Scarlet O'Hara, a beautiful spoilt brat wanted Ashley Wilkes, a man who wanted someone else. She wanted him so much, she didn't see Rhett Butler, the man who did want her and was more suited to her until it was too late. A magnificent romance angle. Throw in a war heralded by a bunch of lazy asses who didn’t want to farm their own land themselves, hunger, death and all other levels of suffering and what do you get? An ingenious book that has fascinated readers for over 50 years. I don't think I will ever forget the words "Fiddle-dee-dee!" and "Great balls of fire" as long as I live. I raise my hat off to Margaret Mitchell for crafting an American masterpiece. I wonder if she knew how much of an impact the book would make when she was writing it.
Colleen McCullough did a very good job capturing the essence of the outback in this book. I think I was 17 the first time I read it. It was a riveting read but I found it absolutely and overwhelmingly maddening, which I suppose is part of the emotions the book is supposed to evoke in the reader. Central theme – A woman loves a priest who loves her back but he won’t give up his ambition for her and won’t give her up for his ambition either. I wanted to get into the book and smack Father Ralph de Bricassart for most of it. I felt he was greedy and selfish, yet Maggie wouldn't stop loving him and eventually submitted to her fate like a "thorn bird". Constant emotional torture in perpetuity. He finally died in her arms without ever really belonging to her. How maddening is that? I'm fairly certain that in the 21st century you will not find a woman who will spend her life waiting around for a man in this manner. I am very grateful for that knowledge.
Up until I read this book, the only thing I knew about Malcolm X was he was the man who invented the phrases “By any means necessary” and "The only thing I like integrated is my coffee". I knew he was also a thorn in the flesh of lots of people back in the 60s. The book had a profound effect on me. It made me realise just how much people are afraid of something different and unfamiliar, and would rather try to grind it into the ground than embrace and celebrate it. Malcolm X was an embodiment of the power of knowledge and how the human spirit can rise above and triumph over anything. He was an amazing man and would have achieved great things had he not being assassinated.
Alice Walker’s tale is set in the American south of the 1930s and told in letters addressed to God and her sister format through Celie, the central character. It shows the bleak outlook of life for African-American women back then. She touches on domestic violence, racism, sexism, lesbianism, rape and the almighty ignorance the world cannot seem to shake itself from to this day. I was irritated for most of the book and didn't know whom I wanted to shoot more throughout – Mr, Celie’s "father" or Miss Millie. However, the end provides wonderful restitution. Shug Avery, a singer and independent woman whom Celie admires a lot, helps Celie to find strength in herself to stand up to and finally leave Mr. She is eventually reunited with her sister and her children.
I detest watching the movie of a book before I’ve read the book. I feel a movie cannot possibly do a book the right kind of justice and just ruins it for you if you haven’t read the book initially. The Godfather is the exception, The Godfather, Part 1 that is. Don’t ever watch Parts 2 and 3 if you haven’t read the book. Mario Puzo’s expose of a Sicilian-American mafia family is quite fascinating and his depiction of Michael Corleone as the son who wants to go straight but can’t quite get there, is a mirror of the struggle one might encounter when confronted with doing the right thing or doing what you want.
Colleen McCullough did a very good job capturing the essence of the outback in this book. I think I was 17 the first time I read it. It was a riveting read but I found it absolutely and overwhelmingly maddening, which I suppose is part of the emotions the book is supposed to evoke in the reader. Central theme – A woman loves a priest who loves her back but he won’t give up his ambition for her and won’t give her up for his ambition either. I wanted to get into the book and smack Father Ralph de Bricassart for most of it. I felt he was greedy and selfish, yet Maggie wouldn't stop loving him and eventually submitted to her fate like a "thorn bird". Constant emotional torture in perpetuity. He finally died in her arms without ever really belonging to her. How maddening is that? I'm fairly certain that in the 21st century you will not find a woman who will spend her life waiting around for a man in this manner. I am very grateful for that knowledge.
Up until I read this book, the only thing I knew about Malcolm X was he was the man who invented the phrases “By any means necessary” and "The only thing I like integrated is my coffee". I knew he was also a thorn in the flesh of lots of people back in the 60s. The book had a profound effect on me. It made me realise just how much people are afraid of something different and unfamiliar, and would rather try to grind it into the ground than embrace and celebrate it. Malcolm X was an embodiment of the power of knowledge and how the human spirit can rise above and triumph over anything. He was an amazing man and would have achieved great things had he not being assassinated.
Alice Walker’s tale is set in the American south of the 1930s and told in letters addressed to God and her sister format through Celie, the central character. It shows the bleak outlook of life for African-American women back then. She touches on domestic violence, racism, sexism, lesbianism, rape and the almighty ignorance the world cannot seem to shake itself from to this day. I was irritated for most of the book and didn't know whom I wanted to shoot more throughout – Mr, Celie’s "father" or Miss Millie. However, the end provides wonderful restitution. Shug Avery, a singer and independent woman whom Celie admires a lot, helps Celie to find strength in herself to stand up to and finally leave Mr. She is eventually reunited with her sister and her children.
I detest watching the movie of a book before I’ve read the book. I feel a movie cannot possibly do a book the right kind of justice and just ruins it for you if you haven’t read the book initially. The Godfather is the exception, The Godfather, Part 1 that is. Don’t ever watch Parts 2 and 3 if you haven’t read the book. Mario Puzo’s expose of a Sicilian-American mafia family is quite fascinating and his depiction of Michael Corleone as the son who wants to go straight but can’t quite get there, is a mirror of the struggle one might encounter when confronted with doing the right thing or doing what you want.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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