Rating: 
Summary: Bad
Review: This book was really bad. The writing was disjointed and completely incoherent. The characters were something out of a bad movie: the insecure heroine who finds happiness, the mean slaves who decide to murder the patriarch's only heir, et al.As I understand it, Alice Randall wanted to write a story to "debunk the myth" of Gone With the Wind. Well, I say to her and all the readers here who are in denial: GWTW is a work of fiction! No sane person who reads this book will take it to be historical fact. Who cares if Margaret Mitchell chose not to have rape in her book? She chose to tell a story that happens to be set during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Period. It's admirable that Randall wanted to tell a story of a former slave and how she rose above such obstacles. However, disparaging GWTW was just unethical and certainly creates credibility problems for the author. And if people are going to get upset that Mitchell didn't include the rape of slaves in her book, then they should also get upset by the fact that black people weren't treated any better up north than they were in the South. History shows that northerners sold escaped slaves back to their owners. And history shows that northerners treated escaped slaves, and in many cases, freed blacks with the same contempt. And history shows that while some black men overcame obstacles to find happiness and success in professional careers, this was not the norm. So to portray it as if were is just the sort of "presumptive bias" that people seem to find with Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. Anyone with valuable time and money should not waste it on this book. If you must read it, I would recommend getting it from the library. My problem with this book, outside of its lack of literary value, is that Alice Randall made it to the NYT Bestseller list simply because of the publicity generated by the Mitchell Estate's case against her. Next time, I would suggest that Randall write her own book, using her own ideas and characters. Though to be fair, even if she had not stolen themes, passages and characters from Mitchell's GWTW, this book still would have been unreadable.
Rating:
Summary: far-fetched
Review: this book is horrible!, if you are a fan of," gone with the wind," ( or not,) this book is a yawner from the start. Talk about your mealy-mouth characters! they seem to be all here. Especially cynara? or cindy(what the heck is the name anyway) A truly one-dimensional character that will bore the hell out of you.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I'm not sure what I'm more upset over, the outrageously high cost of this book, or the fact that it's without a doubt, the worse written book I've ever read. It's fragmented, unbelievable, and reads like it was written by someone who couldn't hold a thought together. My advice is to not waste your money OR time.
Rating: 
Summary: It's About Time
Review: GWTW was horrible in the sense that SLAVES were labeled as STUPID & DUMB w/no purpose but to serve and be treated worse than the animals. The problem with AMERICAN History is that BLACKS were more than what the so-called history books portrayed and much,much more than what authors and poets wrote about.
It amazes me that if individuals from the HOLOCAUST were to have written a book about their experiences and they chose to write it as if we were there to experience it in their state of mind, than it would be praised fully. It would NOT be criticized in a PETTY way such as the ones on this site.
This book was on the NY BESTSELLERS LIST this summer (2001) for three weeks. I was filled with joy to read a book based on a period in time when most authors would OVERLOOK the NEGRO point of view. The book was written in a diary form and uses the language of the time period of the NEGRO. For those that consider themselves of upper class status, this would appear as horrible writting. The main character gave a great perseption of how BLACKS were capable of experiencing life on the other side. The book refers to Black Doctors, Black Congressmen, Black Business Owners and Black Ministers. That is something that American History has chosen NOT to disclose to us. They would rather let you believe that BLACKS were meant to serve and work the land and allow the WHITES to reap the rewards.
I praise Ms. Randall for writting such a creative and "In your face" book of struggle,love,hate & compassion.
Rating: 
Summary: Alice in Mitchellland
Review: When piqued, I think for most of us a mordant letter to the editor is cathartic enough. Alice Randall went looking for a publisher. She has subsequently endured accusations of afrocentrism, revisionism, and historical inaccuracy, charges nearly as misconceived as initial public reaction to the 1930s radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds." No matter how you splice it, whether the DNA came from Saint Thomas of Monticello or his less reverential brother, some 'founding father' knew Sally Hemmings in A biblical Way. Margaret Mitchell is credited with assiduous investigation in relation to the antebellum south and Civil War. Why she chose to exclude any references to the undeniable record - and let's refer to it in proper context - of institutionalized RAPE of the subjugated Negro by the "honorable gentlemen" of Dixie, is presently subject to conjecture. Ms. Mitchell's classic was silent on most of the clearly multitudinous acts of inhumanity endemic to the system of chattel slavery. The romanticized south with which she was so enamored was no more in touch with the slave's reality than a Manhattan Project era physicist could accurately explain a neutrino. Blind acceptance of her narrow view is tantamount to cultural ignorance. Yet, in spite of her presumptive bias, GONE WITH THE WIND is an impressive work of fiction. For many, it is a enthralling story suffused with historical significance, that sprang from the fertile imagination of a genteel southern belle; a story now recognized as the copyrighted intellectual property of the Mitchell's Trust. History, to the evident disappointment of some commentators, is not copyrightable. That is the reason the trustee' case had any legal merit. THE WIND DONE GONE is a parody only in the most liberal of interpretations. In many respects, Ms. Randall's motivations were honorable as her disenchantment with the earlier book is clearly understandable. She decided to challenge entrenched myths of the Old South, through reticulation of her vision and an anachronistic, hagiographical classic. What we discover is for many readers interdependency is the incubator of tangentially justifiable contempt. While the main character, Cynara/Cinnamon is the salient autonomous presentation, dilucidation of her personality, as well as comprehension of the motivational forces for nearly every other character associated with the plantation Tata (Tara), demands familiarity with the earlier book. Cynara was unsympathetic characterization, emotionally conflicted, lacking in vitality and appeared obsessed by an irrational (under the circumstances) competition with her half-sister, Other (Scarlett), for love and acceptance. Paradoxically, she was the only character approaching three-dimensional portrayal. Ms. Randall could not avoid utilization of existent characters in her quest to articulate another fictionalized point of view, but in so doing she ventures close to the borders of infringement. It would be preferable to evaluate TWDG only on the basis of independent literary merit rather than the contentious territory of historical accuracy. The book is a narrative influenced by the legacy of slavery rather than an attested narrative of an emancipated slave. The desultory passages, grammatical errors, periodic absence of syntax and slave-based argot made navigation of the story a bit more challenging but I saw each as the author's license to infuse literary devices consistent with what one might expect in a journal or diary composed by a marginally educated ex- slave. If you think about the litigation, the name games seem self -explanatory. Like it or not, Margaret Mitchell did not write an attested history textbook. This retort from Alice Randall is a notable but flawed effort to convey a vision of a separate reality occupying the same space and time.
Rating:
Summary: Frankly, my dear,... this book ain't worth it!
Review: I just finished reading TWDG and may I say how SORELY disappointed I was! I had such high expectations! Especially considering that some people had paid hundreds of dollars for this book on eBay before it went into mass publication. The writing style leaves something to be desired as the main character, Cynara, always asks seemingly inane questions about things only to ask even more questions for answers! It seems everything in this book was mainly "Is it this...or this is it?", "Do I do this...or do I do that?" and it goes on like that for 200+ pages. I do give Ms. Randall points for the main concept but the execution was terrible. Better luck next time!
Rating:
Summary: Much Ado About...(you get the picture)
Review: I was shocked and appalled that this book received the hype that it did. Better that it had died a slow death as a non-entity than make us suffer through what had to be some of the most horrible writing that I have ever seen published. I have both seen the movie (GWTW) and read the book, and think that there are other ways of portraying the point of view of the slaves on Tara than this. Slavery is and was a complex enough issue without making all this fuss about a book which was shallow at best. By the way, maybe the author needs to look up the word "parody" in the dictionary.
Rating: 
Summary: Alice Randall either didn't read GWTW or has a short memory.
Review: GWTW fans all know that Scarlett's father,
Gerald O'Hara, was not the "Captain". He was
merely "Mr. O'Hara", even to his wife, Ellen.
The Captain was, of course, the dashing Rhett
Butler, Scarlett's third husband.
Aside from a few general errors, the book
could have been a great comedy. Unfortunately,
it survives as another mediocre novel that took
itself too seriously. But that is only my opinion,
and I could be wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute rubish
Review: This book is garbage. I debated over rather or not I should even devote any more time to it by writing a review. But let this warn you: if you are thinking of buying this book, DON'T. It is so difficult to read, and the plot is so thin, that it is not worth the time. Not to mention the fact that this is one of the most blatantly racist books....I shiver to think about what would have happened had this piece of junk been written by a white person instead of a black one. There would have cries of racism, the book would have been banned, and the NAACP would have had a field day making themselves the victims. The whole idea makes me sick. Trust me, this book is not worth the paper it is printed on.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: Since I have NEVER seen "Gone With The Wind," I don't get all of the controversy. But the book was still very interesting.
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