The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind

I didn't expect it to the as good as GWTW, but I didn't expect it to be as awful as it is either - yikes! The second half of the book was easier to tolerate than the first half, and I was pleased with the ending, but it was so hard to get through the first part of the book that it took me over a year to pick it back up after first starting to read it. The behavior and thought patterns of this Scarlett just don't jibe with the original - not even close. I kept thinking "She wouldn't do that," and "She wouldn't say that," through much of the book, especially the beginning chapters. I did find Scarlett's attachment to her working class Irish relatives believable, since pretending to be a "great lady" was always so hard for her and they were accepting of her as she was and still considered her a "great lady," having much the same definition of such, i.e. wealth equals class. I was able to buy into her maturing over the years and liked who she became for the most part; however, many of the events and characters in the latter half of the book were also pretty over the top & silly, especially her fiancee & engagement. I am a repeat reader [multiple times] of my favorites, but this certainly isn't one I will read again - it's just not worth the effort.

Scarlett is an interesting character, and she will resonate with those who have/are experiencing divorce.

She is twelve and trouble with a capital T, but all Scarlett really needs is love and understanding. After all, when she was 9 her father walked out, left she and her mother for another woman (and that woman's daughter). But now Scarlett has gone too far, and her mother is at a loss. Scarlett must now discover who she truly is while finding forgiveness for her father (and the woman he left her for).

Though Alexandra Ripley's impressive sense of history and her flair for romantic fiction set against a broad canvas are clearly on display here, this novel nearly destroyed my love for the original. The classic characters of Rhett, Scarlett, Ashley, Mammy, etc. are subjected to a mish-mashy plot that, as it rambles along, increasingly diminishes their glow and vibrancy. The twists in the plot defy description. It is utterly repugnant, both in concept and in delivery of that concept. Unlike Margaret Mitchell's true original, which had its heaping helpings of soap-opera, and which sprang from the driven mind of an original voice, this book feels manufactured in every way. It robs ideas and characters created with affection and creativity and pushes them, unwillingly, into situations that feel at every step false, silly and even stupid. Steer clear of the television film which uses this epic disaster as its basis -- it is even worse. Commercial fiction at its most engineered, and least authentic.

Margaret Mitchell was often asked if there would ever be a sequel to Gone with the Wind, what would happen to scarlett? Rhett? Would they ever get back together? She said the story ended where the book ended, and it should have remained as such. The first book was magnificent, it was not just about the love life of Scarlett, it was also about life during the civil war and how to overcome the hardships that war brings.

Writing a sequel to Gone with the Wind when you are not Margaret Mitchell is a daunting and unnecessary task. The story starts where the original book ended, some characters die so we are left with Scarlett going after Rhett page after page. She is not the same strong, stubborn, witty woman she was and has become a 30 year old immature girl acting like she's a teenager with a crush. She's boring talks about food, rhett, food again and money of course. The characters that surround her, except for Rhett's mom and a few of her extended family members, have no depth, are uninteresting and are so numerous that you don't remember who is who. Rhett is no longer charming, witty or smart and himself behaves like a child. He barely appears in the book.

The story takes us from Tara to Atlanta to Charleston to Savannah to Ireland and back and forth again. The first 350 pages are ok: the description of charlestonian 19th century way of life is very interesting and well researched, the book remains in the style of the original GWTW. But the rest is a succession of boring, uninteresting scenes made of many childish dialogues. The book has a hurried hollywood ending that does not make much sense but thank god puts an end to this abysmal soap opera.

I give it 2 stars because 1/3rd of the book is readable. I'll have to read the original GWTW again very soon so as to forget this terrible sequel.

I was not certain how a sequel to the glorious GONE WITH THE WIND would begin, let alone how it would end. Scarlett was not the kind of woman to wait for life to come to her or to wither into senility in a rocking chair on the grand porch of Tara. The author continues the story with an "a la Scarlett" twist, allowing the blazing-haired beauty to collect herself and seek her father's family home. As only Scarlett could, she keeps fortune on her side and her feet on the ground as tension builds in another civil conflict far from her elegant life and her beloved Tara. Will she ever find true love? (Is that ever a question for her?!) To say more would spoil the carefully considered plot. You must read it yourself to catch all the twists in the tale!

GWTW it isn't, but it's not bad.
Ripley's Scarlett has matured a little, though she still seems to spend much of her time obbsessing over men and/or her wardrobe. She has acquired enough sense to actually refuse a marriage proposal from Ashley, but she spends a great deal of time chasing an unresponsive Rhett around.
In an unintentionally hilarious scene, Scarlett and Rhett go sailing, and of course are promptly ship-wrecked.
Scarlett very nearly drowns. But when the two finally make it to shore,legendary romantic hero Rhett wants to celebrate by [making love] right there on the shore. During this encounter, Scarlett actually shouts, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
What WOULD her mother have thought?
By this time Mammy, the most entertaining character in the original book is already dead, or she'd have expired from embarrassment.
Oddly enough, Melanie is ressurected in the person of Anne Hampton, a shy, mousy soul who, in an interesting plot twist, nearly succeeds in taking Rhett away from Scarlett for good.
This book makes a good read, as long as you're not expecting too much.

This story is a logical progression of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind". In this story, you watch Scarlett mature. However she still holds on to her personality. For the first time in Scarlett's life, she finds herself and learns who she is.

After leaving Charleston, she meets her O'Hara cousins and accompanies them to Ireland to meet her 100-year old grandmother. In Ireland she finds her true self and actually buys a whole town and restores it to live in. She shows the same indomidable spirit that she did during the war in facing the political upheaval and injustices in Ireland. She is swept up in the Fenian Brotherhood and faces danger.

Meanwhile her relationship with Rhett takes many twists and turns. You will enjoy reading the ending.

This book is well-researched on historical points and the author fully embraces the personality of the characters in the original. This book is the exact opposite of the recent book, "Rhett Butler's People" which is a disaster.

Enjoy!

Scarlett is a girl with a very short temper. And after her parents split up her dad goes off with Clare and move to Ireland with daughter, Holly, Scarlett's dreams are ruined, and she gets through five schools in two years and gets he tongue pierced, and dies her hair ketchup red. Her mother starts to worry, and by the end of the day, she decides Scarlett has to go and live with her Dad, in Ireland. This - Scarlett thinks - was a big mistake. When she arrives in Ireland and sees her dad in the ancient car she decides this is going to be the worst time of her life. When little Holly starts sticking up to her, and tries to be her friend, Scarlett is just plain mean.

When she gets to the little cottage that Her Dad lives at and sees Clare for the first time she realizes Clare is pregnant. She knows she is going to hate it. When she starts school, she finds she is no longer in Secondary school, but back in Primary. With only two other children her age. She bunks of school hoping to find the airport and get home. Even though she is wearing bunky sandals which hurt her feet, she doesn't even know how far the airport is. Let alone how to get there. As she is walking she meets a boy on a horse called Kian, they become best friends and Scarlett becomes a different person, and her Irish family decide that she is going to be home schooled. When one day her stepsister, Holly wants her nose pierced, Scarlett tries to warn her it hurts but Holly insists. She pirces and Holly moved and Scarlett acciedenly pierces her lip. Nobody can trust her anymore can they? When Dad and Holly go out for the day to sell soap, Scarlett is left with Clare. While Clare is sewing a blanket for the baby Scarlett wants some of her clothes to be involved in the blanket, and Clare shows her some clothes from when she was very little that her Dad had kept. In the loft, as they are leaving the loft with three pretty little dresses, Clare slips and falls down the stairs, when Clare starts to have the baby, what is Scarlett going to do?

