Gone with the Wind

By Margaret Mitchell

‘Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.’

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O’Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune Rhett Butler.

Widely considered the Great American Novel, and often remembered for its epic film version starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, Gone with the Wind is a superb piece of storytelling. It vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction and is a sweeping story of tangled passion and courage.

Since its first publication in 1936, Gone with the Wind has endured as one of the bestselling novels of all time, in spite of its problematic subject matter. This edition of the classic love story features an introductory essay offering a context to the novel, by critically acclaimed, Sunday Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Aug 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781529091403

Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta, Georgia into a family passionately interested in American history. She grew up in an atmosphere of stories about the Civil War which she committed to paper in the ten years following her marriage in 1925. The result was Gone With The Wind, first published in 1936. It won the Pulitzer Prize, sold over ten million copies, was translated in eighteen languages, and was one of the most successful films ever made starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. Gone With The Wind was her only published work. She died in 1949.

Reviews for Gone with the Wind

[jsabrina-219220 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was extremely surprised by how much I loved this book. Far more detailed and nuanced than the movie, it gives a fascinating insight into the culture of the Old South.

Scarlett is more poignant in the novel than in the movie because here we can see and understand the roots of her lifelong drive not just for security, but to be recognized as "a lady." Alas, she never quite understands that it's not money that earns that status in the eyes of others but the kind of behavior demonstrated by her own mother and Melanie.

I've re-read this book several times and probably should do so again.

[desiree_reads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a fantastic novel. I can't believe I hadn't read this before now! I don't know how she did it, but Margaret Mitchell managed to write in a simple, easy-to-read manner (no thick, plodding prose), but at the same time really delve into the deep, complication of human relationships. And the civil war is like a character in itself - a finely-woven tapestry laid out behind the characters dancing in front of it. And to make us care what happens to, and look forward to finding out what happens to the so-very-spoiled Scarlett O'Hara, is quite an incredible feat. I can't believe how engaged I was in this book (I read A LOT) and sadly realize it may be years, even decades, before I read another book that sweeps me away like this one did.
(P.S. I watched the movie after I finished the book, and they did a decent job, but even in almost four hours of film, they cannot do it justice. Don't settle for the movie - read the book!)

[kittycunningh-815148 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As usual, a better story than the movie.

I read when I first moved to Charleston because it seemed appropriate at the time. Part of what made it fun for me was knowing some of the geography.

I'm glad I read it but it isn't one I'll go back to. In spite of the topic ans setting, it wasn't quite a bodice ripper (or burning plantation novel, as my husband calls them), but close enough that one rad is enough for me.

[andorion-259107 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Maybe 3.5 stars.

So, this book has an unlikeable narrator. Scarlett is a classic narcissist. I was warned about this when I started, I quickly saw that it was true. But it's not really an issue if you accept it. Then it becomes a bit of a fun ride about what incredibly selfish thing she will do next.

The best way to read this book is as a historical source about the mentalities that informed the construction of a memory of the Civil War south. It helps greatly in dealing with the racism and gender roles.

There are four principal characters to be concerned with here - Scarlett and Rhett, the two principal protagonists, and Ashley and Mellie, the two supporting protagonists.

Scarlett and Ashley are easy to hate. Scarlett is selfish, entitled and vindictive. Essentially she wants everything to revolve around herself, and if that does not happen, she makes sure that it does. She has three principal concerns - herself, her family plantation - Tara, and Ashley. She also cares a bit about her parents, and has a little bit of concern for others, but that is mostly in the context of how they can be of help to her. And yet, her selfishness drives her to great things, incredible feats of bravery and daring, excellent improvisation, and finally a heroic effort to overcome the restrictions of her gender. Scarlett is easy to hate, but also can be extremely entertaining. Its only when her selfishness becomes delusional that Scarlett is difficult to read. Her obsession with Ashley drives her life to ruin. Her indifference towards her children evokes genuine hate.

Ashley on the other hand is the definition of a 2-dimensional character. Always idealistic, always dreaming, and always useless. Throughout the book he is nothing but a burden - a mental and emotional one on Scarlett, and a physical one on Mellie and to an essence Scarlett. His idiotic inability to settle his awkward relationship with Scarlett leads to great misery for all.

Rhett is contradictory - he is too many things. At the beginning he is the worldly-wise realist who knows the Confederacy is doomed. Then he is the garish opportunist, indulging in greed and vulgar display, rousing anger and opposition. Then he is the sudden patriot. Then once again the opportunistand yet also a closet idealist and yet a collaborator. And then he is Scarlett's love, but always at a distance! Then he is the devoted father! Then the spurned husband. And lastly the disillusioned lover. But logic does not dictate his actions or transformations.

