Reviews tagging 'Death'

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

41 reviews

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I watched the movie and didn’t like it at all. I never planned on reading the book, but had heard that it was good. So, when I came across it for free online, I decided to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did! It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Though, it is a product of its time. So, beware of that. Also, I’m a sucker for ambiguous endings done well and this book delivers.

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challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a tough one. The story is so good but the racism, misogyny, and romanticism of slavery is so strong. Every praise you’ve heard of this book is true, and every criticism is equally, if not more, true. In the end, I’m giving it a good rating because I rate them based on how engaged I was and emotionally invested, and that was a lot…. But yeah. It’s a tough one.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Obviously whitewashing and romanticism of the south is horribly at play in this novel to an extent that even as someone who grew up in the south like good God. Reminds me of my childhood x10 and yet also of right now with our political climate. I'm surprised we haven't had a rework of this with Maga shit frankly bc Jesus are the characters so easily imaginable in modern roles of picking the *just* side that is inherently cruel/wrong. 

I can see why this book blew up in 1936 bc the prose and internalization of Scarlett keep you on the hook to see what else could possibly go wrong. She is THAT bitch the whole book, and it is hilarious on numerous occasions to watch the suffering play out. 

That said. Rhett. My poor boy. 

Anyway if you take this on, take on a nonsympathetic  historical account of the civil war too, and of slavery, to wash Mitchell's propaganda back out of your brain. Godspeed and be prepared for your skin to crawl with the racist bullshit.

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slow-paced

Okay.... I'm going to do my best to keep this short and simple. I am only writing this to hopefully save the next person who reads this who has similar taste as me. I went into this book only having mild spoilers, I've never seen the movie and I never retained anything important from the story. I was suggested this book by many people because I love an epic historical fiction, and if it's a romantic historical fiction it's right up my alley.
That being said I did the audiobook version by Linda Stephens who was INCREDIBLE. She really brought this story alive and I was sucked in from day one. If you asked me half way through this book I would've given it 5 stars all around. That being said, it is a DIFFICULT subject matter and very racist. I understand that it was written in a different time and I just kept it in the back of my mind the whole time while cringing at almost every paragraph. 

THE LAST 100 PAGES IS WHY I CHANGED MY RATING. When I finished this book I was SUFFERING. I know a lot of people like the ending, I hated it. I endured this horrible, racist, antebellum south loving, manifesto of weirdness, and nothing good happened at all. To anyone. And I guess you could say that that makes it more accurate and the main characters deserved everything they got but there is literally zero redemption.


If you're anything like me, who requires emotional closure to novels, stories, shows or movies because you get sucked into them whole heartedly. BE WARNED you will be sad at the end, and you'll be uncomfortable in that sadness. 

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Worth reading? Probably. American literature and all that. 

As racist as I expected it to be? More so. Standard white savior stuff mixed with just about every stereotype you could possibly imagine. 

Better than the weird nonsense in the thornbirds, my comparison for all trashy epics. No. I'd rather read that again 10000 times than read this ever again. 



Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If you take out all the racist propaganda, this is a 5-star book. Chapter 37 in particular should be ripped out. After reading that, I would have given this 1 star, if not for the extremely good ending of the book. The last, oh, about 8 chapters really got me interested. Such a relief to see a terrible person get what they deserve.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings