Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

42 reviews

sannesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed the writing. The story captivates you from the first chapter. This story mainly focusses on mother and daughter, and the story is told from both of their povs. Even though I liked the story, I am not a mother, I think this story would have hit harder for readers that are mothers. The book is divided in parts and I enjoyed the first half of the book best because I found that part the most emotional, and I was the most interested in the Dust Bowl. I love Rose and Tony.

The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl are events in history that I was not familiar with (I am not American). I found it a very interesting topic to learn more about. It was so terrible and I feel very much empathy for the people who lived during that time. 

This is really not a happy book so I recommend to pick this book up when you are in the right mindspace for a tragic story.

There were also things I didn't like. I did not like the repetetiveness. I understand that all the tragedies were repetetive. What I mean with that is that, for example, the dust storms were very frequent and they were often described too long and in the same way. I was kind of bored at the part about communism. Again, quite repetetively written. Did not enjoy the ending but the epilogue was kinda sweet. 

I also didn't like the way the mother died. It didn't really make sense. I think, the bullet should have been more fatal for here to actually die from it or she should have to recover. I also did not like the romance between Elsa and Jack. It seemed a bit forced and unnessecary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Death of parent

fancyjess_party's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

meghan_w's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My first ever Kristin Hannah novel did not disappoint! I rated 4.5 stars because it took a little longer to get into than I would’ve liked, but it’s worth reading! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

giraffesandaudiobooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

sarahflanders's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

ssjd411's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Sad, bleak and depressing. I had very little knowledge of this history and did learn a lot. The starvation was hard to read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

samanthas_book_nook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexism, Violence, and Police brutality

themdash's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

astoriareader's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

SYNOPSIS:

• It is the 1920s in a small farming community in the Texas Panhandle. Elsa Martinelli grew up in a wealthy family, who never appreciated her & make her feel hard to love. At age 25, she hooks up with Rafe, and she winds up pregnant. They get married, and she moves in with Rafe and his parents, Rosa and Tony, on their farm. 
• Fast forward, it is 1930s. Along the stock market crash & The Great Depression, there are also several years of drought and The Dust Bowl. Elsa has two kids now, Ant & Lareda, and with no end in sight to the dust storms, Elsa abandon their home and flee to California where they hope work and a better life await. The book details what happens when the family arrives in California. 

MY THOUGHTS

• As my first read of 2024, I wanted to start off with a book by one of my favorite authors. This marks the fourth book I’ve read by Hannah, with the others being: The Great Alone, The Women, The Nightingale.
• Hannah is an expert at character development & writing strong female characters. I always learn something when reading her historical fictions. In this one, I learned a lot that I didn’t know about the Dust Bowl & migrants.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the bonds that develop among the characters in the book, and the imagery and vivid descriptions of the surroundings were also very well done.
• It is definitely a sweeping story, and it is a hard one to read.
• My only complaint about the book is all the characters were white, and I would have enjoyed different perspectives about the experiences of BIPOC folks.
• Kudos to Hannah for clearly spending a lot of time researching the era & the topics covered in the book.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️historical fiction with strong women as main characters. time period: Dust Bowl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Chronic illness

sarahfeller's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic