Comments on: The Yearning: Lessons from Gone with the Wind

By: Jo

Jo — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 21:48:00 +0000

Am I allowed to say how much I positively DON'T want to see Gone With the Wind? A bit like saying I don't like the Harry Potter books (I enjoyed the films for their special effects but didn't have a clue re the plot...). I've glimpsed bits of GWTW and was really, really put off by this silly female having strops in a tea cosy. Plus Clarke Gable did nothing for me. A bit creepy. I used to love old movies of the 30s-50s but this one just left me cold. And any heroine of mine doesn't have strops. They're armed to the teeth and are great in a fight and they wear breeches or pants. I'd better shut up now before I get into trouble... :-0 Jo alias Kitty Le Roy UK

By: Laura Lynn Fictionista

Laura Lynn Fictionista — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 18:17:32 +0000

Gone With the Wind played on a continuous loop in my house growing up. My husband was surprised I could recite the dialogue and I was stunned he had never seen the movie. I LOVE SCARLET. I am proud to say I have read the book and it sits on my shelf to this day. My mom is gone now but she gave me Gone With the Wind.

Born and Raised in the South
Laura Lynn

By: cerrissakim

cerrissakim — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 14:56:39 +0000

GWTW influenced my writing for sure. I was home with scarlet fever when I was 12 and my father brought the book home for me. I re read that book six times by the time I turned 16. I did not love Scarlett, I liked her at times though and my heart ached for her when she lost Bonnie Blue. I really liked Melanie, and Rhett of course. Like Laura I swooned over Rhett (especially when I saw the movie). But I appreciated Scarlett and how the story would not have been as exciting without her. Connection to place is something so many of us long for and that theme was so strong in the book. Your post here is gorgeous and so moving. Thank you for starting my day off with inspiration!

By: Angela Maree Barnett

Angela Maree Barnett — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 09:55:56 +0000

Aha. I've often wondered why I loved Scarlett so much. As did my mother, and father as we watched her prance across our VCR enabled TV. She loved her Tara, fiercely. And because of that we forgave her for being so precocious and pig-headed and fiddledeeish. But as you said, like all great stories, it touched on a universal truth: love and our fear of losing it. Thank you for sharing this. I bet all those women in the room loved you for not being precicoious or pig-headed, and for actually giving a damn.
Peace. 🙂

By: C. K. Crouch

C. K. Crouch — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 05:35:44 +0000

Kimberly, I've never sat and watched the film. I read the book around age 12 or 13 and cried and cried. The movie at the theater was before my time. The only movie I remember seeing every year was The Wizard of OZ. I'm from Texas so I'm more or less southern too. I'm not much of a movie person if I have read the book. I hate when they change things that were or weren't in the book. Maybe I'll go see if the library has the movie next week and watch it on a Saturday night when there's nothing on TV anyway. Thank you for sharing. I understand, even though I didn't grow up in the same place, in a way my grandparents house was sort of like that. After their death and it sold I sort of like wow. Now, I can tell you that as an army wife here in 1971 exactly where we lived (it's gone now) what that little place was like. I have driven to the place where we lived later. It's changed and I told my niece I wondered if it was that shabby when we lived there or is it just the 40 years since then? She probably the time. SO, I get it in a different way. We all have our roots. Funny, when we were here in the 1970s it was s different culture and attitude toward the military. That has really changed for the better in the last almost 45 years.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 21:22:32 +0000

I just finished the book. I read it many years ago as a nonwriter and loved it. Read it again as a writer and wished she'd lashed a lot of pages. Melanie, who I agree in the movie is does seem whimpy, turns out in the book to be a strong woman, stoutly defending Scarlet, who's behaviour is outrageously self-serving for the most part. And that's what I did love, that Mitchell had given us this flawed creature who on one hand you feel like slapping and another you want to cuddle. Watching the movie is definitely easier than reading the book. And okay...I'm going to say it. More entertaining.

By: Nance Crawford

Nance Crawford — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 20:21:36 +0000

Have to confess, Kimberly, you took me back to living in Nashville in 1960, flying into Atlanta to connect with family briefly there, and making a point of visiting Margaret Mitchell's grave. I wanted so much to be as effective a writer; had no idea how long it would take to find the time to seriously pursue and begin to catch up with the dream - but, never mind - I've just spent a couple of minutes snapped back to the only play I was able to perform, there - and an older, very blond lady in the cast who blew us away, one afternoon, by sharing the most memorable moment of her brief Hollywood career: she was one of the girls who descended the grand staircase during the party at Twelve Oaks. Her unforgettable name was Lillian Bumpus and she was a terrific actress. Thanks for bring her and the film back in such a personal way. It's a pleasure to meet both you and Susan.

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 19:50:18 +0000

The first time I read Gone with the Wind, I cried my eyes out at the end...because Scarlet is never going to change. She's never going to stop and "get" all those beautiful, nuanced life lessons that crossed her path and begged to be explored. She could never see past what she wanted, and what she wanted was Tara. And for the first time in my young life, I flipped a book over and immediately started reading it again. I didn't want to leave the characters and I wanted to understand how the author DID THAT to me. It was a moment. :-)

By: Kimberly Brock

Kimberly Brock — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 18:30:22 +0000

In reply to Carrie. Lord, yes! No smelling salts round here. We have to be willing to dance, even in our mourning clothes. ;)

By: Kimberly Brock

Kimberly Brock — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 18:29:12 +0000

In reply to http://theenglishprofessoratlarge.com. Fierce love is what the story is ALL about! Your story and my story, too. :)