I didn't want it to end, 22 Aug 2008
This book was just the ticket for a good old fashioned summer read. Sitting outside in my garden I was swept away to Atlanta. I loved the film and had always meant to read the book and have now had my chance. I cannot get over how well cast the film was, all the actors really stayed loyal to the text. The great bonus of the book is the historical, political and social perspectives which gives the story much more meaning and good reference points. The events make far more sense. I loved this book.

Greatest novel I ever read, 11 Jul 2008
As a boy growing up, I always wondered why my mother had tears in her eyes at the end of Gone With The Wind when it was on TV each year. Recently I developed a keen interest in the War between the States (civil war if you prefer)and got around to reading this book. It is by any standard, exceptionally well written and doesn't shine away from the horrors of Reconstruction and portrays the original Ku Klux Klan in a heroic light although Rhett Butler (always the voice of reason) argues the successes of the Klan only lead to Yankee anger and more agony and repression for the beaten South. Interestingly in the movie, it is a white man who tries to rape Scarlett and a black man who saves her. The exact opposite of the book! I guess even in the early 40's political correctness was alive and well. Anyway, no matter I too had tears in my eyes at the end of reading this fabulous book.

Ripping Yarn - with one massive flaw, 31 May 2008
This is a book with a thoroughly unlikable heroine; it is shot through with jaw dropping racism, so how can it qualify for four stars?

The simple answer is that it is fundamentally an absolutely ripping yarn. Margaret Mitchell's achievement is in creating a set of flawed characters, but then making the reader care about what happens to them. Couple engaging characters with a beautifully paced plot and it is easy to understand why Gone With The Wind is still in print and massively popular.

It is the story of selfish, determined daughter of a plantation, Scarlett O'Hara, her enduring love for neighbour Ashley Wilkes, his marriage to Melanie, who becomes Scarlett's devoted friend, and of course the love of Rhett Butler for Scarlett. The context of the story is the American south before, during and after the civil war. We see the relationships between the characters develop as they go from affluence, through degradation in defeat, and then rebuild.

Scarlett is of course the centre of the book and Mitchell skilfully plays with the reader's emotions towards her heroine. Basically she is selfish, spiteful, snobbish, racist, a hideously bad parent, an exploitative employer, but courageous and engaging. Initially we dislike her as a spoilt brat, her marriages are exasperating, we grow to admire her courage as she fights to survive during and after the war, she becomes a figure of ridicule as she joins the nouveau riche and finally her inability to understand Rhett's love is frustrating, infuriating and eventually tragic.

I have never seen the film, only heard the famous lines, and so was surprised to find that Rhett Butler, rather than being a heartless cad is in fact brutally honest with himself and is a strong and proud man brought low by his love for the unknowing Scarlett.

Despite the fantastic nature of the story, the epic background, the major flaw which cannot be ignored is the appalling racism. I was ready to be accepting and view the racism in the book as a portrayal rather than an espousal of the attitudes of the time. I'm afraid I can't maintain that line, Mitchell is too clearly and openly sympathetic to slavery. Her attitude is basically that slaves are subhuman, that the "good" ones prefer enslavement and that the institution was vindicated by the fact that the North perpetrated some unacceptable acts in abolishing it. Some of the sections after the civil war are just dreadful in their proslavery sentiment. It is almost unbelievable that this book was written and published in a democracy during the 20th Century. This is further illustrated by the toe curlingly embarrassing speech patterns Mitchell gives to the slave characters.

That the book can still have any validity despite this is a testament to the power of the story. The whole thing cracks along superbly with some brilliantly evocative scenes which will stick in the mind for a long time: the first time Scarlett dances with Rhett, the birth of Melanie's baby, the flight from Atlanta, Scarlet and Ashley in the Saw Mill and of course the final scene between Rhett and Scarlett.

In a strange way GWTW reminded me of the Lord of the Rings. It is not a great work of literature. It has some serious flaws, but it is an absolutely fabulous story, and it gave rise to a whole sub genre, while remaining superior to any of its successors.

