Gone with the Wind

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Summary: Gone With the Wind, a review by Carmen
Review: This book is by far the greatest love story of all time. The ignorant Scarlett O'hara is accustomed to getting her way all the time, but suddenly her once so stable, cushioned life falls out from between fingers. Choosing which dress to wear to balls used to be the issue, now Scarlett must struggle to find each meal, not only for herself but also for the family she supports. As the end of the war begins to approach Scarlett is a young woman who has seen the worst, and still hopes for the best. This book if the timeless tale of a Confederate blockader and a fiesty Southern belle.

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Summary: Lauren's Favorite Book
Review: Gone With the Wind will totally blow you away, it surely blew me away. This book is a classic love story. It totally draws you in with the push-pull relationship between the main characters, Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. It makes you want to scream at Scarlett because she just pushes Rhett away unknowingly, and Rhett is trying to pull her into love with money and luxurious clothes. This book is a good book because the events could happen in our time, marry for money and make your selves misreable, but who knows how it could end. If you enjoy books that make you throw them down in frustration, but pick them back up again just to find out what happens next, this book is definitely good for you. If you enjoy this book or were unhappy with the ending, breeze through Scarlett, the sequel to Gone with the Wind. Gone With the Wind is an outstanding book and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys suspense and love all mixed together in a great book.

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Summary: I was surprised at how much I disliked this book.
Review: I only knew the story from the movie, so I bought this book ... The first half of the book was ok, I liked the descriptions of the suffocating constraints of upper class society at the time and Scarlett's rejection of them. The devastation of war and the struggle that Scarlett and her family went through were powerful. However, that second half of the book completely turned me off the the story. Margret Mitchell's descriptions of the reconstruction were so vile I almost put the book down. Blacks were only happy being slaves, they were too stupid for anything else. The only good blacks in the book are the ones who can serve the whites. Big Sam says he had enough of freedom and wants to go back to Tara. He even states incredulously that while in the north whites wanted him to sit at the table like he was their equal, but he couldn't do it because he is not the equal to whites. Mitchell actually says that he smiles and feels better when Scarlett starts to tell him what to do because someone is telling him what to do again. At one point Mitchell is describing how the southern whites hate the Yankees so much because the Yankees have money and food and power and they do not, yet she doesn't have any sense of irony to see that the whites are in the position that they put the slaves in for centuries.

And another thing that I did not like about the book is that most of the characters are serious sociopaths. They kill anyone who breaks their rules of racial propriety. Rhett kills a black man for being "upity" to a white woman, another character, one of the Fontaine boys, kills a black man for for saying something to a white woman. We are not told what but it is pretty obvious it was sexual, so we have the sterotype of the black male sexual prowler. Then the same Fontaine boy kills Jonas Wilkinson for telling blacks men that they are equal to whites and that they are alowed to have white women!! He doesn't just kill him, he cuts him to ribbons with a knife. There are many more examples of this psychotic behaviour. And Mitchell treats them as if they are to be admired. While reading I kept thinking these people are all nuts. I was glad they suffered ... I lost any sense of caring about what happened to any of them, including Scarlett.
Also, this is a very anti-American book. Mitchell keeps going on about how awful the Yankees and the Union and the federal government are and how great Georgia and states rights are. Of course, states rights here means being able to murder anyone who annoys you. The reconstruction section of the book should be read by everyone just to show why the flying of the Confederate flag is so offensive. It is completely un-American.
And one last thing. This isn't a great love story. Rhett is really only a supporting character in the book until the last 200 pages when they get married, and for a book over 1000 pages, that's not alot. I think people remember the movie more than the actual book.
I was really dissapointed with this book. I was looking forward to enjoying a nice read and discovered that it was horrible propaganda. It is really hard to believe that this book won the Pulitzer prize over Absalom,Absalom! by Faulkner.