A edge of your seat story, brilliant, one of my favourites. A must read.

Thankyou.

More girlz book reviews on my website: [...]

This book was shipped quickly and in excellent shape, almost new. This book is not exactly like the original but it is the sort of thing that the main character would have done in the time and place that she found herself after the war.

I would recommend this to any Gone with The Wind fan, just to see "what happens next". I wish the original author had indeed written a sequel, but she did not, so this is the next best thing. Anything further I could say would give away the story line. Suffice it to say, it satisfies those who do wonder what would have happened next.....

Chaska

Okay it's never going to be as good as the original. Just get over that! I have read and read again the wonderful original, but it was fun to read someone's idea of what would have happend to all these beloved characters over the next years. There were twists and turns that kept me surprised. I will absolutely read this again.

This really is a typical romance novel. It is based on the characters created by Margaret Mitchell in "Gone With The Wind" , with a bit of Irish and history tossed in. I truly enjoyed this book but only because I had read GWTW and already knew the characters (their history and story). "Scarlett" picks up where GWTW left off, and does a good job of bridging the two stories. Once again we see the on/off romance-game played and re-palyed by Scarlett & Rhett. This story was a little too heavy on the romance-side from time to time, but I still enjoyed the character and setting development throughout the story. I think the direction Scarlett took in this story is completely believable. Even though Scarlett is a strong, scheming, grown woman, she remains naive to the world and still feels inadequate. This story takes you to all new locations with new characters and events (some historical)worthy of GWTW. WARNING: if you saw the "Scarlett" movie, you have NO IDEA what this book is about! The movie compressed and completely changed significant events. I would never watch the movie again, and felt robbed of what should have been a great movie experience.

Scarlett is not your typical preteen. With her hair dyed a vibrant red, her school uniform altered to fit her personality and annoy the teachers, and her tongue even peirced, Scarlett is out in search of trouble. Her mother is a proper Londoner who, after Scarlett's many encounters with the school principal, sends her away to Ireland to live with her father, his wife Clare, and Clare's daughter Holly. Scarlett refuses to even try to enjoy herself away from the bustling of the city and the catty schoolchildren of London. But things have a turnaround when Scarlett meets Kian and Midnight, and learns of the mystique of mint and an Irish forest.

Although some scenes are somewhat repetitive, "Scarlett" is very true, but also with its magic. Unlike some other books for young readers, Cassidy does not fall to her knees and beg her readers to like Scarlett and does not force Scarlett too hard to be unique. Cassidy does not throw a pity party for Scarlett, nor does she neglect the fact Scarlett is different. My fondness of young, reckless, rebellious Scarlett happened naturally, just as my sympathy towards her family life.

"Scarlett" is an amazing read. Cathy Cassidy is also the author of "Dizzy", "Indigo Blue", "Driftwood" (not released in U.S.), and soon-to-be "Sundae Girl." Give Scarlett a shot. She'll win your heart!

You have to give her credit - she really did try to write a sequel to Gone With The Wind (GWTW)- but it just didn't quite make it. Sequels are quite often like that. But she did write a good possible conclusion to GWTW. I guess we'll never know what Margaret Mitchell might have had in mind for the characters - An ok read - but not a keeper.

Like everyone else I went into this book expecting what was promised a sequel to Gone With the Wind. Unlike some I didn't close my mind to the fact that this was a sequel written by another writer.
Had Margaret Mitchell herself put out this version of Scarlett, I would have been shocked because there is a very romantic novel element to this book.
However, I loved the book it was so richly done that I could visualize everything that was on the page. One thing in particular was when Scarlett arrives in Ireland not only the beautifully rich textures of her arrival but for example when she discovers the vibrant tapestry of skirts and especially the stockings at a market and her glee over something so new to a Southern woman of that time. You can do the search page thing here on the store it's on about page 488. Her glee at seeing how regular women wear brightly colored skirts & stockings showing off their ankles, very improper to her, but intriguing (very much like the Scarlett of old). Silly of me to think of that but I remember thinking how real it felt as if I were in the market with her.
Alexandria Ripley may not be Margeret Mitchell but she can write a quality story that I wanted to read.
Yes, the sex scenes were a little off kilter for Gone with the Wind, but so what, the book was still about Rhett & Scarlett and their love for one another no matter how tragic it was.

It's been a long time, but I still recommend this book. Be open minded going into it think of it as a very well done piece of fan fiction on Gone with the Wind characters. It's in paperback you can get it for a bargain and is a fun way to spend some time escaping into a world so wonderfully rich that you can close your eyes and be right there.

Now, as for what they did with this on the TV movie I thought that was a travesty.

Above all else where this book failed was by the promotion of it. It was marketed all wrong and as such everyone went in expecting a hidden work of Margaret Mitchell instead of getting the sort of script writer's take on Scarlett (i.e. When a book turns into a movie and they change things).

However, I'll give Alexandria Ripley credit for doing a wonderful job continuing a story that I wanted to read. I wanted to know what happened to the characters and I got a pretty entertaining read!

By itself, this is quite a good book. Ms. Ripley's usage of literary elements is very good, as is her "storytelling" talents. However.....
I still don't understand WHY Gone With the Wind HAD to have a sequel.
One should understand; Margaret Mitchell based GWTW on things that happened in her own life and on her own love experiences. It's always harder to take up another writer's pen and write about his/her characters ( Take the VC Andrews Books for instance...)
But....the book is an interesting read in its own right and to me, is 100 times better than the horrible miniseries where Joanne Whalley Kilmer butchers the role of Scarlett and Timothy Dalton comes just an inch short of playing a real Rhett Butler.
The facts are the facts, folks: This might be a nice evening time read, but nothing's better than the original. Period.

Attempting to take on someone else's book and recreate it as your own is bad enough, but when that book just happens to be one of the world's greatest epics, it's just plain wrong.
People who have read Gone With the Wind have relished in the fascinating and timeless story that Margaret Mitchell wrote, but rather than just accepting the book for what it is (namely, it's cliffhanger ending), most of us seek more - we long to see Scarlett & Rhett end up together. Perhaps working on that bit of selfishness, Alexandra Ripley concocts this tale that picks up almost right after GWTW left of.
I'll admit that the novel was interesting, but it should no way have been associated with the original tale in the first place. The alternate setting for the novel is welcome (after all, some sort of underlying social unrest in the story is needed after the end of the Civil War), however the characters were almost completely different as compared to those in GWTW. Scarlett's passion is dulled and Rhett is not nearly as dashing as he should be - the chemistry between the two of them is almost entirely lost, save just a few scenes. Mix that with a new set of ordinary characters (the purposely confusing introduction to Scarlett's enormous Irish family was unecessary) and you have an entirely different story.
I'll give the author some credit for coming up with her own take of the story - she put into writing HER version of Scarlett & Rhett's future, something most of us could not (or perhaps should not) do. Perhaps a bit more character development and a even more of the Rhett Butler we all know, and less fabricated and unbelievable storylines (Scarlett reclaiming her family's lost homeland for one - since when was Scarlett interested in anything but her Southern roots?) would have worked. The ending was also a bit predictable, but what do you expect an author who is trying to please millions of readers with closure to do? Nice try, but material like this should be spared to true fans of GWTW, and rewritten with different characters to please the romance novel crowd.

This book has been probably the biggest literary disappointment I've ever had. How come they let it even be published? I sincerely have to say that the inheritors of the copyrights to Gone With The Wind have sacrificed something almost sacred in the eyes of millions of fans in the altar of greed!!
I really don't blame it on Alexandra Ripley, she was asked for her version of it and they had a limit time. She did a correctly written book, but that's the best I can say about it.
A sequel by definition must be true to the most basic lines in plot and characterization. "Scarlet" is strange in the eyes of any reader of GWTW. Scarlet O'Hara suddenly loses her spirit and recklessness, and is just kind of self conscious, boring and coward, escaping to other continent of all things. She leaves her children, family, Ashley, Rhett and Tara; everything she has striven for!
Very far-fetched. The book is also filled with a lot of new characters that have nothing to do with the GWTW universe. I think this particular story could have worked much better if Ripley had made Scarlet hit her head and have amnesia. In the light of the many a contrived event described in the book, this would have explained a lot of stuff.
I don't want to even start with Rhett. It breaks my heart to see what she does with the most breathtaking and exciting male character a writer could have ever imagined. Read my lips: A WASTE.
I want to believe this book never existed. I sincerely hope for somebody else writing a good sequel pretty please. It does not need to be more than 50 pages. It really doesn't have to be 900 pages to prove it is right!

It should go without saying that Mitchell's masterpiece stands alone. It should also g. without s'ing that Scarlett's further experiences must change her and allow her to mature. She learns to think, sometimes, before she hurts the people around her with her savage will to get her own way. It was charming to see her learn that her O'Hara relations in Savannah were decent and likeable even if not "society". She makes mistakes by the bushel in Charleston, mostly for love of Rhett, but loves Rhett's mother dearly and sees her quality. She's still Scarlett; still pushy, hasty, demanding, highhanded; but now, often so for what she sees as the benefit of "her" people. She suffers greatly from her attempts to "do-good" her Irish relations, ignoring
their need to continue their old ways and live their own lives. She's a survivor; her views have always been straightforward and slanted sharply towards practicality and moneymaking. I enjoyed one reviewer's remark about Rhett's sissyish concern for flowers--a quintessential Scarlett point of view. I did wonder at her smashing success in Dublin society--thirtyish is pretty old for it--but after all, her enormous wealth and beauty would probably carry her through even in that time and place. It usually does. I hesitated to read it for a long time. It's flawed, of course, but it's lively, colorful, exciting and definitely worth reading.

I was irritated while reading this. It was page after page of annoying deviations in character. If you are going to write a sequel, shouldn't you stay true to the characters and the events that came before? The first mistake was having Scarlett run off to Ireland. She wanted to get her husband back. She loved money, and she loved Tara. Why on earth would she leave the land, forget about pursuing money and go far away where she has limited contact with Rhett and limited ability to get him back? Why make life hard? Why go to a place you have never been when all you care about is right under your feet? I mean, isn't that how the book ends? When she realizes, "There's no place like home" and "All I ever wanted or needed is right here?" There was nowhere to go but down from there.

Rhett is a stranger. I don't know who that person is.

Everything Scarlett does is an uncharacteristic hot mess. I can't even begin to go into detail or I'd be here all day.

Suffice it to say that if you are looking for a way to relive GWTW, watch the movie again or read the book. This isn't it. There is nothing here reminiscent of it at all.

To read this book, you must first clear your head of any preconceived notions of Scarlett and Rhett from Gone With the Wind. Yes, this is a "continuation" of the greatest novel of all time, but a different author means a different perspective. We all had our own notions of what happened to Scarlett and Rhett after he left her sobbing on the stairs, and this is just one persons idea of how the story should end. Ms. Ripley is an excellent author, and one can tell that years and years of research on Ireland went into this novel. So, do not expect rolling plantations, fancy balls, and carriage rides, but do expect a powerful story of strength and courage mixed with the rumblings and explosions of an Irish Revolution. You cannot go into this book with doubt. Just remind yourself that this is how one person would end the story...not all of us.

"Gone With the Wind" is my favorite novel of all time, and I am a voracious and well-read reader, most notably of the great classics. As many fans must feel, it is dissapointing to know that a major reason that Margaret Mitchell did not write a sequel was due to her distaste of the spotlight. However, reread the original "Gone With the Wind" and use your imagination as to how Rhett and Scarlett would have overcome their troubles and eventually find eachother again. It will be far more comforting than reading this "sequel".
No, Ms. Ripley is not a bad author in her own sense, but her style will remind you of those romance novels you read in junior high; not the intellectual, lush prose, extensive characterizations and authentic scenery provided by Ms. Mitchell. And Ripley's characterizations of Rhett and Scarlett do not ring true. Frequently Scarlett narrates the novel (something Mitchell never allowed), and she is initially introduced as a desperate, scared, selfish character who never reflects on her any of her old experiences- she is only an old overacted archetype of Scarlett. I would have expected Ripley to begin where the other book ended, but it is almost as if Scarlett had never known Melanie or Ashley, had a final insight into her mistakes and confrontational blow with Rhett. All is forgotten, much like taking two steps forward and five steps back. Both of her children are only mentioned in two scenes- that's forgotten too. Knock Tara and Mammy and Atlanta and Ashley off the list as well, and you see...well everything about the original is gone. No, this is in no way a sequel to what Margaret Mitchell wrote, but it would make an above average Harlequin romance. It could be called "Scarlett O' Hara's Irish Adventure!" or something of that sort.
I'd like to think that instead of this scenario, Scarlett would retreat a bit,examine her conscience(but not too much!), go home to Tara, teach Wade and Ella a bit of her business sense and love o' the land, keep her promise to Melanie and also watch over Beau. That's what Scarlett O'Hara was- willful, strong, and always a survivor. In the end, I feel that Rhett was probably testing her by leaving, but would still keep a watchful eye on her- as he frequently did throughout the novel- to see if her newgrown heart was truly real. Remember too, that he is an emotional wreck after the miscarraige, Bonnie and Melanie's death, and a blow to his ego upon learning that Scarlett has promised Melanie to look after Beau and Ashley, which furthers my theory that he would return to Scarlett...later. But if you want your Scarlett to act like a desperate coward, who abandons everything in life, read this "sequel".

This sequeal was a great attempt at recapturing the magic of GWTW. It starts the day of Melanie's funeral and follows Scarlett to Rhett's hometown Charleston in an attempt to win him back. Alexandra Ripley incorporates characters from her previous novel Charleston almost effortlessly and brings a new facet to Scarlett. She also goes to Savannah and Ireland to meet her O'hara kin. My only regret that it harps too much on Scarlett's adventures with the English and doesn't expand too much on the ending which I will not reveal. And to al those naysayers who claim they will never touch a gone with the wind sequeal.... if you don't read the book, don't post a review, it's simple as that.

.. but it was simply bad. I think that Alexandra Ripley bit off a bit more than she could chew by making a sequel to one of the greatest American novels of all time. I am an enormous fan of GWTW (Even though *gasp* I'm a yankee!). I used to watch the movie when it came on CBS Sunday night movie once a year. Also, I read the Mitchell book many times (Okay, hopeless romantic that I am, I stop reading it when it gets to the part where Rhett comes back to see her after the accident when she fell down the stairs.) But simply, this book couldn't fill the dream that I, and many others, have filled in for GWTW. This book was literally "bound" to disappoint.

All of us have our own vision of what happens to Rhett and Scarlett. This was Ms. Ripley's. Because she is unable to see what we all wanted to happen, our preconceived notions on the Butler's saga, she failed miserably, and wrote a mediocre book about some Southern chick. Not Scarlett in my mind.

Note to self and other authors: Never finish a dream that someone else started. Because we can make the ending what WE dream is one thing that makes GWTW a classic

I love Gone with the Wind. It is one of my all-time favorite novels. I also love the film adaptation with Clark Gable. So, I was curious and wanted to give Alexandra Ripley's attempt at a sequel a whirl. I regret having picked up and read this poor continuation of Margaret Mitchell's classic. Scarlett picks up right where Gone with the Wind left off -- after Melanie's death and Rhett's departure. Scarlett is at Melanie's burial, thinking about her own problems and wishing she were in Tara. From then on, we are reintroduced to the characters that we know and love from the original, with some new and, to be honest, baffling twists of its own. And Scarlett and Rhett reunite after their torrid marriage. Will they ever be able to be happy together?

I was disappointed with a continuation of Pride and Prejudice I read recently and vowed to never try sequels of classics again. Why did I give this a whirl then, you ask? Well, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. The real reason is that I'd like to give these kinds of efforts the benefit of the doubt and try to keep an open mind. But I couldn't keep an open mind. I wish I hadn't read this. And I wish that the question in the previous paragraph had remained unanswered. After reading this book, I no longer mind that Mitchell left us with such a big cliffhanger. The characters seem to be more of Ripley's interpretation of them rather than what Mitchell had created for us. They are no longer complex and compelling here, more like a shadow of their former selves. Scarlett doesn't have the layers and dimensions that she had in the original, and I had to force myself to finish up this mess. As I read this novel, like in Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, I found myself saying, "The *real* Scarlett would never do something like that!" and, "The *real* Rhett wouldn't have compromised his pride like that!" These characters did not feel real to me. They are not Mitchell's characters. And going back to the baffling twists, it upset me that the author decided to get rid of Mammy so soon in the story. And the subplot centered on Tara upset me. Come on! Tara is Scarlett's sanctuary -- the place she goes to whenever things go wrong in her life or when she needs to put things into perspective. How could she... Never mind. I won't spoil it for the reader who may actually feel compelled to read this. And whole the Ireland thing is ridiculous. One of the beauties of GWTW was the backdrop of the south. Why would Ripley set this novel elsewhere? I cannot believe Mitchell's descendants had agreed to write a sequel of this classic and that they had picked this author to do it. Perhaps Alexandra Ripley is a talented author in her own right and I shall give her own work a whirl to be fair. It takes guts to write a sequel of one America's biggest classics, that much is certain. I shall erase this book from my mind and go back to wondering if Scarlett and Rhett would ever be together again.

A sequel to Gone With The Wind? A plum assignment for any author! Certainly, all of the millions of readers of the original novel has imagined "what happened after..." in their own minds, and longed for the story to be continued by a writer as skilled and involved with her story as Margaret Mithell. Alas, Alexandra Ripley is not that author! She has merely expanded a tired "bodice ripper" romance plot, inserting Mithchell's characters haphazardly, inventing new ones without regard to logic, and written her own stupid sequel to the beloved original. In contrast to Mitchell's exhaustive period research, Ripley's is perfunctory at best. Description and mood are merely sketched and character development appears to be a literary concept Ripley is unfamiliar with. Any loyal reader of Gone With The Wind can spot lapses of logic everywhere in this flat, trite sequel. Did Ripley even read Mitchell's book? One sad example out of many: When Scarlett goes to Tara to visit her sister Suellen, she finds the farm run-down and Suellen in rags. What? What happened to the expert farm management of Will Benton, Suellen's husband, which is so clearly spelled out in Mitchell's novel? Suellen in rags? Where did the unlimited funds Rhett provided for Tara and Scarlett's family go? Again, Mitchell stated all this clearly in her original novel. I guess Ripley just didn't "give a damn"! THIS BOOK IS WORTHLESS! Stay with your own fantasies of what became of Scarlett and Rhett until the Mitchell estate's copyright runs out. Maybe then some real literary talent will take a crack at carrying on the saga of Margaret Mitchell's immortal American characters... And , God, please don't let Alexandra Ripley near any other American icons!

The problem with anyone other than the original author writing a sequel to a classic like "Gone with the Wind" is that only the original author could really do it justice and there will be the unavoidable comparisons. That's not anybody's fault, that's the nature of the beast, and I do think all things considered the author had some interesting ideas.

The book is divided into three parts: Scarlett at home at Melanie's funeral and tying up loose ends, Scarlett in Charleston and Scarlett in Ireland. The funeral scene was an interesting way to continue where "Gone with the Wind" ended and the author does make an effort to capture Scarlett's spirit, but the interaction with Ashley doesn't work. I find it hard to believe everyone would have sat there and watched Ashley throw himself into Melanie's grave or that Scarlett didn't have any options other than to make a scene. It would have worked better if she (or someone else) had taken him aside quietly or better yet left out the scene totally and made reference as necessary to Melanie's funeral.

The scenes in Charleston were better. I liked the interaction between Scarlett and her mother and father's relatives and how she connected with her Irish relatives. However, Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett didn't like Charleston and she would never have spent so much time there. Tara was written off too quickly. Scarlett loved Tara and she wouldn't have given it up so easily. She wouldn't have spent so much time trying to get Rhett back either. Scarlett didn't chase men, they chased her. Rhett pretty much had his mind made up at the end of "Gone with the Wind" anyway.

I thought the most interesting part of the book was when Scarlett was in Ireland. I understood how the author was attempting to have Scarlett grow up and become a woman who was capable of thinking about the welfare of others. However, Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett was very self-centered and I think it was a mistake to have Scarlett motivated by anything other than her own interests. She always had an agenda and people, even the people she loved, had to fit into that agenda in some way. I think it would have worked better if the Scarlett in this book had more of that same quality.

For the most part, I did enjoy the book and did think the author's ideas on what might have happened to Scarlett after "Gone with the Wind" had potential, but as I said it's not realistic to expect anyone but the original author to attempt to write a sequel. It's not something I would read again.

