Book Review: Gone with the Wind 

By Margaret Mitchell 

5 Stars 

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is the feminine version of the Red Badge of Courage. While soldiers fight on the battlefield, Melanie Hamilton Wilkes goes into labour. As the men of Congress bare their teeth at each other, Scarlett O’Hara Hamilton Kennedy puts on her best dress in a desperate bid to support the hungry mouths back at home. Similarly, it is also the American Anna Karenina. Both end in similar tragedies as war strips them bare of their slaves, their rights and their husbands, leaving them to make one last decision that will change their lives… or end it.  

Beginning before the Civil War, continuing throughout it, and ending after it, Gone With the Wind is a classic you must read. Despite the grave overtones of racism that are never solved, Mitchell writes the perfect Southern diary, the story of a young belle discovering the harshness of humanity - her own and others’ - and struggling to survive. She paints a picture so vivid, you are transported into the past to sit next to Scarlett as she drives back to town with Will Benteen, you feel her rage as she discovers the sin of her sister, and her sorrow at the death of her parents. Though the writing style is in purple prose, dramatic and over-styled, it floats you along like the ocean, keeping you close as often as possible and only finally letting go when you reach the end. And by the time you reach the end, you will wish it wasn’t over. 

Reviewed by Ayesha 

View in Library Catalogue: Print