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Summary: I was surprised at how much I disliked this book.
Review: I only knew the story from the movie, so I bought this book the week before we invaded Iraq, I'm sure at some subconscious level to read a viewpoint about war. The first half of the book was ok, I liked the descriptions of the suffocating constraints of upper class society at the time and Scarlett's rejection of them. The devastation of war and the struggle that Scarlett and her family went through were powerful. However, the second half of the book completely turned me off to the story. Margret Mitchell's descriptions of the reconstruction were so vile I almost put the book down. Blacks were only happy being slaves, they were too stupid for anything else. The only good blacks in the book are the ones who can serve the whites. Big Sam says he had enough of freedom and wants to go back to Tara. He's even incredulous that while in the north whites wanted him to sit at the dinner table with them like he was their equal, but he couldn't do it because he is not the equal to whites. Mitchell actually says that he smiles and feels better when Scarlett starts to tell him what to do because someone is telling him what to do again. Mitchell also uses animal metaphors when describing the black characters.
At one point Mitchell is describing how the southern whites hate the Yankees so much because the Yankees have money and food and power and they do not, yet she doesn't have any sense of irony to see that the whites are in the position that they put the slaves in for centuries.

And another thing that I did not like about the book is that most of the characters are serious sociopaths. They kill anyone who breaks their rules of racial propriety. Rhett kills a black man for being "upity" to a white woman, another character, one of the Fontaine boys, kills a black man for for saying something to a white woman. We are not told what but it is pretty obvious it was sexual, so we have the sterotype of the black male sexual prowler. Then the same Fontaine boy kills Jonas Wilkinson for telling black men that they are equal to whites and that they are alowed to have white women!! He doesn't just kill him, he cuts him to ribbons with a knife. There are many more examples of this psychotic behaviour. And Mitchell treats these behaviors as if they are to be admired. While reading I kept thinking these people are all nuts. I was glad they suffered and I'm glad they lost the war. I lost any sense of caring about what happened to any of them, including Scarlett.
Also, this is a very anti-American book. Mitchell keeps going on about how awful the Yankees and the Union and the federal government are and how great Georgia and states rights are. Of course, states rights here means being able to murder anyone who annoys you. The reconstruction section of the book should be read by everyone just to show why the flying of the Confederate flag is so offensive. It is completely un-American.
And one last thing. This isn't a great love story. Rhett is really only a supporting character in the book until the last 200 pages when they get married, and for a book over 1000 pages, that's not alot. I think people remember the movie more than the actual book.
I was really dissapointed with this book. I was looking forward to enjoying a nice read and discovered that it was horrible propaganda. It is really hard to believe that this book won the Pulitzer prize over Absalom,Absalom! by Faulkner.

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Summary: Timeless war epic
Review: ARGUABLY one of the greatest romance novels ever written, Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind is also a quintessential war anecdote.

I found nothing more powerful than to read of an American war set in 1864 and hear the television espousing our current warfare in the background - some things don't change.

The vivacious, yet practical-minded, Scarlett O'Hara is a clean slate for Mitchell to mar with the outset of war, providing a powerful metaphor for generations to come.

Unfortunately, many young people are not introduced to such classic literature and the distinct and poignant parallels between the American Civil War and the current Gulf War II may be left undiscovered.

Considering her novel was written in 1936, it is easy to confuse her ability to evoke such universal emotions for modernity.

Mitchell's delicate portrayal of the South set against the harsh backdrop of war can still be affiliated to by readers in the 21st Century.

Reasoning war, censoring protestors or 'speculators', and anticipated outcomes are adeptly constructed by Mitchell that you wonder how predictable human nature must be.

"All wars are sacred... To those who have to fight them. If the people who started wars didn't make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight?"

It's such honesty, in a time of ettiquette and refinery, that makes the abhorrent Rhett Butler such a formidable character.

Coercing the seductress to dispense of typically Southern notions, Rhett epitomises the way a war will corrupt and educate a sentimental nation.

Mitchell presents her flawed characters with affection. You may find Scarlett simple and Rhett a rogue, but you come to love what they add to this charged scene.

