Living through a disaster like the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s is unimaginable. But we have become accustomed to nature’s fury. Every one of us has experienced the terrible destruction and the aftereffects of tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis, fire, and/or flooding. So, we have a deeper appreciation for what those people went through especially after this last year of Covid. The duration of that disaster was catastrophic, however, lasting a decade. Farmers lost their property; towns lost their citizens as the tragedy continued year after year. People took refuge in California – 2.5 million people left Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas. The refuges were called okies and lived in shantytowns working for pennies a day.
The Dust Bowl exposed a nasty side of nature and of us. The scientists/farmers managed to fix the problem with the land, but have we fixed our humanity. The author has used this historical setting to tell the story of a brave and lonely woman in this bleak backdrop.
The protagonist, Elsa Wolcott, goes from one bad situation to another beginning with her unloving parents. She is friendless and insecure. How could she not be? Her family casts her off without a second glance. Her life is one bad turn after another. She earns respect and love through these hardships. We cheered her on and wanted that fairytale ending for her and well – you’ll have to read the book.
Our book club read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah right after we had all been vaccinated. It was our first time being all together since the following summer. We were so excited to see each other again that discussion of the book was unfortunately minimal. We liked the book because the author grabs you right from the beginning and doesn’t let you go. We talked about the difference in how people handle the Covid crisis and how the Californians dealt with the refugees. In our small part of the world, people were compassionate and caring and helped each other during Covid. This book illustrates just how bad society can be. We agreed that more empathy would help all of us be better human beings.
Rating: 8.5