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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, War
Moderate: Child death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Sexual assault
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Most of the characters in this are such cunts, in an incredibly smart, well written way. I hate Rhett. I hate Bonnie. I like Mammy, Charles and Wade, and Scarlett is likeable as a bitch. So of its time but such a classic. Disgustingly inaccurate portrayals of slavery that accurately portray white people's blissful ignorance. Quite the read but worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, War
Minor: Misogyny
O_O
I FRIKING READ 1,000 PAGES :O
This was an awesome book if you can handle reading it for like forever...
kinda weird but really good!
I FRIKING READ 1,000 PAGES :O
This was an awesome book if you can handle reading it for like forever...
kinda weird but really good!
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
scarlette should stop pretending to have a conscience
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
scarlette should stop pretending that she has a conscience
This was a re-read for me. I had just read "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson and it made me curious about Southern culture and race relations... I read Gone with the Wind in high school and liked it, and I wanted to reread it now 15+ years later.
First of all, in the edition of the book that I got, there is an introduction by Pat Conroy-- this introduction TROUBLED me. It laid out the book as something that Southerners cling to as an ode to a bygone era (despite it being written in 1936, 70 years after the end of the Civil War) and glorifying slavery and the Ku Klux Klan and the Southern way of life in general. I didn't remember it that way from reading it as a teenager... I thought to myself "What am I about to read? I liked this as a kid?? Oh God."
The first part of this book, leading up to and including the Civil War, I actually enjoyed a lot. Scarlett O'Hara is a great character (in this part of the book at least) and not your typical heroine, either of the era in which the book was written, or now. She's a little bit of a sociopath, but in a feminist way that I enjoyed. Scarlett was a tough character that Got Shit Done and I loved it. She also had some anti-war sentiment that was so practical and I totally sympathized with. She just did not get why all the other Southern ladies were so into the war effort. Scarlett just wanted it to end so she could have pretty things again and she did not care one bit about Southern Pride. The book lays out all the hypocrisy and foolishness of the South continuing to fight a losing war for the sake of their "beliefs." Great action scenes in this part of the book, the devastation of the latter part of the war, Scarlett's return to Tara finding that she has to scrape out a meager existence and the beginning of her PTSD toward starvation, all very memorable and compelling. There is definitely a lot of troubling racism in this part, but it pales in comparison to what comes later.
What I'd consider the second part of the book is the Reconstruction phase after the end of the War. We witness evil Northerners invading the South and sucking the life out of it. Scarlett is again in Get Shit Done mode and becomes a Scallawag herself. This is where the book began to bother me. The South is portrayed as being mercilessly kicked when it's down. The men have seemingly "no choice" but to form the KKK and fight back against freed slaves who are talking to and/or raping white women. The justice system is literally described as black men getting a slap on the wrist for murdering a white person, but if a white person murdered a freed slave, they'd be hanged without question. Northerners are routinely taking trainloads of freed slaves around to rig elections to keep the Carpetbaggers and Scallawags in power. How did this book go from being scornful of the waste and hubris in fighting a losing war, to portraying the Southerners as a downtrodden people being systematically beaten down, disenfranchised, and demoralized while nobly keeping their Southern ways and fighting back? It's like a different author took over the book at this point. This part of the book troubles me the most because I envision what Pat Conroy described in the introduction- his mother would read them this book every year as kids as some kind of token of the Southern identity. If the Southern identity is as a noble people stripped of their wealth and power that had to systematically fight back to regain some control against the Northerners and freed slaves... Well that's just a really frightening identity and it would actually explain a lot of the extant racism in the South and is this book contributing to that?? It's horrifying to think of.
The last part of the book starts when Scarlett marries Rhett. This part is just a soap opera of stupidity. Scarlett was never touted as an intellectual person but was supposed to be able to read people and manipulate them. How then does she NEVER understand Rhett, even a little, until the very end? This just makes no sense to me. Of course the stupid Ashley drama is facepalm-worthy but it's kind of a thread that ties this whole book together so I'm okay with it. But the drama with Rhett just does not make internal sense with Scarlett's character.
In all if you just look at the first part of this book, it's great, I love it. After that it just spirals into a disgusting racist mess. There is little to redeem it after that point.
First of all, in the edition of the book that I got, there is an introduction by Pat Conroy-- this introduction TROUBLED me. It laid out the book as something that Southerners cling to as an ode to a bygone era (despite it being written in 1936, 70 years after the end of the Civil War) and glorifying slavery and the Ku Klux Klan and the Southern way of life in general. I didn't remember it that way from reading it as a teenager... I thought to myself "What am I about to read? I liked this as a kid?? Oh God."
The first part of this book, leading up to and including the Civil War, I actually enjoyed a lot. Scarlett O'Hara is a great character (in this part of the book at least) and not your typical heroine, either of the era in which the book was written, or now. She's a little bit of a sociopath, but in a feminist way that I enjoyed. Scarlett was a tough character that Got Shit Done and I loved it. She also had some anti-war sentiment that was so practical and I totally sympathized with. She just did not get why all the other Southern ladies were so into the war effort. Scarlett just wanted it to end so she could have pretty things again and she did not care one bit about Southern Pride. The book lays out all the hypocrisy and foolishness of the South continuing to fight a losing war for the sake of their "beliefs." Great action scenes in this part of the book, the devastation of the latter part of the war, Scarlett's return to Tara finding that she has to scrape out a meager existence and the beginning of her PTSD toward starvation, all very memorable and compelling. There is definitely a lot of troubling racism in this part, but it pales in comparison to what comes later.
What I'd consider the second part of the book is the Reconstruction phase after the end of the War. We witness evil Northerners invading the South and sucking the life out of it. Scarlett is again in Get Shit Done mode and becomes a Scallawag herself. This is where the book began to bother me. The South is portrayed as being mercilessly kicked when it's down. The men have seemingly "no choice" but to form the KKK and fight back against freed slaves who are talking to and/or raping white women. The justice system is literally described as black men getting a slap on the wrist for murdering a white person, but if a white person murdered a freed slave, they'd be hanged without question. Northerners are routinely taking trainloads of freed slaves around to rig elections to keep the Carpetbaggers and Scallawags in power. How did this book go from being scornful of the waste and hubris in fighting a losing war, to portraying the Southerners as a downtrodden people being systematically beaten down, disenfranchised, and demoralized while nobly keeping their Southern ways and fighting back? It's like a different author took over the book at this point. This part of the book troubles me the most because I envision what Pat Conroy described in the introduction- his mother would read them this book every year as kids as some kind of token of the Southern identity. If the Southern identity is as a noble people stripped of their wealth and power that had to systematically fight back to regain some control against the Northerners and freed slaves... Well that's just a really frightening identity and it would actually explain a lot of the extant racism in the South and is this book contributing to that?? It's horrifying to think of.
The last part of the book starts when Scarlett marries Rhett. This part is just a soap opera of stupidity. Scarlett was never touted as an intellectual person but was supposed to be able to read people and manipulate them. How then does she NEVER understand Rhett, even a little, until the very end? This just makes no sense to me. Of course the stupid Ashley drama is facepalm-worthy but it's kind of a thread that ties this whole book together so I'm okay with it. But the drama with Rhett just does not make internal sense with Scarlett's character.
In all if you just look at the first part of this book, it's great, I love it. After that it just spirals into a disgusting racist mess. There is little to redeem it after that point.
No es un libro sencillo, pero sin duda vale la pena. Es descriptivo, es profundo, es histórico, pero es una historia increíble llena de giros, dolor, muerte, codicia, traición y pasión descontrolada.
Scarlett será siempre un personaje que recordaré, la mejor antagonista creada.
Scarlett será siempre un personaje que recordaré, la mejor antagonista creada.
Ahhh dit was zo'n mooi boek! Heb hier echt enorm van genoten. Uitvoerig beschreven en de karakters zijn allemaal zo interessant! Vond het ook echt fijn dat de hoofdpersoon eigenlijk ook helemaal geen goed persoon is, dat maakt het lezen echt veel boeiender. Dit is wel echt een all-time favourite!
Can't read it without crying buckets. One of the best books ever. Period.