Alexandra Ripley (1934–2004)

Dear Future Self:

You may have just finished reading Gone With The Wind. You might possibly be wanting just a little bit more to the story. STOP. Don't do it. Don't. I promised to leave myself clues so that I won't reread it again.

First sentence: This will be over soon, and then I can go home to Tara.

Premise/plot: Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler loves, loves, loves, loves Rhett Butler. He, however, has stopped giving a damn. Or so he claims. This is the 'sequel' to Gone With The Wind. show more It covers roughly six to eight years. (That is it covers no more than eight, by my reckoning, and possibly as few as six.) It opens with the funeral of Melanie Wilkes. It ends, well, with much rejoicing on the part of this reader because it is OVER at last.

My thoughts: I first read Scarlett when it released. I was in junior high, I believe. I was excited. I was thrilled. I was eager. I can't remember if I was disappointed, angry, or frustrated....or confused. Probably one of the above.

Does Gone With The Wind need a sequel?

My "no" argument: Margaret Mitchell wrote the LAST chapter of Gone With the Wind FIRST. This was the destination all along. This wasn't an oops. If she'd changed her mind on the ending at any point while she was writing the book, she could have changed the ending. When she saw the success of the book, she could have begun drafting a sequel, talking of a sequel, making plans. From what I remember of the biographies I've read, she did not in any way want or desire a sequel.

My "yes" argument: While the book doesn't "need" a sequel. There's certainly enough life in the characters to allow for creative play.

What I would perhaps STILL like to see is a collection of SHORT STORIES or SHORT NOVELLAS written by a dozen or so authors--perhaps more but not less--that allow for more of the story to unfold. Each author working independently could put their spin on the question WILL SCARLETT O'HARA get Rhett Butler back. What will happen next to Scarlett? What about Rhett? Will he get HIS happily ever after even if that means saying NO to Scarlett forever? At what cost do we want a happy ending if their relationship is toxic?

It might also be AWESOME if an author were to approach the story from decades later. Perhaps told from the point of view of one of Scarlett's children or grandchildren.

Is there anything in Scarlett that works?

I honestly didn't hate the opening chapters. I didn't love, love, love them mind you. But I didn't hate them.

Scarlett reacted just like Scarlett at Melanie's funeral. She's newly discovered that she does in fact love Melanie Wilkes. That Melanie Wilkes was an incredible, incredible woman. But no one--except Rhett--knows of this change of heart. The town has long been skeptic--almost openly hostile--towards Scarlett. She associates with all the wrong people. She was caught alone with Ashley--hugging, nearly an embrace. She doesn't care about what they care about. Melanie interceded standing between Scarlett and polite society. Atlanta was torn between wanting to support Melanie AND despising Scarlett. Now that Melanie has died, Scarlett stands alone. And so being Scarlett, being a proud woman, she accepts standing alone and doesn't want to show her weakness, how broken she feels on the inside. When Ashley plays the fool at the graveside, Scarlett being EVER PRACTICAL acts purely on common sense alone. This will cost her.

Scarlett returning to Tara makes complete and total sense. She returns to Tara just in time to witness Mammy's final days--perhaps weeks. She returned too late to say goodbye to her mother, but, she arrives in plenty of time to say goodbye to Mammy. It isn't simple. Scarlett stays by her bedside night and day, day and night. Barely taking care of herself. She is devoted completely and selflessly caring for her.

I liked Scarlett visiting with some of the country folks--the ones that we especially got to know during the hardest days of the war and directly after. The Fontaines. The Tarletons. Etc.

Rhett returning for Mammy's funeral and lying to her also makes complete sense. Those two had an understanding after bonding after Bonnie's death.

When Scarlett returns to Atlanta because Tara isn't really big enough to live with her sister, Suellen and Will and their kids as well as her first two kids, Wade and Ella, that makes sense as well. Scarlett thinks that Rhett will 'have' to visit Atlanta a few times a year at least to keep up appearances. Atlanta is where her store is, it's where her big fancy house is. She thinks that even if folks don't 'like' her they'll keep on accepting her. She's never been 'cut' by society before. Hated and despised, yes, still invited to all the things, yes. Scarlett reveals that she is still trying to make herself happy with stuff, stuff, and more stuff. She's looking for happiness in all the wrong ways. She's turning to alcohol. She's turning to easy friends that she can buy. However she is also LOOKING to keep her promise to Melanie. And the few interactions we have between India and Scarlett seem true to both women. There is HATE, a hard, rigid HATE that loathes. Scarlett's conversations with Uncle Henry are among my favorite in the book. (That's not saying too much. But it is something).

Scarlett does not stay in Atlanta. Though she might stay in Atlanta for most of a year. At least six months or so. She next goes off in pursuit of Rhett. She goes to Charleston to visit her aunts. (Though I'm still not sure if her aunts were from Charleston or Savannah. Or maybe they divide their time between both????) She isn't with them for a day before she gets herself invited to stay with her mother-in-law. She is welcomed by some of Rhett's immediate family, though others have their doubts. She is introduced to everybody in Charleston. But she has to play a role. Scarlett is absolutely excellent at playing a role. She can even play a role for long stretches of time--months and months. Here she is playing the role of devoted wife who is eager to learn everything about Charleston and make it her forever and ever home. So if that means learning about all the kinds of seafood, then she'll go to market and learn all the best secrets for picking seafood. Rhett is angry, frustrated, confused. But he can't treat Scarlett as he wants because he values his mother too much. So they play pretend. They officially agree to play pretend. Scarlett thinks that if she can get Rhett interested in her again, game over. They'll play happy couple for 'the season' and then she'll go back to Atlanta, or if not Atlanta, anywhere but there.

It is only when their lives are in great danger that Rhett gives into his lust for Scarlett. She assumes this means happily ever after. But this is not to be. Why is this not to be? There are eight million pages left. I jest somewhat.

Scarlett writes a LETTER to Rhett. Rhett does not get the letter. Why? Because his sister decides Rhett deserves better than Scarlett, that Scarlett is TRASH, and so she destroys the letter. This, of course, introduces miscommunication to novel that should be much, much, much shorter.

Scarlett next goes to visit her grandfather--I think in Savannah. I think her aunts are there too. She also visits her uncles and cousins on the O'Hara sides. Her grandfather recognizes something special in her, I believe. I don't know for sure, but I might have preferred the novel IF she'd settled in Savannah and made a new life for herself there. Anything is better than what happens next.

What doesn't work in Scarlett?

Scarlett meets her uncles and cousins and more cousins and more cousins. She's persuaded to take a "short" trip to Ireland--a few weeks--to meet her grandmother. (Gerald's mother). Well, to meet all her relatives. Why do they want to take her to Ireland???? Good question. No one knows. There's no true reason for Scarlett to go anywhere near Ireland. On board the ship, I believe, she discovers that she's pregnant. Does she send word to Rhett? NO. Does she send word to anybody? No. Does she decide to keep it a secret for a few more weeks or months? Yes. It isn't much after that--maybe a few weeks? a month or two? when she hears that RHETT has divorced her. She makes immediate plans to return. She has to tell him about the baby, right?!?!?! But before she leaves Ireland to return to the States, she hears that Rhett has MARRIED AGAIN. I believe she stays in Ireland? Or she might make the shortest of trips back to the States?

Regardless, readers are stuck with Scarlett staying in Ireland for six or so more years. She doesn't just stay in Ireland, mind you, she makes occasional trips about. She meets dozens of people. Are we supposed to care about these people? Maybe. And maybe some readers do. But I found it tedious to have Scarlett coming of age in Ireland. She'll spend a few months LOVING physical labor, working in the fields, the gardens, building the place up, restoring. She's got the role of peasant down wonderfully. She's one with the people. She's in solidarity with them. Earning their like for a bit. BUT when Scarlett's baby is born on Halloween, it's the beginning of the end. The folks just won't accept that Scarlett's baby isn't a witch. Is this logical? No. Of course not. Scarlett moves on from playing the O'Hara and becomes utterly fascinated by horse racing and the English nobility. Or perhaps the Irish and English nobility? Anyway, she decides she likes rich people stuff again. How could she be happy just working the land when she could be going to all the house parties and meeting all the rich men???

Rhett Butler begins popping up here and there in Scarlett's new world. Maybe Rhett has always been interested in horse racing in England and Ireland? Maybe he is coming because she's there?

Scarlett has an affair with a British soldier. Charles something-or-other, I think. It's weird. It's awkward. She's using him. But to be fair, he doesn't mind at all.

Scarlett gets engaged to some noble. A count? A lord? Somebody. His characterization is thin at best. But again, readers know he won't matter even slightly. We do know that he cares a little too much about Kat (or Cat?) Scarlett's daughter. He thinks Scarlett will give him a son. (She can't.) And he wants it to be feisty and independent like Cat (Kat?). Though will he really want a son that he can't dominate??? I have questions.

Meanwhile, after a famine or drought, the peasants have gone on strike and have turned against everybody. EVERYBODY. Anybody with money is an enemy. Is this oversimplifying it???? Yes. Is it complex in the book? Maybe slightly more than I am giving it credit for. Is it still mostly shallow? YES.

Meanwhile, for the past five or six hundred pages, Scarlett has been having 'revelations' about how life and how to live. But they seem to be more fads than character changes. THAT BEING SAID, Scarlett does seem to have learned to love another human being more than herself. True, she hasn't learned to love more than one person more than herself. But for Cat (Kat?) she does seem to be selflessly inclined to put her daughter first.

Does Scarlett ever think about Wade and Ella? No. No. NEVER. She wouldn't dare feel maternal towards her other children. After taking up a LOT of text about how Scarlett has learned that she will NEVER EVER EVER EVER put Kat (Cat?) in a box and make her do anything she doesn't want to do, never try to shape her into being someone else, of following rules and fitting into society, she has the audacity to lecture Wade about WHO he has to be. Scarlett who has never valued education in the slightest is SHOCKED that Wade refuses to go to college. He must, he must, he must. Why? No one knows. It takes up more pages. Eventually, Will persuades her to let Wade be Wade and stay a farmer at Tara. Ella, well, poor thing she might get five mentions in the entire novel. Though that might be generous. Scarlett does not care even slightly for Wade and Ella.

Does Scarlett fight to maintain friendships? No. IF she's disappointed by a person, then that's it--mostly. She's not able to accept complex people with complex relationships. That being said, I found almost all her cousins annoying too. I don't blame Scarlett for being upset with the main person she's upset with. HE repeatedly lies to her, tricks her, uses her. His lies outweigh his truth.

The ending. Well, it ends. After eight million pages of NOTHING, it ends.

My main problem with the book is that it could have been a book around three hundred pages and it would have been decent. Not great perhaps but it could have been decent. I think the author WANTED a book as long as Gone with the Wind. But Gone with the Wind has PLOT, STORY, CHARACTERS. It has substance and depth. It has complexity. It has moral complexity. It has life. It was well-researched. It lives. Scarlett--the sequel--is SHALLOW and obnoxiously long. show less

One of the worst books ever. (Horatio Alger was a more convincing author.) I like Gone With The Wind - like, not love. What? Don't look at me like that. It's a damn engaging story. The writing is vivid and engaging, the love affairs are tumultuous, and all of the major players are a pain-in-the-ass. But it works. When Rhett dumps Scarlett, it's the perfect, inevitable culmination of their respective characters. Aaaaaannnnnddddddd ... Ripley takes a dump on all that. The ending goes like show more this:

"Rhett! Oh, Rhett! Won't you come back to me?!"
(Rhett mysteriously appears)
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn about anything but you."
"Oh, Rhett! I knew you were lying."
"Oh, Scarlett. You are my one true love and not at all a Mary Sue created by the author's incomprehensible need to give a happy ending to the best tragic ending in trashy literature."
(Since they are already on a beach, they strip naked and proceed to get it on.) show less

If you want 800 pages of Gone with the Wind fanfic, this is probably the book for you. It is also really interesting to read a 'sequel by someone who wasn’t the original author' from before fanfic was common, and see that the main fanfic flaws are still pretty timeless. Sorry, that sounds cruel, but it really did feel like someone was playing with the original characters without getting the feel of the original book. The author avoided most of the opportunities to spend time with old show more characters in favour of new original characters, and I found it very hard to care about them.

In order to spare you from having to read it, I will tell you what I remember of the plot. Melly has died, Ashley is distraught, Scarlett stops him from throwing himself on the coffin and breaking his neck, which apparently a) saves his life, and b) causes Huge Scandal. She doesn't want Ashley now, she wants Rhett, so she goes back to his home town where he is, and hangs out trying to win him back in a not hugely interesting way, while also trying to buy back Tara from some nuns. (Rhett's sister is Cool, but doesn’t get a lot of screen time.) For reasons that I can't remember she ends up going sailing with Rhett, which is Totally Awesome, and then they Nearly Drown in a Storm, and then he Saves Her Life, and they Make Love and she conceives. And then she runs away to Ireland? I never really got why, she meets some random poor relatives and enjoys learning to dance a reel with them (I mean, the Doylian reason is that the author wants to write a Scarlett O Hara in Ireland story). There is some plot where someone who doesn't like her (maybe Rhett's sister) burns a letter, so Rhett doesn't know where she's gone or why, but it doesn't make a lot of sense. Anyway he marries someone else, she decides that she's staying in Ireland, and thus begins the most crack-fic adventure where Scarlett O Hara is Rich and builds a Grand Country House in Ireland, and rides around hunting with the English lords and ladies, while accidently making a village for the Fenian Brotherhood to plot in, and becoming The O Hara of Clan O Hara. She is the Richest, the Prettiest, rises to the top of Society... but not really very interesting, the 'I have infinite money and infinite charm' doesn't make for very good plot. She has her baby in a Dramatic Caesarean Scene, everyone thinks the baby is a changeling and throws stones at her, and then there is one final grand glorious silly scene where her terrorists attack the English, everyone is shot, everything is set on fire, and then Rhett is magically there (his inconvenient other wife having died in childbirth) and they run away and hide in a tower together and then sail off into the sunset.

But if you want to imagine Scarlett O Hara in Irish Peasant Bright Striped Stockings dancing a reel, then, err, this is the book for you. show less

The "sequel" to [Gone With the Wind] often gets a bad rap. And, really, how do you follow that ending of GWTW? I read this when it came out in the 90s but didn't remember much of it and remember thinking it was very sub-par. But, actually, I kind of liked it this time around.

Scarlett and Rhett are apart for most of the book and it's really all about Scarlett finally growing up and getting over her damage from the war years. Most of the book is set in Ireland. It definitely drags in some show more places and once you get what direction Ripley is going to go, it's all fairly predictable. But I kind of liked that it was predictable - it felt like something I could have dreamed up happening. I think the first half is less good, which probably means the first time around I started skimming and didn't really read the second half, which gets better. Or maybe it just takes that long, as a reader, to forget Margaret Mitchell's style and go with Ripley's. I wish Ripley had dragged out the ending a little longer than she did. It was a bummer to wait for Scarlett and Rhett to finally get reunited and then have them only be together for a few pages before the book ends. I get why she didn't want to explore that too much, but as a reader, I wanted to see them together for a longer portion of the book after waiting so long for it!

Anyway, I had a good time spending more time with these characters. I listened to this on audio, because I wasn't willing to spend my reading time on it (I only listen to audiobooks when there's no way I could be reading in print - like when I'm driving or out for a walk, or folding clothes, etc.). It was an entertaining way to spend my time and I never zoned out like I do with lots of audiobooks. Apparently there's a "Rhett story" by a different author, so maybe I'll give that a try on audiobook as well. show less