Rating: 
Summary: Feminism a step ahead of Scarlett O'Hara
Review: This book is especially zingy for those of us who memorized GWTW when we were young teens, but got more and more uncomfortable with the racism in the novel as the years went by. But "The Wind Done Gone" isn't about racism, per se; it's about feminism. Just as Scarlett was ahead of her time, so Cynara takes us beyond the "token" feminism of working and flouting social mores to understanding one's self as a victim of and contributor to society's often crushing pressures to conform.Randall's writing is conversational, captivating, and often brilliant; her depiction of an introspective woman is relevant to any time or place (just like Lucy Snow in "Villette," by Charlotte Bronte). Scarlett's charm lies in her defiant refusal to think about her actions as they reflect or affect the society in which she lives; Cynara's provocativeness lies in her inability to do otherwise. "Cindy" is what Ms. O'Hara might have been if we'd known her at age 70. I love them both. Read this! It is not a cutting, disrespectful, sarcastic perspective on GWTW; it's a revisionist retelling in the spirit of "Wide Sargasso Sea."
Rating: 
Summary: Something to make you think
Review: Initially, I avoided this book because of all the newsworthy controversy surronding its publication. Having read it, I must agree it is controversial, sometimes funny, and very often sad. What makes this a worthwhile read is the thought provoking premise that Ms.Randall delicately shoves down the reader's throat.
Margaret Mitchell's GWTW is a stand-alone classic and its impact on literary and film history can hardly be demolished or demoralized by any subsequent work of fiction. However, The Wind Done Gone takes the reader beyond the facade of the ante-bellum and reconstructed South and poses the question 'what about the slaves?'
Randall's main character Cynara narrates this book through journal entries, giving the reader the opportunity to examine the grittier aspects of slave society (mulatto babies, slave markets, jealousy and manipulation) and the similarities of all people, irrespective of race (love, loss, and longing).
While Cynara's story is significantly shorter than her half-sister Scarlett O'Hara's it is no less real or touching.
This novel serves to remind readers and history that stories previously untold, are still worth telling.
Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful First Novel
Review: Margaret Mitchell's estate claimed that "The Wind Done Gone" was a copyright violation of "Gone with the Wind," and was granted a preliminary injunction to prevent it's publication in 2001. The injunction was later lifted, after a confidential agreement was reached, one part of which was that the book must prominently display the words "an unauthorized parody" on its cover. "An unauthorized parody" made me think that the book would likely turn out to be part "Read the shocking unauthorized biography of Scarlet O'Hara!!" and part second rate sitcom script. I could not have been more wrong. It is, rather, the haunting, thought-provoking and beautifully written story of Cynara, the slave half-sister of the character we know to be Scarlett, born to Scarlett's father and a much younger Mammy. The book is her diary, written in the spare and evocative voice of a woman who has seen past the appearance of things to the truth behind. What struck me most about the story was how authentic it seemed, as if "Gone with the Wind" was the appearance, and this was how it really would have been. What happened to Scarlett, called Other, after Rhett left her, rang true, and seemed to be what would have been most likely to have happened in the real world of people we all know. Compare this, if you will, to the nonsense in the _authorixed_ sequel to "Gone with the Wind" called "Scarlett" where Rhett and Scarlett go off to have adventures, get ship-wrecked, swim with dolphins, and so on. The other characters, Mammy, Ashley, Rhett, Melanie, Mrs. O'Hara, are each given a history and a future that has the ring of truth to it. Most interesting of all is the extent of the true contribution the slaves would most likely have made to the life of this most famous of plantations. The book is slim, and does not take time to work out the whole story. But its economy of language and delicacy of perception has the effect of focussing the reader on the essentials -- the life of a woman who sees things as they are, and who understands that uncompromising self-knowledge gives rise to spiritual dignity, not only for an individual, but also for a group of people whose passage through pain and injustice can create a sure knowledge of what is true, and of what is of value.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful First Novel
Review: Margaret Mitchell's estate claimed that "The Wind Done Gone" was a copyright violation of "Gone with the Wind," and was granted a preliminary injunction to prevent it's publication in 2001. The injunction was later lifted, after a confidential agreement was reached, one part of which was that the book must prominently display the words "an unauthorized parody" on its cover. "An unauthorized parody" made me think that the book would likely turn out to be part "Read the shocking unauthorized biography of Scarlet O'Hara!!" and part second rate sitcom script. I could not have been more wrong. It is, rather, the haunting, thought-provoking and beautifully written story of Cynara, the slave half-sister of the character we know to be Scarlett, born to Scarlett's father and a much younger Mammy. The book is her diary, written in the spare and evocative voice of a woman who has seen past the appearance of things to the truth behind. What struck me most about the story was how authentic it seemed, as if "Gone with the Wind" was the appearance, and this was how it really would have been. What happened to Scarlett, called Other, after Rhett left her, rang true, and seemed to be what would have been most likely to have happened in the real world of people we all know. Compare this, if you will, to the nonsense in the _authorixed_ sequel to "Gone with the Wind" called "Scarlett" where Rhett and Scarlett go off to have adventures, get ship-wrecked, swim with dolphins, and so on. The other characters, Mammy, Ashley, Rhett, Melanie, Mrs. O'Hara, are each given a history and a future that has the ring of truth to it. Most interesting of all is the extent of the true contribution the slaves would most likely have made to the life of this most famous of plantations. The book is slim, and does not take time to work out the whole story. But its economy of language and delicacy of perception has the effect of focussing the reader on the essentials -- the life of a woman who sees things as they are, and who understands that uncompromising self-knowledge gives rise to spiritual dignity, not only for an individual, but also for a group of people whose passage through pain and injustice can create a sure knowledge of what is true, and of what is of value.
Rating:
Summary: The ugly side of Tara
Review: Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" was immensely popular, and, in its depiction of happy "darkies" devoted to "massa", immensely romanticized. Strangest of all is Mitchell's description of every slave on the plantation as coal black. Thanks to rampant sexual abuse of female slaves by white owners and overseers, slaves came in shade from ebony to ivory, but Mitchell apparently couldn't stomach the reality of miscegenation. In her parody of GWTW, "The Wind Done Gone", Alice Randall brings miscegenation to the reader up close and personal in the form of Cynara, the offspring of Gerald O'Hara ("Planter" in this book) and Mammy, whom Planter was happily dallying with while "Lady" (Ellen O'Hara) decorously pretended not to notice what was going on under her nose. Mammy is forced to give preference to "Other" (Scarlett) over her own child; she gets back at her owners by systematic infanticide of each male child "Lady" brings into the world (readers of GWTW will remember that three infant boys lay in the family graveyard, each bearing the name of Gerald O'Hara, Jr). Cynara is kindly treated by "Lady", oddly enough since "Lady" must know who her father is. Randall brings into her story some other well-known GWTW characters, notably the "Dreamy Gentleman" (who else but Ashley Wilkes), "Mealymouth" Melanie, and "R", Rhett Butler, whose affections Cynara alienates from "Other" and whom she ultimately abandons for one of her own. Randall would have written a much better book if it had been told from the viewpoint of Mammy herself, or any of the other blacks from GWTW, especially one of the hundred unnamed field hands who occupied the lowest place on the totem pole; we might have felt all the indignity of their existence that Mitchell glossed over; we might have learned what it really meant to be a slave at Tara. But Randall was less interested in depth than in broad parody. In this she succeeded, but parody is often shallow by definition, and "The Wind Done Gone" is ultimately a shallow book. GWTW gave a romanticized and unrealistic picture of plantation slavery; "The Wind Done Gone" is equally unconvincing as a critique of the same institution. It's clever and well-written, but when all is said and done, Randall is putting us on rather than enlightening us. Overall, her book is a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: This is not so different from what'd done in Japan
Review: In Japan (where I live, long story) there is a thing called "doujinshi" which is a kind of underground comic book that fans and amateur artists create, parodying famous characters from anime, novels, you name it. They're sold at a big convention called the Comic Market in Tokyo twice a year. The books are a way for fans to show their devotion to the artwork and characters from the anime series the like, and explore with the characters (often with sexy results, and there are many sexual doujinshi and books that postulate male/male relationships between characters from Gundam, Pokemn, etc.). In Japan, the doujinshi are seen as parodies, and are not worried over by the copyright holders (except in the most extreme of circumstnaces), and in fact, the underground comic world of the doujinshi is one of the most creative you can find anywhere -- virtually all game, animation or manga companies draw their talent from the artists working in this field. That someone took this creative "doujinshi" type approach to explore a famous work from America does not surprise me, although I am disappointed at the ruckus it caused. Still, I believe that the corporate suits won't be able to stop this kind of thing from happening in the future. Go, creative people everywhere -- you are the greatest!