Yes, this book was very well written and it showed a great variety of well put together characters and plots. The problem with this book is that Alexandera Riply should have remained more loyal to the character's personalities. In addition, Mammy and Tara should not have been thrown out of the picture. She completely discarded the importance of Tara that Gerald had lectured to Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. Scarlett's character knew better than to give Tara to Suellen. Alexandra's idea to have Scarlett do this was completly uncalled for. Mammy showed no signs of being ill at the end of Gone with the Wind, so her sudden death made no sense.

Rhett in all this, would not just go off and marry another woman so early after his marriage to Scarlett had ended. He even said twice in Gone with the Wind that he wasn't a marrying man. He gave in to his need for Scarlett because they were alike. His second wife was nothing like him and she was weak like Melanie. He never would have married Melanie. No one could imagine that.

As for Scarlett's new child with Rhett, Kat,(Katie Colum O'Hara)she should have been like Bonnie in the sense that Rhett and Scarlett had married because they were alike and that Bonnie ended up like her parents. Kat it seemed had no resemblense to her mother or her father's personalities. She was quiet and didn't like to be spoiled.

This book was wonderfully written, but it seemed like a whole other book. It seemed to have nothing to do with Gone with the Wind itself and it was very unfaithful to Margaret Mitchell. If Margaret Mitchell were to read the book today, she would be pleased with the style of the book, but displeased with the unfaithfulness to the character's, plots, and points that she introduced to us in Gone with the Wind. Another author should be given the rights to write another sequel that will remain faithful to the characters and places. I hope this happens.

All in all, I would have to say that this is really a great book. It does pale slightly in comparision to the first book, but really, how could it not? But when looking at the book as a separate work, by a different author, I have to say that it was wonderful. It never dragged. I found that Scarlett still had the same fire, but I was slightly dissappointed in Rhett. I don't think the author quite caught him, but I really didn't let that take away from the story as a whole for me. The only fault I had with the book was the ending. Not what happens to the charactors, but how it happens. I felt that the author rushed things a bit. It was almost as if she was in a time crunch, and just ended things as fast as she could to meet a deadline or something. However, I may have felt this way simply because I didn't want the book to end! I agree with some critics who say that the book didn't really need a sequel. However, isn't it great that there is one? More of this fantastic story to enjoy!

It's impossible to tope a Classic. So why, then, should we have expected "Scarlett" to compare with "Gone With The Wind?" I believe Ripley did a wonderful job "completing" a novel that really had no way of "properly" ending. After all, it would have to be Mitchell herself to write a "proper" conclusion, and even then, who's to say audiences and critics still would have approved?? It's quite possible that this is one of the reasons Mitchell emphatically stated that GWTW ended right where she left it. Ripley does her best to create a Scarlett who has learned from her past mistakes. She's a bit stronger, wiser, but still looking out for #1. "Scarlett" may not be a Classic, but it gave readers a glimpse as to what might have occurred between the South's legendary lovers. (As for the movie to "Scarlett," don't waste your time or money. It doesn't even remotely resemble the book, and humiliates the sequel even further.)

I agree, this book pales in comparison to GWTW, but what sequel not written by Margaret Mitchell wouldn't? With that in mind I loved Scarlett. The characters of GWTW have lived on in my heart for years, and I appreciate any work that tries to revive them. Does this book do justice to them, somewhat, and that is all I ask. Many reviewers have said that if you "really" love GWTW you will hate this book. Not so. I relish any conversation with a rabid fan that can ruminate over what happened to Scarlett and Rhett, and reading this was like having a very satisfying conversation. I wish there were numerous sequels and I would read every single one and probably enjoy all of them. This book is a great enjoyment if you don't take it too seriously as a real continuation of GWTW, and if you like discovering another's interpretation of what happened to Scarlett and Rhett, well this is the only thing out there so enjoy it!

GWTW is one of, if not, the best novel I remember reading, which is why I just had to read the sequel to it. I will admit Ms. Ripley is a talented writer, and the story would have been passable if one didn't expect so much from it. Unfortunately, you can't help but want Scarlett to match or even surpass GWTW.
I think the biggest problem is that it doesn't come from the same author. Ms. Ripley and Ms. Mitchell are not related story writers at all. As hard as it may be, the best idea is to leave this novel be and let GWTW just stay as it is.

I too succumbed to this novel, which promised a continuation of my absolute favorite book of all time, the book to which nothing ever compared. Well, I was let down. The time spent in Ireland is incredibly boring. It goes on and on and on and it's awful. As for the book itself, it's not bad. But it's got nothing on the original; absolutely NOTHING. It's easy to decide to read it, but if I could turn back time I never would have read it. Personally I think no sequel is necessary to the spectacular Gone With the Wind. It is a beautiful story that is complete the way it is. I'd rather dream sequels to the book myself than read Ms. Ripley's attempt to follow it. It's nothing against her. After all, it would've been hard for anyone to pick up, what with Melanie dead and Scarlett no longer in love with Ashley. I can almost see how it was necessary to change Scarlett beyond recognition. The first part of it, when Scarlett went to Charleston, was actually pretty interesting. But this is not a book that should have been written. As Rhett said in the last pages of GWTW, "Scarlett, I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken--and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken pieces as long as I lived." Gone With the Wind ended, whether the ending was the way we wanted things to turn out or not, and this continuation is nothing but an attempt to glue pieces back together.

I must say that I have read the reviews of this book and i tend to wonder if these persons are talking about the same novel. I thought this book was great. If you are a fan of heart-warming, non-cheesy, exciting and genuine romance stories you will love this book. This writer does an excellent job of presenting genuine and complex characters as well as well researched facts about the historical aspects of the story. I especially like the fact that this writer keeps the essence of Scarlett while showing how she changes but doing it in a believable way. You still feel as if the character is Scarlett although there are differences about her.
Knowing it was a sequel I did not expect too much but I was satisfied with the story. Some of the things that happen in this story may be a bit far-fetched, but any good story, movie or piece of entertainment is bound to have this effect. A word to some of die-hard GWTW fans, this writer is not Margaret Mitchell and so dont expect her writing to be like Ms. Mitchell, but at the same time be open-minded. She is very good and was chosen by Ms. Mitchell's estate.

Many years ago I read GWTW and loved it. Then, I read, Scarlet and adjusted her character in my head into this grown woman, who finds a way to be happy and successful (Margaret Mitchell started that)in the land of her father's people. She loved her father and worshipped her mother, but in this book, she sees them both through adult eyes. She knows that they were human and had their own faults. It is easy to look back at GWTW and see the Irish boiling to the surface in every turn of the page. Honestly, I really wish there was a sequel to Scarlet. I still want more. Yes, I read Rhett's People and found it satisfying as a possible ending, but I was able to lay it down without wondering "What's next?" I would love to read the story of Ellen and her forbidden lover. How about Scarlet's Grandmother Robillard? A good story is a good story. Hey you "Margaret Mitchells Only" folks, there is even evidence that she might not be the actual author of GWTW. Enjoy the characters. Let them grow and change - just like real folks do. Recently, I have reread all three books (GWTW, Scarlet, and Rhett's People) and I am fully satisfied and longing for more.