Gone With The Wind should hardly be dismissed because of its romantic formula and age. This book is timeless and has much to teach younger readers.

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Summary: A people bred on deep roots.
Review: Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta in November 1900. When she was around thirteen, her family, affluent but not wealthy, moved into a big house on Peachtree Street, one of the principal settings for Gone with the Wind, which she began writing in 1926. The Macmillan Company published Gone with the Wind in May 1936; it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The movie, which won ten Academy Awards, premiered in Atlantic City on December 15, 1939.

I read the 'Special Commemorative 60th-Anniversary Edition' (paperback) purchased from Amazon.com in February 2003, which commemorates the film, not the book. The back cover of that edition quotes the Washington Post claiming it's 'The greatest love story of our time, the story of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler'.' I suspect the person who wrote that saw the movie, but did not read the book. If it's the love story that interests you, I suggest you buy the video. If you want to understand the origins of the South's point of view though, at least the upper middle class Georgian point of view, then read this book.

I was raised in Connecticut and have been often perplexed by the notions of some of my Southern white peers, puzzled for example by the intractable bigotry of intelligent people who are unwilling to understand that they ought to know better. Conversely, I've admired the generous, unselfish, seemingly pointless hospitality given me by a Southern adversary, a rival, so incongruent that it smacked of hypocrisy. Having read Gone with the Wind, I'm less perplexed and puzzled now. These people were bred on deep roots.

Margaret Mitchell fashioned her novel from stories about slavery, the Civil War, reconstruction and abolition told by those who had survived those dramatic events. The people who lived through those terrible times, or their children, told those stories. From these tales, Margaret Mitchell painted a broad panorama of a culture in forced transformation: The brutal and reprehensible conduct of the Yankees, the greed of the carpetbaggers, the noble origins of the KKK, and the corruption of the North's reconstruction. It is Southern noblesse telling the story of their decline. Margaret Mitchell is their apologist.

The paperback version I read has 1024 pages of small type with narrow margins. Mitchell's writing is sometimes exciting, but often it's tedious. Descriptions tend to be excessive, and dialogue is often more like monologue. This style may have been fashionable fifty years ago, but I'll deduct a star for it today.

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Summary: Breathtaking
Review: This book is just one of the best books ever. I can read it over and over again. I just love the story, the characters, the history, everything!
Undoubtly the best book ever written....

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Summary: Pure Poetry
Review: This vivid tale of the Civil War and Reconstruction is not idealism (as reviews calling it racist imply) but realism. The rich characterizations and deep plot reveal its author to be one of profound understanding, not only of human nature and of life itself, but also of the forgotten, overlooked, untaught aspects of war and racial strife.
Observe the polemics of those who call it racist. I dare say that that charge would be made by the same people of any book using any approbrious terminology whatever, regardless of the context.
Also, as you read the negative reviews, notice the consistent lack of specifics of those who doubt its historical validity. There will not be one single example. This is part of their method of deterence, and they have nothing but hollow, unsupported invective. Anyone who needs clarification is welcome to email me.
I am a constant reader, and I found Gone With the Wind not only sublime in its narrative and poetic in its dialogue, but an excellent adventure into the "house of cards" that was the lives of the Southern aristocracy.

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Summary: Scarlett Fever
Review: This is the most absolutely wonderful book that was ever written! Margaret Mitchell truly makes you feel as if you were living in the Old South. This timeless novel has absolutely everything and anything that you could want in book- danger, fantasy, nightmares, dreams, lost loves, romances, daring heroines and heroes, villains, beauty, history, architecture, culture,... I could go on forever! I fell in love with Scarlett and Rhett the first time I read it. Yeah for the Confederacy!

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Summary: This is the totally deepest Book.
Review: When I read this book I could not for my life keep myself away from it. I was changed, I was inspired, and I was genuinely mpressed and surprised. I was flabberghasted that a woman in that era would have that attitude and daring,(I say this on the part of the author, as well as the protagonist). Read this book, and have more insight! Loved it.