Rating:  Summary: Some things should be left well enough alone Review: I can't help by feel that it takes a certain amount of narcisstic arrogance to pen a sequel to one of the best loved novels of all time. While Alexandra Ripley obviously attempted Scarlet as a labor of love, her work comes up short. The tone and voice of the characters is somehow dishonest to the ear of this reader. Some things, as our grandmothers taught us, are better left alone.
Rating:  Summary: Certainly Not Scarlett Review: Perhaps this is being picky, but Ripley's Scarlett bears little resemblance to Mitchell's Scarlett. Ripley's tale is consistently engaging as a story standing by itself, but just isn't convincing as a sequel to Gone with the Wind. Some of Scarlett's actions in this book ring true, but not most of them. Neither, in fact, do Rhett's, who gets very few scenes here. Can any fan of Gone with the Wind truly believe that the beautiful and conceited Scarlett O'Hara would ever forgo corsets and prance around in peasant clothes? Ha! Scarlett spends almost the whole novel scheming to get Rhett, and that is quite believable. She follows him to Charleston but eventually leaves due to various reasons, none of them pleasant. It seems like Rhett still harbors feelings for her, though, so she doesn't give up. The reader gets to meet her aunts in Savannah, her grandfather, and a bevy of O'Hara cousins who give spark to the novel. However, with the Irish kinfolk comes a tiresome subplot about the Fenian brotherhood that fuels the second half of the book. When Scarlett travels to Ireland the story veers off into the unScarlett-like behavior and never fully recovers. The ending is also farfetched. It's hard to believe that Scarlett could change so much . . . it's untrue to her character. And what is a GWTW sequel without it's greedy, manipulative, and indomitable heroine? Anyway, the novel is good, just not as a sequel to one of the most beloved novels of all time.
Rating:  Summary: Wonderful Review: This past month I have spent reading GWTW and Scarlett. After finishing GWTW, I was not satisfied...Scarlett's too strong a character not to have Rhett. Despite the comments from the critics and unsatisfied readers, I read Scarlett and found it to be a wonderful book. Every setting makes you think you are there, every description of Scarlett's clothes makes you think they are in your closet, and the storyline keeps you guessing what will happen next. Even if you start to read it and don't like it, then try to make it to the end...for the last 20 pages or so, this book did not leave my hands. Rhett is not in the whole book, but when he does "show up" you can't help but smile and realize he'll always be back. I strongly urge anyone who's read Gone With The Wind to read this sequal...It's wonderful.
Rating:  Summary: YOU HAVE TO READ THIS !!! Review: Scarlett is one of the best books ever written. It follows GWTW completely, it is almost as if they were the same book. The style is the same as Margaret Mitchell's for the first half, and then, on the second half, it changes a little, but in a good way. And, as someone already mentioned, yes, Rhett does end up with Scarlett, but come on, wasn't that what we all wanted ? This book is definitely worth buying. I did, and I don't think I have ever made a better buy.
Rating:  Summary: wonderful Review: I am a sophmore in high school, and for a book report my english class had to read a "classic" book. My teacher recommended "Gone WIth the Wind." when i looked at it i almost passed out. Two weeks to read 1,024 pages?? i had never read a book that long. But upon reading it, it only took me two days. I couldn't put it down. I absolutely loved it. The thing about it though, was that the ending left me depressed! i couldnt understand how mitchell could just end the book like that, so sad and heart wrenching. i cried, and i usually dont cry while reading books. i immediately thought of the sequel. i had to know what happened to rhett and scarlett. this book was absolutely wonderful. it gave me a peace of mind knowing that scarlett and rhett and their daughter would live happily ever after. Ireland and the O'hara's were facinating, and the book captivated me the entire way through. I also loved the way scarlett grew up, but still had the same qualities that readers loved and admired her for. I recommend this sequel to anyone who likes a happy ending and is searching for a peace of mind.
Rating:  Summary: Did Margaret Mitchell's classic REALLY need a sequel? Review: By itself, this is quite a good book. Ms. Ripley's usage of literary elements is very good, as is her "storytelling" talents. However.....I still don't understand WHY Gone With the Wind HAD to have a sequel. One should understand; Margaret Mitchell based GWTW on things that happened in her own life and on her own love experiences. It's always harder to take up another writer's pen and write about his/her characters ( Take the VC Andrews Books for instance...) But....the book is an interesting read in its own right and to me, is 100 times better than the horrible miniseries where Joanne Whalley Kilmer butchers the role of Scarlett and Timothy Dalton comes just an inch short of playing a real Rhett Butler. The facts are the facts, folks: This might be a nice evening time read, but nothing's better than the original. Period.
Rating:  Summary: Not as good as first one Review: I LOVED Gone With the Wind and had high expecations for it's sequel. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped, though it was nice to have some kind of closure to the Scarlett-Rhett relationship, a better closure than what we're left with at the end of Gone With the Wind.
Rating:  Summary: THIS "Book" SUCKS!!!! Review: I cannot believe such a hirrifying book has been published! I had to read it because I had to know what will happen to my favourite charachters of all time,i started it, read maybe a 1/3 and i just couldn't do it anymore! this Ripley woman is a disgrace, don't start something you have no idea how to do!!! Scarlett was made act so stupid at times, Rhett was so bland and boring,the writing was of a 2nd grader.if you want to know what happens in the end just save yourself some time and read the last pages, (the ending is not exciting either), yes it ends happily,they get together at the end, but come on Ripley, i could have thought of it myself!!!
Rating:  Summary: After GWTW, What did you expect? Review: I think everyone started reading this book expecting another GWTW and Alexandra Ripley is NOT Margaret Mitchell. But she is still an excellent writer with a slightly different style. GWTW, in my opinion, is a novel that practically begs for a sequel, but on the other hand it seems to be next to impossible to write a good one. Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler are such complex characters with such conflicting emotions that I believe that the only person who ever really understood them was Margaret Mitchell. I know that not every story has a happy ending and in real life very few do, but that is why people read books. At least that is why I do. I enjoyed GWTW, but every time I read it my heart breaks for the characters. It is a wonderful peice of literature, but the ending leaves me slightly depressed for days and I ask myself why I read it over and over.After reading Scarlett I finally felt like I could rest easily because Scarlett had found happiness. In the 2nd book Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler seems to finally be sorry for the things she had done and she seemed kinder and less cold. While I don't think that Margaret Mitchell intended on having her portrayed that way, I certainly liked it.
Rating:  Summary: a young reader in Illinois Review: This was a really good book! Ripley wrote Scarlett in the same style of Gone With the Wind so it was easy to believe that it was really the sequel. Scarlett is an exciting book with many twists in the plot. It is a long book, and I was not interested through the whole book, but some parts were really exciting! If you liked Gone With the Wind, you should definatly read Scarlett.
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