Gone With the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Margaret MitchellEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1936-09-01
ISBN: 068483068X
Number of pages: 1048
Publisher: Scribner
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780684830681
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of Gone With the Wind
Book Review: Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
In my humble opinion, Gone with the Wind is THE great American novel. It is brilliant, incredibly well-written, and highly enjoyable to read. It is at times charming, romantic, or bitingly funny, and at other times dark, cold, or heartbreaking. And always, it has the Civil War-era history as its dramatic backdrop. Its characters are fascinating and complex, though FAR from perfect. This book has everything, and its appeal is timeless.
I first read the book as a young girl, after a couple of friends at school has been reading it and were enthralled by it when we were all about 13. I read it starting one Christmas break, and could hardly put it down. It's such a long epic, yet so fast-paced, that you just become lost in it. That's the very best way to enjoy a novel- to just become fully engrossed. The way it worked out for me was perfect too, because when I read it that first time, I had never seen the movie. (My parents had probably watched it a few times when I was little, since they love the movie, but I was too young to pay much attention). I knew nothing about the characters or storyline before reading it, and that just made it all the better. Of course, at that age I loved Rhett Butler and the love story aspect the most! Some of it was over my head or too "worldy" for me to understand then. Realizing this, I have since read the book again as an adult (I'm now in my late 20's and have seen the movie several times also). I loved the book just as much as the first time around, and certainly as an adult I got much more out of the historical elements, descriptions of the countryside, and the whole storyline.
I would really encourage anyone who has only seen the movie to read the book. I do love the movie; It was incredible for its time, and is a classic itself; but to me it doesn't even compare to the book. Just watching the movie, you only get a sense of the most shallow outline of the story, without understanding much of its depth, character development, or wit. This is especially true in the second half, which was a bit rushed in the movie.
A slight pet peeve of mine: Some people comment on Gone With the Wind being "racist" or "sexist," as if that somehow detracts from its quality. Quite the contrary...Not only is that overstating the obvious, that's part of the point!! OF COURSE the characters' racist viewpoints were condescending and horrible. But they were historically realistic. The entire nation of the 19th century was shamelessly racist, especially aristocracy in the deep South, and this story is told from their point of view. Why read classic literature or historic fiction at all, if the past must be sugar-coated for modern sensibilities? There is nothing to be learned from that. OF COURSE some of the attitudes toward ladies seem old-fashioned now. That goes without saying. But that is part of its charm and helps to explain why Scarlett is as conniving as she is. She's no fool! The Old South had its faults and cruelties (namely slavery) but largely as a result of those faults, it also did not survive. GWTW portrays this fall. Thus, there is so much to be learned from the book, historically and morally. Its very brilliance is the way it captures a snapshot of that long-lost culture, from its most beautiful and genteel qualities to its faults that ended up being its downfall, and portrays it changing with the war. The Old South is "gone with the wind" but will forever be alive in the pages of this great American novel.
Margaret Mitchell depicts the Southerners as what they were: just people, same as the Yankees, trying to defend their own and to sacrifice and to courageously fight for their side as they thought was right, in their stubbornly proud way. And after, when they had been humbled, they were trying to just pick up the pieces and survive, in a cruelly war-ravaged land. The only world they had ever known was ripped out from under them. Gone with the Wind follows Scarlett and our fictional storyline as it parallels every step of the historic timeline, through Reconstruction.
In so many ways, Scarlett herself is like the South. In my mind, I feel like she represents the South. As the final page of the book describes, in one of my favorite lines: "......With the spirit of her people who would not know defeat even when it stared them in the face, she raised her chin. She could get Rhett back."
Summary of Gone With the Wind
A monumental classic considered by many to be not only the greatest love story ever written, but also the greatest Civil War saga.Mitchell, Margaret Books
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