Gone with the Wind {the book}

This week, I put the pedal to the metal and read Gone with the Wind.  It is such a long book, and I couldn't decide whether it was worth my time as I have seen and love the movie, but the southern drawl is so annoying, I didn't know if I could handle so much southern silliness. So for a while, I had been reading a paragraph here, a page there.  But this week, I decided to just dive in and I'm glad I did because...


It was unbelievable!


Aside from Pride and Prejudice, which shall always be held in high esteem as my favorite novel, Gone with the Wind takes the cake as my second best favorite.


I encourage everyone to read it.


The movie left out a lot, I mean, how could it not, the book was over 800 pages, but it covered the majority, and aside from leaving stuff out, they didn't add to it, which always annoys me when they do that.


Having seen the movie before reading the book, it was fun putting the faces that I watched on the characters in the book.  I'd have to say that I now perfectly understand why they cast Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Clark Gable as Rhett.  They portrayed the characters perfectly, and their looks were right on.  Clark Gable as the strong handsome man that he was and Vivien as the leading lady that everyone wants to strangle.


Reading the book added so much more appreciation to the story that I already loved.
The struggle between the two, never sharing the same emotion at the same time, the struggle between holding onto the civilization of the past that is now, Gone with the Wind, and embracing the new age.  Wanting to slap and shake sense into both of them.  Rhett's obvious heartbreak every time she thought of Ashley, as he can read her thoughts.


The book told you so much more about the thoughts and feelings of the characters that you can't always get from a look on screen.  And the historical background, wow, there's a lot of history there.  I've never been a history buff.  In fact, Social Studies was the one subject that I abhorred.  I never cared to learn anything in that class through the years.  Especially about wars.  The thought of a war sickens me and the thought of learning about one evokes the same emotion.  And though the events of the war was told in a biased tone of the upper class, I learned a lot and I was intrigued.  


I have to admit, that even though I knew the ending to the story, I couldn't help hoping that it would be different.  That these 2 troubled people would get on the same page and live happily ever after.  Everyone loves a happy ending, well, I know that I do.  At least it leaves hope, or to others, despair, as it leaves the reader to decide the future of these 2 characters.


I have put Gone with the Wind at the top of my netflix queue and I look forward to re-watching and comparing sometime this week.  :)