The Four Winds is a powerful book. It is written well and left me thinking about man's inhumanity to man. I learned a lot about the dust bowl era and I was pleased that Kristin Hannah covered the environmental issues with farming practices that were a factor in that tragedy. The characters are strong. I came to care about them a great deal which made it a difficult read but definitely a five star book.
I am an Amor Towles fan. I enjoyed The Lincoln Highway even though I did not feel it came up to Rules of Civility or A Gentleman in Moscow. The writing style was wonderful and the characters were sympathetic and interesting. However, the plot had a number of situations where things should not have worked out but always did.
Eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson and his eight-year-old brother, Billy travel from Nebraska to New York in search of Duchess and Wooley, two young men Emmett met while all three were serving sentences in a juvenile work farm in Salina, Kansas. Duchess and Wooley took advantage of Emmett's release to break out of the camp then proceeded to steal Emmett's car, which, along with some cash in the trunk, was the only thing of value he had left after his father's death.
Emmett and Billy change their plans to search for their long lost mother who is somewhere in California. They hop freight trains to chase down the people who betrayed them. They cross the United States with little knowledge of where to go but always managed to make the right decisions based on little information and run into people who help them when they need them.
What I liked the most about the novel were the strange characters. Emmett is naive but sincere and determined to protect his brother. Billy has a young boy's interests but manages to think things through in ways that are well beyond his years. Duchess has a morality that is at odds with most of the world. Wooley thinks about some important things in a naive and slow way but has a fascinating philosophy on life that rings true in many ways.
I recommend The Lincoln Highway to readers who are looking for stories that are a little different and who don't mind suspending their disbelief.
