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1   siduhknee18 | Aug 26, 2009 | 
Amanda, Fall 2009  educ318 | Dec 7, 2009 | Why hadn't I read this ages ago? A wonderful read. (  ) purkskis | Nov 28, 2009 | This is my favorite novel. In Scarlet, Margaret Mitchell wrote the most profoundly complex and human character in all fiction. Her motives and behavior are mixed and questionable. You hate her, you love her, you respect her, and you censure her but, if you are honest, you identify with her as well. I have read this novel every year for the last six years and I look forward to reading it next year. ( ) Soultalk | Nov 27, 2009 | The first time I read Gone With the Wind, I was 10 years old. Each of the children in my family went to spend a week with our grandfather every summer, and the slow pace of the small Texas town where he lived led to many boring moments to a city girl like me. I thought GWTW would fill in the gaps of my week, but I finished it in three days. I was a voracious reader at that age, and GWTW was a revelation. All other books seemed to be written in black and white, and this one was in Technicolor. I had not seen the movie when I read the book, since it had not been re-released at that point, and was so disappointed when I did see it. In the book, Ashley is intelligent, sensitive, yet a dashing figure. The part was so miscast in the movie. A young Robert Redford would have been my idea of the ideal Ashley. But I digress -- I have read GWTW at least seven times since. Every time I've moved, I would find myself reading it again when I was packing my books. I have always wished that Margaret Mitchell could have written a sequel, but her untimely death meant that this was her only novel. Like Harper Lee, who never wrote another book after [To Kill a Mockingbird], one wonders what other wonders might now exist if she had written another. ( ) KathleenMunden | Nov 12, 2009 | A classic on all counts. Mitchell captures everything that is romance, Southern, and timeless. I read this book many years ago - I think the summer before my freshman year of high school. I absolutely loved it, and it immediately became my favorite book (and should have been my first clue that I would one day major in English Literature). That fall, our English teacher asked us on the first day of class to write a little about ourselves, including our favorite book. Of course I put Gone With the Wind. At the end of the year, our teacher handed us back our questionnaires, I guess as a way to show how we'd changed (although this was never expressly said). I was very interested in knowing what my teacher had thought about my favorite book being an "adult" book - nothing childish here! And lo and behold she had written a comment: "I assume you mean the movie." That comment still irks me. Didn't I prove myself an avid, educated reader in her class? Wasn't it obvious that I knew the difference between the phrase "favorite book" and "favorite movie?" At that time, I hadn't even seen the movie (and even now I still think the book is better, and not that much longer). How dare she insult my intelligence and reading prowess! Needless to say, she wasn't my favorite (or best) teacher to begin with, but it still bothers me and I wish I would've gone up to her and corrected her mistake, but I didn't and really, what would it have gained me? Gone With the Wind is still one of my all-time favorite books. And even though I don't have the patience at this time in my life to sit down and read it through word-for-word again, I often will long to just cozy up for a few hours and lose myself in Scarlett's world. Everything about this work screams "perfect" to me: the writing, the setting, the characters, the colorful descriptions. I fell in love with Rhett right alongside Scarlett (even if she didn't realize that's what it was) and I was devastated when she lost everything she had (more than once). She's the character you want to hate, but you can't help loving her for her determination and flair. 5 out of 5 stars, obviously, and maybe I'll even throw a sixth one in there for good measure. ( ) AmyElizabeth | Nov 5, 2009 | I don't know why this is a classic or why anybody would enjoy reading this book. It was the longest, most tedious and dull soap opera imaginable. And I only made through chapter 3! -and the horrible way the author wrote the speech for the slaves only added to the misery of the experience. (  ) smay | Nov 5, 2009 | I read it in High School, and enjoyed learning about Southern Culture during the time period. I really liked Mr. Butler. He's one of my favorite all-time characters. ( ) Anagarika | Nov 3, 2009 | I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me...I've only read this twice. Many years ago. I'll have to read it again sometime soon. Liked it so well, even read the follow-up 'Scarlet' - although it was written pretty much by someone else. (  ) HoladayB | Oct 23, 2009 | No one has every done a more