Name: Gone with the Wind
Rating: 4.161214953271028 (428 reviews)
ISBN: 9780446675536

Margaret Mitchell

The turbulent romance of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler is shaped by the ravages of the Civil War and Reconstruction

Gone with the Wind

Gone With the Wind

Hoshi

Taneil Casey

Wow.  This book was awesome in many ways, but detestable in others.  Scarlett was an absolute brat and deserved what she got.  However...how could you not wish that Scarlett would change, and everything could be happy at the end?  Right after I finished the book, I went downstairs and asked Mommy if Margaret Mitchell had intended to write a second book when she finished the first.  Mommy said she didn't know, but now I am going to get the second book to see what happens! 

Looking at the book from a different standpoint, it was marvelous in it's historical facts, and characters and their development and relations with the other characters.

M. Sosotris

Wow.

Before I get to my review, I should state, without question, that the version of history this book presents is horribly skewed against black people. The KKK are a heroic organization, black people crave subjugation and become dangerous when freed, and all of the most noble black characters display their nobility by refusing to leave the service of their white owners. 

I very nearly didn't make it through the book because of the brutal racism of the reconstruction chapters where lynchings are presented as brave necessities, and the black characters are frequently compared to apes or stupid children. The n-word abounds, and is used freely as an insult. 

This book is a fantasy version of the Civil War, the one that the South memorializes as the Real Truth, reenacting battles and enshrining relics. It's important to read this book just so one can understand why the South is so devoted to the Civil War. It may not present an accurate view of history, but it's an important insight into the Southern Conservative mindset that I think is important to understand.

OK, onto the review.

This is, without question, the most well-written work of literature I have ever encountered. Before this, I would say Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy were the three greatest things I've ever read. Gone with the Wind, from a purely artistic standpoint, is so real, so brutally human, that its characters leap off the page with the kind of three-dimensional reality that one rarely finds in written works. And not only the characters, but the plot moves along with such beautifully-crafted skill that it hardy feels like a Really Big Book. 

Scarlett O'Hara is so flawed, so engaging, so relatable, so unflinchingly strong, other protagonists feel bland by comparison. She's no hero, and yet you become completely engrossed in her journey from silly Southern belle to bereft woman drowning in her own self-awareness. Her story isn't even a morality tale, nor is it a Shakespearean tragedy. Her successes feel just as believable as her failures. Her strength is admirable, and her selfishness is painfully real, even though most of us would never admit it.

Rhett Butler, as well, is an absolutely incredible character. He's not the swarthy anti-hero he appears to be at the beginning. He's a flawed, insecure, powerful man who, like Scarlett, is able to survive by forgoing his conscience and morals, and ends up in a disastrous marriage that nearly kills him with grief. We see him at his most heroic and at his most broken, and both extremes come together to create a character we know we aren't meant to admire, but we do become invested in his story because he's so real. The only other character I can think of who compares to him is Don Draper from Mad Men, a man who is externally perfect and yet who is hollow and shattered inside.

I don't want to just gush endlessly about the characters, but most of the cast is so beautifully realized that none of them become caricatures (except for, sadly, many of the black characters). But even so, I can't help feeling like Mammy exists to counter those hateful stereotypes as she is given exquisite depth and strength and, by the end of the book, is looked up to as a pillar of goodness and moral fortitude. 

This is a difficult book to get through at times, especially when confronted with the brutal racism of the South, but the sheer stunning adeptness of Mitchell's writing, and the fact that her protagonists are such flawed people who we know we're not supposed to look up to, gives this book a power it wouldn't have in the hands of a lesser writer. Scarlett's moments of re-evaluation throughout the novel, when she can't escape the realities of the consequences of her actions or of the idiocy of the past, allow the reader to re-evaluate the very reality of this (at times) dystopian hellscape. 

Events are so distorted by Scarlett's own prejudices, it's easy to see this as just her own interpretation of things, blurred by her lack of education and desire to avoid hard truths by fixating on simpler ones. So, yes, the book is horribly racist at times, but it can be a call for us, like Scarlett, to face the brutality of racism head on and, instead of saying that we'll think about it tomorrow, confront it and find ways to better ourselves. We all have prejudices, and I think it takes an unflinching brilliant work of art like this to really get us to look at the parts of ourselves we ignore and confront them. We can't all be as good as Melanie Hamilton, after all.

After all, tomorrow is another day.

This carefully crafted ebook: "Gone with the Wind" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The story is set in Clayton County and Atlanta, both in Georgia, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era. It depicts the struggles of young Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of poverty following Sherman's destructive "March to the Sea". This historical novel features a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story, with the title taken from a poem written by Ernest Dowson. Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the book in 1937. It was adapted into a 1939 American film.

Andrew John Kinney

This was one of the first novels I ever read. While it is a page-turner, it propagates the old lies of the Lost Cause. It has not aged well, to say the least.

