The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

MANY SPOILERS so do not read if finding out about the awful ending! I loved this audiobook so much; tremendously Narrated by Julia Whelan. but oh did I hate the ending... it says in the Goodreads summary it is a book about hope---certainly the ending with Elsa's death--shot by a Welty hired gun, had no hope for this reader at all!!! I loved Kristin Hannah's books and find them all redemptive, BUT NOT THIS ONE!!! Taking place before the Dust Bowl and then going into horrid Dust Bowl--her husband has left her, then beacuse her son Ant becomes so ill the doctor recommends leaving Texas because he has sand and dust in his system and it will kill him if he stays. Once Elsa and her children head toward California which is being touted as a land of hope with lots of jobs (Rafe's parents were going but decide at the last minute to stay with their farm) another devastating reality hits---the mass migration to California has produced Hoovervilles, tent towns that breed disease and death as well as the town people calling them Oakies and driving them away all the time. Yes Elsa has many issues since her family raised to her with no love, telling her she was sick and ugly, and did not want to hear from her---she tries to be brave like her grandfather told her but more often she tries to be invisible hoping everyone understands where she is coming from. We all know this does not work---her daughter hates her, blames her for her father leaving and blames her for not becoming a Communist and fighting for better pay. Along comes Jack who is a union organizer and over hard times and conversations they fall in love and she becomes this woman who will speak her mind, fiercely protective of her children, but wanting better for them all. As the situation on the Welty cotton farm becomes desperate Elsa with her daughter's pushing becomes a spokesperson for her friends in the fields. I felt like I was eating dust the whole time and crossing my fingers for Elsa, rooting for her and what does Kristin Hannah do? Kills her off---I would have loved so much more of the new family unit they were becoming with Jack---why not kill off someone else or wound Jack or Elsa but they recover?!? So no hope at all with this ending---this key protagonist was needed---a redemptive, hopeful ending was needed, not what poor Loreda, Ant, Jack and Rafe's parents have to live with-- a deep aching hole for Elsa's absence. Again, I loved the book, hated the ending---it could have been better and different!


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