Gone with the Wind

published	1999 by Warner Books
first published	1936
binding	Paperback
isbn	0446675539 (isbn13: 9780446675536)
pages	1056
literary awards	Pulitzer Prize for the Novel
description	Sometimes only remembered for the epic motion picture and "Frankly ... I don't give a damn," Gone with the Wind was initially a compe...more [close] Sometimes only remembered for the epic motion picture and "Frankly ... I don't give a damn," Gone with the Wind was initially a compelling and entertaining novel. It was the sweeping story of tangled passions and the rare courage of a group of people in Atlanta during the time of Civil War that brought those cinematic scenes to life. The reason the movie became so popular was the strength of its characters--Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler, and Ashley Wilkes--all created here by the deft hand of Margaret Mitchell, in this, her first novel. [close]
date added	12-23-06 edit book

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Brian rated it:

05/11/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Brian by: Laura Dix
recommends it for: Emily, Melisa

Well, finished this a few weeks ago after occasional gaps in progress and indeed enjoyed it immensely. I was probably a little premature after reading two chapters to dismiss it as white-supremacist propaganda.

Still, the book's depiction of slavery is justifiably controversial, and apparently a wide range of views have been speculatively assigned to the author. I'm willing to buy Em's offering that it's written from the authentic viewpoint of the slave-holding aristocracy without Mitchell n...more

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Nicko rated it:

02/25/08

Read in March, 1999

recommends it for: Confederates

So much has been said in praise of this book it feels redundant to add more. In terms of the slave-holding society, the film actually toned-down the pro-South view of Reconstruction (Scarlett's second husband joined the KKK in the book) and Mammy remains probably one of the most fully-developed and likeable African-American characters from 1930 you'll read.

Rhett Butler is the consummate alpha male. This book is definitely the timeless classic reputation it has earned, and though at times it...more So much has been said in praise of this book it feels redundant to add more. In terms of the slave-holding society, the film actually toned-down the pro-South view of Reconstruction (Scarlett's second husband joined the KKK in the book) and Mammy remains probably one of the most fully-developed and likeable African-American characters from 1930 you'll read.

Rhett Butler is the consummate alpha male. This book is definitely the timeless classic reputation it has earned, and though at times it seemed like the longest book ever, it is all worth it in the end. It touches on many misunderstood aspects of the civil war and its afterwords. What many people do not realize is how horrible it really was for Southerners after the war, mostly because they cannot get past the racism of the times (which it wasn't as if the North was full of equality and peace, either). If you can accept the times for what they were, you will see how well this book was written. I appreciate it for the well built characters, smooth flow, and albeit romanticized- depiction of the Antebellum South.

As far as being politically incorrect or the modern charges that the book is "racist," remember that this book was written in the 1930s. Not to mention, the time period is the Civil War era! To be completely unracist would not have depicted the era correctly. As if it represents anything more than the way people thought when it was made. Of course, it's racist. America is and has been a racist society since the beginning. This book mirrors the opinions held by the people alive and working at the time, no more and certainly no less. Have opinions changed since then? Of course, as society evolves so does the writing. All this aside, the character of "Mammy" is one of the most likeable and respected characters in the book. Rhett Butler treats her very well, and tries to win her approval. She’s the one person throughout the novel who sees through everyone’s follies and foibles, but remains forgiving of them anyway. There's a reason this book won so many awards and still endures! It is a timeless classic that everyone should enjoy and read in context.
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Andrea rated it:

02/24/08

bookshelves: books-i-love

Read in February, 2008

I originally read this book in my high school english class junior year. We were required to read so many books (classics) by American authors and I was finding it difficult to branch out from my usual British authors. I remember loving this book back then, and even read <i>Scarlett<i> afterwards.

We read this for book club in February, and as I started it, I was surprised that I didn't remember how AWESOME this book is. And why haven't I read this three more times in the pas...more I originally read this book in my high school english class junior year. We were required to read so many books (classics) by American authors and I was finding it difficult to branch out from my usual British authors. I remember loving this book back then, and even read <i>Scarlett<i> afterwards.

We read this for book club in February, and as I started it, I was surprised that I didn't remember how AWESOME this book is. And why haven't I read this three more times in the past 12 years? I don't have enough positive adjectives for this book. The story is gripping, the depth of the characters is incredible. The main characters were all 'people' - I found myself loving all of them, even the 'bad' ones. It is long, but worth it. I loved her habit of following the thoughts of a less important character for a few paragraphs after they have interacted with someone like Scarlett. I loved her explanations of what was happening historically.

I found myself sympathizing a great deal with Scarlett and the choices she made in Atlanta and in coming back to Tara after the fall of Atlanta. I found her obsession with Ashley to be understandable - she is high school age after all. She's just a silly 16 year old girl. I found it hard to condemn her un-lady like behavior. First of all, she was raised to be pretty selfish. And all of Ellen's words about being a lady seemed to be null and void when the world in which she had been prepared to live completely collapsed. And she was fighting Gerald's Irish genes. I often thought how things could have been so much different for her if she had had the guiding hand of someone she loved and respected once the South went to pot. And I had enormous respect for her courage and determination. She was the only one in her family able and/or willing to step up and do what needed to be done at Tara.

Melanie was so kind, loving, and forgiving, and even insisted on putting flowers on the graves of Yankee soldiers. I found it puzzling that she could be so good in every other part of life, but have so much hatred of the Yankees.

I loved Rhett, but was so frustrated with Ashley. I'm glad he finally realized at the end what he had and what he was losing, and had to live with himself afterwards. I loved Rhett's wit and his patience in explaining life to Scarlett "who was so unanalytical".

As I read, I found myself inspired by Scarlett's courage and determination and by Melanie's insistence on seeing the good in others.

This is a must read. ...less

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Lilly rated it:

02/08/08

Read in July, 1996

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I read this book when I was fifteen during a hot, sticky Texas summer. That was more than 10 years ago, and I have read the book at least 3 more times since then, but I can still remember the book's initial impact on me. I remember my journal entries about it and my inability to get the book off my mind long after I'd finished it. I was infatuated. In my U.S. History class a year later, my teacher assigned a paper on some historical topic or other. I hardly remember what the actual assignme...more I read this book when I was fifteen during a hot, sticky Texas summer. That was more than 10 years ago, and I have read the book at least 3 more times since then, but I can still remember the book's initial impact on me. I remember my journal entries about it and my inability to get the book off my mind long after I'd finished it. I was infatuated. In my U.S. History class a year later, my teacher assigned a paper on some historical topic or other. I hardly remember what the actual assignment was, because I asked him if I could write a paper on Gone With the Wind instead. I told him it should be considered a historical novel, and yes, I got what I wanted. Man, I was such a nerd then. I only wish I had kept that paper....

So, I was thinking just now of the scene in You've Got Mail where Meg Ryan is arguing with Tom Hanks about Pride and Prejudice, and she proclaims that Elizabeth Bennett is one of the most complex heroines ever written (I can't remember if she calls her THE most complex). I think Scarlett is much more complex than Lizzie. Her evolution throughout the novel is so amazing. She is so one-dimensional in the beginning, before the war and before everything that changes her way of life. Granted, Scarlett is always looking out for number one, and it's part of why I love her character. It is so rich with selfishness, her benevolent deeds always fueled by her own objectives, her baddoings justified by her will to survive. Even her relationship with Rhett is one of the most complex love stories ever written. Since I've read the novel several times, I even went back and noticed each and every time where Rhett was bursting with hesitation, just killing himself as he held back his true feelings for her. She doesn't marry Rhett for love, but her realization at the end that she "must have loved you all along" is so tragic and swollen with regret. I could never understand what she saw in Ashley, who was so weak and stupid and useless.

I think this novel was my first introduction to nostalgia, and it ruined me forever. Nostalgia now rules my life, and if I were a book, it would be my central theme....less

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Rachel rated it:

05/08/08

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: southern gals, or anyone that has gumption

This book is probably on every southern gal's reading list, so I naturally had to check it out. I bought a copy of Gone with the Wind in February, and I didn't get to really read it until mid-April, and a few days ago I finished it! *Has been talking like Scarlett O'Hara all week* So that was about 950+ pages, in 3 weeks, I guess. *Which isn't THAT outstanding, I guess, but still* Since I'm a southerner, of course I'm going to like this book, and I think it's a worthwhile read. It IS long, bu...more This book is probably on every southern gal's reading list, so I naturally had to check it out. I bought a copy of Gone with the Wind in February, and I didn't get to really read it until mid-April, and a few days ago I finished it! *Has been talking like Scarlett O'Hara all week* So that was about 950+ pages, in 3 weeks, I guess. *Which isn't THAT outstanding, I guess, but still* Since I'm a southerner, of course I'm going to like this book, and I think it's a worthwhile read. It IS long, but once you're done reading it, that doesn't even matter anymore. There were some parts that I didn't like as much, or were a bit boring, but most of the time it was fast paced. (And plus, you forget all the boring parts of books once you're done with them, pretty much.) I'm actually surprised at how will the movie captured the essence of the novel.

I like what Margaret Mitchell said about Gone With the Wind -
"If the novel has a theme, it is about survival. What makes some people come through catastrophes, and others apparently just as able, strong and brave go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those that fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those that go under? I only know that survivors used to call that quality 'gumption'. So I wrote about people who had gumption, and people that didn't." - Margaret Mitchell

I was pretty amazed at how Margaret Mitchell sculpted her characters, and how they changed so much by the end of the book.

(It almost makes you wonder if there really WAS a Scarlett O'Hara...)

Gone with the Wind is different than any other Civil War, ahem, or "War Between the States" book, because it shows you around the southern lifestyle, and the aftermath of the "Cause" and how it crumbled, as well as affected all the southern states.

Overall, I really liked it, and when I came to the last few pages, I was actually pretty SAD. Not only because of the way it ended, but because I was finishing reading it, and there was something about that whole period of time while reading this novel that was so pleasant.

Normally I'm real critical about how many "stars" I give to things...But, overall, I'll give it: 5 stars, the 5th for my southern pride....less

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Alia rated it:

03/06/08

recommends it for: Folks working on anti-racist work

This was my favorite book throughout junior high school. I remember reading it several times, then putting it away until my senior year of college. I wrote my senior history thesis on white stereotypes/nostalgia surrounding the "Mammy" character and my professor asked me to re-read GWTW again.

Although this book has chunks that are flat-out racist, portraying Black characters as simpletons who need the "gentle hand of civilizing slavery", it still makes for a facinating st...more This was my favorite book throughout junior high school. I remember reading it several times, then putting it away until my senior year of college. I wrote my senior history thesis on white stereotypes/nostalgia surrounding the "Mammy" character and my professor asked me to re-read GWTW again.

Although this book has chunks that are flat-out racist, portraying Black characters as simpletons who need the "gentle hand of civilizing slavery", it still makes for a facinating story and an excellent piece of literature. I can easily think of several examples of how and why Mitchell incorporates racism into this book. GWTW was written in the 1920s, not exactly the most shining period of race relations in the US, eh? GWTW is an idyllic look at the Old South by a white southern woman. What I did in my thesis was look at fiction such as GWTW, poetry and etc, written by white southerners after slavery had ended, then compared these works to true-life accounts of slavery- violence against Black women in particular. It doesn't trouble me that GWTW is racist. What troubles me is that there exist people today who deny that it's racist.

So why do I love this novel so much?

Scarlett O'Fucking Hara. Scarlett O'Hara is so ruthless, so tenacious and single-minded, it's pure entertainment to see how far she will go to get what she wants (men, money, a garish mansion when all of her "good society" friends are starving). What strikes me the most about Scarlett is how dead wrong she is about everyone else's emotions, thought processes and feelings. As a voyouristic reader, I get swept up into Scarlett's world and into the gossip scene of Atlanta. I find myself cheering her on for being such a rule breaker and havoc creater because she is a character of fiction. Were she to exist in real life, no one would really stand beside her- not even a Melanie. The only person she would have beside her would be Mammy and this would be because Mammy wouldn't have any other occupational choice available to her....less

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Eve rated it:

(review of isbn 068483068X)

09/29/07

Read in September, 2007

I honestly do not know whether to give this book 5 stars for being one of the most completely engrossing, shocking, and emotionally absorbing pieces of literature ever written, or to give it 0 stars for being the most tragic, unendingly upsetting, disturbing book I've ever read. I read the last 50 pages or so literally with my mouth wide open, unable to believe that it was really going to be THAT tragically sad. When I finally finished, I walked downstairs in a daze, handed the book to my husban...more

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Judy rated it:

06/23/08

bookshelves: romance

Read in June, 2008

Having a hard time slogging through the blatant racism in this book. Times sure have changed. And thank God for that.

Okay, nearly forty years since I first read it, the epic love story against the brutality of the Civil War still manages to sweep me up.