Maybe I didn't like this book because it wasn't GWTW, but maybe I just didn't like it. Like probably everyone who has ever read GWTW, I dreamed about how things would turn out between Scarlett and Rhett. But this book makes a joke out of anyone's imagination. Ripley has all but sabotaged the original characters. Scarlett has been transformed into a simpering "little" woman, as opposed to the strong-headed heroine she was in GWTW. Rhett is no longer a rogue, but just some average, boring, southern gentleman. Not sticking to any characteristics of the Mitchell's original creations, this book is bound to disappoint you.

When I first began this book, I was very dissatisfied at Ripley's writing. For example, Ripley didn't give the "darkies" their usual slang, and in the beginning of the book Scarlett kept repeating "everything will be all right when I get back to Tara.." and "when I go to Tara..." and "oh, Tara!" But that soon passed, and the real glamour of the book came out. This book is not to be compared with GWTW. This book is a book on its own. It's great. I love it. I have about 100 pages left, and it's soooo good. A page-turner just like its predecessor...

First off, allow me to beg your forgiveness: this book was published in 1991, so I am coming very, very late to the party. Also, someone else may have already written what I'm about to write; I just didn't feel like slogging through 350 reviews to find out.

Margaret Mitchell died, too young, in 1949, in a traffic accident. At the time, literary copyright extended to the lifetime of the author plus fifty years. Because Ms. Mitchell did in '49, that fifty-year clock began ticking then, due to expire in 1999. Her estate had to do SOMETHING to lock up the characters again, or they'd have lapsed into the public domain, and you'd have had Scarlett and Rhett pushing pizzas on TV. "Scarlett" is the something they came up with.

At the time this book was published, copyright extended to the life of the author plus seventy-five years (it's now a stone cold CENTURY). So, if you disliked "Scarlett," buck up: in the year 2066 the Stephens-Mitchell Estate will have to do it all over again.

I read GTWT last year, and of course was dying to read the sequel, because I fell so in love with the characters that I couldn't bear to see them apart. So I checked "Scarlett" out from the library and read it in three days. I was very disappointed. The best word to describe it is unbelievable, and not in a good way either. The plot is not plausible at all. Land, especially Tara, "the only thing worth fighting for- worth dying for," was very important to Scarlett. After the war, she tried to sell herself to save Tara. Why would she sell Tara a few years later? And why did Mammy have to die? Mammy was one of the best characters. What happened to all the people in Atlanta- Ashley, Aunt Pitty, the Merriweathers, the Meades, the Elsings? How come Scarlett went to Charleston and attached herself to Rhett's relatives, and how come they had the same lifestyle as the County people did before the war? And, after pursuing Rhett so closely, why did Scarlett cross an ocean to be away from him? Why did Scarlett travel all over Europe being a social butterfly? And why did she bring in the whole thing about the people thinking Cat was cursed, or whatever that was about? Why did Rhett, the heart and soul of GWTW, play such a small part in "Scarlett?" What was the whole deal about his second wife? Rhett would never had divorced Scarlett and married again. He would threaten but he wouldn't do it. The best part of GWTW was the complexities of the characters and their relationship, and that is completely gone in "Scarlett." Scarlett chases Rhett, he runs, she goes to Ireland, he heroically rescues Scarlett and their child, and the novel comes to a close with the two saying mushy things about their future together. This book has none of the passion, tension, and paradoxical beauty of "Gone With the Wind." The only thing to its credit is the happy ending.

I have waited to long to review this book. I received this book when I was 17 years old and have read and reread it time and time again. I have been a huge fan of Gone with the Wind since I was a very young girl, I remember trying to read the GWTW when I was 5, and finally at the age of 10 could get thru it, I read it at least 7 times. I also have a great love for the "South" and the history of lives before, during, and after the "war". In all that, I have read many different kinds of books on the south in all genres.

If you love the South & the Victorian Era, and want a fantastic read this is it. If you think this author is trying to write like Margaret Mitchell you will be sorely disappointed. The two authors are very different in their writing styles and both have different ideas when it comes to plots (this is NOT Gone With the Wind). If you severely compare them both you will miss out on a wonderfully written book. This author has definitely done her homework on the Southern Culture, Ireland, England, and has totally captured the Victorian Era that Scarlett goes into.

This book is basically about Scarlett shedding some, but not all of her "Southern Bell symbolism". She becomes a remarkable woman, in all the experience and wisdom she has gained thru the years. As she becomes a woman, and looses the selfish, childish ways that she had before, she travels outside of the shelled life she has lead. The travels that you go on with her (if you let it) will be a great escape for you the reader.

There is a great part in the book where she has a portrait painted of herself, this is the part where you Know she has completely grown up and has become "A Great Lady"......... she still has that spark we all love, and Southern charm, but this time she knows how to control and use it. In Europe, instead of being treated like an outcast for her personality and "vivaciousness", she is celebrated for it. They just polish her up a bit.

Alexandra has done her homework on the Victorian Era very well, and it's fascinating to see Scarlett charm all of the Aristocracy in England and Ireland. When she is in Ireland the author captures in wonderful detail life in that era, you really will feel like you are there. This is also a very easy and fluent read. It keeps you wanting to know more, and is hard to put down. Please don't compare it to Margaret Mitchell's very "Classic" writing style, just read it as a beautifully written book.

The ending is exiting, a real page turner.

It should not be categorized in a "Harlequin Romance" category. I am very insulted by that comment from another reader. I have read many romances both in many styles and genres this is NOT written in that type of style at all.

I would give this a chance and be very open minded, you will enjoy it.

I love "Gone With The Wind" and have read it many times. Unfortunately, "Scarlett" is a very disappointing continuation of the story (I have given it a fair chance, I've read the whole thing twice).

If this was just a work of fiction, it would be a very good one, but as a follow up to Margaret Mitchell's work of genius, it falls way short. It's not that Ripley is a poor author, it's that she left one of the most important elements of "Gone With The Wind" out when she wrote "Scarlett" - the South. The South with all it's traditions and culture gave so much the original story and played such an integral role in it that removing Scarlett and the story from that setting ruins it. Had Mitchell set her story somewhere else - took Scarlett's character and placed her in a different location and culture, I don't believe it would have been the success that it is.

If you want a sequel to "Gone With The Wind", read "Rhett Butler's People" a recently published new sequel to "Gone With The Wind", and a much better one. If you want a piece of good historical fiction and can get over the fact that this does not live up to it's predecessor, read "Scarlett".

Of course, there's no possible way to follow Gone With the Wind and be as powerful. Despite that, I greatly enjoyed this novel. It gives me some closure to the Scarlett/Rhett saga, albeit not what Margaret Mitchell likely would have imagined. Take into account that this is not Mitchell, and just enjoy it for what it is, a well-written alternate ending to your favorite film. The movie version was even well-done, there is no comparison to GWTW, but they're not attempting to match or better the prequel, just satisfy some appetites. I think both are enjoyable. Maybe someday some other writer will live up to GWTW, but for now I'm happy with SCARLETT.

