Review: Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

Title: Gone With the Wind
Author: Margaret Mitchell
Publisher: Macmillan
Publishing Date: 1936
Length: 959 pages
Summary: (From book) Margaret Mitchell's epic saga of love and war has long been heralded The Great American Novel. Gone With the Wind explores the depths of human passions with indelible depictions of the burning fields and cities of Civil War and Reconstruction America. 
In the two main characters, the irresistible, tenacious Scarlett O'Hara and the formidable, debonair Rhett butler, Margaret Mitchell gives us a timeless story of survival and two of the most famous lovers in the English-speaking world since Romeo and Juliet. 
Gone With the Wind is a thrilling, haunting and vivid book that readers will remember for the rest of their lives.

My Thoughts:  Wow. Well, this was not what I had expected. I always thought Gone With the Wind to be a beautiful love story that weaves through the South's perspective on the hardships on the Civil War. Instead, I got to read a book about a selfish female who was about as ditzy as they come and incredibly selfish. What do people see in her? Irresistible? Hardly. I wanted to slap her.  Granted, I almost felt bad for her at parts. She was a character who unfolded the tragic deviating of childhood ignorance and compassionate Christianity to vain, selfish and cruel loss of self.  She was incredibly mean to her own children. I don't want a book about Rhett Butler's family or what happened years later after Scarlett's vow at the end. What I want is a book written from the POV of Wade, her oldest and most neglected child. That poor boy needs therapy.
I don't feel like this book was about the South. It felt more like a depiction of humanity and the choices we make in a time of crisis and the question of if we will hold out and still be compassionate to those in need when all we really want to do is think only of ourselves.
Rhett Butler is a fascinating character. Outwardly, he appears shallow, dirty and sardonic, but when you get glimpses of him with children, he is incredibly kind.  And he has nothing but respect towards Mellie who I loved most of all. But he didn't seem like the type of hero to fawn over, or even a hero at all. Just a very broken, somewhat abusive man.
Ashley felt pathetic and the only really strong, lovable character was Mellie who was too innocent and good seeking to realize all the bad that was going on around her.
This book was about the different types of people there are in the world and how they deal with complete and utter loss. Some come through with their virtue and meekness intact, and others have thrown it under the bus and neglected all that they were taught in.
I found this to be a very interesting and thought provoking book, but was very disappointed in the main characters.
Things To Be Cautious Of:  Everything. Swearing throughout, including several harsh versions of the Lord's name, a desired affair, hints of passion, whore houses and glorifying of the KKK.

Review: The Outsiders, By S.E. Hinton

Title: The Outsiders
Author: S.E. Hinton
Publisher: Viking Press
Publishing Date: 1965
Length: 188 pages
Summary: (from book)  In Ponyboy's world there were two types of people. You could be a soc, one of the rich society kids, and get away with anything. Or if you weren't lucky you could be a greaser, like he was. Living on the outside, Ponyboy knew where his loyalties lay: with his brothers Darry and Soda, and with Johnny and their gang. 
Hanging out at Darry's house, where they made their own rules, or rumbling with the socs, it was the best of times. Until Johnny went too far. Defending Ponyboy's life, Johnny pulled a knife...and a soc was dead. Johnny and Ponyboy were on the run, but they couldn't escape the violence they left behind.


My Thoughts: This is a YA classic that I've never read before. I can see why it's been so popular. I especially loved the character, Soda. I thought this was a good book, but not one of my favorites. I love the fact that the author began writing this at fifteen.
Things To Be Cautious Of: Mild fighting, some death, violence and occasional swear words.

Review: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Title:  Unbroken
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Publisher: Random House
Publishing Date: November 16, 2010
Length: 473 pages
Summary: (From Barnes & Noble.com) On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.  It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard.  So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini.  In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.  As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile.  But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion.  His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

My Thoughts:  This. Book. Wow.  I couldn't put it down. I feel like Louis Zamperini is a close friend of mine. I cried, laughed and was left with a strong feeling of patriotism. I am so proud to be American. I wish the school system would change their education style to include more books like this. This book made history come alive. I will never forget it.
Things To Be Careful Of: This book does not take the war lightly and speaks openly about what happened in POW camps and air raids. Including torture, beating and starvation.