I know, I know, that sounds bloody boring but I’m sorry, I’m actually obsessed with the book. I thought it would be boring, but it’s the first book I’ve read that has so much Gal Power based in a time when women were pretty much worse than the show pieces on the mantle piece. Of course another book that comes to mind it Pride and Prejudice, which I’m pretty sure was nothing near the movie Bride and Prejudice (though I haven’t actually seen it), but according to me was a bore nonetheless. I know that by saying that, I probably just turned about a million people against me (yeah right! As if a million will ever read this blog), but it was one of the most degrading books I have ever read. The entire purpose for a girl in her life was to look pretty so that she can find a beau, I mean, puh-lease! Sure Elisabeth Bennet was different from the rest, but she ended up doing the same, only after stupidly predictable events which pretty much reminded me of our average Hindi movie story. Liz and Darcy meet, hate each other, Darcy then falls in love, proposes, Liz says no, of course later falls in love, Darcy says no, and eventually both fall in love with each other at the same time, finally. Oh, and all this while, Liz’s sisters are getting married or blushing and fluttering their eyelids. Bah!
So, why am I in love with Gone with the wind, which is four times thicker than P & P and sounds even more boring? Because this book revolves around a pretty little girl who is so evil and manipulative, she could put the wildest cheerleader of your usual English high school movie to shame. Scarlett. Just the name somehow, shows her character. She’s the prettiest little thing in town, and actually enjoys fluttering her eyelids and flirting more than anything else. She has a long list of handsome men who want to ask for her hand, but of course, being the spoilt brat that she is, falls for the one guy Ashley, who as per his family tradition, marries his cousin Melanie. Now Scarlett thinks that Ashley betrayed her and he’s her true love, throws a huge tantrum, and when that doesn’t work, marries Melanie’s brother, a stuttering fool who couldn’t believe his luck at getting Scarlett. Of course she regrets her decision but there isn’t much she can do then. That’s when Yankees start the war against Southerners and her entire life changes. All the men are called away for the war, and her hubby dearest, falls sick even before reaching the war front and dies, leaving her with a son who she simply detests, because she didn’t love his father.
So now our seventeen year old widow is left all alone, crying, not because her husband died, but because she has to wear black and cant wear any of her old fancy colourful dresses. Of course while all this is happening, we have guest appearances of amchi hero, Rhett Buttler, who has more money than one could ever imagine, and has been shunned by society for taking a walk with a girl without a chaperone and not returning until after dark, and then refusing to marry her. Now Rhett is suave villain, one who could easily put the legendary James Bond to shame. Scarlett of course hates him, and Rhett at first isn’t too fond of her. But he’s attracted to her because he sees right through her pretty little face and admires her for her gumption and ambitions.
And so continues the story, throughout the war time. Most of Scarletts beaus die in the war, including her mother, and her father goes crazy and ends up dead too after sometime. So Scarlett pulls up her sleeves and gets to work on her burnt farm, something she had never done before. The amount of courage shown by this girl in the book is what got me hooked. And also her will to do whatever it took, however mean it might be. Ashley becomes a prisoner of war leaving her to look after Melanie, who is the purest little thing ever and who Scarlett detests with all her heart. The book proceeds with amazing speed after the first hundred pages, and has beautiful descriptions especially the famous "Burning of Atlanta" scene which also became famous because of the movie (which by the way is one of the longest movies ever made and got loads of Oscars). The selfishness and meanness of Scarlett is breathtaking, if I may take the liberty of calling it so. By the end of the book her name is Scarlett o’ Harra Hamilton Henry Buttler, simply because she married so many times, and not even one of those time because of love.
The ending is amazing, unlike anything I would’ve expected or have ever seen before, growing up in a country where all love stories’ endings are governed by the laws of Bollywood and are pretty clichéd. Maybe it is the ending that made me love the book so much, even though it sent me into a huge depression and a frantic search for "Scarlett", which is the second part. If you’ve actually gotten so far reading this humongous thing I just wrote, there are chances you might want to know the ending, so just ask me.
The sequel, "Scarlett" is not by the same author, even though it took several years to decide who should be honored with the task of writing it. There are some people who didn’t like it, because Scarlett seems to have mellowed down and isn’t as mean as before, and also because the original author had not wanted a sequel, and had wished the story to end in the drastic way it did. I agree with them. But if you really do want to continue following up on whether Scarlett did manage to do the thing that she claims on the last page that she’ll do even if it was the last thing she ever did, do read the next part.
Sorry for bumming anyone who did read the entire blog, but I just felt like writing about my favourite novel. Next time, I’ll give a warning, promise.