Scarlett changes completely. she is not the one that we know from the first part. I watched the Tv series as well. I think I liked her fir the first part and this one was a little too much of drama queen when she was a strong stand woman who was different than any women they knew in time.

So I've been reading through these reviews, and while I understand that the sequel is quite different from GWTW, what did you all expect? Mitchell is dead, and there will never be a truly "authentic" sequel made. It's more valuable to discuss Ripley's book on the basis of it's own merit. Scarlett in GWTW is childish, ignorant and selfish, but that is what we all love. However, I love how Ripley takes Scarlett and makes her a whole character in this novel. You see that there is more to her than an all-consuming selfishness, as she finds a family that she loves and cares about, and finally breaks out of Ellen's shadow. I thought Ripley did a magnificent job keeping true to Rhett's character, and also keeping true to Scarlett's, while still adding more dimensions to both characters. Overall, I love this book. Although GWTW is still my favorite, I love Scarlett and will continue to read this book over and over again.

That's right, it's not Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind". It's Alexandra Ripley's. And unless you're just opposed in principle to the idea of one author writing about another author's fictional characters, you'll find Ripley's "Scarlett" holds up very well on its own. She has done a fine job of finding the "voices" of Mitchell's characters, and as someone who has read GWTW at least 20 times, I can vouch for the fact that never, no NEVER, did I look up from the page indignantly shouting, "Wait a minute - [he/she] would NEVER have said/done that!" Well done, Miss Ripley - thanks!

Anyone (even sometimes the original author) who attempts to write a sequel to a much loved book such as GONE WITH THE WIND is probably doomed to an onslaught of criticism. Most people would rather draw their own conclusions about the future of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.

However, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I feel that in many ways Alexandra Ripley kept the character of Scarlett O'Hara true to her core self while expanding her personality through a very wide range of situations, experiences, and emotions as she ages and matures.

In GONE WITH THE WIND, Rhett Butler once told Scarlett, "you are very Irish." Too, for all that Scarlett hoped to be like her serene, self-contained mother who was of French ancestry, she had the blood of her Irish father flowing through her veins and she definitely had his blunt-speaking, forthright personality. The clash of two very different cultures in her ancestry constantly warred within her.

It is fitting, then, that in this sequel we find Scarlett fully discovering her Irish roots which, perhaps, might be the best part of her personality, after all. In GONE WITH THE WIND, Scarlett never truly fits in with the society to which she has been born. She becomes ostracized for "side-stepping" many of the social customs of the day and living by her own rules. In SCARLETT, we find her, at first, no longer ostracized, but appreciated by the Irish, because she is with people who recognize and accept her for what she is. They are like her in many ways, but as she later discovers, not completely.

Scarlett matures and changes in this book. Yet, the core of her remains the same. Just as in GONE WITH THE WIND Scarlett changed to meet changing times (which caused her to be a social outcast), in SCARLETT, we once again witness Scarlett changing and adapting to meet new circumstances in her life.

We witness Scarlett's maturation by comparing how she changes. In GONE WITH THE WIND, Scarlett changed to survive physically as she was swept into the Civil War and the terrors of Reconstruction. She vowed she wouldn't look back and she wouldn't be hungry again. In SCARLETT, she changes to survive emotionally. Without Rhett, as she feels her emotional world crumbling, she forges ahead with a plan and in the process she comes to a realization that she can truly live life by her own rules and blaze her own trail. She even admits failure to herself in her relationship with Rhett and acknowledges her many mistakes. She learns from them, too.

Scarlett's gained ability to chart her own course led me to be "un-surprised" that she leaves Tara, her beloved Georgia home, behind. In GONE WITH THE WIND, she loved it most of all. I believe she loved it still and always would. She would feel the need to return there from time to time, but her need to constantly "re-invent" herself and keep charting a new path would keep her always on the road to adventure and seeking ways to use that sharp mind of hers. Perhaps this is why at the end of this novel, she discovers once again that she is not exactly able to fit in with her Irish family. As Rhett tells her at the end of the book, "We're not home and hearth people. Without adventure, we're only half alive." Very true of Scarlett. The young Scarlett's personality was called "frighteningly vital" in GONE WITH THE WIND and it was said of her ancestors (on both sides): "they took the worst that life could give them and hammered it into the best."

Just what Scarlett does in this sequel.

I was so excited to read Scarlett after reading Gone with the Wind. I couldn't bear the unhappy ending in GWTW and rushed right out to get Scarlett. The book began good enough. Scarlett was still a headstrong and willful woman, but when she left Atlanta the book went downhill. I couldn't believe that Scarlett would abandon her family and that she would ever abandon her beloved Tara. That was her mainstay in GWTW, but not in this book. I managed to get through the entire book just to get to the happy ending, but at a cost to my personal images and feelings towards Scarlett and Rhett. I was disappointed in the way Ripley portrayed Scarlett and Rhett. Rhett, the best character and most complex, was barely seen in the novel. And the storyline while Scarlett was in Ireland was a bit too far-fetched for me. It just wasn't believable that Scarlett had changed all that much. I give Ripley credit for attempting a sequel, it is definitely no easy task, considering the quality of Mitchell's lushly descriptive and entertaining novel. But overall, it was a huge letdown with disappointments in the character development and portrayals and in the plot.

I read GWTW for the first time only a few years ago, or I should say I devoured it. I wanted more and immediately started with the "next one:" Scarlett. I devoured it as well and to this day I have trouble remembering which parts are in which book. I mention this only because to me, they seam together flawlessly. I read a few comments that Ripley's book was written as a mass-marketed media tool and this just completely shocked me. Perhaps it was written that way (although I doubt it), but it was never something that crossed my mind even once. Scarlett O'Hara's character stays true to herself and I never felt any inconsistencies or thoughts that Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett wouldn't have said this or done that or any such thing. In addition, I love the story and history that is told in Ripley's book. It was amazing, I still get a tugging feeling at my heart when I think of it all. If you love GWTW, I can't imagine not loving this book as well.

Our book club selected GONE WITH THE WIND this month. After reading it I decided to also reread SCARLET by Alexandra Ripley. Ms. Ripley does a fine job recreating an imposing character. She takes the strengths of a character created 70 years ago and blends them to a mature woman, whose heart cannot resist either a challenge or accomplishment.
The character is frozen in her time with the will to forge a path through our world.
It was an impossible job, but Ms. Ripley's finesse with words give the reader both the beloved and the new to a satisfying conclusion.
We must wait till December to hear from Rhett.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

