Frankly, ’’My dear(s), I don’t give a damn.’’ At least not about ordinary run-of-the-mill love stories, I don’t! But I haven’t stopped thanking my stars yet for having the good sense to borrow this book from a friend to give reading it a shot, since I’d heard so much about it. And I loved every single page of it....yes all 1000 odd pages were absolutely breathtaking!
Right from Scarlett’s carefree existence at Tara, to her life as a shrewd, calculating, hard-hearted business woman as Mrs. Frank Kennedy, in Atlanta, Ms. Mitchell manages to capture the reader’s attention through the whole heart-breaking process of transformation. Not once does the narrative slow down, thanks to the sheer magic that the author’s words weave, transporting one so effortlessly to the time when war ravaged the Americas.
At the risk of being ridiculed, I seriously beg to differ with all my book-loving buddies who call this novel a love story. This masterpiece is so much more than a saga of love. It is a tragic, intense, masterpiece of human emotions that manages to stay just beneath the surface of your memory forever.
Rhett Butler, Scarlett O’ Hara, Melanie Wilkes, Ashley Wilkes, Mammy, Charles Hamilton, Frank Kennedy..... the list of unforgettable characters, each portrayed with such great attention to detail, promise to stay on in my mind forever. Speaking of which, parts of the book where Rhett’s character comes through, sometimes reminded me of Howard Roarke, Ayn Rand’s protagonist from ’Fountainhead, ’ making me wonder if maybe the two authors had etched these characters based on the same philosophy of ’selfishism’ (hey did I just coin a new word here ?!).
All said and done, I know for sure I have finally developed a taste for epic stories belonging to this genre. And that’s definitely something I can brag about since I’ve always had a short attention span. So what’s next on my list?
Colleen McCullough’s ’Thornbirds, ’ and ’Scarlett’ the sequel inspired by ’Gone With The Wind.’ And of course, I’m dying to see the four hour long movie starring Vivian Leigh & Clark Gable to see if it measures up to the exceptionally high standards set by this mind-blowing classic. Hope you enjoy reading this ’monumental epic’ as much as yours truly did!