Absolutely loved this book. I typed out this whole post and had given it a 9/10, but felt I was being too stingy, and went back and corrected it to the proper 10 it deserves. I have literally no complaints, so a 10/10 is fully warranted. I was a little nervous going into this one because it's 1,000+ pages and I was worried it would be an overly sappy love story or about attending endless balls and entertaining gentlemen callers. I was familiar with the closing line from the movie, but that's about it. But my fears were quickly alleviated when I saw that Mitchell's writing style was up my alley and her characters were interesting. Give me good writing and good characters, and I can happily go for a 1,000+ page ride. And if the story is interesting, then you've got yourself a 9/10 minimum book. Scarlett O'Hara was a tremendous character. It's fun when the main character is so flawed but you root for them anyway. Mitchell does not hide Scarlett's flaws but gets you on her side despite some pretty despicable conduct throughout most of the book. She certainly has a lot of gumption. And Rhett Butler was a fantastic character as well. Their interactions together were always entertaining. They gave me His Girl Friday vibes for sure. And there were many great side characters as well, too many to name, but a special shoutout to the legend Melanie Hamilton who was pure goodness. I also liked the setting of the Civil War in the South which gave the book an increased sense of authenticity or realism, like this was a real story with real people. It was also interesting getting the viewpoint of the South which Mitchell does a nice job of presenting. Just a great book. Highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading.
Few quotes:
"'Or maybe she'll accept both of you, and then you'll have to move to Utah, if the Mormons'll have you - which I doubt."
"When Scarlett first began secretly reading these letters, she had been so stricken of conscience and so fearful of discovery she could hardly open the envelopes for trembling. Now, her never-too-scrupulous sense of honor was dulled by repetition of the offense and even fear of discovery had subsided. Occasionally, she thought with a sinking heart, 'What would Mother say if she knew?' She knew Ellen would rather see her dead than know her guilty of such dishonor. This had worried Scarlett at first, for she still wanted to be like her mother in every respect. But the temptation to read the letters was too great and she put the thought of Ellen out of her mind. She had become adept at putting unpleasant thoughts out of her mind these days. She had learned to say, 'I won't think of this or that bothersome thought now. I'll think about it tomorrow.' Generally when tomorrow came, the thought either did not occur at all or it was so attenuated by the delay it was not very troublesome. So the matter of Ashley's letters did not lie very heavily on her conscience."
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