The Human Spirit

I am honestly shocked how much I loved The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. I mean I put this book off for YEARS thinking I would find it boring. After picking it up (and dusting it off) I opened to the first page and was hooked. Now, when I say hooked, I mean I read this 454 page book in five days, and it’s not like I’m home all day or even most of the day. I found myself thinking that I just wanted to get home and read, I was just so enthralled by it. Elsa was a privileged girl, but due to a childhood illness she was contained to her house most of the time by her parents, never allowed to over exert herself. Her family also continuously told her how ugly she was and said she would never marry. Elsa had been beaten down, but finally decided to take her life in her own hands. She cut her hair short and made herself a dress, roaring ’20s style and headed out into the night. The last thing she expected she would find is a boy that actually finds her attractive, Raffaello ‘Rafe’ Martinelli. That night Elsa loses all inhibitions and gives Rafe everything. They sneak out together a few times, but it is not long until she finds out she is pregnant. Her family is furious, they make her pack her things, and drop her at the Martinelli farm. This is where Elsa’s life really begins, she throws everything she has into this farm and her new family. Rafe’s parents, Rose and Tony, accept her and love her as their own as the farm is plentiful. Until the drought comes and with it the time of the Dust Bowl begins. With the dust storms starting to impact her family’s health and their food dwindling down, Elsa decides to head west to California. This story is one of Elsa’s resiliency, fierce love for her children, and heartbreak. You never know how much one person can take, but every time she is knocked down, Elsa gets back up ready to take it again. This journey will give you hope, break your heart, and show you the human spirit.

Favorite quotes – “Courage is fear you ignore.”

“Love is what remains when everything else is gone.”

“Books had always been her solace; novels gave her the space to be bold, brave, beautiful, if only in her own imagination.”

“It wasn’t the fear that mattered in life. It was the choices made when you were afraid. You were brave because of your fear, not in spite of it.”

“As we know, there are lessons to be learned from history. Hope to be derived from hardships faced before. We’ve gone through bad times before and survived, even thrived. History has shown us the strength and durability of the human spirit, In the end, it is our idealism and our courage and our commitment to one another–what we have in common–that will save us.”

“Passion is a thunderstorm, there and gone. It nourishes, si, but it drowns, too.”