Gone With the Wind

[shilalekh]

There was a sequel written by another author, but I didn't read it.

Good that you didn't read the sequel; it was a damp squib. I read some yeras ago, and took ages to finish it. The starting couple of chapters are unnecessarily dragging and situation Scarlett has been placed in unlikely too for her spirits.

[arlina]

Gone With The Wind is a great title for a book with so many different themes presented. It shows the glory and the quiet life of the South with the small parties, with the society and the roles one must play. Then comes the war and the interior struggle of a woman trying to sustain herself and family. Later the desire of the same woman to gain money and be equal to any man when it comes to business. And from the way it is written, Scarlett really seems to know how to do business. And during all this issues, there is love, the eternal need for somebody. A great and lovely book.
Clearly the sequel doesn't stand on the same level. It actually ruins the image Margaret Mitchell creates.

[csimmons032]

I do think that Scarlet changed for the better, it was just too late. I wish that the author would have given Scarlet a better ending. She had just realized that she loved Rhet and I think he should have given her another chance. I have never read the sequel, but I do own it. I guess one of these times I will get around to it. I truly don't know how the author would have described her character.

[David Bowman]

Possible spoilers below:

I had read Gone with the Wind last year, the copy I read borrowed from a friend. The size didn't intimidate me, and I read it in about two months. I think one of the things I liked in the book was its romance that seemed to really take off in the end. Its scope was also really large, which is something I like, especially when I have a lot of time in my hands.

Like some others, I hadn't read the sequel and won't be planning to. I don't think other authors should continue other books that the original author wrote; a similar, more recent situation would be The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz. Who knows if it would live up to the first three books.

[rdelonge]

My all time favorite book! Scarlett changed for the better. She had to grow up one day. What better way to learn about yourself is to lose the one thing you didn't know you wanted? This book has it all.

[Greedy_Reader]

I too loved GWTW, and get something more from it each time I read it. I felt that the sequel, if treated as more of a fan fiction, was a nice attempt at what happened next and I enjoyed 'seeing' Scarlett in Ireland. As to whether she grew, I think at her core she was the same old Scarlett. She won't think about it today, she'll think about it tomorrow....that survival instinct and the ability to compartmentalise were some of her greatest strengths.

[Megan Young]

I believe Scarlotte changed for the better!! This was such an amazing book!

[dgmal63]

This Wonderful book is hands down one of my very favorite stories of all times! Never has a story captured the essence of southern life in such a way that it has stayed with generation after generation till this day. The movie was wonderful also, since it captured the story in such great detail. Scarlett O Hara is a heroine I would have loved to been if I could have lived in that time.

[jenvorm]

I have read both GWTW and the sequel. She starts out as a selfish, spoiled, manipulative teenager who cries because she can't have the guy she thinks she wants even though every other guy is drooling over her and her dad tells her she won't be happy with the guy she wants anyway. Throughout the book she in one way becomes a more responsible person in that she takes care of her family and fights for her land, even though her ways are unorthodox and shocking to those around her. After she has suffered as well as given up her reputation to do this, she finally has the money to go back and finish out her teenage rebellious years. I think she finally comes to self-realization at the very end of the book (GWTW) and has just started to begin the maturing process which is only finished in the sequel. While this does have more depth to it, I must admit that I enjoyed the sequel because it seems to have a more final ending and the characters seem to have actually grown up.

[Acwoolet]

I think Scarlet changed for the better, but in a lot of ways it was too late. I loved the novel but I wished Margaret Mitchell would have written a sequel!

[kimmyschemy06]

I wasn't able to read the book but got to watch the movie. I like it and I believe it is one great story. It is very long, though. Did Scarlett change? I couldn't say how she did in any way.

[Amose13]

To be honest, I have not read the book. However, if the movie is anything close to the story then Scarlett is one of my favorite characters of all time. I grew up watching the movie with my mother and know almost every line. Scarlett was ahead of her time. She was a leading woman in a man's only leading world. Do I think she grew at the end? That's hard to answer. Do I think she changed? No. I think she became more aware and more accepted of herself as the strong demanding woman she was. I do find myself quoting her lines in my head when times are stressful.

Oh the Scarlett in the book is so much more full and real than the film. I love the film, but there is so much that they left out. I read it for the first time in the 4th grade (though I OBVIOUSLY didn't "get" all of it) and I loved it. I have read it several times since and I still love it. Rhett Butler is such a fantastic character and Scarlett O'Hara is so perfectly flawed! If you have the chance, and love the movie so, I recommend giving it a read. I read it the first time without having seen the film, then several times since I have seen it. Seeing Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in my head as I read it made it all that much more of a wonderful experience. A novel this long is more than just a book. It has to be To me, it was a journey with Scarlett. (Yeh I'm kinda cheesy, especially about books I love. Don't EVEN get me started on Pride and Prejudice:) )

[Treeluva]

I must be one of the few people who enjoyed Scarlett immensely. I loved the journey of Scarlett growing up and figuring out more about herself and where she comes from. Her journey was delightful to me. I read Scarlett once each year and I continue to find different things - depending on where I am in my own life journey.

Of course, it isn't Gone with the Wind. It isn't Margaret Mitchell. But that is okay with me.

[pallavi garg]

Is and always will be one of my favourite books..read and reread it again and again. ..beautiful description of pre and post civil war America. ..Scarlett O'hara and Rhet Butler are epic themselves. ..the struggle of Scarlett to keep her family and home is just heartfelt...

[bouwman_530]

As I read through some of the forums related to Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind', a true American classic, I was disappointed to see that too many were posting about not having read the book, but had seen the movie. SPOILERS: they are very, very different. I have a soft-spot in my heart for this story, as it is also a family classic, and the reference of my namesake, and it breaks my heart that the movie, while amazing in both plot and casting, is being compared to it's paper version. Please, I do recommend doing both, and while in most cases it would matter, I can not recommend an order. When you are finished with BOTH, then and only then should you be posting on the amazing story that has been created in 'Gone with the Wind'. Then, dear readers go on to the (unofficial) sequels.