My first big book of the year was Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Linda Stephens, and I loved every minute of the nearly fifty hours of it.
I'm think this review is actually going to be three parts - this first one that introduces the book and what I thought about, a second part that is my regular lines of notes and hat mentions, and then a third where I spend more time assessing the book more critically than I normally do.
When I started reading, I knew nothing about this book except for the names Scarlett and Rhett and the famous "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." I vaguely remember there being a movie that was really long and there being something about slavery. Sooo...I was a clean slate going in.
In this book, we begin in antebellum Georgia with spoiled young, beautiful Scarlett O'Hara at her family's successful plantation Tara. Her father is an Irish immigrant who won Tara in a card game and her mother is a southern belle who married her husband after her heart was broken by another man. Scarlett fancies herself in love with Ashley Wilkes, a milquetoast young man from a neighboring plantation, and Scarlett is righteously pissed off when Ashley marries Melanie Hamilton, so she marries Melanie's brother in revenge.
Well, Scarlett's husband dies at an Army camp, but she was pregnant so she has his baby and is a widow in mourning. The Civil War starts, but Scarlett doesn't think it's such a big deal and heads off to Atlanta to be with Melanie while she finishes her mourning period. Ashley's also enlisted in the Army, so the household in Atlanta is Scarlett, her son Wade, Melanie, and Aunt Pitty, an elderly lady of the Hamilton clan.
In Atlanta, Scarlett runs into the handsome scoundrel Captain Rhett Butler. He seems to enjoy her spirt and outrageousness and they always banter. But shit's getting real. There's the Civil War. Scarlett and Melanie almost die at Tara. Then Scarlett's back in Atlanta for Reconstruction and ain't it some horsepucky that the Yankees are in charge? And then Scarlett gets remarried to an old dude, buys some sawmills, and has another baby. God's nightgown. But Rhett Butler is still hanging around. And Scarlett is still in love with the still milquetoast Ashley and Rhett knows it. What's going to happen?
There's a lot missing in this short recap. There's the whole treatment of the Confederacy, slavery, and childcare. There's how incredibly dislikeable every single character is. There's white supremacism. I am not ignoring those aspects of the novel. But, it's still a very compelling book. I honestly could not stop listening. I could not help but tell my husband how absolutely swoon worthy Rhett Butler was. Even as he was such a bastard to Scarlett, I thought he was even sexier.
This book does enemies to lovers better than any modern romance novel I've ever read. But it's not a romance novel unless you just acknowledge that Scarlett will never love anyone as much as she loves herself. It was a powerful recognition that, as I was reading this, I could feel all the tropes of modern day romances originating from this source.
Yes, it's more than 1000 pages. If it had been released today, it would probably have been a series of three or four books. But that's the charm of it all. It's immersive and detailed, but also compelling in terms of character and plot. Mitchell would not have been able to pull that off without so many pages. At one point, I actually complained that too much was happening off page. My husband scoffed "you want it to be longer?" and I actually sort of did. I wanted to know every detail of everyone's life (anyone else want more about Ashley and Rhett's war time experiences?), but I was also satisfied with what I did get.
It is a masterpiece. I understand completely how it has endured for so long. 5/5 stars
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Would you read a 1000-page piece of historical fiction? Have you read GWTW?
Love this! I read this book as a tween and teen SO MANY TIMES. Fascinating about what is says about 1939 as well as the civil war.
ReplyDeleteIt's fascinating about it says about the reader, I think. If you think this glorifies slavery, that's on you, as far as I'm concerned!
DeleteI have read GWTW, I read it as a teen and then came back and read it in maybe 2014 or so? When I first read it and watched the movie I didn't totally understand all of it (naturally) but it's pretty fascinating. Fiddle-dee-dee! I feel like that needs to be brought back to the lexicon. It's a problematic book in a lot of ways but Scarlett is an incredible heroine who is so strong.
ReplyDeleteGod's nightgown! That's the one I've been using a lot. Scarlett is such a complex character. I have deep admiration for Mitchell's characters and plot.
DeleteI have NOT read this! I started to read your review and then skipped down to the end- because I decided I want to read this book and I didn't want to know too many details.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow!! I have made a convert! I was riveted by this book and I hope you like it, too.
DeleteI love seeing your review of this. It is one of my TOP books. I've not read it since probably 1989, but it has stayed with me all these years. Rhett was such a scoundrel, but also: SEXY AF.
ReplyDeleteThere are two follow up books that I enjoyed as well. (many years later) Scarlett and Rhett Butler's People.
RHETT!! So sexy. Even though he leaves Scarlett alone with a scared black servant, an extremely recently postpartum woman, a toddler, and a newborn in a war zone to figure out a solution for all of them, I still think he's so hot. I do not want to examine too much about what my attraction to Rhett means about me as a woman or my so-called feminist cred.
DeleteNance said Scarlett (the book) is trash. LOL. I want to see the two of you duke it out.
It's been eons since I read Scarlett---so she could be correct. I just remembered that I read two follow ups.
DeleteHmmm...do I need to read this again? Maybe!
ReplyDeleteI saw the movie a few years ago when I was watching all of the AFI movies and I was 3/4 blown away. What I mean is that the first three hours were so so good and the last hour was a SLOG. The biggest reason why I want to read it now is you telling us all of the details that were cut out of the movie for time. And Scarlett rocks!
Scarlett is such a rich character. Like, she's despicable in every way. She's shallow, egocentric, and self-centered. She's incurious and never thinks of anyone outside of herself. But she's also tough and resilient and a hard worker. She's a conundrum. I think she's an amazing example of complexly built characters.
DeleteOh, how I adore this book. I used to read it every single June once school was over and it was my entree into Summer Vacation. I literally wore out my first paperback of it and bought it in hardback. It sort of became a mini obsession with me at one point, and I read a whole bunch of stuff about Margaret Mitchell and then the movie itself. (And just so you know I'm not a complete weirdo, I had a Romantic Poetry prof in college whose entire first floor was done as a Tara replica, but that is definitely not my level of commitment.)
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy well done historical fiction. I don't like when it takes liberties with well-known historical figures or alters facts. And again, please do NOT subject yourself to the mess and drivel that is Scarlett, the poorly written garbage that was touted to be the sequel to GWTW. What an embarrassment it is. It may be the only book I have ever thrown in the trash.
Yay! I feel like I'm in good company if you also think this is legitimately a good book. I feel like it could become an obsession with me, too, although my personality always becomes what book I'm reading until I read another great book. I'm easily swayed by great literature.
DeleteThank you for this recap. I read this book twice when I was a teen and then again in my early twenties, and loved it both times. And then, as my hold on details began to fade, I just stopped mentioning it because the historical aspects of the book became more and more difficult for me to critically process.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, I just read Kindred by Octavia Butler -- and wrote a very short recap! https://leaningagainstwalls.com/2025/01/28/book-2/ -- which is also partly set in antebellum America, and which also was written some time ago. I was intrigued by how that book dealt with the topics of slavery and white supremacy and how both were at the centre of the book's plot, but not, I felt, the main point of the story. I felt the story was more concerned with womanhood/late 1970's feminism.
Tamara!! I didn't realize you were going to use that to actually blog. I added you to my Blog Roll and I'll start reading ASAP.
DeleteKindred was sooooo good. I read it a few years ago and I thought it was so smart that Butler didn't even try to address how the time travel was happening. It was fascinating how easily the character got used to such dark times and events. It feels so reminiscent of how quickly the normalization of Trump as president became. We're all just frogs in a pot, I guess.
Yes, well I thought last year I should be less consumery with you ladies in this community and more contributive. Plus I have horrible writer's block right now and a reading block and thought that a blog might help me with both - thanks for linking to me! I thought Kindred was a fabulous book, in part because it reflected the cultural consciousness that I remember from when I was young and becoming aware - and you're right, acceptance was definitely part of it.
DeleteI watched the movie EONS ago and it was epic. And like...hours and hours and hours long, if memory serves me correctly. I'm not sure my life is currently built to read or listen to such a long book, but it does sound like it truly deserves its title as a classic! I think I'll file this under the "recovering from surgery" or "at an isolated cabin alone for a week" read. OR if you spring a wild one on us and make this a book club read.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear you talk more about it.
I do not think I could convince myself that a 1000+ page book was a good pick for CBBC. It might spark lots of discussion, but I think I'd lose like 90% of people before we were even halfway done!
DeleteSo much to say about this book. I hope I don't lose people from my blog just because they don't want to hear about it. LOL.
I took a train to visit Coach when he was a senior in college and I'd just graduated. Translation: a long time ago. It was a long train ride, so I read this book. I, too, loved it. I met Kevin Butler (Chicago Bears kicker in the late 80s) when I was babysitting for my friend's kids (my friend was the Bear's punter). Anyway, fun fact - Kevin's daughter's name (she was a toddler who used to hang at the house when I was babysitting) was Katie Scarlet. They called her Scarlet. Butler. See that? I think they had another daughter named Savana.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear. I mean, Scarlett is a complex character, but is she someone you would want to name your child after?! I don't know about that one.
DeleteI read this book multiple times and hearted it so much as a teenager. I think seeing Scarlett rebel against her wealthy, traditionalist family gave me ideas about how I might revolt against mine. I wonder how I'd read the book now, knowing what I know now.
ReplyDeleteI probably would *not* watch the movie ever again, although my parents who loved Old Hollywood thought it was delightful. I know black writers absolutely hate the movie's racist depictions of "simple, happy" enslaved people. I remember those very well. Is it that way in the book too, I wonder?!
GWTW is probably the #1 reason why people want to have their weddings on plantations, innit?
DeleteI have not seen the movie, so I can't give you a direct comparison, but the book does certainly depict enslaved folks as happy and well cared for. There are a lot of gross descriptions of black people comparing them to animals, although how Mammy can be described as so clever and then blanket "all black people are simple," too, is confusing. The racism is definitely one of the book's legacies.
