Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchells Gone With the Wind

Rating:
Summary: What's the matter with Scarlett?
Review: I have watched GWTW many times (but not read it yet) and I have read 'Scarlett' looong time ago but in a jump around mode (because I was not a good reader back then) and I thought well, it was a very romantic sequence. Then I watched the 'Scarlett' miniseries and thought I liked the book version better. Now, finally I got the chance to read the book as a whole and ... I can not say it is totally good anymore.

I enjoyed first chapters very much although some may say that Ms. Ripley taken Mammy out too quickly from the picture but I found no trouble with that. In fact, I became to know who Scarlett was, a determined, fight-till-the-last-drop heroine. I think Ms. Ripley has done a nice job for making the event in Tara and make Scarlett showed herself instead of just moping and get on with life in Atlanta.

When the event was turning from America to Ireland, I also didn't find it disturbing. I was actually glad she found something new and I love Irish themed things. As when Scarlett realized how bad she had treated Rhett and all of the people around her and for not thinking consequences of her acts, I really loved her then. She became a woman finally, not just I-want-it-the-way-I-want girl. The mature side was emphasized by the unconditional love she felt for Cat.

As for the Georgia's Tara, Scarlett did love the land and fought for it, but in the end, after she had Ballyhara and know the 'real' Tara, she inherit the land to Wade, her son from Hamilton (not Sue Ellen as a review mentioned. Scarlett knew better than that). It was a logical thing. When you have a nature like Scarlett who sometimes could be generous towards those that matters to her when needed plus her new found wisdom, yes, that could happen.

But somehow, from somewhere after she gave birth till the finish, I found the plot went out of the track:
1. If Scarlett loved her child more than anything in the world, how could she leave her in 6 weeks? There was no phone yet remember? How could a mother, who supposed to love the last child she ever gonna have, not get anxious about how her baby was doing in a day? Why didn't she take Cat with her? She certainly can bring a maid for Cat and arrange so nobody found out that she had a daughter (would it be a nice event? the hide and seek game). And how slow minded she was in finding out that the people of Ballyhara scared of Cat? I'd say she didn't care a bit about Cat, all she thought was I I I me me me.
2. When Fenton bluntly asked her to marry him, stating the plain terms of their marriage, I thought, well, Scarlett would certainly open her eyes wide now, but no. She accepted the proposal just because she thought Rhett would get a new baby form Anne and Cat would have a clean reputation, thanks to Fenton's money and title. God's nightgown! Clean reputation? From whom? The English? Who cared? Cat was unsafe from the Irish, not English! And Scarlett worsened it by accepting the proposal. Where her devotion to her love of her land and people? Gone the woman I was getting to know. Back to the Fiddle-dee-dee air headed girl who would stop at nothing. But at least that girl loved Tara with all her heart. This Scarlett... I'm sorry to say, I don't know her at all.

So now I think the miniseries version is much better than the book except for the misfit actor and actress. I wish they spent more time in casting. Would someone make a remake please?

Rating:
Summary: Stupid, stupid, stupid
Review: I thought to myself, how bad can the book be already? Well, BAD. I loved Gone With the Wind, and this is a terrible, terrible sequel. Save your time reading this, because it will only ruin GWTW for you. It was written horribly. This sequel is empty, shallow, & plainly meaningless. The depth that GWTW had for every character is GONE. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS!

Rating:
Summary: Ludicrous concept
Review: It has been a number of years since I rushed out and purchased my first edition copy of Scarlett and devoured it in a day. The bad taste left in my mouth then, remains with me today.

I found the entire idea of Scarlett abandoning her beloved South for Ireland to be the most insulting thing ever thrust upon a fan of any story. I am supposed to believe that this is what happens to the Great AMERICAN Novel's storyline?

I am also hard pressed to believe that Scarlett, a woman who tried so desperately to emulate her genteel mother, would somehow find herself evolving into an action hero. During the painful course of my journey through the pages I was constantly finding myself rolling my eyes and shaking my head. By the end, I was relatively certain that Ripley's primary influence was Bruce Willis in Die Hard and that she had never as much as had turned a single page of Mitchell's original work.

I am deeply offended that the Mitchell Trusts allowed this literary travesty to happen.

My only consolation is in knowing that this volume is rightly filling landfills the way no other book ever has, making remaining copies such as my own, an oddity whose collectible value increases with every year.

It is based on that premise alone that I would encourage anyone to consider its purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Stick to Gone with the Wind
Review: Margaret Mitchell was often asked if there would ever be a sequel to Gone with the Wind, what would happen to scarlett? Rhett? Would they ever get back together? She said the story ended where the book ended, and it should have remained as such. The first book was magnificent, it was not just about the love life of Scarlett, it was also about life during the civil war and how to overcome the hardships that war brings.

Writing a sequel to Gone with the Wind when you are not Margaret Mitchell is a daunting and unnecessary task. The story starts where the original book ended, some characters die so we are left with Scarlett going after Rhett page after page. She is not the same strong, stubborn, witty woman she was and has become a 30 year old immature girl acting like she's a teenager with a crush. She's boring talks about food, rhett, food again and money of course. The characters that surround her, except for Rhett's mom and a few of her extended family members, have no depth, are uninteresting and are so numerous that you don't remember who is who. Rhett is no longer charming, witty or smart and himself behaves like a child. He barely appears in the book.

The story takes us from Tara to Atlanta to Charleston to Savannah to Ireland and back and forth again. The first 350 pages are ok: the description of charlestonian 19th century way of life is very interesting and well researched, the book remains in the style of the original GWTW. But the rest is a succession of boring, uninteresting scenes made of many childish dialogues. The book has a hurried hollywood ending that does not make much sense but thank god puts an end to this abysmal soap opera.

I give it 2 stars because 1/3rd of the book is readable. I'll have to read the original GWTW again very soon so as to forget this terrible sequel.

Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining Dissappointment...
Review: After reading Gone With the Wind, I also read this book (and the dismal The Wind Done Gone) as a curiosity. I'm glad I read it, mostly because I could say I did. I also expected the worst, but in the end I believe that this book is entertaining, but not incredibly believable.

The most striking part of this book was how little Rhett was in it. This upset me - I'd hoped that for a book on Scarlett and Rhett's reconciliation, the two characters could actually talk their problems out instead of meeting during a ridiculous bit of danger in a stone tower. Maybe I'm too modern. I also thought that Rhett would need more convincing to re-fall in love with Scarlett. The idea that he was in actuality just repressing his true feelings totally misunderstands Rhett. I also, like many, didn't buy Scarlett's transformation into a loving mother. I did like Cat and Scarlett's relationship with Cat, but it could have been handled better.

The book was also too long - not really length-wise, but after the book got to Ireland it seemed to really, really drag. At about page 500-600 I was begging for the book to be over. And when the book does eventually end, everything is wrapped up too neatly. Ashely has a new wife. Column and Mrs. Fitz end in tragedy, and nobody really cares. What a shame.

And yet, the book is entertaining for many long stretches. I loved Alexandra Ripley's new characters. Rhett's mom, the grandfather, and Scarlett's Irish family were all great fun to read about and I enjoyed learning about them. Even still, entertaining scenes don't make for a good novel. This book is decent, especially if you have low expectations, but I don't believe this is what "really" happened.

Rating:
Summary: Don't read this book!
Review: hey don't read this book, i'll save you the trouble, first couple chapters good, middle is just a waste of space and MY time cause i actually read it hoping and praying that it would get better, it doesn't,, i was soo bored, but i refused to stop reading cause i had to know, i just had to know, well i'm saving you the trouble that i went through, After being missing for about 80% of the book he finally returns in the last chaper and they get back together.
this book left me with questions also, but this time i just did not want to know...
i was so disapointed as were most people who read this book too long to boring, good thing i only paid 50 cent for it,, he he

What this book is useful for:
-a door-stop
-a thing to level a table
-a hard writing service
-something to throw when upset
-something to sit on your shelf
-some ideas about the olden irish days IN Ireland
but not for a good time read
and thats my two cents!

Rating:
Summary: Scarlett isn't some lovey-dovey woman...
Review: I started reading this book and I liked it... at first. Scarlett was her normal speak whats on her mind, doesn' think before she acts, stubborn and willfull self. She wanted Rhett back and nothing would stand in her way. After Cat is born however, she TOTALLY changes. She is nice, sweet and kind. This is not Scarlett. I admit, in Gone with the Wind, I wwould cringe when i read some of the horrible things she did and think "Don't so that!" But now... I would gladly have her do that ALL the time. Ripley has turned her into someone she is not, and I am going to have to re-read GWTW many times before I get this picture of her out of head! Then there's the whole Ireland thing....
Scarlett would not leave the South for Ireland! She would not give Tara to her sister, the sister she hated more than anything, and she would not run away from Rhett. The Scarlett in GWTW would have stayed outside his doorstep untill he let her in.
If you are going to read this book, read untill she leaves Ireland for a visit to the South to take car of business, and then read the 10 pages or so, the rest is with charachters not in GWTW and with a pointless plot line. Read till then and the end, and you'll get everything you wanted.






Rating:
Summary: the price says it all
Review: you can obtain a used copy for 1 cent. Book owners happy to make a dollar from the postage. The TV movie Scarlett was as sad as the book. Leave Tara and go Ireland. Scarlett would have never done it, and neither would Margaret Mitchell. I suggest, that if you really want an ending, to just read GWTW or watch the movie, and set down and write your own personal ending..... It couldn't be worse. Leave Tara, and go to Ireland..... Yea right.

Rating:
Summary: Pure Fluff
Review: This book makes a mockery of Gone with the Wind and should not be allowed to be called its sequl.

Rating:
Summary: it was boring!
Review: it was the most boring book i have come across. it pales in comparison with the original. it was like a cheasy romance novel that sells a dime a dozen. when i finished the original gwtw i was excited to know the sequel, boy i was dissappointed... most part of the novel was like so unimportant to the stroy. it took me a very long time to finish reading this book, because it was so boring. but i guess all gone with the wind fans out there has to read it for themselves to say that it stunk, big time!