Audrey Lord

I loved this book! I finished it in a month! It was really long but it held my attention the whole way through! I can't wait to watch the movie! Great book to read about the civil war. Made me feel like I was her

Trish

Gone With the Wind is a classic of epic proportions.

Jantien 

** spoiler alert **
           Omg I'm so happy that I have finally finished this book. What an enormous struggle!! 
I have known for a while that 'classics' are not really my thing, and it was proven again. 

Let me start off by saying this was a very unfortunate choice to read in Black History Month, though I had hoped to finish it in January..

Scarlett O'Hara is the worst character in this book. 
Spoiled, arrogant, thinks very highly of herself, does not listen to a word other people are saying when it doesn't interest her, has zero respect for the people that love her, chases ghosts from beginning to end, there is zero hope for her changing her ways at all. 
This book covers 12 years of her life and my god does it feel that way too. 
It drags on and on AND ON and still dear Scarlett learns nothing about what life is really about. 
She will never be happy and she reminds me all too well of someone else in my life. 

I didn't count how many times she uses the phrase 'fiddle-dee-dee' when someone has a different opinion. I tried googling it but couldn't find it. BUT IT'S A LOT.

I'm pleased with myself for being able to finish this book even though I couldn't stand Scarlett. 
Also had a very difficult time reading the parts of the black people in this book. Is it so difficult to write these sentences like a normal person though? 
Such a racist book in every way. 

Now I really need something light or I might stop reading books altogether. 
Gone with the wind indeed, that's where this book is flying off to. 

The writing was very well done (if we try to ignore the racism..), and I loved reading about the 19th century in Southern America. Which is the reason I still give 2 (and a half) stars. 

Would not recommend it to anyone though.

Via col vento

Annabella

Adesso sapeva cos’era il rifugio che aveva sempre cercato in sogno, il luogo caldo e sicuro che non era mai riuscita a trovare in mezzo alla nebbia. Non era Ashley. No, non era mai stato Ashley! In lui c’era il calore di un fuoco fatuo, la sicurezza delle sabbie mobili. Era Rhett. Rhett, che aveva braccia robuste fra le quali rifugiarsi, spalle larghe su cui posare la testa stanca, una risata beffarda capace di ridimensionare i suoi crucci. Rhett la capiva profondamente perché, come lei, vedeva la verità per quello che era, senza lasciarsi sviare da futili concetti di onore, sacrificio o esagerata fiducia nel genere umano. Rhett la amava! Perché non si era resa conto prima che, malgrado le sue battute e il suo sarcasmo, la amava? Melanie se n’era accorta e con l’ultimo fiato che le restava le aveva detto: «Sii buona con lui».   
CE L'HO FATTA. L'ho letto davvero. Posizioni discutibilissime invecchiate male a parte, è stata una bella scalata e ha pure sottolineato quanto mi piaccia l'angst

Sarah Ryan

A classic for a reason. A great read with great characters. I found there was an awful lot of American political history at times, which was interesting but had there been slightly less I probably would've given this 5 out of 5.

Flavia Louise

3.5 stars

A pain to read at many points for various reasons - obvious ones as well as other ones - but ultimately a very interesting and worthwhile read.

Bee 

I first read this book when I was in the 9th Grade and have lost count of the number of times I have since read it . It is amazing how one can love a character so dislikeable. Scarlett is such a brat but she's right up there with Jo March as one of my favorite book characters.

Allison Francis

I am so happy I picked up this book as it is now one of my favorites, though the ending left me very emotional. Though Scarlett can be foolish sometimes I loved her because she was such a strong female character. She overcame so much adversity when now one else would. I loved Rhett as well though my heart suffers for him :(

Summer Stanley

So happy that I finally read this classic novel. Scarlett demonstrated so many strong characteristics that made you want her to succeed despite her insufferable nature at times. Mitchell's choice to make Scarlett selfish and callous was risky, but I believe it worked completely.

Lucy Hacker

My most favourite book of all time - read and re-read and it just gets better every time!

Paula

One of the best classics I have ever read.

Jeni Enjaian

Absolutely lousy, almost completely unlikeable characters

That's my biggest complaint for the whole book. I could never really get into this book because I was too busy rolling my eyes at Scarlett's absolute stupidity and pigheadedness. She had no redeeming qualities. None. Don't even get me started on Ashley or Rhett. The only redeeming character is Melanie.

Another pet peeve? How Mitchell chose to write the slaves' speech. I could barely decipher what the character said and didn't feel like spending extra time trying to figure it out.

This story is completely and wholly unsatisfying. I fail to see how this became a "classic" or why people absolutely love this book.

Amy Arthun Lorton 

Love, love, love. Would have named my kids either Scarlett or Rhett if my husband would have let me.

Gone with the Wind

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