Rating:  Summary: Average Review: scarlett is what Gone With the Wind would have been like if had been a lifetime movie. Im not saying its nessasarily a bad thing, but it is in no way comparable to GWTW. The characters remain true to themselves, but feel a little diluted. Scarlett doesn't have her legendary sparkle and spice, but she is still very much Scarlett. The only part that is truly awful is the ending, which is so saccarhine, i could barely stand to read it. But overall, this is a slightly better than average book thats worth a try, but don't ever compare it to GWTW.
Rating:  Summary: A disappointing sequel to an amazing story. Review: I am a huge fan of Gone With the Wind, but the sequel was, in short, very disappointing. Since the first book was over 800 pages, I think that Alexandra Ripley felt pressured to make the sequel just as long. I don't have a problem with this, except that the book is really slow in some parts. You can tell a lot of unnecessary parts were added for the sake of it being a long book. Also, I felt that both Scarlett and Rhett's characters were changed by Ripley, in that I found myself thinking repeatedly: "Scarlett wouldn't do that..." or "Rhett wouldn't say that..."GWTW shows amazing talent, and a true grasp on the real meaning of things like war, tragedy, and most importantly, love: Melanie's unconditional love for Scarlett, Scarlett's love for Tara, Scarlett's childish dreams of Ashley, and Scarlett and Rhett's true love, hidden so carefully behind pride and misunderstanding. However, all that can be said about the sequel is that it brings Rhett and Scarlett back together, though the road getting there is a poorly designed one. The plot is predictable, and the characters unreal. I think the sequel to Gone With the Wind should have been written by a different, more talented writer. As it is, I would say that you would be better of bringing Rhett and Scarlett back together using your own imagination.
Rating:  Summary: Give Alexandra Ripley Some Credit Review: I am an avid fan of GWTW, and I have not only seen the movie a hundred times, but read the book just as many. I was wary of reading Scarlett, because I doubted any writer could recapture Margaret Mitchell's fantastic world of Gone With the Wind. However, I finally decided to give Scarlett a try. The honest truth is, Scarlett is not what one would expect, and goes in a direction few could have anticipated. However, Alexandra Ripley understood the high standards of GWTW fans, and rather than try to recapture The South of Mitchell's GWTW, she takes Scarlett out of Georgia and places her a new setting, where readers cannot argue about whether or not Scarlett would behave that way in this or that setting--it's a completely different world from GWTW! Perhaps what made the transition from Mitchell to Ripley so easy was taking into consideration that Scarlett is a separate book, and only one person's interpretation of what might happen to Scarlett and Rhett. Ripley used imagination and took Scarlett on a wonderful journey-- I especially loved the second part when she lives in Ireland. All in all, Ripley does a job worth comending, and Scarlett is worth the time it takes to read it.
Rating:  Summary: The main shortfall of this book... Review: ...is that "Gone With the Wind" was the story of Scarlett O'Hara's growth into a strong, courageous woman from an adolescent brat with potential unrecognized by everyone including herself, that progress hindered along the way by the "advantages" of her wealth and beauty. In the beginning of the original story, the reader is stunned and infuriated at the way she objectifies people--they're only "real" insofar as they relate to her. But then a war comes along, turns her world upside down and gives her the much-needed smack upside the head people of privilege hardly ever get in the real world. So by the time that story's thousand-or-so pages are through, she has become a tower of strength to the people around her. But more important to that, she now has a clear realization of her responsibility to those who look to her and can't survive without her strength. That earlier book's identity and unwritten subtitle as "The Most Powerful Love Story Of All Time" is but a part of the main story as a whole. But nobody's perfect, even after paying all sorts of dues, and one obsession remains neither resolved nor outgrown at the end. Having just lost Rhett, she's determined to get him back. Therein lies the transition over to this book. Alexandra Ripley's other work indicates clearly that she's a writer of romances. So she does the cliche thing. The hero of the story has just received a psychological "haymaker" and gets "decked". So as the old song goes, she picks herself up, dusts herself off, and starts all over again (doop-dee-doo) here in volume two. She does the defeated hero thing of going far away to recover from the defeat. In this case, back to her father's Auld Sod of Ireland, where she's showered with the acclaim due the big shot American Cousin. Of course, this story is about a lot more than this pilgrimage, but it's still as a whole a misinterpretation of the main premise of the book it's supposed to a sequel to. "Gone With the Wind" is a work of historical fiction, telling on the story of a rich lady whose storybook world is "rent asunder" by the Civil War, but Our Heroine gets through it by not being as effete and (sniff) wishy-washy. as those around her. This book is simply a romance with a historical setting. Probably a good romance for all that. But hardly the landmark of American literature GWTW is. That's what you get when you base a sequel on only part of the premise of the original, I guess.
Rating:  Summary: This book made me sad... Review: I was highly wary of this book to begin with--and with good reason. The book is....ridiculous, to say the least. Ripley took the MOST far-fetched idea possible and ran with it, and that would be to have Scarlett go to Ireland. Ireland!! What's worse, is that when in Ireland, the villagers practically do a dance around her because they love her so much. Ugggh! No one loves Scarlett that much. The ending was probably the worst part of the entire book, though. It is nonsensical and improbable. That said, if you manage to detach the idea that this is THE Scarlett O'Hara from THE Gone With the Wind, the book isn't an entirely bad read. When I remembered that I was reading about the "same" Scarlett, I got pretty upset, because she's just not the same at ALL, and Rhett's not even there most of the time. He's only there when it's convenient. I guess I'd recommend reading it if you've never read GWTW or seen the movie. It's better that way. Much less painful.
Rating:  Summary: Extremely Satisfied and Content Review: There has been a lot of contraversy over this book from those who hated it, and then those that loved it. I have to give Alexandra Ripley a pat on the back for going out on a limb, and creating the Sequel to a book that has entranced and captivated millions of readers... it was no easy task to be sure. But Ripley takes us back into Scarlett's life, and encaptivated my attention, anyway. I read this book in 2 weeks, and it is 800+ pages long! I thought that Scarlett had the same spunk, determination, and fearlessness that was shown in GWTW proven throughout the book. Scarlett definately grows up a lot from her "Belle of the County" former self, into a mature, loving, indepentant, admired woman who undergo's one tribulation to the next, enthrawlling the reader to keep turning the page. I think the way Alexandra Ripley had Scarlett break all of her ties to America in search of a new life showed her determination to take on the world. When I was in the part of the book where Scarlett decides to stay in Ireland for good, and create a new home in Ballyhara, I thought, "Great! Why do I have a feeling that from here on out I will have a hard time to get to the happy ending? Scarlette has to keep in her pursuit of Rhett! Go after him!" those thoughts proved foolish, because Ripley made new trials for Scarlett, and I couldn't turn the page fast enough. It went to show that Scarlett was the same self willed person who could take care of herself. At the same time though, she was determined to win back Rhett. Rhett is the same person he was in GWTW, and he remains the heart throb we all hoped Ripley would maintain. Overall, this book deserves to be shed in a good light, because it seamlessly answers all the questions we had at the end of GWTW and takes us on an adventure we will never forget. So give it a chance people!
Rating:  Summary: God Almighty! Review: I cannot begin to describe how disgustingly horrible this book is. The book's characters have no relation whatsover to that of GWTW. It's set in a whole other place, in Ireland of all places(!) and Scarlett isn't Scarlett, Rhett isn't in 80% of the book, he wouldn't have done what he did in this "sequel" of GWTW, and Scarlett could not, in a million years change the way she did. She turned from a Scarlett, to a person like Mellie, or more so. She ultimately turned into a goodie two shoes. It's disgusting. And then, in this book none of the original characters are even in here. Mellie's dead, Mammy got chopped off, Rhett is as good as invisible, and only sometimes comes into the story and Ashley, well Ashley barely exists. The only good part in the whole book was meeting Rhett's side of the family. But then, when you find out that another women loves Rhett, I mean for goodness sake. That one star should not be there it should be more like a -2 star. I like reading books that are set during the time of the Civil War, the time just interests me. But in this, it barely mentions the huge event in the American life that altered our life. Some parts were good then the whole thing was ruined because one or the other has said or done something idiotic. All in all, if you want to read a sequel to a book without reading the first book read "Scarlett" because if you read the first one and then the second one you will be sorely dissapointed.
Rating:  Summary: So it's not Margaret Mitchell's GWTW - so what? Review: That's right, it's not Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind". It's Alexandra Ripley's. And unless you're just opposed in principle to the idea of one author writing about another author's fictional characters, you'll find Ripley's "Scarlett" holds up very well on its own. She has done a fine job of finding the "voices" of Mitchell's characters, and as someone who has read GWTW at least 20 times, I can vouch for the fact that never, no NEVER, did I look up from the page indignantly shouting, "Wait a minute - [he/she] would NEVER have said/done that!" Well done, Miss Ripley - thanks!
Rating:  Summary: Ok, but not a Margaret Mitchell Review: Being born in Jonesboro, Ga just like Scarlett and reading the first book I couldn't wait to read the second. The beginning was good, but when she went back to Tara and Mammy died it got bad. In the first five chapters Melly is buried, Mammy dies, Rhett leaves and she leaves Ashley and Tara, the things she seemed to love the most beside Rhett. You hardly ever hear of Rhett and when you do it is about how Scarlett is afraid he will take Cat away from her. I think Ripley is a great writer and it was hard to write like Mitchell, but I thought the book was really not that great. She should have mentioned Rhett more and not ended the book right when they got back together.
Rating:  Summary: Wow! Review: Scarlett is writen by Margaret Mitchell. She uses a very unique style whcih I find very appealing. Scarlett breaks up with Rhett, then leaves to Ireland. Rhett thought she left him for another man so he got a divorce and married someone else. Scarlett bought some land with the money she got from Rhett earlier. A group called the Fennians were using here land as headquarters and using her for weapons. This is a great romance sequal to one of the greatest love stories ever written.
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