not helping others in need in our society."
• "The desperation of all of the people during the dust bowl was interesting to read through a characters eyes."
• "The author has done a good job of researching the story of the Dust Bowl in Texas - the descriptions of the rising winds and devastation of the land, including the demise of crops and most other plant life as well as agonizing deaths for farm animals, is heartbreaking to read about."
• "The book is a great history lesson on the dust bowl, the depression and how people of the plains survived."
• "This incredible novel opened the door to the history of those times to me."
• "After the hump I enjoyed the book learning about the Great Plains, Dust Bowl and workers rights in California."
• "The style and detail within the storytelling was very much evocative of that period in American history."

Cons:

• "The last part of the book got a little too political for me."
• "It’s fairly political, hitting many of today’s progressive themes."
• "It unashamedly promotes Communism making it appear that it is the best answer to poverty and low wages."
• "The novel is too political."
• "But within this book there was a push for not just socialism but communism, and it was repeated over and over as if this is something our country was striving for and continues to strive for."
• "So Communism, here, is only shown in a good light, in a logical light."
• "The story reads much more like propaganda than historical fiction."

Character Development

Pros:

• "Elsa loves her children dearly and finally feels the love of family through her children and in-laws."
• "Elsa, too tall, too thin, too pale, always thought she was less than who she really was, friends Jack and Jean told her different, pretty, intelligent, caring."
• "I liked Rose and Anthony Martinelli who loved the land and God, grandson, Ant, was a regular boy, sister Loreda, changed back and forth from a loving daughter and sister to a rebellious teenager."
• "The author has good character building skills, is obviously talented but lacks the courage to finally be inspiring in this book."
• "One of the things I admire most about Hannah is the way she writes strong, resilient female protagonists."
• "The characters are well rounded and excellently described."
• "Beautiful character development and a wonderful story."

Cons:

• "I also felt like I was left hanging about what happened to some of the early characters that were central to the book."
• "I did find Loreda's attitude to be a bit tiresome and I found Elsa's self loathing annoying in the beginning."
• "The characters and their relationships that felt a little two dimensional to me."
• "It felt like the characters weren't well-developed, so I didn't care when two died - that says a lot."
• "There was really no depth to the main character, Elsa."
• "The lead characters were not especially vibrant and likable, and somehow the story and relationships never developed so you cared much."
• "Her characters were, for the most part, one dimensional–very little development, and predictable to a type."