The heroine, if you can call her that, Scarlett O'Hara, plays people like pawns, and only cares about two things: herself and Ashely Wilke. Throughout the Civil War, Reconstruction in Atlanta, Georgia, and three marriages, Scarlett can't seem to come to terms with anyone, and is most spiteful towards everyone, including (and perhaps especially) her own children and husbands.

Despite everything, I was moved to tears at the end.

The characters, most of whom were selfish, coy, and obnoxious. I was also disappointed with the ending.

Tape it back together, since I was reading my Grandma's 1939 movie version of the book, and it's falling apart. Then, I wanted to throw it across the room. After these two feelings passed, I decided I had to listen to depressing and/or solemn music until I nearly drove myself crazy.

Frustrated and annoyed were the two predominate feelings that I felt while I was reading. And now that I'm done, I can't stop thinking about it, and how, despite the fact that Scarlett got what was coming to her at the end, it was disappointing.

If you think that you get frustrated easily, or tend to linger on certain subjects, I really don't recommend reading this book. It sticks with you in a way that...grr, never mind. It just does. Also, if you are easily offended by language, this may not be the book for you. It is important, however, to realize that the main characters are Southern ladies and gentlemen just before, during, and after the Civil War, and that some of the words they use are appropriate to the time period.

As a note, I added the photographs to the star rating stuff above because my book did include photos from the movie. They happened to be ill-placed in the book, and when there were captions, they tended to be from portions of the book that were at least 10 pages away.

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Created Jul 08, 2003 at 1:28am • Submit your own review...