thorough study of two stupid people cheating themselves out of happiness. An exercise in frustration - if only one thing had gone differently. Is any book so romantic, and yet so unsatisfying? Every teenage girl thinks, "If only I can fall in love like that someday. And not ruin everything, the way Scarlett and Rhett did." It's preliminary coaching for a life of romantic musings - Does Rhett really give a damn after all? Is too late ever really just too late? ( ) annie1378 | Sep 16, 2009 | I don't know what else to say except that I LOVED Gone With the Wind. Earlier this year I purchased a copy for $5 at an antique store and am so glad that I will have it to reread again in the future. As a student of history, Mitchell's descriptions of life in the Deep South before, during and after the Civil War drew me in. So often the victor determines the story of a war, and so I found a long and detailed story from the side of the losers to be quite interesting. The Civil War and Reconstruction were so complicated that it helps to read about them through the lens of a story. I was often so caught up in the story of it all that I would completely forget that I was also learning about an important part of the history of our country from a perspective that I only knew about superficially. Clearly, Gone With the Wind is fiction and much must be taken with a grain of salt, but Margaret Mitchell spent tireless months checking her facts and so it is safe to say that one can at least derive a general sense of what the era was like for those living in and around Atlanta (based on knowledge from the 1930s). I was a bit unsure when I began reading the book because I did not enjoy the movie. But, as I began to read, I realized that there are so many things in the book that just couldn't have made it into the movie that help the reader understand the characters and their drama much more fully. For example, throughout the book there are many things that go on internally for Scarlett that could not be portrayed in the movie format but made her a fully dimensional character in the book. There are many emotions that are felt and not expressed that I imagine the filmmakers truly struggled with. I do plan on watching the movie again, from my new perspective this time. I do recommend Gone With the Wind - especially to those who have not lived in the South. Regardless of ones opinions of the South and its attitudes during that era, at least one can learn to appreciate the time, place, and culture they were coming from. ( ) curls_99 | Sep 15, 2009 | A classic and sweeping romance with an intruiging look at human nature. ( ) tete_17 | Sep 7, 2009 | One bad decision after another follow Scarlett throughout her life but the reader, while being alternately annoyed and astonished with her antics, is constantly pulling for her. She makes decisions that are neglectful and sad, but in her heart she believes what she is doing is the best she can and one wants to see her side even when it is just plain wrong. Fortunately, Mitchell gives us Scarlett's opposite in Melanie to offset the harshness and remind the reader of Scarlett's good qualities. The backdrop of the Civil War lends a lot of tension to the story and several themes that play very well into the plot and reasons for many of the characters' actions. It can also be infuriating to read as attitudes of characters can sound very barbaric to today's readers but it should not be a deterring factor. It is certainly a great book and one that should be read by everyone, at the very least as a character study, as Mitchell truly has a way of creating unforgettable sketches and a plot worthy of the heroine. ( )1 justabookreader | Sep 5, 2009 | Over summer, Ms. Eschen assigned me a reading list with a total of 20 books on it. Why she did this will always remain a mystery to me. I had no interest whatsoever in reading all those books over my precious summer break, especially the first one she gave to me. The first book that Ms. Eschen put into the palm of my hands was a 1024 page novel. I think the only reason I considered reading the book was the note Ms. Eschen left inside and the description inside of the first page that read “The immortal love epic between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler”. What was my favorite book I read this summer? It was Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. This timeless classic kept me on my toes the entire time. Just when you think all of Scarlett O’Hara’s problems are solved, new ones pop up. This book takes you back into the life of a country girl in the civil war, whose father owned a wealthy plantation with hundreds of slaves and was the “belle of the county”. As each page is turned, life becomes worse and worse for Scarlett O’Hara until one man, Rhett Butler, seemed to solve all of her problems. He was there for her through 2 marriages that she didn’t love and harbored her tears over the one unavailable man she did