Gone with the Wind - Enjoy with a grain of salt!

 

Gone with the Wind 

by Margaret Mitchell

5/5 stars 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Enjoy this mighty tome with a grain of salt, and historical perspective.

I do realize this book was written in the 1930's and so it does not have a "woke" sensibility, and one must read it with the time of writing in mind.

I think this will likely make my list this year as the longest book I've read!

It was very interesting to come back to this book and read it with adult eyes, and 2020 sensibilities.

I have seen the movie numerous times, and I read the book once previously as a much, much, younger woman. (Maybe even in my teens).

The book is much more complex than the movie.

The most obvious differences are that Scarlett has a child with each of her 3 husbands, not just Rhett. What struck me the most however was 2-fold.

I was really shocked at how "put down" and abused the people of Georgia were after the war. There is a LOT more about carpetbaggers and such than in the movie. We hear alot in the book about the politics of the day, and how the Confederates were not allowed to vote, and were so poor, and threadbare. In the movie this is touched on, but then it is passed over, and in the book you truly got the feeling of how subjugated and poor the Confederates were following the end of the war by the Northerners. This really helped me to understand why southerners to this day often feel the way they do. It was also surprising to me that the KKK evolved to protect the Confederates post-war from the carpetbaggers and freed persons. I did not know that the legislature of Georgia was "packed" with freed slaves, or that these freed persons would go from town to town to vote and revote for the northern Republicans.

In the book we can hear inside the character's head, and "hear" what she is thinking about the enslaved persons who are of course, African-American. Also all of the servants,etc talk in dialect, which they also do in the movie. It was very informative to hear that Scarlette thinks of her servants as children, who need caring for. This is not explicit in the movie. She also speaks of the affection the plantation families had for the servants and in many cases even tho the enslaved person is now free in the book they choose to remain with their white family, or return to the plantations.

Overall, this is truly a BIG story, in more than one way, and makes one think about the value and importance of being kind. Although I was spurred to read this by a book club selection, I'm glad I did, because reading it again with older eyes makes me think about what other books I should re-read. (less)