Rating: 
Summary: Southern Balls
Review: I thought it took a lot of guts for Ms. Randall to take a literary icon like GWTW and tamper with it from ANY point of view. I remember feeling skeptical when TV offered us "Son of Scarlet" or whatever the sequel was called and I felt it fell far afield from the original movie and book. But I was saddened for Ms. Randall to see how much negative feedback her book had engendered for I've found it to be highly creative, well written, thought provoking. Randall's voice is totally unique, convincing ... her story, totally engaging. Perhaps what is regrettable is all the advance publicity over publication litigation, authorship, the Mitchell Estate, rights, etc., and the choice to call Randall's work a "parody" of "Gone with the Wind" set many people up for disappointment. I suspect from the letters here that many readers were looking for another sweeping "Gone with the Wind." And who wouldn't? ... Given that t for many of us it was the first grown-up, colorful, historic, romantic, tragic, famous and THICKEST epic we had ever read. God knows we're all hungry for great writing these days. Why NOT hope for the best? But to tell potential readers that "The Wind Done Gone" is going to be merely a retelling of the story of Tara and Scarlet from a slave's point of view, does great injustice to a book which is really a NEW story. But depending on how seriously you take your fiction, perhaps this the REAL story of what happened. It takes nothing away from the original tale. It adds credence to the old poem about the six blind men who went to see the elephant. I felt it was a great lesson in knowing there will always be not just one but two, three and four sides to every story ... that it is being faithful to the story you were born to tell that matters. This, to me, is a brand new story that only uses Mitchell's tale as a familiar and leveling launching pad for her readers ... much the way a storyteller may begin her story with "Once upon a
time ..." to get our attention. It sounded to me like Randall was saying "Remember Tara and Miss Melanie, Twin Oaks and Scarlet and Rhett? Remember falling in love with the movie and the costumes and the part where one of the big slaves says 'I gets to say when it's quittin' time...' Yeah, well, listen up, Chile, 'cause here's the parts of the story you ain't never heard before."
And you know that what you're going to hear is being told just to you ... and that it isn't some impartial court reporter's version of what REALLY happened, but the breath and fire and blood that's pumping in someone's heart and soul. To me, the story was challenging and definitely not for readers who just want another "Gone with the Wind" with maybe a few new costumes or a couple more Belle Watling scenes thrown in. To me it's another lesson that one set of events can and does affect us all differently. One single moment can touch or inspire or defeat or anger or renew or stir different people in different and equally powerful ways! That's a story in itself. That's the story I heard Ms. Randall telling me. Perhaps, then, our diverse reactions to her story bears out the web she weaves. Perhaps she can find some success there as well. It is to Mitchell's credit that her characters still create such fierce loyalty among readers. It is equally to Randall's credit that for her first effort - she was able to shake a few of those loyalists to their core! For myself, I look forward to more of Randall's bold new work.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Concept, Poorly executed
Review: I really wanted to like this book. It's a great concept, and long overdue. Unfortunately, Ms. Randall's writing doesn't measure up to her concept; she might have fared better had she written this as a third-person narrative rather than a diary, since the latter is a tricky device to master for a first novel. (Oh, if only Alice Walker had thought up this idea!) Still worth a read though, and she raises some important issues...I recommend you get this one at the library, and purchase a copy of A SHINING THREAD OF HOPE: BLACK WOMEN IN AMERICA by Darlene Clark Hine instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply Horrible
Review: [...]But, this book is so god-awful I'm taking the opportunity to warn others to stay away. I didn't make it past page 60. I'm thankful I borrowed it from the library. I would have been angry if I had paid good money for it.
Rating:
Summary: Parody of Decent African-Americans
Review: The only myth that Randall explodes is that any African-American can or should be trusted. If a white person had written this piece of trash, he or she would have been justifiably excoriated for racism.Look at the African-American characters: Mammy or Pallas, a woman who pushes her mistress into bed with a drunken Irishman and then murders her male babies so that Cotton Farm will never be overseen by a sober white man.Garlic- a trusted servant who drugs man's drinks so that Planter may win Cotton Farm by gambling and then who manipulates him -"dance like a bandy-legged Irish marionette."The Congressman-a politician willing to give up his seat and respectability for a pretty whore.And the whore herself-Cynara, a greedy,envious, self-centered,vain,scheming mulatto who cannot cope with her mixed blood.With lines like "every woman is a nigger" this book should have been banned,but not for any copyright infringement. It's just plain poor literature.I was lucky enough not to buy it and got it from my local library so I only wasted time and not money.
