Gone With the Wind

Before reading Gone with the Wind this weekend I only knew two things about it - the names and the famous phrase at the end of the book. I figured since I was snowed in all weekend it was the perfect weekend to read it. I finished the book in three days.

Now what can I say about Gone with the Wind? It's a classic. It's a masterpiece. And I loved it. The characters are so well developed over the 1000 pages that by the end if I felt like I knew them all and had images of them in my head. I had a love hate relationship with Scarett. She was just so greedy and oblivious to everything around her but at the same time she was terrified and acting out of her fear. The good balances out the bad. Even though it was set years ago, Melly was one of those great ladies that I could only wish to be at some point. Forgiving, loving, and ultratrusting. And then there were the men. Weak and silly Ashley and Rhett who was everything Ashley wasn't. Yes I loved the book and was so glad that I finally sat down and crossed this off my list. Definitely 5 stars.

Monday (on another snowy day), I sat down to watch the four-hour movie with all of the glamorous images and stories in my head. And I despised the movie as much as I liked the book. I felt like it was just a slideshow of photos from the book without any captions or explanations behind the photos. The movie made Scarlett into an even more horrible person than she really was, and it missed the boat on all of the connections I felt to the storyline and characters. And handsome Ashley wasn't handsome at all. Another great book turned into a disappointing movie.