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Was there anything surprising about the audiobook edition? Its been a while since I read it, but I recall finding The Great Alone a little dreary, preferring mostly the beginning parts before the book really gets underway. What I keep hearing and what I believe to be true is that its a really good book for people to read right now. . With biting dialogue that holds nothing back, The Four Winds is classic in its artistry. I listened to the audiobook and loved it. Instead, she meets and sleeps with Rafe Martinelli. In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. In my travels after that book and talking to people, I really began to understand how much that story of female courage and womens lost history resonated with people, Hannah says. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. They lived in a dugout shelter for several years as Tony learned how to work their land (implied to have been obtained via one of the Homestead Acts of the early twentieth century), eventually becoming successful farmers. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Do you have sympathy for how broken he felt by the poverty and hardship? How does it weaken her? Its a book about determination, love for ones family and for oneself, the fight to survive and the American Dream. Discuss the shift in thinking that happens between generationsthe freedoms longed for and the sacrifices required. Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesuss life that focuses on his humanity,The Book of Longingsis an inspiring, unforgettable account of one womans bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Life in California is not at all what the migrants expected, what advertisements had led them to believe. After the family arrives in California, Elsa feels a mounting sense of guilt as Ant is continuously forced to take on more adult responsibilities, including picking cotton instead of attending school. Ant experienced extreme sickness from the impacts of the dust storms, which finally forces Elsa to make the decision to move the family to California. And a dog named Buddy. What do you think happened to Rafe? Why do you think that is? 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." (1) What is the significance of the fact that it is an American penny? Reading The Four Winds, its impossible not to notice parallels between the fictional past and factual present. The strike ultimately ends up leading to Elsas death, as she is shot after delivering an impassioned, heartfelt speech urging the wealthy farmers to recognize that migrant workers are Americans, just like them. They pack up the truck and head west, while Tony and Rose stay behind to salvage what they can of the farm. Does it reveal anything about the grit that literally fills their bodies? Do you think it would have been the same for her in New York City? Her family also instilled in Elsa the belief that she was unattractive and undesirable, which, combined with her health, prevented Elsa from finding a husband and marrying at the typical age. publication online or last modification online. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the newcomers lack of preparation and dwindling resources. Despite Elsas promise that their stay in the camp is only temporary, the scarcity of work and the meager wages force them to settle in for the long haul. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. She understands the impossible odds her mother faces and the sheer tenacity it takes to simply keep the family together and put food on the table. Elsa finds that the hard work of farming agrees with her, but Rafes dreams lie elsewhere. Does this idea resonate with you? Books became Elsas escape, and she carries a deep love of reading with her throughout her life. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. One of Tony's friend and neighbor. Over the course of their time in the ditch encampment, Jean becomes Elsas first real friend, and Elsa credits that friendship with giving her the strength to endure the many hardships she faces in California. Rose Martinelli shows Elsa to her new roomRafe's bedroom; he will sleep in the barn until they are marriedwhile Rafe vows to try to be a good husband. I also wish Elsa would have found a way to love herself (and to feel that she is loved) separate from a mans recognition of her worth. Elsa oversleeps the next morning, waking to find the entire Martinelli family has eaten breakfast and is busy with farm chores. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Im also guessing that this will be a hit with book clubs, given that its accessible and tells a relatively fast-paced story. He fantasizes about traveling and adventure, filling Loredas head with similar fantasies. THE FOUR WINDS DISCUSSION GUIDE Book Club Collection (630) 232-0780 x366 bookclub@gpld.org . (The Detailed Plot Summary is also available, below), (The one-paragraph version: During the Dust Bowl in the Texas Panhandle, Elsa Wolcott is a woman who dreams of going to college, but gets pregnant instead and has two kids. Follow along on Goodreads, or keep in touch via the newsletter. What do we know now that people didnt know then? However, as time passes, Loreda comes to appreciate Elsas quiet strength, and she begins to realize that it is Elsas parenting that has turned her into the sort of person who can fight for her dreams and ideals, unlike her ineffectual dreamer of a father. She and Loreda clash often, as Loreda is a youthful idealist who views her mothers survivalist mentality as a weakness rather than a strength. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original I think that has real messages for today.. Would you have had the courage to do the same? I also thought it was charming that at the heart of the story is a mother-daughter relationship. Loreda feels especially betrayed by his departure, as she had thought the two of them would leave together. I highly recommend it! The second is the date of I was much more interested in their lives in California and how they would try to make it work. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Loreda Martinelli is Elsas spirited daughter. Why do you think theyve gone unreported for so long? 1. The doctor advises Elsa to get out of Texas. Why do you think Loreda takes on her fathers mindset instead of her mothers? This holds true when the Bible refers to the "four winds.". He has dreams of moving to a big city and having adventures but is forced to give up his chance to attend college in the city after Elsa becomes pregnant. She watches as the lands around her crack in their perpetually parched state and the hopelessness threatens to breaks the spirit of those around her. Rafe is younger than Elsa by several years, having just turned eighteen on the night of Elsas twenty-fifth birthday. This upbringing, along with her guilt over the circumstances of their marriage, often render Elsa incapable of expressing her feelings properly, and she tends to avoid confrontation. It becomes apparent that there is no way to ever crawl out from under the debt burden, especially when Welty systematically cuts wages. Day after day, they worked together, prayed together, held their growing family together through the hardships of farm life. (9091) Do you share a similar bond with the women in your lifeeither as a mother, a daughter, or a daughter-in-law? While both these novels are survival stories, The Four Winds is the one Id recommend if youre on the fence between the two of them. How do we face our own dark times? . How do you think future generations will judge the America of today? What does she learn by becoming a mother? Loreda climbs the windmill to grieve, and when Elsa tries to comfort her, Loreda won't accept her love and sadness. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance. How are the workers exploited on the Welty farm in The Four Winds? Roses dreams for the next generation are ultimately obtained through Loreda, who will be the first Martinelli to attend college. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance They approach the newly-arrived Martinellis in order to welcome them to the campsite, providing Elsa with valuable information on a range of topics, including the various growing seasons, when and how to sign up for federal aid, and how to prepare the campsites water so that it is safe for drinking. However, Tonys tenacity eventually proves fruitful, as the land recovers with the help of the new farming techniques instituted by the Conservation Commission. A new book remembers his work, Abraham Verghese says The Covenant of Water dips into his familys past, Status Update: Dutch Bros. drive-through coffee shop plots first OC locations, Fire at Barnes & Noble in Orange disrupts book-signing event, Dementia doubles in Orange County in less than a decade, Man who killed father on Laguna Niguel trail committed to mental-health hospital, Orange County Artist of the Year winners announced, Cold, drizzly week ahead for Southern California, Council set to vote on 380 apartments, new buildings to replace Brea Malls shuttered Sears wing, A look at Orange Countys baseball teams and the CIF-SS playoffs, CIF Southern Section baseball playoff pairings for wild-card round, first round, OC Marine who volunteered in Ukraine, survived rocket attack: I would do it again, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Is it simply sex and loneliness? After Elsas death, Loreda returns to the Martinelli farm in Texas. 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. Why is it a risk to associate with them and what is Elsas hesitation? In 1936, Jean goes into labor, but the hospital refuses to admit migrants like her, and the baby is stillborn. Elsas character arc follows a well-worn path, although no less engaging for its familiarity. They would die of thirst and hunger before theyd give that up. (76) Do you think this attitude is a common thread in those who across generations have come to chase the American Dream? Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail, water dries up . The police lob tear gas, and Weltys thugs beat Jack senseless. There, Elsa discovers a tight community of fellow migrants, and she befriends Jean Dewey, who shares resources and survival tips. There will be spoilers so for more context about the book, check out my spoiler-free review first. In 1921, Elsa Wolcott is a 25-year-old unmarried woman who is not particularly pretty and too tall for most men. Rafe's fianc. How is the modern world different? 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. (1) What is the significance of the fact that it is an American penny? The locals shun the new visitors and label them as dirty Okies. And the only opportunity is a life of poverty. Thats not to say this book has no substance, its just that its not that kind of book. The catalyst for her decision is the death of her best friend, Jean Dewey, who dies from typhoid in a roadside encampment. Were different voices and tones used effectively? In a very real sense, its sort of the core of it, she says. While most of Hannahs writing is specific and surprising, the novels beating heart weakens a little in the last section as it falls into familiar crowd-pleaser story beats, with a simplified villain and a quick epiphany just in time to give a rousing speech. 20 Best Book Club Books for 2022 (New & Anticipated), Best Mystery & Thriller Books for 2022 (New & Anticipated), 20 Best Books with Asian American Protagonists (for Adults), Persephone by Madeline Miller: What We Know, Books to Movies & TV in 2022: 25+ Adaptations Coming Soon, Your email address will not be published. Do they intend to exclude Elsa, whom they perceive as just a workhorse? Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsas tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. Prejudice: In California, the Martinellis face the dehumanizing prejudice . Does anyone know where that may be on the web? Eventually, however, even Elsa is forced to admit that the way the migrant Okies are being treated is unjust. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I really enjoy yourBook club suggestions and Book Club Questions, Preview: The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin, Q&A with Peng Shepherd, Author of The Cartographers, Book Club Questions for Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton, Q&A with Maxine Mei-Fung Chung, Author of the The Eighth Girl, Q&A with Ann Mah, Author of The Lost Vintage, 10 Book Club Books to Read in Summer 2023, Book Club Questions for Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, Review: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, Book Club Questions for The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes, Book Club Questions for Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, (Updated April 2023) Reeses Book Club Picks: Entire List, Book Club Questions for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Book Club Questions for Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. She was Rafes wife, but she was not a viewpoint character, and it was not in any way her story. Why do you think female bonding is so important to women? Corrections & clarifications: A previous version of this story misidentified a 2018 film titled The Nightingale. The adaptation of Kristin Hannah's book of the same name has not yet been released. What does she learn about motherhood from Rose? With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. . Did