So final thoughts.
-I highly recommend GWTW as a thundering good read, but be aware you'll need a strong stomach
-Don't be daunted by the size, the plot is well paced and it never drags
-It's not just a girly book, I'm an (ex) rugby playing bloke and I loved the story


the thing they're not saying about Gone With the Wind, 13 Jan 2008
Yes, it's gripping, thought-provoking and well researched, but I find it incredible that only one of these reviewers of Gone With The Wind seems to have noticed the most obvious thing about the book - its breathtaking racism. Margaret Mitchell was not blind to the defects of the Old South, especially the restricted position of women, but in 1000+ pages she never faced up to the basic, ugly fact of humans being owned as property. While she was writing, blacks in the South were being lynched with impunity for such 'crimes' as an inappropriate look at a white person, yet she unblushingly presented the Ku Klux Klan as a league of gallant gentlemen, and freed slaves as a sinister menace. 'How can they hang a nice boy like Tony just for killing a drunken buck...?' Readers, how can you enthuse about this book and still look your black friends in the face?

That's not the only morally dubious thing about it, either. It preaches a nasty, sentimentally sugar-coated version of social Darwinism. To be approved of by the author, you have to be ruthlessly selfish and never let a principle get in the way of your material interests - like Rhett Butler - or, if you insist on being kind and generous, then you must do it wholly by instinct, without ever becoming conscious of your own or anyone else's mental processes - like Melanie. You must never think, or try to act honourably against your inclinations. That's what Ashley does, and, clearly, consciousness makes him impotent. It's extraordinary how many American novels of the inter-war years, those of Hemingway and Walter van Tilburg Clark on the highbrow level, or 'My Friend Flicka' as well as 'Gone with the Wind' in the popular bracket, are full of this distrust of consciousness, reason and imagination, this conviction that those who think can't act. Perhaps it was a historical moment, the Depression and the rise of totalitarianism, that brought on this malaise. Perhaps it's a more lasting weakness of Americans in particular: see Ursula Le Guin's brilliant essay, 'Why are Americans afraid of dragons'? Whatever the cause, it's dangerous, anti-civilisation, and just plain wrong, and it is as important to fight it now as ever. Don't let it slide down your throat as a hidden ingredient in the potent emotional cocktail of Gone With The Wind. Of course it is buried under a mountain of inconsistencies. Scarlett is always having generous emotional impulses - protectiveness towards her little son, fellowship with Melanie - that run counter to what we are generally told about her self-centred nature, though she is never allowed to learn from them. Rhett is not immune to the occasional quixotic, non-self-interested action, like joining the Confederate army in defeat after the siege of Atlanta. Mitchell knew full well that, as characters, they'd be simply unbearable if they lived up to her professed standards of amorality, but she did not alter her standards on that account.

Finally, an editor should have taken a red pencil to the manuscript with a will. If you try reading the book aloud, you soon find out just how full of unnecessary verbiage it is, never saying anything once if it can say it three times.

And yet, the characters have life and lots of it, or they could not have embedded themselves in popular consciousness the way they have. As art, Gone With The Wind is at least successful enough to plunge one into that familiar conflict between moral judgment and the instinct to revel in the sheer richness of life, invention, being. Three stars for that - just don't forget the other.


If I could eat this book, I would- amazing!!!, 07 Oct 2007
This is a really great book that is interesting as well as informing. Margeret Mitchell shows Scarlett's character very well, and explains her motives behind her increadible bitchiness. I love the character of Scarlett- she is not one of those perfect main characters like in a lot of books, she is actually very spoilt and full of herself.

There is a lot of racism in this book, but I think it just makes it more realistic, as that is how it was in those days.

Altogether, it is a really good book, though be prepared for a very long read- it is over 1000 pages long! It is good for all ages of 12 and up.

I didn't want it to end, 22 Aug 2008
This book was just the ticket for a good old fashioned summer read. Sitting outside in my garden I was swept away to Atlanta. I loved the film and had always meant to read the book and have now had my chance. I cannot get over how well cast the film was, all the actors really stayed loyal to the text. The great bonus of the book is the historical, political and social perspectives which gives the story much more meaning and good reference points. The events make far more sense. I loved this book.

Greatest novel I ever read, 11 Jul 2008
As a boy growing up, I always wondered why my mother had tears in her eyes at the end of Gone With The Wind when it was on TV each year. Recently I developed a keen interest in the War between the States (civil war if you prefer)and got around to reading this book. It is by any standard, exceptionally well written and doesn't shine away from the horrors of Reconstruction and portrays the original Ku Klux Klan in a heroic light although Rhett Butler (always the voice of reason) argues the successes of the Klan only lead to Yankee anger and more agony and repression for the beaten South. Interestingly in the movie, it is a white man who tries to rape Scarlett and a black man who saves her. The exact opposite of the book! I guess even in the early 40's political correctness was alive and well. Anyway, no matter I too had tears in my eyes at the end of reading this fabulous book.

