I really enjoyed much of this book but felt that it tried to do too much It tried to address too many issues at once, and there were so many characters that it was difficult to get to know any one character in depth Although Stella is in a sense the main character, she felt kind of superfluous to me and her story seemed to detract from the rest of the book I think this author s writing is lovely but I wish this book would have been focused.

I did not like how this book was written I was expecting of an impact of the 4 little girls to be played out with the characters I often put the book down for periods of time because it did not flow well Although, it represented some of the feelings of the south, I was expecting I wanted of an immigrant religious perspective of growing up at this time This would have been of my family s story than the author s, but it is a huge part of Birmingham, AL history.

Really great novel I ll quote from the author, When I was a college student in the early sixties in Birmingham, Alabama, I promised myself, if I ever did become a novelist, that I would write about the acts of courage and tragedy taking place in my city I would try to re create through words what it was like to be alive then how ordinary life went on, how people fell in and out of love, how family members got sick, how people worked ordinary jobs, tried to get an education, worshiped, looked for [...]

CAUTION RANTING When I picked this book for my book club I knew it was topical I knew we as a nation need to focus our attention on the racism in this country and one way to do that is to remind ourselves what we ve already been through When I picked this book for my book club, the shooting in South Carolina hadn t happened And the Confederate flag was a mostly forgotten relic gently flapping its message of hate at a state capitol building, and sparking the fire of racism in some southern minds [...]

Naslund and Zafon are, officially, tied in my mind as the best living writers This book entered my mind with its story and my heart with its characters from the beginning and now I m a wee sad that I am finished with both Although I m not sure if the story is finished with me This historical fiction was set during the time that I was about 12 15 years old I was raised next to and went to high school in the south side of Chicago Those four girls dying in that church bombing, the lunch counter sit [...]

Everyone needs to read this book This is the story of a variety of characters confronting racism, their own prejudices, and the horror of the violence during the Civil Rights movement The title refers to the souls of the four children killed in the Montgomery church bombing There are no easy answers in this book, and all of the characters are finely crafted and very human No larger than life, stereotypical portraits, here Two of the most interesting, although unsettling at best, characters are a [...]

This thoughtful, gentle book moves at the pace of the south itself in illustrating the civil rights movement from many perspectives Each little chapter could stand alone as a short story but together they build a story that unfolds as slowly and as gloriously as a magnolia flower.

Four Spirits is dedicated to the four little girls who were killed in a church bombing on September 15, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley s memories are a constant sorrow and motivation for all of the characters in this novel by the beautiful writer Sena Jeter Naslund, who grew up in Birmingham and promised herself, at the time, that she would one day write about the scary and sad events that engulfed Birmingham during the 1960s.W [...]

This book is quite a mess and could have stood to be halved Most of the first near 300 pages are a mixture of clumsy failures at introspective, beautiful writing, and extended vignettes about various characters, much of which adds nothing to the story I can t remember the last time I was so disappointed in a writer, but if not for my love for Ahab s Wife, I would never have kept reading.Around the time Cat and Stella start teaching, the book picks up, and thankfully maintains momentum until the [...]

I think the Spirit moved me to pick this book up again after than 10 years Anyone who cares about race equality in America will want to read this I was literally moved to tears and sickened at what has happened to people in America.I bought Four Spirits after I read and enjoyed Ahab s Wife by the author Oddly, I came back to it at a point when there is an increase in racial tensions Sena Jeter Naslund creates fiction based on real events and her own experience in Alabama in the 1960 s and the r [...]

Sena Jeter Naslund s book is roughly 500 pages and I ve read it in little than a day because I could not put this book down except to eat and sleep Four Spirits is about the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama, and it basically starts with the horrific bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church which killed four innocent little girls of which this year is the 50th anniversary That being said, it is filled with disturbing and depressing images, but it doesn t make it any less poigna [...]

The Four Spirits referred to in the title of this book are the four young girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham Or are they By the end of the book I was thinking the title could refer to four other spirits Although the bombing is a major event in the book, though, I wouldn t say that this book is about that bombing Rather, it s about what it was like to live in Birmingham during the struggle for civil rights, for black and white citizens, alike And boy, does it eve [...]

In early 1960s Birmingham AL the growing and increasingly violent civil rights movement forges unlikely bonds between people, both white and black Naslund tells the story of two tumultuous years 1963 and 1964 through the viewpoints of several characters, including both black and white college students, a middle aged black couple, and an abusive, racist white couple In the first part of the book the desire to cover ground from each viewpoint really seemed to slow things down By the second half of [...]

I would actually give this 3.5, but that s not an option Before picking it up, I m kind of ashamed to say, I knew absolutely nothing about the Civil Rights Movement Like, zero Thank you, Connecticut public school system This book helps you get a grasp on it through the narrative, without seeming too textbook y My main problem is that every character is a super cliche redneck racist angry young klansman wants to blow up black people strong, take no shit black woman takes no shit liberal jewish gi [...]

Mrs Naslund startled this reader with her tremendous vocabulary and delighted him with her clear imagery of people like the KKK bomber and his wife The period was one I had lived through though from the safety of Georgia and being a member of the white race I had not concerned myself with the day to day happenings in the civil rights movements so her description filled in many gaps for me Though fictionalized in that fictional characters interacted with real characters it created a real emotiona [...]

This novel was set in Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights movement I picked this book because I wanted to read and learn about this time period in American history The author did not focus on one or two characters, instead the chapters were told from 20 25 different characters, different civil rights organizers and marchers, KKK members, business owners, church leaders, children, policemen, etc I guess to get a feel for how the civil rights conflicts impacted all lives While I enjoyed t [...]

Sena Jeter Naslund has such a gift of making historical fiction so informative while ensconced in a story that captivates you with its plot and emotionally grabs you with its characters A book such as this one speaks volumes for the case of including historical fiction along with textbook learning in schools As Naslund was herself a college student in Birmingham, Alabama in the early sixties, she is well qualified to write about the civil rights movement and surrounding events in Birmingham duri [...]

I bought this book when I lived in Birmingham, and picked it up because I missed Birmingham The characters are weird, sometimes a little flat, and hard for me to relate to A little Dickensonian in that she wants to telll you about everything that s happening in Birmingham at this time I thought the characterization overall sucked, but I still finished it, so it wasn t that bad She should have written this as memoir, not as fiction It would have been infinitely interesting to see her own perspec [...]

Great book because of the author s ablitity to write as a male, female, black, white etc The different chapters and each perspective keep you aware of all sides of the civil rights movement I felt like I was reading about real people The relationships, the conversations, and even the personal thoughts seem so real I was again impressed by Naslund Her writing style is dramatic, and true, but it s also to the point The details are delicately described portions of the book could be considered poetr [...]

What to say about this book It was about the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960 s in Birmingham, Alabama While I already knew about this time in history, it was really horrific to read about it on a personal level at least it felt personal to me It makes me sick to think of how people were treated and how such terrible acts were allowed to be committed against the black people This book had some really difficult issues and I had to skip over some parts as I just couldn t bear to have those [...]

I was fascinated by an up close look of Birmingham, AL in the 1960 s through the many voices of the characters black and white, young and old The author was a college student there at the time and promised herself that if she ever became a novelist some day, she would write about the acts of courage and tragedy taking place in my city The civil rights movement came alive for me in these pages.

Although I did learn about the context of the Birmingham bombing, fewer characters with depth would have been preferable Oddly, despite some graphic descriptions of the violence, the book came off as fluffy.

Not nearly as good as I had hopedleft it on a plane and am not sad

Found it boring til the end Chase scene in the snowy cemetery was haunting and scary.

Six degrees of integrationFirst of all, the title of this review is not original It is borrowed from the New York Times review of Four Spirits by Will Blythe and was as perfect a description of the intersecting lives of characters in this historical novel set in Birmingham during the turbulent years of racial strife, 1963 64 In this novel, Sena Jeter Naslund is attempting to weave the destinies of at least a dozen characters on different points along the civil rights spectrum in Birmingham durin [...]

A engaging novel about the racial tensions in the 1960s in and around Birmingham, Alabama The story covers the life of 5 6 key characters, of varied racial backgrounds The historical events of the church bombing on Sept 15, 1963 that killed 4 young black girls, various police raids, Klan gatherings and challenges of integrating schools and town activities are all covered very well, and with compassion for what individuals of the time, both black and white, were struggling with A torrent of event [...]

I picked up this book because I read Ahab s Wife and loved it Although this book is about a very important part of American history the story is very uneven and therefore disappointing I was in high school in New York during the 60 s and remember the civil rights era very well.There are too many characters intis book and none are truly memorable If the author had focused on two or three major characters this book would have been much better.

This is an excellent book It s very well written I think every book club should read this book There is a lot to discuss in the book It has a very rich storyline and a wealth of different characters It reminds me of the way The Poisonwood Bible was written It has the different viewpoints of multiple characters I wish my Race and Relations class in college had to read this.

As I read, I remembered that I had read this one before, but I still enjoyed every page This book is beautiful It s harrowing in its depictions of racism, domestic abuse, and police brutality but beautiful in its depictions of the strength of the human spirit to continue loving and moving forward despite it all.

I loved Ahab s Wife by Naslund, but just could not keep reading this Her many characters were wooden, and I didn t care about any of them All of them were cliched really really bad or, by golly, almost saintly She missed such a wonderful opportunity to tell this important story Even though I m at 112 pages, I decided not to waste my time finishing it.