it add to the experience of the book? The last date is today's What happened to the Wolcott family? It is Rafes closeness with Loreda that turns her against her mother, as she comes to view Elsa as the one holding her father back from achieving his dreams. Loreda longs to leave as well, and she prefers her father's dreams to her mother's dreary, joyless work ethic. If you listened to the audiobook, did anyone else notice how the narrator pronounces drought as DROW-TH a bunch of times? That hope is quickly dashed when they encounter discrimination, a lack of jobs, and the reality of life in a muddy squatters camp. I started it almost four years ago, and obviously, I had no idea how timely and relevant it would feel to come out at this moment, Hannah says. When a flash flood hits the migrant camp, everyone there, including the Martinellis, lose everything. And as the novel sort of progressed, I became more and more interested in Elsa, and her sort of difficult journey from insecure and unloved to a woman finding her own voice, she says. Graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. with degrees in English and Communications. The audiobook runs 15 hours. Describe that unique and complicated connection. And so, Hannah says she steeled herself and made a fresh start. I found it very depressing and had to force myself to finish it, Just started The Four Winds and Im wondering where Elsa would have found a copy of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure given the times and small town she lived in. The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through itthe harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. She is eventually picked up by Jack Valen, a union organizer who takes Loreda to a union meeting. The first time I heard it, I assumed it was a mistake, but the second time I started wondering if there are people out there who just pronounce it that way. There is a strong thread running through this novel about mans connection to the land. How does motherhood strengthen a woman? And so Ive always been fascinated by this idea of the people who stay on land for generations and pass it down, and for whom that land is a big part of their identity. Why does the Martinelli family stay under such brutal conditionsthe heat, the dust storms, the lack of food, and the dying livestock? To save money, spend a night in a tent camp with other migrants, only to learn that wages for migrant work are so low that they'll have to stay there indefinitely. "The Four Winds" (St. Martins Press, 464 pp., *** out of four stars) plays out against the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl that together gutted the American economy and turned beloved farms into ruins. The farmer. Elsa is resilient, and readers will be drawn to her devotion to her children and her tireless efforts to keep her family well, efforts that bring her to pack them up and head west. How does Hannahs description of the experience of migrant workers traveling from the South to California compare with the modern day treatment of immigrants looking for work? "Hope is a coin I carry. In this tale, Kristin has written a survival story about resilience, love, family, courage and the American Dream. Did he make it to California? A gangly, awkward spinster with no self-confidence, Elsa is forced by her circumstances to find the strength and courage she never knew she had and confront a life marred by seemingly endless tragedy. Elsa uses her voice to speak out against the oppressors. Her family and her world have pared her down to inconsequence. Have you seen it at work in other people? Rafe is her only surviving child, and she admits to having spoiled him as a result. How might others struggles inspire us? An armed guard fires through the teargas and hits Elsa in the abdomen. At first she'd tried to scale the walls of her daughter's adolescent, irrational anger; she'd volleyed back with words of love, but Loreda's continuing, thriving impatience with Elsa had done worse than grind her down. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is a historical novel about the Dust Bowl and subsequent westward migration by drought-stricken farmers. Kristin Hannahs new novel The Four Winds is a historical epic about about a woman finding the strength to keep her family going during the hard times of the Dust Bowl and the Depression in Texas and California. Her dreams of a better future are interrupted Join the Conversation Follow on Instagram Add Kristin's Books to Your Goodreads List, COPYRIGHT 2023 KRISTIN HANNAH. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. She runs away and hitches a ride with Jack Dewey, who works for a Communist organization, Workers United. I enjoyed The Great Alone and The Nightingale, Ill have to check this one out! Elsa dies, surrounded by Jack, Loreda, and Anthony. How is Elsa shaped by these expectations and her failure to meet them? Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop Books-a-Million, Kindle B&N NOOK Apple Books eBooks.com Google Play Kobo. Hannah is the author of more than 20 novels, including the bestsellers Winter Garden, Night Road, and Firefly Lane. If you'd like me to review your book, contact me! What did you think of Loreda as a character and how her relationship with Elsa shifts throughout the novel? What do you think the idea of owning land and working the land means to people? What do you think drives Loredas anger throughout the book? She had to believe there was grit in her, even if it had never been tested or revealed. (9) This sentence highlights Elsas essentially hopeful nature, even though she doesnt believe in herself. She moved in with his family, and together they made a healthy living, raising two children while they worked the earth. Rafe likes to dream big, and he constantly talks about moving to Hollywood or traveling the world. Jack Valen is a member of the Workers Alliance, a Communist Party organization dedicated to improving conditions for workers across the country. Her love of the Martinelli farmas well as the Martinellis themselvesbuttresses her in times of hardship. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. What do you think about Rafe? This strains their marriage, and Elsa acknowledges that Rafe never really loved her in the way that she came to love him. What does it say about Elsa that she went with Rafe so willingly? This story, about family, love, & struggle during the Dust Bowl, captivated my interest from start to finish! Lets talk about the similarities they share and how different it is from Elsa. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is a historical novel about the Dust Bowl and subsequent westward migration by drought-stricken farmers.

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