2017 Yearly Read: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

[Samantha]

So I am roughly half way through the book and though the great detail in the beginning was a bit tedious, I had become accustomed to it. Now it definitely seems more rushed and I can't quite keep track of everything that's unfolding so I find myself re-reading alot. Still hard to put it down though.

[Erin]

Samantha wrote: "So I am roughly half way through the book and though the great detail in the beginning was a bit tedious, I had become accustomed to it. Now it definitely seems more rushed and I can't quite keep t..."

I felt the same way!

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

One of my favourite books of all time, I adore this novel! My grandma introduced my sister and I to the story through the movie early, and since then, I have had a deep and abiding affection for it. Scarlett is so fiery, and I think Rhett is such a lovable scoundrel of a man! I recommend this book to everyone.

[Allison, Mod Nerd]

Thanks for the updates on your reading progress, everyone! I hope Scarlett isn't annoying everyone too much! Keep us posted on your progress and thoughts, feelings, etc.

[Emily]

I just joined this group because I saw you are reading Gone With the Wind. I am almost done with Part Three and I am enjoying it, although some of the more graphic passages about the war make me feel a little sick (I think it's doubly worse because I was also reading The Girl You Left Behind which is heavy in WWI as well).

My favorite non-Scarlett character at the moment is Melanie. She is so steadfast. Scarlett does not deserve her.

One question that has come to my mind in the last few chapters...if you do the right thing for the wrong reason, does that still make you a good person? My inclination, at least in Scarlett's case, is to say no.

[StarMan]

Emma wrote: "One question that has come to my mind in the last few chapters...if you do the right thing for the wrong reason, does that still make you a good person? ..."

An excellent question. Is Scarlett a heroine, an anti-heroine, or a surivor? Or is she merely... complicated?

[Emily]

Option three, definitely. And at the point I'm at (~page 500), she doesn't seem too happy about it either.

For me, Scarlett couldn't be more uncomplicated. She has two motivations, and one is just emotional. Her main driving force is pure selfishness. How does the thing affect her? If it doesn't, it doesn't interest her in the least - oftentimes she'll stop reading/listening if something doesn't have anything to do with her. The second driving force is her infatuation with Ashley. And I can't help but think that is all a game at heart for her. He is the one boy she can't have, so she struggles and struggles to win him over, have some sort of recognition from him that he loves her too. Even when she doesn't get it though, she fabricates it. She doesn't love him as a person, that is for certain.

[Kelsey]

I'm probably in the minority, but I actually like Scarlett! Yes, she's annoying, but she also reminds me of millennials, in a way, which I happen to be.

At the beginning, Scarlett is 16 years old. In the 1800's, that makes you basically an adult, but really, she's 16! She's still a child! And her family is considerably wealthy. She's never had to want for anything. She's heard stories about the prosperity of the South, and figures, that's what she'll grow up with, too. She won't have to worry about anything for the rest of her life, because she'll always have good ol' Southern money, and familial rank.

Then, the Civil War hits. Everything Scarlett has ever known is essentially taken away from her. She's a child, and doesn't know how to deal with this. Yes, she's selfish, because that's how she had grown up. She's a very young woman, and of course thinks of herself. At 16, didn't you?

As I've said, she reminds me of millennials in a way, because they both grew up in a great economy, and were told, "if you do this (go to college, marry wealthy), you can do whatever you want". No, we don't have a Civil War to contend with, but we went through college we couldn't afford, and now we can't find jobs. We can't afford to move out of our parents houses. We're learning that time changes, and we feel cheated out of all the promises our parents told us. Also, she has a freaking war to deal with, too!

Obviously, the 1860's and 2010's are extremely different, and I don't really sympathize with Scarlett, which is probably due to the whole South/slaves thing, but imagine that you're 16 years old, very wealthy, taught to do whatever you can to hold onto that wealth, and then all of a sudden, it's just taken out from right under you because of a war. You see people dying left and right. You see men without arms, men without faces. What do you do? You're a child, so you cry, and do the whole 'woe is me' thing, but you're also a product of the 1800's, so you do what you were raised to do, which is find a man who has money to take care of you. (I also think it's kind of an escape for her, too).

That's why I don't hate Scarlett at all! I wouldn't call her a heroine, or an anti-heroine, either, but I guess I would probably call her a survivor, or a 'trying to survive with what she was taught' survivor.

[StarMan]

Can you imagine what Scarlett's Facebook or Instagram page would look like?

Here's one person's idea: Scarlett (from Pinterest)

[Kelsey]

I just reached part three, and though I'm definitely behind almost everyone else, I did notice a lot of people say that the story is rushed. While I'm not at that point yet, I can't believe how fast the years go. In the ends of part two, it seemed that every other chapter was a different year. Just within the last three chapter (I believe), two years have passed. I can't even imagine how long the book would be if that weren't the case!

Perhaps the quickness could be due to the book length, but maybe it was also serialized? Does anyone know if it was? I tried to look it up but couldn't find anything. If it was, that could definitely also contribute to the fast nature. Serials tended to be written like that, like episodes in a TV series, so readers would be grasping to get the newest publicized material.

[Allison, Mod Nerd]

Anyone still reading?!