Why was he caught in Atlanta at all if he was so well informed and connected? Why had he not left the Confederacy before? His sudden bout of patriotism is presented as a noble act, and yet this ignores that he left three women, one of them dying, a child and an infant in a war ravaged area in the middle of the night. Why does he display his wealth and get arrested, when his money is in England and he has zero reasons to stay in Reconstruction Atlanta? If he truly loved Scarlett, always, like he claimed later, why did he not make this plain, or talk of marriage, ever? He demonstrated that he could change for his daughter, but never tried to change for Scarlett.

And finally Mellie. She is less a character, and more a caricature. Always loving, calm, trustful, well-mannered, quiet, believing - she is literally too good to be true. If Scarlett was delusional about Ashley, Mellie was delusional about Scarlett and Ashley. Her blindness severely strained credulity.

So overall, while the book is a fascinating read about the South, the characters are severely wanting. And please don't call this a romance novel.

[beauxarts79 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The reader is supposed to care whether two morally loathsome characters (one of them a philandering profiteer and the other a suggestion of Medea and succubus combined) find love together? The facile creed at the center of the novel (like suits like) just doesn't work without at least a glimmer of moral redemption. The drama kept the pages turning, but I suspect I was just aching for the moment one unscrupulous piece of work finally told the other that he didn't give a damn.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a big book in every way, not just in its physical size, but also in its long term influence, and the range of issues it considers at length through its descriptive passages and the interactions over a period of years between its leading characters. By modern standards, and even by the standards of the 1930s when it was published, this book has of course a strong racist element. The white Georgian characters who form the core of this story all clearly regard black people as inherently inferior; they do not for the most part treat them cruelly, but they regard them as wayward children or pets who cannot run their own lives and exist only to serve their white masters. Mammy, the main black character is the single exception to this rule, regarded with respect and affection by everyone, and indeed she is probably the strongest character in the book. But it is important for an understanding of the context to note that, inexplicably to us in the 21st century, Mammy and all the other black characters themselves also regard themselves as having no separate existence apart from service to their white masters, and black house servants (and yes they do use the "n" word to refer to themselves) regard black field servants as an inferior caste on whom they look down in the same way as the white people look down on the blacks as a race.Modern discussion of this novel centres almost exclusively around its racial element, but there is so much more in here: the horrors of war and a city (Atlanta) under siege; the privations suffered by families trying to make ends meet in a situation of society tearing itself apart in the Civil War (I think perhaps we in Britain don't quite get the impact this had and still in some ways has on American society, as our own Civil War was much longer ago); the impact of what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder on the mental health and conduct of soldiers on both sides, and the ill treatment by both sides of their prisoners of war; and moral dilemmas over the lengths one can and should go to protect one's family and loved ones in a desperate situation, versus wider societal responsbility. The central character Scarlett O'Hara is often irritating, shallow and selfish, but also capable of strong love and loyalty, strong-willed and resourceful, and very willing to challenge the rigidly stereotypical standards of a society that believed it wrong for women to assert themselves in personal relationships or economic terms. When the former characteristics were to the fore, she reminded me rather of Becky Sharp in Thackeray's Vanity Fair, but Scarlett has more positive features (by the same token, Melanie Hamilton was much like Amelia Sedley in the Thackeray classic, looking for love and security and easily duped). Rhett Butler is the ultimate cynical character and epitome of the man determined to preserve his freedom of action in all circumstances by not committing himself, but also refreshing in his lack of tolerance of the cant and hypocrisy that dominates society's mores. It is ironic that Scarlett and Rhett, while being the central heroes of the novel, regularly flout the conventions and rigid morals of a society with which the author clearly totally identifies. Meanwhile, the other main male character, the cultured and well travelled Ashley Wilkes, with whom Scarlett is in love for almost the whole of the novel, pales into watery insignificance next to these central pairing.There is much more that could be written about this novel, such as the author's very partial political views of the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, and her seeming complete lack of recognition that slavery was in any way wrong. This will always be a controversial novel, but overall it deserves its reputation as a sweeping epic and flawed masterpiece of American and world literature.

[lori6868 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My absolute favorite book of all times. One to be read over and over.

[jennifer7089 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my all time favorite book and movie. Yes being the setting is in Georgia and I am a true Georgia Peach is part of it. But Scarlet is the biggest part. Yes she is a spoiled brat. She is hated by a lot, even me at times, but she is also a strong Southern Woman during the Civil War. She knew what she wanted and she went after it by all means, granted most of those means are not good, but she let no man control her. At the time she was not your typical Southern Belle, she was a rebal of her time. I believe that girls in today time, the lesson they could learn is don't take shit from no one.

[fulner · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It is incredibly long. A bunch of stuff happens but it doesn't seem to really have a plot. The protagonist Scarlet is a real piece of work, incredibly dumb and naive, and I would like to punch her in the mouth.

[starbox_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very well-written blockbuster of a novel. It's DECADES since I saw the movie, so came to it with very vague recollections of the story.Firstly I liked Scarlett more than I was expecting to. Unsentimental- well, over most things- driven, and utterly out for herself...especially when the Civil War brings an end to her pampered Southern lifestyle.As a Brit, I'd never really considered what life was like in the immediate aftermath. How did all those Southerners feel about the North ending slavery? I learnt a great deal from reading this- there's history alongside a fast-paced storyline - and the Yankees certainly werent only about bringing in an ethical society. Much corruption, disenfranchisement of Southern whites, overnight empowerment of former slaves...all resulting in a fractured, angry society....and the beginnings of the Ku Klux Klan (made me think of post WW1 Germany,fiercely policed and impoverished by the rest of Europe...and the anger and resentment finding vent in escalating anti-semitism.But this is primarily a story of people...Scarlett O'Hara, the feisty Irish/Creole plantation owner, her two weak husbands, Ashley Hamilton, on whom she pins all her drreams for years, and his wife- and Scarlett's friend....the good-natured Melanie.And Rhett Butler, the wealthy, handsome, sardonic character- a goodie or a thoroughly bad man? - always around on the fringes...Stonking good read.

[rodweston · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately, it's one of those novels that tells an interesting story, but doesn't hold up under a second reading. The characters are flat, the writing less than stellar.

[skavlanj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A Book Your Mom LovesMore so than many other novels written during less progressive times, Gone With The Wind (GWTW) requires a modern reader to overlook or at least endure descriptions, dialogue and narrator commentary that would prevent its publication today. I plead ignorance regarding Margaret Mitchell beyond the dust jacket's contention that she wasn't aware the South lost the war until age ten because, despite her extensive second-hand exposure to the War, no one bothered to tell her that part of the story. So it's possible that she doesn't share her narrator's biased attitudes, and that she would describe the experience of plantation life for slaves in harsher terms than is presented in the book. Whether that's true or not, if you're going to appreciate GWTW, you're going to have to set aside your enlightened viewpoints and at least tolerate long passages of annoying dialect, free usage of the n-word (although only in dialogue and inner monologue) and the prejudiced editorializing of the book's narrator. I'm afraid in the end I failed in that effort.Mitchell paints an unrealistic picture when she writes of the Southerners' dismay at Northerners repeated inquiries about blood hounds and whippings as though these things never occurred or shares the Southerners' belief that life was better as a slave than free. If she had presented a neutral picture, GWTW would have been a stronger book. Instead, it reads somewhat as a rebuttal to Uncle Tom's Cabin.Setting that aside, Scarlett O'Hara is not a likable character and GWTW is ultimately not a redemption story. Yes, Scarlett realizes at the end that her obsessive love for Ashley has been a chimera and that if she had won him early on she would have discarded him the way she did all her other beaux. But she does nothing with this realization, she simply retreats to Tara after Rhett's abandonment and puts off dealing with her altered reality until tomorrow, when she will find a way to win him back. To be honest, she doesn't seem capable of many of the realizations she has over the course of the book.And GWTW is a long, rambling book. It covers over a decade of Scarlett's life, at times in slow, repetitive and mundane detail (the opening scenes, while needed to build our understanding of Scarlett, take entirely too long getting through one day). Other times, it rushes through a catastrophic event, then skips days or weeks ahead (Scarlett's fall down the stairs and Bonnie's death feel especially rushed). I don't know whether we're supposed to like Scarlett, but the other characters do a poor job of providing an alternative object for our sympathy. Rhett earns sympathy for the high price he pays for loving Scarlett, but he's squanders it on his disreputable business dealings. His noble deeds and kind treatment of most people aren't enough to overcome his character flaws. Ashley is simply weak and ineffectual; there is nothing admirable about him. Melanie is said to be a great lady but she's blind to both Scarlett and her husband's true characters, making her a fool. Combined they are a portrait of dysfunctional adults in an often unbelievable story of an unscrupulous woman looking out only for herself in the aftermath of the War. Understandable behavior, yes; honorable, hardly.I have been meaning to read GWTW for some time, and I'm glad I did. But it's not a book I'd read again.

[ainjel-3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a novel. What a story.

It's long, but it's 100% worth the journey. The ending is absolutely phenomenal, and one of the best I have ever read. It's the type of book I everyone should read and experience, because there really is nothing quite like it. The characters are so unlikable, yet you can't help but root for them, even as they never learn. It's easy to fall in love with them too, and easy to cry over the love that could have-- and should have-- been. I love how the historical aspect is incorporated into the story not simply as a backdrop, but as a significant part of the romance being told. It's a fantastic novel and definitely one of a kind.

[danielstj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A thrilling story with deeply flawed and realistic characters. Extremely enjoyable and revealing. Mitchell manages to weave a yarn full of poignant events, some more historical and others more fictional, skillfully into an epic of masterful proportions.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Complicated feelings with this one, both in reading it and how to review it. I don’t know that I’ve ever wavered so much on a star rating, in many ways this is five stars, but other aspects have me uneasy about giving it such a wholehearted recommendation.This is most definitely a page-turner, which can’t be said of many books over a thousand pages long, it’s epic and yet intimately character driven, I get why it won a Pulitzer, I get why it made PBS’s 100 last year, and why it’s been on other favorite lists for decades. As appealing as I sometimes (emphasis on sometimes) found Rhett to be, and though its engrossing in train wreck fashion (Scarlett is so smart in some ways and so oblivious in all the Ashley ways), the romantic entanglements tended to be of less importance to me than the women on their own. Her racist views aside (I’ll address those momentarily), Scarlett felt very much ahead of her time. She’s ruthlessly and sometimes corruptly ambitious, she’s more obsessed with building an empire than being a mother, and she’s quite willing to break societal rules, including coveting a married man. While many of Scarlett’s choices would not be my own, I love that she just is who she is and is mostly unapologetic about it, there are plenty of male characters in pop culture unconcerned with their likability, but it’s far less common for female characters, so weirdly, a book from the thirties, managed to feel refreshing in that respect. I also found it interesting to spend time on the losing side of a war, and loved that rather than it being so much about men running to the rescue and rebuilding, it’s more often these two women who pick up the pieces for their families, figuring out how to survive. Scarlett with her schemes, and Melanie leading with her heart, each, in her own way, proves emotionally stronger than any man in the story. But, there’s also the cringe-worthy dialect for every black character, and consistently referring to them as stupid and lazy and like they need white people’s guidance or they just wouldn’t know what to do, not to mention all the other horrifying descriptors that I don’t want to mention. Obviously there’s a context to this, the book is told from the confederate south’s point of view, so racism isn’t unexpected and it wouldn’t be an honest depiction of that time and this particular set of white people if it pretended they weren’t racist. There’s also the fact that this wasn’t written in our more politically correct era so it couldn’t be handled with the delicacy that maybe (big maybe) the author might have used now, but even when you read with those caveats in mind, no caveat makes it comfortable to read ignorant, hateful things for page after page. Sometimes I questioned why I would read a book with such problematic content, but at the same time I wondered, is it really better to to only read point of views you agree with, to only read about things that don’t make you angry or sad? Should we only read books where everyone is depicted as equals and treated fairly even though the world is still so far from that ideal? Or, is there maybe some value in reading challenging things that sting your heart and soul and compel you to stop and think, really stop and think about how it must feel to actually be on the receiving end of such hatred and disrespect, not just page after page, but day after day? I continuously went back and forth about all of that in my head throughout the reading of Gone With The Wind and I still have no idea if there is a correct answer. Just, if you're going to read it, and it certainly is worth reading, it's this impressive achievement in storytelling, but brace for how offensive it also is.

[sweet_serenity · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book.... I loved 30% of it, sort-of-liked another 40%, and hated the last 30%.

Every now and again there is a character you admire for their "gumption" even if they are shallow/practical/selfish, you still admire and respect and sort-of-love them. To me, that was Scarlett O'Hara. There were parts of this book where Scarlett was so passionate and wild and refreshing and admirable... but by the end I lost respect for her, and she seemed like a whiny, cruel brat.

And everything was very unsatisfying. There were some awesome, cheeky & sarcastic romantic scenes between Scarlett & Rhett but the relationship never reaches a crescendo, its promise is never really fulfilled. I feel like there was a big chunk missing from their romance. It began and ended in the right places, but in the middle it got really muddled.

And the ideology of the book, from a modern perspective, was incredibly jarring. I don't know Margaret Mitchell's politics- if she was incredibly dumb or incredibly clever in a subtle way, and I'm not sure I want to know. And the book rambles and repeats its ideology to the nth degree.

Some happenings at the end of the book seemed like cheap trashy drama, which was disappointing. Like the book was trying to manipulate me into feeling emotion because I'd lost most of my interest in Scarlett.

If this book were rewritten, and tweaked just a little bit, I would have loved it. I did love it and get thrills from it for a while, and now I wonder where it all wend wrong. I had a similar feeling from Tess of the d'Ubervilles, which sort of scarred me a little, and I think this will too. That lack of trust in an author is kind of sad.

[cubsfan3410 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I started this a couple weeks ago and plan to 'work at it' this summer.

This was SO much easier to read than I thought it would be. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[margaretfield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

great insight into human relationships, AND blatant attempt to re-write the horror of slavery

[kamgeb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's a classic and I'm glad that I read it. It was well written and kept my attention. I was surprised by how pro antebellum south and how anti Yankee it was. I don't think I would ever reread it because it didn't stir up new ideas for me.

[edensteffey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book!

[charlotte1162 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was completely blown away by this novel, a truly epic and fantastic tale which increased my knowledge of the American Civil War and made me consider things in a new light, particularly the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, terrible for a history student I know but though aware of their occurrence in history I was unaware of their origins or their particular reasons for appearing!
This book really did shock me, I really didn't have any idea what it was completely about and so took this classic on with a real interest. It was incredibly well written and the characters were astounding. Melly is a favourite, Ashley definitely is not. Towards the end Scarlett doesn't really do it for me either, I suppose that's the point, war corrupts and changes even the best of people.
The romance between Scarlett and Rhett was brilliant, they are so perfect together that it's just such an outrage that they should end the book with them apart (although I secretly believe that wasn't truly the end for them, no doubt she would find a scheming way to get him back!)
This novel, though chosen as a 'romantic fiction' really encompasses a whole choice of genres and is completely accessible to anyone willing to read a book of this size. Passionate, skilfully-written and a timeless love story with a twist, 'Gone with the Wind' is a book you can certainly sink your teeth into.

[andsoitgoes_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was such a great book! It gave me a true picture of the South during that time period. I am so glad it has not be censored as I believe it is very important for future generations to be able to get a true feel of how the south looked upon slavery and the freedom of slaves. It explains so much to me the hatred of the North by the South (I'm a Northerner).

[atreic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a holiday re-read, I escaped from feeling cold, miserable and ill into a book where people go off to war and are much colder, miserabler and iller, which did at least give me a sense of perspective.It's set in the south of America, and the black characters are all depressingly lazy / stupid / insert unhelpful racist characature here, and I won't defend that.But given that, the story! The fall from the sun dappled Edan of youth through the horrors of war. Scarlett, so spoiled and naive, but so full of grit and bravery, and her unknowing love. You hate her and love her all at once, and as the book takes her through tragedy after tragedy it breaks your heart...

[birdo82 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's as racist as one would expect of a novel written in the South, in the '30s, about slave holders. But beneath that lies the depth of an American classic with an intricately complex heroine that is worthy of its place in Americana.

[npjacobsen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

GONE WITH THE WINDbyMargaret MitchellGone with the Wind is Margaret Mitchell's historical novel that follows the life of Scarlet O'Hara, a Southern Belle, during the American Civil War and the resulting period of reconstruction. It took Mitchell 9 drafts of the 1000+ page manuscript and 10 years to complete, finally being published in 1936. It was an immediate success, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and vaulting Mitchell into the national spotlight. Mitchell did not deal well with her fame and never published another novel, writing only non-fiction thereafter. However, I am grateful for the gift she has left us, as I feel it is one of the best books I have ever read.The novel is not about slavery, the Civil War, or the reconstruction that followed. It is about Scarlet O'Hara, daughter of a determined and hard-headed Irish father and a refined Southern mother while the aforementioned events unfold around her. She is introduced to us as a spoiled, narcissistic 17 year old living at Tara, a cotton plantation in Georgia, at the outset of the Civil War. Scarlet spends her time seeing how many beaus she can attract, and with her great beauty she has little difficulty in attracting nearly every eligible bachelor in the county. Once she has them under her spell, she can toy with their emotions at her leisure, a trait that will ultimately lead to her downfall. It is Ashley Wilkes, blonde-haired golden boy from nearby Twelve Oaks plantation, that Scarlet has set her sights on, and it is this infatuation that will guide her actions throughout the remainder of the novel. I suppose this could be considered a love story, although it is unlike any love story I have ever read (not that I've read a lot.) Scarlet marries three times and none are for love. I imagine that was pretty common during the time frame of the novel, where arranged marriages were still accepted practices. Her first marriage was done to make Ashley jealous and the last two were for financial stability. Still, love is a theme that continues throughout, although it seems that none of the main characters have that love returned at an optimal time.Scarlet was hard to like at the beginning of the novel, so wrapped up in herself and uncaring of others feelings. She seemed incapable of understanding the motivations and feelings of others, or even herself at times. I had hopes that she would grow out of this as she matured, and in fact I did see signs as she cared for family and friends during the worst of times during the war and its aftermath. Scarlet did gain a sense of responsibility, and she didn't necessarily like it, complaining about it and wishing she didn't have it. In her core, she only cared about herself and any acts of kindness she showed were mere mirages that also benefited her. In the end, she reverted back to the girl we met at the beginning of the novel, sure that her beauty was all that mattered.I thought this was a fantastic read and gave an accurate snapshot into the time period depicted. It wasn't always pretty or politically correct in its portrayals of life during the war, but no matter how much we would like to, we cannot change what really happened back then. But I hope readers will not judge the book on what is perceived as racist activity. If we forget the past, then we are destined to repeat the mistakes of our society. And for all the heartbreak endured, the ending offered a glimmer of hope as Scarlet looks to Tara and the loving arms of Mammy. A solid 5 stars for me. This story will stay with me for quite some time.

[threadnsong · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well, I've read it. It is gripping, and the descriptions of antebellum and post-War Atlanta are quite astounding. The childbirth scenes, especially in a hot, humid bedroom are enough to make one grateful that we have survived as a species.

My gripe? Too many characters begun and then dropped off of the palette. A character comes who buys Tara by marrying Scarlett's sister . . . and then he disappears in the volume, as an example. It just bugs me, because there is so much that is complete, well-researched, and the extraneous characters just emerge to keep the story moving or to get Ms. Mitchell out of an author's bind.

Still, it's worth reading, if only because it is a classic.

[carol420 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gone with the Wind is an American War & Peace. This is serious literature, which won the Pulitzer prize, no less. Most people don't see past the epic plot (which isn't as cut and dried as you may think) or the love story, but this is no less than a successfull attempt to reclaim a discarded culture. It is not about crinoline and lace, it is about the Apocalypse and how losers of the counter-revolution must learn to live in a place where all their politics, personal or civil, are demolished. Scarlett O'Hara is popular because she is an American, driven, materialistic, sentimental and utterly ruthless. Rhett Bulter is the tragic character of this book; the way of life and ideals he disdained are killing him, and he suffers like no one else in this post-apocalyptic landscape. His departure at the end is an act of contrition as much as a romantic failure; he had tried to recreate the materialism of the ante-bellum world, but negeclected the spirituality (such as it is) of men like Ashley Wilkes. Both men, the dreamer and the realist end up alone in a very sterile place. This book is proto-feminist as well. Scarlett survives, even as everything around her dies, but in the end, she too is alone.

The author's use of prose was beautiful, all the scenes and action came alive. Some will be offended by the racism in the book, but that's how things were back then. Sugar coating it would have ruined the story reducing it to a Harlequin romance.

This is an incredibly well written book about the death of a civilization and the struggles to survive in the new era. This is a book that should not be missed, particulary those who enjoy historical fiction.

[stewartry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What on earth am I supposed to do with this book? On the one hand, the writing is often terrific. Some of the characters – Scarlett and Rhett, at least – are fully realized and complex, and admirable in their unlikeableness. A fictional character who isn't likeable, isn't meant to be likeable, and still ends up someone a reader is willing to spend time with – that's rare. (Wait, Scarlett, that's your sister's … never mind.) One of the in its way most chilling moments I've ever read or listened to in a while was the scene in which Scarlett manipulates Melanie into taking her side against Ashley – and, sobbing on Melanie's shoulder, peeks out at Ashley with a gleam of smug triumph through the crocodile tears. The woman is all but a sociopath. On the other hand, not all the writing is terrific. The repetition – especially of Scarlett's triad obsessions of Tara, Ashley, and Money being hammered home (and hammered home, and hammered home – became deeply annoying. ("As God is my witness, if Scarlett has another internal monologue about Tara, Ashley, or Money, I will rage–quit.") "Scarlett heard over and over until she could have screamed..." I know the feeling.And not all the characters are so well–drawn. Melanie has moments – her reaction to the fate of the Yankee soldier, for one – and seeing her through the filter Scarlett's loathing is fascinating. Even Ashley has some interest. I despise him heartily – which is kind of fun, in the same way that disliking Scarlett is – but he's not what I expected. He's certainly not what Scarlett thinks he is – or, if he is, that doesn't mean he's a great guy. He is an exemplar of his type… but his type is effete, weak, unprepared to deal with the real world. He is the very picture of the ivory tower aesthete. But he is a self–aware worthless twit; he saw the crash of his ivory tower coming, and he tried to be useful once it was in rubble … and failed. I could have some respect for him for the self–awareness. But – and this made me literally gasp in shock when I heard it … well, here's the quote: "…I saw my boyhood friends blown to bits and heard dying horses scream and learned the sickeningly horrible feeling of seeing men crumple up and spit blood when I shot them. But those weren't the worst things about the war, Scarlett. The worst thing about the war was the people I had to live with. I had sheltered myself from people all my life, I had carefully selected my few friends. But the war taught me I had created a world of my own with dream people in it. It taught me what people really are, but it didn't teach me how to live with them. And I'm afraid I'll never learn." I really wanted to see him crumple up and spit blood right about then. "Then, what do you want?""…Mostly to be left alone, not to be harried by people I don't like, driven to do things I don't want to do." Damn coward. And, of course, this is a book about a … "racist" doesn't quite cut it. I'll add modifiers. Rabidly racist? Virulently racist? Deep–dyed and unabashedly racist? All of those …About a period of time in which what is seen now as rabid, virulent, abhorrent racism was … the way things were. . I hardly need to point out again how blacks, slaves, are nearly always referred to in terms that reduce them to the level of either children or animals, literally hard to listen to for 21st century ears. GWTW was written in a time in which the wounds of Reconstruction were still healing, when there were still a small number of people living who could remember the time. Presumably through rosy hindsight. Do I want this book to be "cleaned up"? Absolutely not. That's the dilemma … I hate big swaths of this thing, but how could it be what it is without them? It's impossible to talk about this book without acknowledging that the author's conception of slavery is ... remarkable. In her world, and apparently the world of the Antebellum South, blacks were so, so much better off being looked after by their owners, relieved of the trouble of having to figure out what to do on their own, fed and clothed and – sometimes, sort of – educated and so on by their beloved white folks. And I fully acknowledge that, bizarre as it feels to write it, I'm sure there were not a few plantations where even the least valued slave led a more comfortable and secure life than a poor free person of whatever color, where those owned did not have to fear a Simon Legree–esque owner. (Of course, they had plenty more to fear.) It's sort of along the same lines as a con in prison today gets "three hots and a cot", which is better than being on the street. On the one hand, I tend to doubt Jefferson brutalized his slaves; on the other hand, how much choice did Sally Hemings have in what happened to her? I'm thinking too about ancient Rome, where slavery was even more prevalent, and where a slave could hold a position of trust and even power. Or could be killed out of hand, of course, and the worst that would befall the killer, as long as he was the owner, might be a little public censure at overreaction. There's slavery, and then there's slavery. But it doesn't really matter how kind it is – it's still a negation of rights, of freedom, and of humanity. Scarlett and Big Sam, characters at polar opposites of the social spectrum (every spectrum), both have the same contemptuous observation of Yankees, particularly Yankee women: they are avidly, morbidly curious about the bloodhounds used to hunt slaves, about the beatings the slaves were given. And these two examples of the highest and the lowest in the South are disgusted – because God's nightgown, they never needed to use any kind of force against the darkies! They know when they're well off, and why would they ever run away? Slave(s) – 15 Negro – 38Nigger – 22Darky – 16Darkies – 41 Also as in Rome, the contrast between owned and owners is painful. Also as in Rome, the contrast between owned and owners is painful. After emancipation, this is a line about the behavior of former slaves: "Dazzled by these tales, freedom became a never–ending picnic, a barbecue every day of the week, a carnival of idleness and theft and insolence." This sentence apparently carries no whiff of irony, even given the long first pre–war section of the book, when Scarlett's life – the life of every white person of distinction in the South – was a never–ending picnic, a barbecue quite a few days of the week, a carnival of idleness and ownership of other human beings and arrogance. And insolence."Only the Negroes had rights or redress these days. ... The South had been tilted, as by a giant, malicious hand, and those who had once ruled were now more helpless than their former slaves had ever been." – How did the narrator speak that line without bursting into flames? Yes, if this account is anything like true (or, say, within the universe of this account), the former lords of the earth were harshly treated. But ... More helpless? How clueless could the author be? However dire Scarlett's straits might become, she would never have to fear being irreversibly, unwillingly, and if necessary violently separated from Wade Hamilton by being sold up the river, or seeing him likewise. (And so much more…) Not, of course, that such an eventuality would have caused her the grief that Dulcie would have experienced had Gerald not – soft–heartedly – bought Prissy along with her. (Now, there's a point: how is Scarlett a more valid human being than Dulcie when the latter shows far more care for her child than Scarlett ever could or would? I kept forgetting Scarlett even had a son – and so did she.) There is also, since this was an audiobook, the issue of the narration. It's mostly very good – the individual characters' voices worked beautifully, and there was little confusion. But the reader has a trick of reading some lines – such as moments relating to Scarlett being petulant or unhappy, but not all – in a voice which reminded me of nothing so much as Shirley Temple. I'll give Ms. Mitchell this: this book makes me want to follow up with more about Reconstruction, from both sides of the Mason–Dixon line. It's a big, sometimes sordid, sprawling soap opera. And I'm not sure I've ever seen such a fascinatingly repulsive point of view. Scarlett is an ignorant and whole–heartedly self–centered stupid little bitch, and I have to hand it to Mitchell: she did a staggeringly impressive job of character development and historical story–telling through the Scarlett lens. (To clarify: Scarlett's character developed very little, but it is through her unique perspective that others' character and growth are charted.)How could the South think that it would be a matter of "welp, we lost. At least we tried" and back to business as usual? And how could they think that even those who were once the very bottom rung of the social ladder wouldn't cut loose once catapulted a ways up that ladder? I never thought I'd sit through a defense of the KKK. GWTW is one of those books one kind of feels obligated to read. So I did. I'm not sorry. But (one more time) as God is my witness, I'll never read Mitchell again.

[memccauley6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel definitely stands the test of time, still as good as it was when I read it over 20 years ago. A great romance combined with great historical detail. Rhett Butler is still my favorite character, brilliant, sarcastic, flippant. So many people do not read this because of the movie, but the movie is a pale imitation. Please Read It! You won't regret it.

[addictedtomorphemes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An incredible encapsulation of the people, culture, and events of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction years in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Centers around the life of Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a gentile and lovely French mother and a first-generation Irish immigrant father, who made his fortune and built a life and a beautiful plantation named "Tara". We see their bucolic life before the War, which had a foundation built on the backs of their 100+ slaves. We see into their life, and how they viewed it, and how, when that foundation crumbled as a result of the War, we watch this family and their neighbors survive (or not) the difficulties they now have to face on their own.There are a lot of moments, of course, that make a person cringe as you read this book: the way their slaves are viewed as children or how they have "child-like minds", disturbing references to their race which don't need to be repeated here, derogatory terminology, etc. We don't witness any beatings or auctions or anything like what is represented in other literature of this time period, but we do witness the fashion in which the whites treat their slaves--even those they truly love and consider part of their family--in a haughty, entitled manner. Those things are hard to read, but it seems that this is an accurate time capsule of how people viewed their world and those in it--in that time period. Even during the Reconstruction years when the Yankees were in Atlanta fighting for equal rights for the freed slaves, a lot of them seemed to hold their own dim views of the former slaves, even when trying to punish the Confederates by confiscating their property, their money, their right to vote and hold government office, etc. The impression left is that they put illiterate former slaves in high positions but then the Yankees used them as puppets to vote the way they wanted (to favor the Republicans/Yankees) and to quiet or completely remove the voice of the Democrats/Confederates. There also was a lot of rampant crime by understandably insolent and angry freed slaves who wanted to get back at the whites. They were able to get away with these crimes because of new laws stating that whites could not charge the ex-slaves with any crimes. It appears that this complete flip-flop in society's rules is what caused the formation of secret meetings between former Confederate soldiers which evolved into the Ku Klux Klan in 1865. There was a lot of "justice" served in the darkness of night by both whites and blacks. This story is considered an epic romance. It is definitely an epic. The romance part is questionable. It is definitely a story of a dysfunctional kind of love. It is based on a young girl's selfish and cold-hearted method of obtaining whatever she wants, often to the detriment of others. It is a story of stolen, lost, or unrequited love. This story brings out many emotions, although with very little happiness: contempt, guilt, sadness, disbelief, frustration, anger, disappointment, shock, and grief. No matter how malicious some people can be, it is still hard to witness when they themselves have to face the terrible deeds they have done.This, of course, is a book not to be missed. Highly recommended.