Ripping Yarn - with one massive flaw, 31 May 2008
This is a book with a thoroughly unlikable heroine; it is shot through with jaw dropping racism, so how can it qualify for four stars?

The simple answer is that it is fundamentally an absolutely ripping yarn. Margaret Mitchell's achievement is in creating a set of flawed characters, but then making the reader care about what happens to them. Couple engaging characters with a beautifully paced plot and it is easy to understand why Gone With The Wind is still in print and massively popular.

It is the story of selfish, determined daughter of a plantation, Scarlett O'Hara, her enduring love for neighbour Ashley Wilkes, his marriage to Melanie, who becomes Scarlett's devoted friend, and of course the love of Rhett Butler for Scarlett. The context of the story is the American south before, during and after the civil war. We see the relationships between the characters develop as they go from affluence, through degradation in defeat, and then rebuild.

Scarlett is of course the centre of the book and Mitchell skilfully plays with the reader's emotions towards her heroine. Basically she is selfish, spiteful, snobbish, racist, a hideously bad parent, an exploitative employer, but courageous and engaging. Initially we dislike her as a spoilt brat, her marriages are exasperating, we grow to admire her courage as she fights to survive during and after the war, she becomes a figure of ridicule as she joins the nouveau riche and finally her inability to understand Rhett's love is frustrating, infuriating and eventually tragic.

I have never seen the film, only heard the famous lines, and so was surprised to find that Rhett Butler, rather than being a heartless cad is in fact brutally honest with himself and is a strong and proud man brought low by his love for the unknowing Scarlett.

Despite the fantastic nature of the story, the epic background, the major flaw which cannot be ignored is the appalling racism. I was ready to be accepting and view the racism in the book as a portrayal rather than an espousal of the attitudes of the time. I'm afraid I can't maintain that line, Mitchell is too clearly and openly sympathetic to slavery. Her attitude is basically that slaves are subhuman, that the "good" ones prefer enslavement and that the institution was vindicated by the fact that the North perpetrated some unacceptable acts in abolishing it. Some of the sections after the civil war are just dreadful in their proslavery sentiment. It is almost unbelievable that this book was written and published in a democracy during the 20th Century. This is further illustrated by the toe curlingly embarrassing speech patterns Mitchell gives to the slave characters.

That the book can still have any validity despite this is a testament to the power of the story. The whole thing cracks along superbly with some brilliantly evocative scenes which will stick in the mind for a long time: the first time Scarlett dances with Rhett, the birth of Melanie's baby, the flight from Atlanta, Scarlet and Ashley in the Saw Mill and of course the final scene between Rhett and Scarlett.

In a strange way GWTW reminded me of the Lord of the Rings. It is not a great work of literature. It has some serious flaws, but it is an absolutely fabulous story, and it gave rise to a whole sub genre, while remaining superior to any of its successors.

So final thoughts.
-I highly recommend GWTW as a thundering good read, but be aware you'll need a strong stomach
-Don't be daunted by the size, the plot is well paced and it never drags
-It's not just a girly book, I'm an (ex) rugby playing bloke and I loved the story


the thing they're not saying about Gone With the Wind, 13 Jan 2008
Yes, it's gripping, thought-provoking and well researched, but I find it incredible that only one of these reviewers of Gone With The Wind seems to have noticed the most obvious thing about the book - its breathtaking racism. Margaret Mitchell was not blind to the defects of the Old South, especially the restricted position of women, but in 1000+ pages she never faced up to the basic, ugly fact of humans being owned as property. While she was writing, blacks in the South were being lynched with impunity for such 'crimes' as an inappropriate look at a white person, yet she unblushingly presented the Ku Klux Klan as a league of gallant gentlemen, and freed slaves as a sinister menace. 'How can they hang a nice boy like Tony just for killing a drunken buck...?' Readers, how can you enthuse about this book and still look your black friends in the face?