love. When all is said and done, she ends up with Rhett Butler only to have him ripped from her again. This novel takes you through the battle of Atlanta and the wrestle the soldiers had for their lives. The story line was enough to keep me on my toes, but the story wouldn’t be anything without its characters. Gone with the Wind’s characters are the strongest and most brilliantly constructed characters I have ever read about. Their personality was overflowing on every page and made the story worth reading. Scarlett O’Hara’s personality is described as a classic Irishman’s personality in the book. Her father told her told her that an Irishman’s tie to his land is the most powerful of them all, and by golly it’s true. Scarlett stopped at nothing to keep her plantation, Tara, away from the Yankee power. Rhett Butler was another powerful character in the book. He stuck with Scarlett through everything and was so passionate about her that he gave her anything she ever wanted. When Scarlett gave him a baby girl, he gave her everything she wanted as well. Melanie Wilkes was the idyllic country woman in the story. She was sweet and forgiving and would give her life for The Cause of the civil war. She never thought of a bad thing about anybody and stuck by Scarlett as well, with a loyalty Scarlett didn’t deserve. As I was flipping through the beginning of the book, I noticed the time in which this book was written: 1936. I really didn’t want to read such a long book while I should be out on the beach, especially a book that was written before my grandma was born. Why would someone want to read a classic book when there are new books coming out daily? I didn’t know why at first, but then I learned as I read the book that when you read books from a different time, you really learn to appreciate not only how much easier we had it now, but to appreciate where we came from. As I read Gone with the Wind I was amazed at how quickly I was engulfed into the story and how easily I could visualize the red dirt at Tara. This is why I started to want to read this novel. I wanted to read it to learn and because I was anxious to be immersed into a world that is not my own, but what my own world has grown out of. This book was 1024 pages of pure joy and I would strongly recommend it to any young reader. Gone with the Wind fits any reader’s preferred genre: the romance battle between Scarlett and Rhett, the tales of the war, and the mystery that keeps you turning pages. The description was fantastic and had you feeling like you were watching the whole scene because of the point of view it was shown from. I am eternally grateful that Ms. Eschen gave me this book to read over summer. 1 siduhknee18 | Aug 26, 2009 | Gone with the Wind is one of the greatest books of all time - not because it is of outstanding literary or social merit but because it has bought pleasure to so many people and on so many levels. Scarlett O'Hara is one of those characters who is not likeable but is admirable: ambitious, selfish and single-minded so none the less rises to every occassion while her more worthy and frail companions fold. Those are traits she shares with Rhett Butler, one of the first bad boys in modern fiction: a scamp, a profiterr and an adventurer but, ultimately, a patriot and a loving father. The descriptions of food and costume, manners and customs, are completely delightful and it is impossible not to sympathise with the newly widowed Scarlett, still a girl, as she fumes at being excluded from the dancing because of her status and wilts at the thought of having to wear blacks, greys, violets and dark, drab colours for years to come. I suppose it is seriously chickfic and I have never met a [straight] man who has actually read the book: not sure if even the gay men I know have attempted it - although so few men of any persuasion read these days it is no indication of anything... And although the novel does deal with issues of dress and romance and emotions and domesticity, the wear and the social issues caused by the fall of the south are a major theme - certainly the fall of Atlanta is very much of an action adventure, with explosions going off left, right and centre and the enemy advancing on all fronts. Still one of the longest popular books in English, GWTW is remarkably consistant throughout and never falls off once in its more than 1000 pages: an amazing feat for its author, an untested amateur. Truely remarkable - and tremendous fun! ( )3 adpaton | Aug 5, 2009 | Absolutely wonderful. Scarlett is a deeply flawed, yet still somehow sympathetic heroine. For all her arrogance and stubbornness, you still want her to win in the end. This story is by turns gorgeously lavish and wrenchingly gritty. A true classic, and an epic of the South. A must-read for every bonafide belle and belle-at-heart. ( )1 RogueBelle | Jul 10, 2009 | This is a classic. It mixes the fairy tale, complicated, love story with history. So many great lines come from this book and film. A must read! ( ) jmcveigh | Jul 8, 2009 | Very long, wordy, horrible copy to read but quite addictive (  ) dommydoc | Jun 30, 2009 | #1 on my list of favorites. Read this first as a young girl and it is the book that made me fall in love with reading. Have read it many times since and averytime, I find something I missed before. ( ) SHHS72 | Jun 13, 2009 | Excellent story better than the classic movie and that is saying something. ( ) charlie68 | Jun 8, 2009 | The classic tale by Margaret Mitchell that inspired the epic film. I re-read this every few years because it is full of characters, events and locales that are so fully realized and beautifully drawn that you can't help but feel the breeze and taste the barbecue at Twelve Oaks and feel the heat and scalding smoke as Atlanta burns. I personally love her, but Scarlett will be for some a hard character to like, even easier to hate, but no matter what most will respect her strength and willingness to do what she deems necessary to follow her heart and convictions. ( ) KatharineClifton | May 29, 2009 | I keep going back to this book, reading it over and over - probably at least twice a year. No question - I absolutely LOVE it! coletteangele | May 17, 2009 | 68th prtg. DW. 1st pub 1936. ( ) kitchengardenbooks | May 9, 2009 | A true classic. if only Margaret had not met with such an untimely end who knows what other masterpieces she may have gone on to write. (  ) susanpenter | Apr 24, 2009 | Still love this book, even after reading twice. Coming up time to read again. ( ) FMRox | Mar 31, 2009 | International Collectors Library mbrads | Mar 9, 2009 | |
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This timeless classic kept me on my toes the entire time. Just when you think all of Scarlett O’Hara’s problems are solved, new ones pop up. This book takes you back into the life of a country girl in the civil war, whose father owned a wealthy plantation with hundreds of slaves and was the “belle of the county”. As each page is turned, life becomes worse and worse for Scarlett O’Hara until one man, Rhett Butler, seemed to solve all of her problems. He was there for her through 2 marriages that she didn’t love and harbored her tears over the one unavailable man she did love. When all is said and done, she ends up with Rhett Butler only to have him ripped from her again. This novel takes you through the battle of Atlanta and the wrestle the soldiers had for their lives.
The story line was enough to keep me on my toes, but the story wouldn’t be anything without its characters. Gone with the Wind’s characters are the strongest and most brilliantly constructed characters I have ever read about. Their personality was overflowing on every page and made the story worth reading. Scarlett O’Hara’s personality is described as a classic Irishman’s personality in the book. Her father told her told her that an Irishman’s tie to his land is the most powerful of them all, and by golly it’s true. Scarlett stopped at nothing to keep her plantation, Tara, away from the Yankee power. Rhett Butler was another powerful character in the book. He stuck with Scarlett through everything and was so passionate about her that he gave her anything she ever wanted. When Scarlett gave him a baby girl, he gave her everything she wanted as well. Melanie Wilkes was the idyllic country woman in the story. She was sweet and forgiving and would give her life for The Cause of the civil war. She never thought of a bad thing about anybody and stuck by Scarlett as well, with a loyalty Scarlett didn’t deserve.
As I was flipping through the beginning of the book, I noticed the time in which this book was written: 1936. I really didn’t want to read such a long book while I should be out on the beach, especially a book that was written before my grandma was born. Why would someone want to read a classic book when there are new books coming out daily? I didn’t know why at first, but then I learned as I read the book that when you read books from a different time, you really learn to appreciate not only how much easier we had it now, but to appreciate where we came from. As I read Gone with the Wind I was amazed at how quickly I was engulfed into the story and how easily I could visualize the red dirt at Tara. This is why I started to want to read this novel. I wanted to read it to learn and because I was anxious to be immersed into a world that is not my own, but what my own world has grown out of.
This book was 1024 pages of pure joy and I would strongly recommend it to any young reader. Gone with the Wind fits any reader’s preferred genre: the romance battle between Scarlett and Rhett, the tales of the war, and the mystery that keeps you turning pages. The description was fantastic and had you feeling like you were watching the whole scene because of the point of view it was shown from. I am eternally grateful that Ms. Eschen gave me this book to read over summer.