Gone With the Wind

[Ash]

Well, some thousand page books can be read in a relatively short time, and seem to remember GWWT being one such. It would be interesting rereading it. I read it several times in HS, then saw the movie several times. I wouldn't mind going back for a reread to remind myself what the movie missed. Go ahead and nominate it and see what happens.

[Vanessa]

Gone with the Wind is one of my favourite books and I would love to re-read it sometime. I think the film misses out a couple of Scarlett's husbands!!:rolleyes::D

[Misfit]

Gone with the Wind is one of my favourite books and I would love to re-read it sometime. I think the film misses out a couple of Scarlett's husbands!!:rolleyes::D

Yes. It. Does.

[LoveHistory]

Gone with the Wind is one of my favourite books and I would love to re-read it sometime. I think the film misses out a couple of Scarlett's husbands!!:rolleyes::D

The film has all three of her husbands, but skips two of her children. Also skips a wealth of great story. It really would have made a better miniseries.

I'll have to wait for an appropriate theme to come back around.

[Ash]

Gone with the Wind is one of my favourite books and I would love to re-read it sometime. I think the film misses out a couple of Scarlett's husbands!!:rolleyes::D

No it has the husbands right, its that it misses out on a few kids!

[Misfit]

No it has the husbands right, its that it misses out on a few kids!

I could have swore a couple of husbands were missing :(

[LoveHistory]

I could have swore a couple of husbands were missing :(

1. Charles Hamilton
2. Frank Kennedy
3. Rhett Butler

That's all the husbands Scarlett ever had.

The missing children are Wade Hampton Hamilton and Ella Kennedy.

[Misfit]

1. Charles Hamilton
2. Frank Kennedy
3. Rhett Butler

That's all the husbands Scarlett ever had.

The missing children are Wade Hampton Hamilton and Ella Kennedy.

Damn you are good :o;):)

[Vanessa]

Well, I knew something was missed out!:o:) It's obvious now that I do need to have a re-read!:D

[Michy]

I've never seen the movie, but I would guess it also leaves out all the backstory on Scarlett's parents. Not absolutely necessary to the plot, but it does add so much to the story overall, and helps in understanding Scarlett's character.

[LoveHistory]

I've never seen the movie, but I would guess it also leaves out all the backstory on Scarlett's parents. Not absolutely necessary to the plot, but it does add so much to the story overall, and helps in understanding Scarlett's character.

Yes it leaves that out. It leaves out so much that explains Scarlett and some of the others and puts them in an entirely different light. A great film given the time limits of the big screen, but I'd love to see a miniseries some day (probably not going to happen, but I have fun casting it in my head).

[Michy]

I think it would be almost impossible to correctly depict the complexity of Scarlett's personality via the screen, because that is primarily an outside-looking-in viewpoint. So much of her character in GWTW is understood, not through her dialogue or actions, but through her thoughts. Difficult to translate that to any medium other than printed.

[Misfit]

I do love the movie, but it is so completely different from the book that I consider it a competely different beast.

[LoveHistory]

You make a very good point, Misfit.

But I would have loved to see that scene with Rhett and Gerald in Atlanta. That would have been hilarious!

[SGM]

Even long films like GWTW end up having to cut some of a book, it's the nature of the beast. I've always thought that this film is one of the best renderings of a book I have ever seen (except for Apocalypse Now in an entirely different way). To my mind GWTW is also Holywood at its most magnificent in a way we will probably never see again. The burning of Atlanta in CGI just would not be the same.

[Margaret]

GWTW is a great example of a long novel that is relatively quick to read because it is never boring for an instant! Some of the modern writers of long historical novels (and even some of the shorter ones) could take some lessons from that novel.

[Michy]

GWTW is a great example of a long novel that is relatively quick to read because it is never boring for an instant! Some of the modern writers of long historical novels (and even some of the shorter ones) could take some lessons from that novel. Oh, absolutely. GWTW is a paragon on so many levels.

One of the things about it that fascinates me, as a piece of writing, is that Mitchell actually does a lot of telling rather than showing, and yet it works so magnificently. For instance, long before the author shows that Scarlett's personality is as simple as the winds that blow through Tara and that she never understood a complexity in her life, we already know this about her because the authors tells us flat out. Normally this would greatly weaken a book, but amazingly, in GWTW it doesn't. I guess because Mitchell was a true born storyteller, and so even when she does tell rather than show, she does it in a way that is captivating.

[wendy]

Any of you read the "follow up" book Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley?

[Michy]

Not me; I'm a GWTW purist. If Margaret Mitchell had written a sequel, I definitely would have read it. But I'm not interested in anyone else's spin-off of her book. :)

[Misfit]

Any of you read the "follow up" book Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley?

I considered it, but the reviews on Amazon convinced me it would be best to avoid it.

I agree that GWTW reads very fast, I blew through it in a week I think. IIRC there's a lot of dialogue which moves things along.

[Nefret]

Any of you read the "follow up" book Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley?

I have. It was a long time ago though. So I don't really remember.

[princess garnet]

I did too. It was ok. There was a TV movie made based it in the 90s.

[Ash]

Are you talking about the authorized sequel, or the one the other one? The latter was so bad that within days of it being released, my local used store had three copies of them. I tried reading it - oh my. Not worth the lawsuit the Mitchells started to keep it from being printed.

[Misfit]

Are you talking about the authorized sequel, or the one the other one? The latter was so bad that within days of it being released, my local used store had three copies of them. I tried reading it - oh my. Not worth the lawsuit the Mitchells started to keep it from being printed.

Was that The Wind Done Gone? Wasn't there one that's been sold everywhere but the US? Even if you order it from say Amazon UK they can't ship to a US address.

Don't even get me started on Rhett Butler's People, another one authorized by the MM estate. Bad bad bad bad bad.

[Michy]

I'm feeling glad that I've been a snobbish, GWTW purist. I've spared myself from all these awful sequels, prequels and spin-offs. ;) Although I have one little book on my shelf called Scarlett Rules by Lisa Bertagnoli that I've enjoyed. The author is a diehard GWTW fanatic -- she's read the book 22 times. :eek: She's compiled 24 life lessons inspired by Scarlett O'Hara. It's a fun read.

[Nefret]

I shall have to track down Scarlett Rules now.

[Vanessa]

I have the Alexandra Ripley one on my TBR pile.

[LoveHistory]

Not me; I'm a GWTW purist. If Margaret Mitchell had written a sequel, I definitely would have read it. But I'm not interested in anyone else's spin-off of her book. :)

I wrote a scene (at someone's vague suggestion, and just for laughs) that inserts James Bond in the library at Twelve Oaks. You might enjoy that, though it's not a sequel by any means. ;)

I have read a condensed version of Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley. It was ok. Not fantastic. And some of the plot stretched the bounds of my belief, but it had the happy ending so many people wanted. The TV movie was so horrible I never finished watching it. Bad casting for everyone but Anne Hampton.

[Madeleine]

Oh I remember that TV series, watched the first part and that was enough, and I'm not even a fan of the original. Awful. Not even so-bad-it's-funny.

[Ash]

Was that The Wind Done Gone? Wasn't there one that's been sold everywhere but the US? Even if you order it from say Amazon UK they can't ship to a US address. .

That was it - and yes it was sold in the US. I tried reading it and it was gawdawful. (the title itself should clue you in). I never tried to read Rhett Butler but I heard it wasn't much better

Wondering - this book is being considered for the BOTM. Should we hold off discussion here until/if its chosen? Or make sure we stick to the film version of the discussion?

[LoveHistory]

We could do what has been done in my family for years...cast the remake.

[wendy]

I have the Alexandra Ripley one on my TBR pile.

My personal opinion - leave it on the shelf. Very disappointing after the original classic.

[Vanessa]

Oh dear, is it that bad!

[LoobyG]

I tried Rhett Butler's People and gave it away after reading the first chapter, really bad, baddity bad! I'll have to look up Scarlett's Rules too, thanks Michy! :D

[wendy]

Oh dear, is it that bad!

In my humble opinion I'm afraid it is. Sorry.

[Ash]

A Piece of 'Gone With the Wind' Isn't Gone After All

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/books/gone-with-the-wind-chapters-get-pequot-library-display.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28

[LoveHistory]

Very cool news, Ash. Thanks for sharing it.

[Ludmilla]

I'm glad the editor persuaded her to switch the name from Pansy to Scarlett. Pansy, the name, is just so literally antithetical to the personality and image we have of Scarlett (unless she was going for irony there).

I also think "Gone with the Wind" is the best title choice. "Tomorrow is Another Day" isn't bad, as it is repeated several times throughout the story (gone with the wind is actually repeated a few times too ), but I would not have liked "Tote the Weary Load".

[Michy]

I had heard these bits and pieces before -- about the way the book was written, stuffed in envelopes that were stuffed all over her house, etc. I also believe that the opening chapter was the last part she wrote -- either immediately before submitting it to the publisher or immediately after. I've also read that she got cold feet and tried to get the manuscript back, but of course the publisher wouldn't give it back. Lucky for us. :)

(gone with the wind is actually repeated a few times too ), but I would not have liked "Tote the Weary Load". I only remember it one time -- when Scarlett returns to Tara and sees the destruction, Mitchell wrote something along the lines of, "the old life was gone with the wind that blew over Tara...."

Where else have you come across the phrase "gone with the wind?" This just emphasizes to me that it's time for me to re-read the book. :)

[Ludmilla]

I only remember it one time -- when Scarlett returns to Tara and sees the destruction, Mitchell wrote something along the lines of, "the old life was gone with the wind that blew over Tara...."

Where else have you come across the phrase "gone with the wind?"

Michy, you have a good memory if you remember that and it's been awhile since your last reading. It only struck me because I just finished reading it over last weekend, and I thought I saw it twice (but I can't always trust my memory about these things).

I'll do a word find when I can access the epub edition I have on my home computer and post back.

[Ludmilla]

Update:

I'm bored today so searched for it (in Australia's Gutenberg PDF file). You're right, Michy, I only found the exact phrase once. This occurs as Scarlett is making her way back to Tara with Melanie and Prissy, after Rhett has left them:

Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?

I could have sworn I'd seen it one other place, but it doesn't come up in the search. There are plenty of passages that recall the imagery and that refer to their way of life being gone, though. I might have been thinking of this line from chapter 7, for example:

But the South was aflame with war, events roared along as swiftly as if carried by a mighty wind and the slow tempo of the old days was gone.

I'll save the rest of my thoughts for the April discussion thread.

[Michy]

Michy, you have a good memory if you remember that and it's been awhile since your last reading. It only struck me because I just finished reading it over last weekend, and I thought I saw it twice (but I can't always trust my memory about these things).

I'll do a word find when I can access the epub edition I have on my home computer and post back. It's been about 20 years since I've read it.... My memory is very curious and illogical. There are some things that my mind retains like a steel trap. Other things my mind retains like.... well, like a steel sieve. :)

[BrianPK]

According to Wikipedia the expression "Gone with the Wind" is only used once.
Scroll down to "Title" http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Gone_With_the_Wind