Rachel's review

North and South (Penguin Popular Classics)
by Elizabeth Gaskell

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156538.North_and_South?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="North and South (Penguin Popular Classics)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172262604m/156538.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156538.North_and_South?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">North and South</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1413437.Elizabeth_Gaskell">Elizabeth Gaskell</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32739472?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars Well, first, I have to say, I started watching the movie at the beginning. My sister Sarah had told the family about it, and I was interested. I wasn't all that caught up until the middle of the second episode, but we only had one disc from Blockbuster! As you could probably guess, I was in pain. How could I leave Mr. Thornton in so much pain? (I'd fallen in love with him at the end of the first episode) How could I leave Margaret Hale to live with herself after all that she'd said?
 
 We went everywhere, to Hollywood Videos, called up three Blockbusters, checked all the libraries around online, went to my next-door neighbor. Nowhere. (I found out later that if I'd asked our former Branch President's family, they would have let me borrow it). 
 
 I knew the book was online for free, and I knew I had to read it. On and off, throughout the day, I'd steal a chapter or two, until finally, I'd caught up with the movie. 
 
 After a tearful episode in which my hopes and dreams were cruelly broken, mom told me to go on Amazon and buy the movie. It was a Saturday, and it could be there on Monday! We paid the price, and got it on Monday. How wonderful was that day.
 
 I sat in the dining room, watching it on Peter's laptop, and couldn't stop smiling for the last fifteen minutes. Absolutely perfect. Trains and flowers. "You're coming home with me?" Absolutely perfect.
 
 Anyway, I know this is long, so I'll end now. I just finished chapter 52, the last chapter, online and it was absolutely perfect too, even though they didn't end the same. Absolutely perfect. I love Mr. Thornton the literary character AND the movie character. 
 
 We had a North and South marathon with some of my friends from church yesterday. It's four hours long and we watched it from 730 to 1130pm, and it was awesome. Everything in the movie leads up to the last fifteen minutes. 
 
 I think the thing that I loved especially about the book and movie, besides the last fifteen minutes, is that, at first, you realize that Margaret and Mr. Thornton could never be happy together. They're too proud and too different. But, as these differences are put into light, and they are forced apart by their circumstances, they both come to realize just how much they love the other, even with all the pain the other has given them. Mr. Thornton learns sympathy and love and kindness and respect for his workers, and his circumstances soften him. For Margaret, this is true as well. Through all the death that she sees, her separation from Mr. Thornton, her need to gain respect in his eyes after she has done something which they both believe to be terribly wrong, and his love for her, helps her to soften her pride, to see how much he deserves to be loved, and how much she really does love him. 
 
 So very very good. I love that movie/book. Elizabeth Gaskell, thank you for all you've done. I appreciate it. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/115996?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Rachel's review
rating:

bookshelves: fantastic, interesting, serendipitious
recommended for: people who can watch four hour-long movies, because it's totally worth it
status: Read in September, 2008, read count: one

Well, first, I have to say, I started watching the movie at the beginning. My sister Sarah had told the family about it, and I was interested. I wasn't all that caught up until the middle of the second episode, but we only had one disc from Blockbuster! As you could probably guess, I was in pain. How could I leave Mr. Thornton in so much pain? (I'd fallen in love with him at the end of the first episode) How could I leave Margaret Hale to live with herself after all that she'd said?

We went everywhere, to Hollywood Videos, called up three Blockbusters, checked all the libraries around online, went to my next-door neighbor. Nowhere. (I found out later that if I'd asked our former Branch President's family, they would have let me borrow it).

I knew the book was online for free, and I knew I had to read it. On and off, throughout the day, I'd steal a chapter or two, until finally, I'd caught up with the movie.

After a tearful episode in which my hopes and dreams wer...more Well, first, I have to say, I started watching the movie at the beginning. My sister Sarah had told the family about it, and I was interested. I wasn't all that caught up until the middle of the second episode, but we only had one disc from Blockbuster! As you could probably guess, I was in pain. How could I leave Mr. Thornton in so much pain? (I'd fallen in love with him at the end of the first episode) How could I leave Margaret Hale to live with herself after all that she'd said?

We went everywhere, to Hollywood Videos, called up three Blockbusters, checked all the libraries around online, went to my next-door neighbor. Nowhere. (I found out later that if I'd asked our former Branch President's family, they would have let me borrow it).

I knew the book was online for free, and I knew I had to read it. On and off, throughout the day, I'd steal a chapter or two, until finally, I'd caught up with the movie.

After a tearful episode in which my hopes and dreams were cruelly broken, mom told me to go on Amazon and buy the movie. It was a Saturday, and it could be there on Monday! We paid the price, and got it on Monday. How wonderful was that day.

I sat in the dining room, watching it on Peter's laptop, and couldn't stop smiling for the last fifteen minutes. Absolutely perfect. Trains and flowers. "You're coming home with me?" Absolutely perfect.

Anyway, I know this is long, so I'll end now. I just finished chapter 52, the last chapter, online and it was absolutely perfect too, even though they didn't end the same. Absolutely perfect. I love Mr. Thornton the literary character AND the movie character.

We had a North and South marathon with some of my friends from church yesterday. It's four hours long and we watched it from 730 to 1130pm, and it was awesome. Everything in the movie leads up to the last fifteen minutes.

I think the thing that I loved especially about the book and movie, besides the last fifteen minutes, is that, at first, you realize that Margaret and Mr. Thornton could never be happy together. They're too proud and too different. But, as these differences are put into light, and they are forced apart by their circumstances, they both come to realize just how much they love the other, even with all the pain the other has given them. Mr. Thornton learns sympathy and love and kindness and respect for his workers, and his circumstances soften him. For Margaret, this is true as well. Through all the death that she sees, her separation from Mr. Thornton, her need to gain respect in his eyes after she has done something which they both believe to be terribly wrong, and his love for her, helps her to soften her pride, to see how much he deserves to be loved, and how much she really does love him.

So very very good. I love that movie/book. Elizabeth Gaskell, thank you for all you've done. I appreciate it. ...less

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