After The Color Purple, I decided to read one of the longer
novels on our list. Gone with the Wind
seemed like the best choice. I already
had the book on my ‘to read’ shelf for the last few years so it was just
waiting to be read. Scarlett O’Hara is a
strong character that uses her charms and learns how to survive through war,
poverty, and three marriages. I was already
familiar with the plot, since I’ve seen the movie a few times. While reading the novel, Vivian Leigh was
Scarlett, Clark Gable was Rhett Butler and Olivia de Havilland was Melanie. I don’t know if this helped or influenced the
novel in any direction, good or bad but at least I didn’t have to visualize
faces with these very memorable characters.
They definitely did a good job with the cast. Overall the novel was very enjoyable and I
was able to read 1,000 pages in 8 days.
The writing would go from the main plot to long, windy explanations of
society and what was happening at that time.
While the explanations were important, they were sometimes really long
and would just drag on and on.
This was my first novel set in the South during the Civil
War. It was interesting to see the expectation
of war, to the long drawn out civil war- filled with loss and death, and then the
atmosphere of Atlanta during the Reconstruction period. For Scarlett this period is from when she is
16 and the Belle of the South with multiple suitors, to 28 and a survivor that
has saved her home and carried her family though the war and aftermath. Everything she does is for a selfish reason,
but you still cheer for her and want her to come out of everything as a
success. Melanie is her anchor and
together they make it through.
I give this an 92%, A
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