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3. The Wind Done Gone, Alice Randall

Likely the only Gone With the Wind sequel-of-sorts I will ever read (yes, there is a copy of Rhett Butler's People sitting in my room as we speak; owning it and reading it are entirely different things!), The Wind Done Gone is told from the point of view of Cynara (okay, I confess I actually really like how Randall drew inspiration from the same poem that Mitchell pulled her title from), an original character who is the daughter of Gerald O'Hara and Mammy. Which I suppose is one of the reasons why the cover of the book has to have a big red "Unauthorized Parody" marking on the front of it. ^^;

I feel like I could write a huge long entry about this book, but for now I think I'll just sum up. The writing style is Margaret Atwood meets Joy Kogawa, which meant I HATED IT; Rhett never says anything clever unless you count "once you go black you don't go back," which kicked me out of the story faster than that time I was reading Tale of Genji and came across the phrase "hanky panky"; what happens to Scarlett is the exact opposite of what I imagine happening to Scarlett although interestingly enough I don't think either of us are imagining her out of character. When Randall decides to contradict canon she usually does so explicity, so it's strange that Will and Suellen apparently don't exist at all (I suspect Randall wanted Scarlett to have sole possession of Tara) and also apparently the Wilkes' second child survived (for ... no apparent purpose). I was pretty bored whenever Cynara was off by herself or with other original characters, and I really really hate what Randall did with the scenes following Bonnie's death, but I liked exploring the lives of GWtW's more marginalized characters, and oh man Prissy is creepily intelligent which was pretty awesome. Basically I can't say that I loved this book, but for the most part it was interesting. It's definitely a different look at GWtW (plus it's only a quarter as long as GWtW) so if you're interested in that, I'd say read it. I'm glad I read it, I just don't imagine I'll ever be desperate to read it again. ^^;

And I don't know if this was for legal reasons or just because Randall felt like it, but all of the GWtW characters have different names in The Wind Done Gone. The main four are Other, R. or Debt, Dreamy Gentleman and Mealy Mouth. ^^; It's always really easy to tell who's who, though that might be because I've only just finished my reread. I actually would love to talk about The Wind Done Gone with someone who's only read it and has no knowledge of what happens in Gone With the Wind. Man that'd be so weird!! xD

(no subject)

Date: 2009-02-18 09:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-wykydtron.livejournal.com
The writing style is Margaret Atwood meets Joy Kogawa, which meant I HATED IT

LOL. You know, quite liked that one Kogawa book I read, but I think the style would get grating after a while, especially if it's not your thing.

(no subject)

Date: 2009-02-19 02:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] arisha.livejournal.com
Did you read Obasan? That by itself just killed me.

I AM A CHICKEN MY FATHER IS A CHICKEN IS ME IS A CHICKEN IS MY FATHER IS A CHICKEN IS A CHICKEN IS I AM MY FATHER

... say what.

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