I have a thing for classic doorstop novels and always wanted to read Gone With The Wind so I decided to pick it up a few years ago. Life gets in the way as it does and years pass without me touching it at all but tonight I finally finished after buckling down and putting in the effort.
I had started without any expectations at all but GWTW has been one of the those books that just captivates you where you can’t stop reading. On several occasions I’ve driven home from work anxious to get back to reading.
For me, GTWT is one of those books that comes along at the right time in your life where it’s message resonates deep inside your current predicament and offers some guidence. I’ve lost my job recently and I’m in a rough spot in life so the novels themes of endurance, self determination, adapting to a changing world you dislike and a nostalgia for a past that will never return are something I strongly identify with. Without giving away too much of the plot, all I’ll say is that Scarlet’s courage is motivating but her character flaws warn not to abandon principals.
It’s also very much a product of its time with extremely racist rhetoric and characters. What I love about reading is you get to experience the past come alive and this comes with the all the blemishes and unflattering aspects of history as well. GWTW may be fiction, but it’s historical background offers a glimpse of the political climate of the South at the time I had been mostly unexposed to before and has ignited an interest to read up and become more familiar with the American Civil War.
Although GWTW is long, the prose is not terribly ostentatious and I found it quite a fast read actually for a novel of its size. The language is flowery but not particularly complicated.
Overall I highly recommend it.
by Ucsc_slug
27 Comments
I first read GWTW when I was 12 and didn’t really appreciate what a great book it is until I re-read when I was 38. I love the way Melanie and Scarlett’s relationship builds and strengthens (the part when the Yankee soldiers come to the house!)
And Scarlett is a character who knows what she wants, still makes mistakes and suffers, just as we all do. I think I may need to give it a 3rd read!
I agree and love GWTW. Covering up slavery and a racist past is no way to ensure it never happens again. Scarlet is a fantastically flawed character, but it’s hard not to grudgingly admire her for just the reasons you mentioned. Btw, the audiobook is incredibly well done and a good deal considering how many hours of entertainment it is.
Can anyone recommend a kindle version? When I’ve looked on Amazon the page counts are wildly different depending on the version, one is like 970 pages another is 1300 pages.
GWTW is a gallop, and Scarlet O’Hara is one of the best anti heroes in literature. Her resilience is so much more inspiring because she’s not some moral righteous character. I’ll add that GWTW doesn’t reflect the attitudes of the South during the Civil War, it captures the Lost Cause myth of Mitchell’s time. The end of reconstruction, the beginnings of Jim Crow, the clawing back of black rights of the early 20th century really relied on that bullshit, and I actually heard some of this growing up. Myths like “slaves were happy” and “Robert e Lee was a gentleman who was bummed out about it all” and “it was about states rights”. I read somewhere that Mitchell didn’t realize the confeds LOST the war until she was like 12, and I bet that’s still true for some kids.
I read GWTW during a heatwave in August and felt that the weather really contributed to the atmosphere. It’s one of my favourite books.
I had seen the movie before I read the book and was surprised by some of the differences, particularly in Scarlett’s character. Her neglect of her son really makes her even more contemptible. Melanie and Ashley are more sympathetically developed, too. I’d recommend the book, but I think Shelby Foote described the war more more accurately.
Never read it, but I’ve read Musashi which is a lot like it from what I’m told, I have a copy on my shelf of GWTW so just gonna have to read it right after I’m finished with the other 6 books I’m reading (I’m in a few different book-clubs). Thanks for this post, helped me get to know the book a little more to know I should have read it sooner.
Has anyone read the second book ‘Scarlett’? The original author of GWTW died at eighteen years old, but another author extended the story. Worthwhile reading…
Funny, I just started it. So far I really like the way it is written.
Except when it comes to black people. I had to stop reading because I burst out laughing at how comically racist the dialog are written. I know there is the 2023 POV aspect of it, but I am pretty sure it was already at the time ^^.
i genuinely loved the writing but just can’t reread it. the racism is too much, and impossible to skip, and corrupts everything else for me 🙁
This has been one of my favorite books since the 6th grade. I try and re read every 5 years or so.
I read it as a teenager. I recently watched the film and was stunned by how skilled Vivien Leigh is at conveying emotion without words. In both the book and the film, Scarlett is relatable and has admirable strengths.
Another book (pair of books) that are good in spite of describing a very racist society are Laurens Van Der Post coming of age novels A Story Like the Wind and a Far Off Place. Unlike Mitchell, Van Der Post was a social critic and his stories are closer to Huckleberry Finn than Gone with the Wind.
Great review.
I read *Gone With The Wind* and I was blown away. Get the joke? Wind … blown away?
I read it when I was about 14. Absolutely excellent book
This post gives me motivation to read this. Thank you lol I have owned this book for years and I watched the movie a few times as a kid and its always in the back of my TBR list and I know i want to do it but it’s just so daunting and such a thick queen of a book lol I also really love to read books that fit in with the time of year. What season would you say this book would go well with? I feel like it could be a wintery read but also maybe spring?
Scarlett O’Hara is on those characters you grudgingly admire for her determination and resilience. All the characters including Rhett , Ashley are portrayed very human with the good and bad. The pace is slow inbetween but makes up later .
P.s you should also try reading Scarlett next .
Well, it’s not really the past that comes alive here. It’s more the Lost Cause myths that you’re thoroughly enjoying.
GWTW is one of my favorite books.
Scarlett is an amazing character. Not moral, not really likable but stubborn as hell.
The ends really justify the means for her.
It’s also an interesting exploration into “the one that got away” and what we think will make us happy vs what actually does and what people are willing to give up.
It’s human and petty and messy.
I read it this year on a whim (picked up a tattered copy at a goodwill). I enjoyed it from start to finish. Scarlett is such a great anti-hero. You can’t help but root and hate her from page to page. I loved the sweeping nature of the book. GWTW has so many elements that reminded me of why I liked Lonesome Dove. The deep slice of life epic that spans a collection of characters.
Paired GWTW with the last book in the Shaara trilogy, Last Full Measure, and Roots. It gave a great window into the period and the slices of life around the war.
Fiddle dee dee!
Thereʻs a subtle point about GwtW. With all its positive portrayals of slavery and loyalty between slaves and masters…not one of Taraʻs field hands stuck around and, IIRC, only one or two house slaves stayed.
Not that the book address why, if slaves had it so good, did the vast majority of them leave.
The scene where Rhett proposes to Scarlet and she finally accepts is one of my favorite scenes ever
I don’t know what I was expecting when I read it, but what I got out of it was an exploration of the delusions people hold and how far they will go holding on to them. Big lies like state pride and personal lies too.
And what it is that makes some people survive while others crumble.
What it isn’t however, is a love story.
When I was in high school I took a vocabulary course and all we had to do was read books and study vocabulary lists. I was in heaven.
The first book we had to read was GWTW. The teacher felt since it was so large, once people got through it, they’d feel like they’d accomplished something. After that, we were allowed to read whatever books we wanted.
I got the flu and had the book at home and I think I read it in two days! I enjoyed it very much. And yeah I felt great that I finished such a big book so quickly. lol
I read it in my 20s and liked it. I am in my 30s now and recently heard the audio version on Libby by Linda Stephens and the experience was bliss. I think about the situations and characters in the book often. I love Scarlet and her courage and passion. Despite all her flaws, I don’t think there is a better feminist role model. I felt like it was a real story. The characters came alive in my mind, and did not feel like fiction at all even though I didn’t know much about the south, civil war etc. I cried at multiple points with her but the worst was when >!she lost her unborn child!<. As a mother, it hit differently and it was fascinating for me to see the difference in relationships with all her children. Also, though the book ends with Rhett leaving her I am sure that she manages to win him back.
I felt the same way! It was such a page turner I was surprised how good it was! But definitely found the racist narrative and the author’s hatred of Beecher Stowe to be insane to the point I was questioning if it was parody to some extent