Review Me Twice - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

So, truth time.  I didn't finish the book this week.  But, in my defense it's a REALLY long book, and I came pretty close to finishing it (according to my Kindle, I'm 87% of the way through it.)  I feel like I've hit a lot of the important stuff, and what I haven't hit, well, I've seen the movie.

Speaking of which, as usual, there is SO MUCH that the movie left out.  Like did you know that Scarlett had THREE kids?  Yeah, that's right, three.  And she had sisters and she was married three times (though, thinking back on this I think I kind of remember this from the movie, but they really barely talk about husband number two.)

Also, the book really wasn't all what I expected.  I was expecting a stuffy book talking about how great the south was an how they were wronged and for it to be all about the war!  And the south will rise again!

Not at all about that.  Scarlett hates the war and, while we do learn a fair amount about late 1800s politics, it's not necessarily the focus.  You actually get a much better picture about what the war was about, and how BAD things were post-war.

Also, the book is so incredibly FEMINIST.  I mean, I was stunned.  Scarlett is an incredibly forward thinking female.  She hates that she has to act a certain way to make men like her, and the fact that men never really want women to speak their minds infuriates her and she realizes early on that she's smarter than most of them.  She bucks society and does things like have a job: she runs a lumber mill, incredibly successfully, better than the men, and when she gets pregnant, she doesn't let her "condition" stop her from going out in public.

Really, I was just incredibly and plesantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book (and will probably continue to enjoy it, once I finish it.)

You have no idea how happy I am that Cassy also didn't finish this book, because you guys have no idea what a freakishly fast reader that woman is. But I also didn't finish it. Because it is absurdly long.

I started the book hating everybody. Scarlett seemed like a brat, and all the men seemed so fake, but they grew on me. I might pick it up again at some point (but my priority is to read the next several books we're going to review, now that this one isn't hanging over me anymore). I've heard a lot of people say this is a good read for a whole summer, and I can't argue with that. It's just the right length to start reading right after school lets out, and finish just before it's back in session. Plus it just feels summery to me, being set in the South and all.

I'm definitely more of a short story and novella person, so reading something this long was an ordeal for me. I don't normally read things that I have to put down more than once or twice due to time. So this was quite an adventure for me, and I'm not sure I enjoy it any more than I did before, but I gave it a shot.