Rating: 
Summary: What A Let Down!!!!!!
Review: This book is a letdown in several aspects. First of all, after reading the original book, I was looking forward to a compelling, witty parody based on GWTW's flaws. Even more, I was looking for the unsung characters of GWTW to speak their piece and give the story a fresh black perspective. Unfortunately, all I got was a lot of black folks scheming on and gossiping about their white counterparts.(There's nothing funny about babies being killed, women drugged up on laudanum, and slaves being killed for being in gay relationships with their masters, either). Alice Randall didn't give me one damn reason to care about Cinnamon at all (or any of the rest of the characters. If I hadn't have read GWTW, none of these folks would be worth the read). Stylistically, Randall has talent as a writer. I think if the book had been bigger and she'd gone into more depth with the characters and their motivations, it would've been just as good as GWTW. Come out with the unabridged version, Ms. Randall. I'm sure you had a bigger book than this in mind. Make those publishers print those extra 200 or so pages and you'll have a hit!LOL!
Rating:
Summary: A Retelling of a fundamentally American story
Review: This neat novel is told from the point of view of view of Scarlett O'Hara's half sister. Cynara is Mammy and Scarlett's Dad's daughter. She's given to another family when she's 13, but winds up working as a maid at Belle Watling's, where she meets Rhett Butler. She becomes his mistress until Scarlett's death when they marry.
It's called a parody, but it's not. It's a retelling of a fundamentally American story that needed to be retold. I read retellings of fairy tales as fantasy adult books like McKinley's _Deerskin_ and Yolen's _Briar Rose._ Those folktales don't have lots of fans who complain about the changes Yolen made to Sleeping Beauty. I'm glad I read GWTW many, many years ago. Margaret Mitchell's estate sued over this book, it was silly of them to do, but I'm glad they did. Otherwise I may not have heard of this book. I'm very glad I found it.
Rating: 
Summary: Re Terry M Gallen's critique
Review: I certainly believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and would not normally dispute anyone's feelings on a book. However, when their comments are not simply about the book, but rather evidence of a vast ignorance of the past, I feel compelled to write. Terry Gallen, I actually agree with you in that The Wind Done Gone was a hugely disappointing book. I did not enjoy it very much, either. But I must say that my mouth dropped open in amazement upon reading your review and that that you did not like the book because it was "not believable". I am not sure what history you have been fed, but it is VERY likely that a man like Gerald OHara had many relations with female slaves. They did not have to be "temptresses" like Sally Hemings, whom you referred to. They may very well have looked like Mammy, and the master may very well have loved his wife. But just because they could, many enslaved women were used for sexual relations over and over again by the "masters". This was VERY common. In fact, the only UNcommon thing is that in this day and age there are still people like you who refuse to believe such horrors and atrocities existed. While The Wind Done Gone was not an absolute favorite of mine, if it atleast makes people open their eyes to the fact that this plot could have been very possible, then it served a good purpose indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Just not believable
Review: I've read "Gone With The Wind" SO many times (a dozen would not be an exaggeration), and Gerald O'Hara (Scarlett's father) just did not strike me as the lascivious type, a man who fathered children with slaves. This is a man who was SO much in love with his wife, Ellen, that he lost his mind after she died of typhoid fever during the Civil War. Moreover, from the description of Mammy in Margaret Mitchell's novel, she was hardly a temptress in the Sally Hemings mold...not even in her younger days! The book just isn't believable and I agree with the one Southern reader. I'm not a prude, but it's TOO trashy.
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