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Margaret Mitchell: Gone With The Wind

snow77 said:
Interesting comparison, and speaking from someone who hasn't read Madame Bovary for years - I would have to reread, but from what I remember - wasn't she pretty weak? I would think that Scarlett kicks her butt on the strength of character scale .. but then again, I probably need to reread it :D
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You're right, snow77, Scarlett was much stronger.

Emma was a spendthrift and Scarlett's first instinct was saving money to survive and save Tara. I think Emma would have lost Tara the first time the carpetbaggers raised the taxes. In fact, I don't believe Emma would have survived the first year of reconstruction.
 
Gone With the Wind is one of my favorite books, I first read it when I was a pre-teen, it made a huge impression on me, and I've reread it innumerable times, the most recent last year. I hadn't read it in oh I guess at least 10 or 12 years.
It's wonderful how it speaks to each generation of women. It was one thing to me as a kid, one as a young adult, and far more to me as a middle aged woman. I saw different aspects this last time I'd missed before.

I was more impatient with Rhett, thinking he was older and should have had more sense, Scarlett.....well Scarlett is Scarlett. :D I've always liked her and respected her choices in life. She did what had to be done, a wonderful realist. Her one great stupidity was Ashley. But we've all had that brand of stupidity at one time or another in our lives, éh?

I hated the book Scarlett, to me it betrayed Mitchell's vision. I liked the last one, Rhett's People, much better, although as noted above it lacked the fire of the original.
 
I liked "Scarlett', as I could see beyond the lightness of the story line that Scarlett reached a turning point in her life when she untook saving her ancestral Irish lands in the fashion she saved Tara. Only, instead of preserving only herself and the land, she also preserved the people on it, who she came to love, realizing that without love, nothing matters. I felt that she became the woman she was supposed to be.

I enjoyed "Rhett Butler's People". I saw how Rhett became the man he was yet remained that little boy forever trying to win his father's love and approval. However, I agree about the spark missing from this book that was present in GWTW. Scarlett seemed so one-dimensional.

GWTW is one of my favorites. I first saw the movie on the big screen at a special showing when I was 7, back the summer of 1970. It awed me then and still does today. I can see, after reading the book, however, why Mitchell was furious over the movie version. They left many things out, and changed many other things they put in. Still, I cannot imagine the movie being any different than it is.
 
I agree, luna, the movie was epic. True, it was not completely in line with the book, but I loved every minute of it. There are few movies based on books that I have read about which I can say that. Most of the time I'm disappointed by the movies, occasionally by the books.
 
lunablu63 said:
I enjoyed "Rhett Butler's People". I saw how Rhett became the man he was yet remained that little boy forever trying to win his father's love and approval. However, I agree about the spark missing from this book that was present in GWTW. Scarlett seemed so one-dimensional.
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While Rhett Butler's People wasn't my favorite, I agree--it was nice to see the storyline from Rhett's perspective. I could see where he was coming from once I read it where before I read it, I would get frustrated with his actions in GWTW.
 
Gone With The Wind is my favorite book... I love to read it and become totally wrapped up in Rhett and Scarlett's romance, and the drama of the war. Mitchell really makes all of the characters come to life, and makes you care about them. Everytime I read it, I still keep hoping it will end differently -even though I already know what happens.

I have read at least halfway through the sequel, Scarlett, before I totally lost interest. It was definitely a disappointment. I actually liked Rhett Butler's People, though.
 
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