Auteur: Margaret Mitchell Eerste druk: 1936
Verfilming: Gone with the wind

First reaction:
The thickness of the book scared me a little bit, because it is a big book and with small letters, so it freaked me out a little bit. I have seen the movie before I read the book and I really liked the movie so I figured that the book would be the same.
The movie was a very beautiful one and I really liked the characters. So I read the book almost immediately.

My first impression was good. I liked the story, although I think that there are a few long taking pieces in it, which are a little boring. But altogether, I liked the book and the movie too.

Summary:
Scarlett O?Hara, is most beautiful girl of the region. She is oldest daughter of Gerald and Yards O?Hara, a rich family from the South. She lives together with her parents, her 2 sisters Suellen and Carreen and hundred black slaves, on the cotton plantation Tara. She is in love with Ashley Wilkes, a young man that lives on the plantation Twelve Oaks. two of her lovers,the twin Stuart and Brent Tarleton, know Ashley and introduce her to him. She finds out that Ashley Wilkes will get engaged with his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. The jealous Scarlett considers that she can make Ashley jealous the next day, when there will be a barbecue, to flirt as much as possible with other boys. Her plan fails, because Ashley only has eyes for Melanie and Scarlett only gets the anger of other women. She decides to tell Ashley what she really feels for him. But his reaction is different then she expected, uninterested. He tells her that he loves her, but that he isn?t possible to marry her, because Scarlett isn?t able to make him happy and because he is already engaged to Melanie. Scarlett becomes furious and gives hits him in his so that he leaves the departure. Scarlett is so angry that she throws a vase against the wall. Then Rhett Butler appears, he kept hisself hidden behind the couch. He comes from Charleston with a bad reputation, and he?s a guest of John Wilkes, Ashley?s father. He has heard everything Scarlett said to Ashley, but he promises Scarlett to keep her secret. That evening all men are called up as volunteers to fight in the war against the Yankees, from the North. Charles Hamilton, Melanies brother and a young man with who Scarlett flirted the day before , asks her to marry him and she agrees, just to make Ashley jealous. After less than two months She becomes a widow , and she becomes mother of a son, Wade Hampton. Because she is very depressed on Tara, she leaves to Atlanta, where Melanie and aunt Pittypat live, the sister and aunt of her husband who passed away.

The principal parts:
One of the principal parts is Scarlett o?Hara. She?s a very strong woman. She leads Melanie and her waitress to Tara and that?s a really hard thing to do. I admire her very much. But I?m also very glad that I am not alike her, because she?s got a really strong personality and in this book, she is doing things, I would never do. For example: Flirting with boys to make someone else very jealous. That?s not so smart to do, because all the women of the boys were very angry.

Another strong personality is Rhett Butler. He is almost a copy of Scarlett o?Hara, because there exactly the same. That?s why Scarlett doesn?t like him in the beginning. He tries to make Scarlett love him.
A summary, I found on the internet said about Rhett Butler: He is a mysterious and charming gentleman, but also a man with a bad reputation. So this man has actually two sides. One side of kindness and being a charming gentleman, but the other side a man with wrong friends and a bad reputation.

There is another person: Ashley. He is the opposite of Scarlett and Rhett. He is very kind and nice for other people. He wants to satisfy all the expectations of other people I think, but that isn?t always possible.
But He is always nice to Scarlett and it doesn?t matter what she is doing. Whether she acts weird or not.
He also wants to satisfy the feelings of Melanie, who is his wife of course. But sometimes it stabs.

My opinion:
I think it?s a very beautiful book and very nice to read. I like the character of Ashley, because he?s so sweet for everybody. I wouldn?t expect that from a man.
The book was sometimes a little boring, but that didn?t matter, because I liked the book anyway.
After all I liked the story and the characters. It was a very great story and I can?t imagine who can have such a great imagination.
I also liked the movie, because I had a fantasy, an imagination of it and it was all alike it. It was the same way as the movie. So I liked the movie too.