But the racism still wrankles, especially the glorification of the Ku Klux Klan--southern gentlemen had no other choice. They weren't bullies terrorizing people because of the color of their skin, they were protecting their women from the...more

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Meagan rated it:

(review of isbn 1416548890)

06/06/08

bookshelves: books-i-own

Read in June, 2008

4.5-5 stars. I have toyed with the idea over reading this book on numerous occasions but walked away from it due to my intimidation over the size. It is a beast of a novel but so worth the time invested. The author did an amazing job of portraying the old south. The descriptions made you feel as though you were strolling along the streets of Atlanta or riding through the endless acres of the old plantations. The characters were extremely developed, the good and bad alike. There was action t...more

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Aaron rated it:

03/31/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in December, 1992

recommends it for: Everybody

I don't really remember how old I was exactly, probably in the early part of high school I guess. I was home on Christmas break and just sitting around watching TV...probably one of those stupid show that's on during the daytime that kids only get to see when they don't have school. During a commercial break an ad came on for the show that would be on right after the current one finished, it happened to be one of those movie of the week type things and the movie they were going to be showing t...more

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Janet Ollman rated it:

06/14/08

Read in January, 1960

recommended to Janet Ollman by: my precious family
recommends it for: anone who loves books

In my family, reading Gone With the Wind was a "coming-of-age" event. I was in high school when I read this Civil War epic. My mother recalls when her family discovered this novel closely after its release date. Mama would run home from school to get first dibs on the book. When my grandfather came home, the book was his. No arguments...he was boss. When my oldest sister Donna read Gone With the Wind, she couldn't put it down. When she finished the book, she was weak from lack o...more

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Heidi rated it:

07/12/08

Holy Bazooka!!! (that's not even an expression but it's the first that came in way of a description of my reaction to this book.) Let me just say that the movie--which is a fav and an ultimate classic--does not in any way compare to the book. The book has so much depth and so much personality; it could stand on it's own without the likes of Clark Gable playing the irresistable Rhett Butler.

Okay, enough exitable swooning (where are my smelling salts?).

It is fascinating to see the South's...more

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Chris rated it:

07/22/08

Read in July, 2008

It was worth re-reading this book. I had forgotten the use of spelled-out dialect, actually very annoying, but perhaps necessary at that time. Justification for the Klan was also disturbing, but fit the time of which Margaret Mitchell wrote. Lapses into different points of view were disconcerting, to the point where I had to re-read pages. Now that I've said my negative, what a story! It never gets old. Scarlett will always be this enigma of selfishness combined with the stalwart nature of...more

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Louise rated it:

04/23/08

bookshelves: classics

Read in March, 1975

When I was in 6th grade, my parents took my brother and sister and I to the Pines Drive In to see "Gone with the Wind". While usually my brother got to pick the films, and we thus saw every car chase in film history, my Mom thought it was important for us to see this one.

I didn't think I'd like it much, but I was fascinated from the first scene. Throw in Clark Gable as the well-dressed Rhett Butler, eyeing Scarlett from the bottom of the famous Twelve Oaks staircase, and I was ho...more

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Jason rated it:

08/23/07

Read in January, 2003

recommends it for: Anyone who loved the movie

Sure this book is melodramatic, and an argument could be made that it plays too heavily to stereotypes, both of African-Americans and the noble image of the Soughern gentility, but dammit, it's one of those books you should just read for the sake of it's riveting story and iconic characters. Like Lonesome Dove, the filmed version is an American classic, but the novel is in excess of a thousand pages, so naturally a LOT of things get tossed out. Like the fact that Scarlett has children with Cha...more

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Mister Jones rated it:

03/30/08

recommended to Mister Jones by: Generations of my family
recommends it for: Drunk Country Club Minded Daddy's Little Girl types

I was highly tempted to give this work one star or better yet, no stars, but as a tribute to my family: it gets 2 stars.

When I was growing up right here in metro Atlanta GEE AAAA, I heard nothing more than GWTW was the best book next to the Bible. Of course I'm speaking in hyperbolic porportions because GWTW was the best thing printed in the literary universe: I heard it from my grandmother, my mother, my aunts, etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I was dragged to the movie more than once.

Fu...more

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Dottie rated it:

(review of isbn 1416548890)

03/20/08

bookshelves: classic, old-best-sellers, worth-rereading

Don't ever think because you have seen the movie, you don't need to read this book!

I read this book for the first time as I was falling in love with my husband who had grown up in Milledgeville Georgia. I remember underlining the word Milledgeville in the book. (It was the capitol of Georgia State during the Civil War.)I loved the book. I have read it many times since. It is so well written, and gives an unbiased account of the South. While it tells of the refined, chivalrous ways and life o...more

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Matthew rated it:

06/16/07

This is probably one of the most famous stories ever to be written by an American author, though perhaps few now have read the book (and marginally more have seen the movie). It is a brutal romance, filled with sweeping generalizations and overwhelming stereotypes, but nevertheless the characters have an evident humanity about them. Scarlett and Rhett are both disgustingly large personalities, and Ashley is disgustingly weak; the only really pleasant character is Melanie (who suffers constantly ...more

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Esther rated it: