Was the American Dream true then? Is it now?Ģ. A theme in the book is the American Dream, either through financial independence or traveling to California in search of a better life. Here are some questions that we used in our discussion, taken from discussion questions on line and tweaking to make them more our own: (NOTE- spoilers to anyone who has not read the book)ġ. While we had a few within our 16 person group who did not enjoy the book, the majority rated it high, finding it an honest recap of the way things were as well as an interesting look into one family in particular as they made their way. Our discussion leaned not only towards the decisions that Elsa makes throughout the book, but also into the Dust Bowl itself, each of us learning a bit about this time period and a few sharing stories that were handed down from our own relatives. It’s a brutaly honest look at how things were during these times, and honestly to put a merry spin on it would have been wrong – no matter how hard we rooted for her. It’s true the book does not bring a lot of sunshine, yet why would it? The Four Winds is about Elsa, and starts pre- dust storm, and then carries on throughout Elsa’s adult life into her marriage, hew kids, and extended family. Honestly though, as a book club choice we highly recommend. “Every page, I was like is this here break? And then … nope.” She can take a heavy hard depressing topic like this and make it readable. Angie, in our book club, nailed it when she said Hannah just writes in a way that makes you engage. or I need to get going on the laundry or start blah blah blah… ) Being on vacation with nothing but glorious time…I really was able to dig in. I rarely have time to just sink into a book without time restraints (ooh I have 30 minutes before I have to go….
Then I thought about my answer and wondered how I gushed about a book that is – well honestly, extremely sad. In fact when one girl asked if Elsa’s life got any better (possible spoiler here) I said no. When my book club chose this book to be our May read, I felt they had made a good choice but knew I was not going to read it again this quickly, knowing at times how heavy and drawn the subject matter could be. I wanted to know what would happen next – and honestly reading a book like this reminded me how much I love just having time to be with a book. If you read my review you find that I soared through the book, having trouble putting it down.
I read this book while on vacation this past February.
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