Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Another bucket list book done✔️

A very famous book (and movie) following the insufferable Scarlett O’Hara and has the American Civil War as backdrop.

In theory, this ticks of a lot of what I like in historical fiction:

• following a character against a long period of time
• historical events taking place
• war time

However, you may have noticed a few rows above I called our character and narrator insufferable. I could not stand Scarlett and I wonder how I made it to the end. Had this included multiple POVs, or, at least included Rhett Butler’s perspective as well, this would have been a much better book and I stand firm behind this statement.

Scarlett is a character not used to any obstacles to get what she wants. She can always summon someone to swiftly remove them from the way.
Even when hardships hits her entire family, everyone she cares for, her country even…she behaves in the same way. You could argue there’s some redeeming qualities (assisting Melly, but it sounds like she doesn’t want to at the same time), but ultimately, when she sets her mind to something she’s simply got to have it.

She hurts a lot of people this way, ahem…Suellen, her own flesh and blood! She does not care that the boy she loves is in love with someone else. When she does have a child of her own, she’s not a good mother…and I could go on for ages, much as the book did here.

I’ve seen other reviews calling this a great love story and to them I way, but where is the love? There’s more tragedy than love. The author has tried to cover the American Civil War, the absolution of slavery, the difference between the North and South states. For some business as usual (an opportunity to get rich), for some losing everything they know. It’s too much and Scarlett’s focus is too narrow to cover it in depth. An unresolved incident with a mill comes to mind. Why drop that in there if we never go back to it?

The slavery coverage does not sit well with me. The term ‘darkies’, pretending to treat them like part of the family on one page, only to call another slave ‘free nigger’ and trash on the next one can not possibly sit well with me. The freed slaves turn criminals or lend their votes to powerful ‘friends’ but remain illiterate. I do not want to comment further as
I do not know how accurate what is depicted is. From what I do recall from history lessons, I believe at least the timeline of events correct. Still, the daughter of a rich cotton plantation owner seems an odd choice for narrator of what’s trying to be such an important story.

Don’t even get me started on that ending! I disliked it so much and it was only time while reading that I wished there’d been a few more pages.

There’s no point in dragging this review further, I’m sure you understood by now that I was not a fan. I’m sad about it, and believe there was much promise till about page 300. But the things drag for another 700 pages of much the same or similar thing. We did not need to be stuck in Scarlett’s head for so long.

If you’ve read the book, let me know your thoughts. If you’ve watched any of the movie adaptations, let me know if I should consider watching one.