DeleteI cannot begin to imagine what reasons people have weddings on plantations, but I suspect most people don't even think about it that deeply.
I got married at Summit Manor in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was built as a home for a dry good merchant and is sort of shrine to capitalism. I didn't think about the history of it much when we selected it as a place for our wedding - it was beautiful, in our budget, and in the location we wanted. I suspect most people are like me.
I've actually read it a couple of time but it's been years ago. It is currently sitting on my mantel and I should probably pick it up again to see if my thoughts have changed on some of the characters. I remember loving Scarlett's "Damned if I can't, just you watch and see" attitude. It is a masterpiece, even after all this time.
ReplyDeleteOh, ha! I found Scarlett to be mostly insufferable and her I don't care about what anyone else thinks attitude was such a false front. I love the different readings of her! She's such a complex character.
DeleteI'm putting this on my TBR, but not sure when I'll get to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fast read if that helps you assess how much you want to read this super long book.
DeleteI have read parts of this book so many times, I can pick up the book and open it to any page and know exactly what is going on. I have only read the entire thing a couple of times. I prefer to skip over the racist descriptions of the people of color. I prefer to skip over the parts where Mitchell suggests that some of the slaves were happy in that life. Having said that, I LOVE THIS BOOK. I love Scarlett, she is so complicated. So loyal to her family, so brave in the face of adversity. When she returns to Tara wanting to lay down her load at the feet of her parents, and finds her beloved mother dead and her father half crazy from grief and stress, I just wanted to cry for her. For all of them.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the film, just be warned that Wade and Ella do not exist in the film. I think maybe her as a shitty mom might have been one step too far for the audience of the time.
I have read all of the books that take place in that universe, I think. Scarlett, the unauthorized sequel, which begins pretty might right where GWTW ends, and approaches Scarlett with a more modern sensibility. It's poorly written, it's stupid, it doesn't have the complexity of GWTW. But I own it and read it from time to time. There is Rhett Butler's people, which is the story of GWTW from Rhett's point of view, which I got from the library and read once, and I liked it and think I might like to read it again. It's no GWTW, but it's interesting. Last, there's The Wind Done Gone, which is also unauthorized (I believe the Mitchell estate sued the author), which is a very slim book, told from the point of view of Scarlett's half sister, who is Gerald and Mammy's daughter. I loved this sly take on it, and would absolutely recommend it.
The parts at Tara during the war are so pivotal. That's when Scarlett shows the most character growth, right? She struggles, but doesn't give up. She works hard, despite her whining sisters and unhelpful father. If it weren't for those scenes in the book, I don't even know how we would be able to stand the sawmill owner Scarlett. LOL.
DeleteOkay, I have an Ella theory. Scarlett was drinking so much during that pregnancy and she's described as ugly and looking like Frank. I sort of wonder if she had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or something like that. I just feel like Scarlett's drinking was swept under the rug and there would have been consequences of it, right?
Oh, wow! Gerald and Mammy's daughter! SCANDALOUS. I would love to have a short novela about some of this through Suellen's lens. Scarlett was such a terrible sister to her. From Scarlett's POV, Suellen is terrible, so who cares? But, egads, I do wonder what Suellen was thinking when she wakes up from a serious illness and Scarlett is just there telling her what to do and then Scarlett steals her man and boy, Suellen's story is worth thinking through, isn't it?
I haven't read it in several years, but I don't really remember Scarlett drinking excessively while pregnant with Ella. She drank after Frank died, because she felt guilty and like she was going to hell. Ella was already born by then. I think she just looks like Frank, poor thing. Rhett says she's the spitting image, when he thinks she's a baby boy.
DeleteI thought I had read all of the books, but apparently the same author that wrote Rhett's story also wrote Mammy's story, from her childhood on. Maybe I'll check that one out...
A book from Suellen's point of view would be interesting. She lost Frank, but at least she got a decent husband in Will.
I have read GWTW several times and I think that of all of the things I gave away, that book was one that I kept! I remember watching that movie a lot and I am pretty sure it was two VCR tapes long!
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! I might add this book to books I might want a physical copy of. It seems like a great one to revisit once in a while.
DeleteI read this as a teenager so I think I was too young to appreciate it. I remember buying the paperback at B&N after my brother's girlfriend who then became my SIL highly recommended it. I don't remember loving it, though, but I probably read it 25 years ago!!
ReplyDeleteI think it holds up, friend, if you ever want to revisit it.
DeleteOk I will keep that in mind! Maybe as a retirement project! I read a 775 page book this month (The Covenant of Water). I enjoyed being really wrapped up in a complicated, many-layered story but now I need to be mentally ready to tackle another tomb! I think this would be a good slow read for me, though, that I gradually read over the course of many months,
DeleteI'm sure I commented yesterday. Do our respective blogs just not like our respective comments?
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing in my spam filter, so I don't know what happened. Blogger obviously working against us!
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