Rating:
Summary: Big Sam, Where Are You?
Review: Although I was offended by the defrocking of mythical heroes like Ashley and Melanie, by the time I finished this book I understood that somewhere between the "white" story and the "black" one, a reader might find something close to the realities of life in the old South. I believe only an avid GWTW fan can enjoy this book to its fullest. Everyone who has seen the movie will recognize Mammy and Prissy, but only if you know GWTW well enough to know who Pork, Dilcey and Jeems are will you appreciate them in 'Done Gone.' I admired Randall's skill in staying true to the sketchy characterizations of the slaves in GWTW while fleshing them out in her book. Certainly 'Done Gone' is far more true to the original novel than was the awful but authorized sequel, 'Scarlett,' which only used GWTW as a jumping off point to write a novel about Ireland. I am only sorry that Randall found no place to include Big Sam - one of the real heroes in GWTW.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed it
Review: This is the first book i have read in quite a while, and i enjoyed it immensely. I thought it was very well written. I thought Mrs. Randall did an excellent job at portraying the slaves at Tara. I, unlike other reviewers here, thought the character developement was wonderful. I guess the reason it is getting such bad reviews is because it parodies a southern classic. I found the book to be very moving and would recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been so much more...
Review: I had been waiting very impatiently for my copy of *The Wind Done Gone* to arrive, and once I got ahold of it, I jumped right in. I expected an evaluative look at the other side of *Gone With the Wind* that raised issues that were glossed over previously. But instead, I was given a new story with old characters. And not a good story at that. Cynara is the illigitimate daughter of Planter, the owner of Tata (a.k.a. Tara) plantation, and Mammy, a favored slave in the Planter's family. 'Other' is the daughter of Planter and Lady and shares Cynara's love with Captain R., the dashing confederate scalawag. Essentially, we are reading Cynara's diary of her time with Captain R. and her internal battles over the lack of Mammy's love, the competition with 'Other' and her own doubts about her race and heritage. The novel was pretty slow paced, and I think fans of *Gone with the Wind* fans may have an easier time reading it, already being familiar with the major players. A quick read, but I don't think this will be one on the bookshelves for long.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a Read
Review: You have to know your Margaret Mitchell to keep up with this one, which is well written and always interesting twist on the GTWT legend. While the author doesn't wish her work to necessarily be entertaining (she prefers "disturbing"), the plot twists are fun and it's always a pleasure to revisit beloved characters...even when the author takes liberties.
Rating:
Summary: A Critical Parody
Review: I think a number of readers have failed to understand what, I think, was Randall's goal in writing this book. Having grown up in the South (although this should not be a criteria), I was always incensed by those who liked GWTW - the movie (I have not read the book - sorry). As far as I'm concerned it was a Hollywood (white man's) production of a white woman's (Mitchell's) presentation of those poor white plantation owners in the South (BTW, I'm Caucasian, should that matter). It was about as repulsive as a minstrel show. So, I welcome Randall's step toward setting the record straight.
Like many others have pointed out, this isn't a true parody. It is for this reason that I have referred to it as a critical parody. Also, as others have pointed out, this book is written as if it was the diary of our main heroine. Unfortunately, her style of writing is not consistent, making the character less believable. In reply to some other criticisms, however, whereas this is presented in 'diary' format, we could hardly expect Randall to develop the characters.
Some of the lines in this work are brilliant! Those who didn't like it, go back and read it again. It's an EASY read and enjoyable. I would agree with some that if you're looking more for a critique and understanding of African-American life in the South, this is not the book to read. It does lend some light, however.
My recommendation - read it. Especially if you liked GWTW. Then, think about it....
Rating:
Summary: I am currently struggling to read this book
Review: I have yet to finish the book because it is so poorly written and extremely hard to read. Judging by the comments on here it seems that anyone with anything over a 2nd grade ready level is also finding it difficult to follow. And naming charters "Other" just makes it even harder to follow them through out the book. I came here hoping that others that have finished it could show me a light at the end of the tunnel, but now I see I'm just wondering around in the darkness. I'll try to finish it over time b/c I really want to read it but to just sit down and enjoy it. I really don't see that happening.
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