I read this book when I was in Std 9 or 10 and I remember being really upset after finishing it. After spending so much time on a novel which was fat enough to be a small dictionary, the least I expected was a happy ending. By that time books had already become my alternate world and I jealously guarded the state of perpetual bliss in that world and this book let in unwanted feelings of frustration with life as fate defines for us.
I can only think that it is a compliment to the author that a selfish self centered heroine like Scarlett could evoke feelings of sympathy n compassion from even "practical" people like me. Although practical for my age, I did believe in love then and firmly believed that two people always got together happily in the end. I also believed in the redeeming power of deep love.( Maybe this explains why I constantly doubted myself and felt my love was lacking when it failed to redeem a hopelessly irredeemable situation.) So this novel's ending went against the very foundations of the world existing in my head.
The conflict was so great that I never watched the movie although I have been tempted many times esp since I started liking Clark Gable. And contrary to every fibre of my being, I read the sequel 'Scarlett' written by another author. I never never read sequels written by a different author. I feel that the book writing process is a very personal journey and another person can never travel it the same way as the author had. As expected, it failed to remove the negative frustrated feeling and instead, added to my self contempt and my list of 'things I did without believing in them'.
However, my attitude towards and interpretation of love have undergone so many changes in the 25 years since I read the book that I have been thinking about rereading it. After all, I now accept separation in spite of love as a reality of life and maybe this reading will act as a cathartic.
Then I will also be able to enjoy one of my fav heroes in his most famous role.
P.S. - I realize that till today, I had a label 'movies' but none for 'books'. Imagine!
I can only think that it is a compliment to the author that a selfish self centered heroine like Scarlett could evoke feelings of sympathy n compassion from even "practical" people like me. Although practical for my age, I did believe in love then and firmly believed that two people always got together happily in the end. I also believed in the redeeming power of deep love.( Maybe this explains why I constantly doubted myself and felt my love was lacking when it failed to redeem a hopelessly irredeemable situation.) So this novel's ending went against the very foundations of the world existing in my head.
The conflict was so great that I never watched the movie although I have been tempted many times esp since I started liking Clark Gable. And contrary to every fibre of my being, I read the sequel 'Scarlett' written by another author. I never never read sequels written by a different author. I feel that the book writing process is a very personal journey and another person can never travel it the same way as the author had. As expected, it failed to remove the negative frustrated feeling and instead, added to my self contempt and my list of 'things I did without believing in them'.
However, my attitude towards and interpretation of love have undergone so many changes in the 25 years since I read the book that I have been thinking about rereading it. After all, I now accept separation in spite of love as a reality of life and maybe this reading will act as a cathartic.
Then I will also be able to enjoy one of my fav heroes in his most famous role.
P.S. - I realize that till today, I had a label 'movies' but none for 'books'. Imagine!
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