That's not the only morally dubious thing about it, either. It preaches a nasty, sentimentally sugar-coated version of social Darwinism. To be approved of by the author, you have to be ruthlessly selfish and never let a principle get in the way of your material interests - like Rhett Butler - or, if you insist on being kind and generous, then you must do it wholly by instinct, without ever becoming conscious of your own or anyone else's mental processes - like Melanie. You must never think, or try to act honourably against your inclinations. That's what Ashley does, and, clearly, consciousness makes him impotent. It's extraordinary how many American novels of the inter-war years, those of Hemingway and Walter van Tilburg Clark on the highbrow level, or 'My Friend Flicka' as well as 'Gone with the Wind' in the popular bracket, are full of this distrust of consciousness, reason and imagination, this conviction that those who think can't act. Perhaps it was a historical moment, the Depression and the rise of totalitarianism, that brought on this malaise. Perhaps it's a more lasting weakness of Americans in particular: see Ursula Le Guin's brilliant essay, 'Why are Americans afraid of dragons'? Whatever the cause, it's dangerous, anti-civilisation, and just plain wrong, and it is as important to fight it now as ever. Don't let it slide down your throat as a hidden ingredient in the potent emotional cocktail of Gone With The Wind. Of course it is buried under a mountain of inconsistencies. Scarlett is always having generous emotional impulses - protectiveness towards her little son, fellowship with Melanie - that run counter to what we are generally told about her self-centred nature, though she is never allowed to learn from them. Rhett is not immune to the occasional quixotic, non-self-interested action, like joining the Confederate army in defeat after the siege of Atlanta. Mitchell knew full well that, as characters, they'd be simply unbearable if they lived up to her professed standards of amorality, but she did not alter her standards on that account.

Finally, an editor should have taken a red pencil to the manuscript with a will. If you try reading the book aloud, you soon find out just how full of unnecessary verbiage it is, never saying anything once if it can say it three times.

And yet, the characters have life and lots of it, or they could not have embedded themselves in popular consciousness the way they have. As art, Gone With The Wind is at least successful enough to plunge one into that familiar conflict between moral judgment and the instinct to revel in the sheer richness of life, invention, being. Three stars for that - just don't forget the other.


If I could eat this book, I would- amazing!!!, 07 Oct 2007
This is a really great book that is interesting as well as informing. Margeret Mitchell shows Scarlett's character very well, and explains her motives behind her increadible bitchiness. I love the character of Scarlett- she is not one of those perfect main characters like in a lot of books, she is actually very spoilt and full of herself.

There is a lot of racism in this book, but I think it just makes it more realistic, as that is how it was in those days.

Altogether, it is a really good book, though be prepared for a very long read- it is over 1000 pages long! It is good for all ages of 12 and up.



better than I expected, 15 Jun 2008
Having watched the film enough times to know the dialogue by heart I thought it might be fun to read the book. Friends who had already read it advised me against it and said it's not such a great book, but I felt too tired and weary to do Thomas Mann justice so I read Gone With the Wind just the same.

Judging from the film I anticipated a wholesome old-fashioned romance and I was feeling like reading something entertaining and not very challenging. The romance element is there, and there are a lot of new details on the life and relations of Scarlett and Rhett as those of Melanie and Ashley. There are various episodes and facts which were left out of the film [for example that Scarlett has children from her previous marriages and Bonnie isn't her only child] and many details of the family life and history of Scarlett. If you love the characters it will be fun to learn more about them.

The writing is decent; Mitchell's style is old-fashioned and not particularly polished but yet comparing it with some contemporary bestsellers [e.g. Bridget Jones] it fares very well indeed.

The welcoming surprise for me was the information on the American civil war. Not being American I had a simple, sketchy image of the civil war and I have never given any thought on Southern feelings or the Southern way of life. This book depicts how southern slave owners and Ku Klux Clan founders were seeing themselves and the changes in their society thus being an interesting -though I am not qualified to judge how accurate- account of American cultural history as well as a romance. Even though that was not what I was expecting from this book an increased interest in American civil war was what I will get out of it. It gives an insight to a society with completely different views, principles and customs.

That said I would not want to put off readers who like me expect a romance, because this is what it essentially is. I just wanted to add that the background is equally interesting.

The edition itself is of very bad quality, pages were easily torn out as I was reading it and ink stained my fingers as if I was reading a newspaper but I don't think there are any better editions of it out there anyway.