I have a new appreciation for this sequel to GWTW by the late Alexandra Ripley after reading that pathetic travesty "Rhett Butler's People" by Donald McCaig, which unbelievably, like "Scarlett" was also sanctioned by Margaret Mitchell's estate. In my opinion, "Scarlett" is the only true sequel to the original masterpiece of American Literature. It's not perfect, but at least Ripley was true to the characters and it was clear that she read GWTW and researched it carefully. Say what you will, but Scarlett was an independent woman, who kept the household going during the war, became a business woman, not to mention the fact that she drove her own buggy in GWTW (how scandalous!). So I could see Scarlett taking the path that she did, after trying to get Rhett back, which failed at the time but was rewarded by the end of the novel. As for Scarlett moving to Ireland, I could see that. She was very much her father's daughter, who taught her how important land is to the Irish, not to mention the relatives that resided there. She clearly was looked down on by Atlanta society and while Tara would always be home to her, it just wasn't the same as it was before, so it's fitting that she would want to discover the original Tara in her father's homeland. Rhett stated at the end of GWTW how he was sentimental about what the old South used to be and was hoping to be able to recapture that somehow, so there's nothing weird about him wanting to preserve a plantation - nor did it make him into a "sissy who grows flowers". It showed that Rhett himself a love of land as Scarlett had deep inside her as well. Having Scarlett and Rhett have another child was a great idea, so it would give them another reason to be drawn back together in the end after the loss of their beloved daughter Bonnie and Scarlett's miscarriage. And for the record, Scarlett does not sell her share of Tara, she leaves it to her son, Wade, for when he comes of age. I believe that emotional growth was needed for both Scarlett and Rhett before they could reunite. Scarlett learns to value herself as a person and at least in Ireland she is admired for her hard work and business knowledge and spirit whereas in Atlanta she was shunned by a hypocritical society. Rhett discovers he cannot fight himself as much as he wants to, because Scarlett is so much a part of him that his life is incomplete without her. In the moments when they seem fated to meet up, it is clear that their love and need for each other, while unspoken, is just below the surface. Even when they argue or say things to hurt each other, the pain and longing is familiar to the readers because we know these characters so well. They are so much alike, both stubborn, fiery and passionate with a disregard for social convention. You know that neither one is complete without the other. Scarlett learned how to recognize love through losing Rhett for several years and through Cat, the child she and Rhett conceived in Charleston before the divorce. The character of Anne was obviously intended to be like Melanie in many ways, the type of woman Rhett can admire but one who fails to ignite the passion and desire that Scarlett does in him. So the set up for the eventual reunion of Scarlett and Rhett is made clear throughout the book, although there are many events and pages until we get there. But like GWTW, it is worth it.

So while Margaret Mitchell did not write it, this book is still an admirable achievement to bring the famous love story between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler ultimately succeeds, in my view, anyway, and gives the characters a very satisfying and entertaining climax. As sequels to GWTW go, "Scarlett" is definitely the one to read.

I think I bought this book the day it came out. I was so excited to go home and read it after I read the beautifully written Gone With the Wind. Even though Gone With the Wind was so long and it might've took an 8th grader nearly a week and half to read, I got happy reading the book. I was in the 9th grade I think and reading this book. I finished this boring book in nearly a month. I lost interest after the first chapter. Why would anyone want to butcher a classic book like this? Poor Margaret Mitchell. Scarlett is a trashy romance novel, considering Alexandra Ripley is a romance novelist. Why would she go to these lengths to make a classic this terrible with an ending so boring and so dull. Scarlett lost her character in this book and Ripley forgot to mention Scarlett's other children, Wade, Ella, and Bonnie. Although Bonnie's name was mentioned in the beginning. Poor Cat did not know her siblings. It was the most boring book I've ever read and please, if those of you that did not read Gone With the Wind and read this book, read Gone With the Wind. You will fall in love with the original characters. The movie is even worse with bad casting and just bad everything. This is the saddest sequel to a book that was read by nearly everyone in the world. Sad Sad~!

My starry eyed public, could we please face the truth? Not every story always has a happy ending. Yet people, upon reading the "My dear, I don't give a damn" that Rhett Butler uttered, have clamored for a happy ending and for Scarlett and Rhett to be reunited. Silly, isn't it, how people say they don't always like stories with happy endings and then cry out for a new book to reunite Scarlett and Rhett?
Let me begin by saying that I don't believe a sequel should ever have been written. Let's face it: Rhett's love for Scarlett wore out while he was waiting for her to grow up, to realize that her love for Ashley was a childish longing from the lazy days of the past. How many times did he care for Scarlett in his own way, always trying to hide his love, knowing she would lord it over his head like a bullwhip? The ideas in this novel were unique, such as the Ireland idea, and Lord Fenton. But in this book, Rhett was not quite Rhett, Scarlett was not quite Scarlett..can anyone understand what I'm saying? I'm going to pretend I never read this book, because if Mitchell had wanted her story to end differently, she would have made it end differently or written a sequel herself. Rhett was right when he said in the end that all the world's hurts wouldn't go away with Scarlett saying "I'm sorry". In GWTW, Scarlett had to lose the man she loved because of a truth realized too late, because of both Rhett and Scarlett being unwilling to compromise.

Although it isn't written by Margaret Mitchell herself, this sequel to gone with the wind is masterfully written. Finally readers have the answer to their questions regarding rhett and Scarlett' s complicated relationship, Scarlett' s relationship with Ashley and so much more! A book you simply can't put down once you've started, I highly recommend you buy it today!

i only read this sequel to GWTW at the encouragement of a friend, and maybe i was just a little curious. But about 3 chapters into Alexandra Ripleys 'sequel' all i could think was, 'my god, i could have written a better story'. As a stand alone tale, Scarlett is probably not too bad, in a mills and boon kind of way. but as a sequel it is completely lacking in every way.
RHETT- my FAVOURITE character, becomes a useless, mean man, who, unlike in GWTW doesnt act out of love but out of...umm...i really dont know.
SCARLETT- i never really liked her, but i admired her spirit. But now she is turned into a boring, pointless, rambling ('tara, i love tara, tomorrow, yes, tomorrow, tara, tara, tara, tara...) woman, who's only goal in life is to win back the man who she THINKS she loves. she is suddenly a loving mother, which she NEVER was in GWTW and she leaves Tara as easily as one might the supermarket.
i wont even mention, Ashley, Pittypat, Eleanor Butler, Careen, India, or the moutains of characters which seem to have been crammed into this book simply because Alexandra Ripley could.
in short, i have to agree with those who say there would be a real sequel if there was meant to be. this book is unsatisfying and the convenient plot twists a joke. i.e. the boating 'accident' for those who have read the book.
i was never a HUGE fan of GWTW, but as i said, i respected them, now i pity them and their weak characters. so basically - do not read this book unless you are DESPERATE for closure, its probably more satisfying to think up alternative endings in your mind...
i think the major failing of this book is that GWTW was set during the civil war, that's what shaped the characters and what drove the story, but now there's nothing around the people to govern their actions. GWTW was a book about the south and its people- Scarlett is a book just about the people, and much poorer for it.

When Scarlett uttered her famous line "tomorrow is another day," she wasn't kidding. She's back and better than ever in the book Scarlett. Scarlett starts off right where Gone with the Wind stopped. Scarlett continues to lust for her lost love, and she sets new and shocking goals for herself as she tries to win him back. She continuses to be the no-nonscence, down-to-earth heroine we met and fell in love with in Gone with the Wind. The ending of Scarlett is truely unforgetable, and ranks Scarlett among the top stories of all time. For those who don't really enjoy reading, I suggest the movie Scarlett (I have a review there as well).

I think people have been too unfair when rating Scarlett. The late Alexandra Ripley had some big shoes to fill when chosen to "complete" the story of Scarlett and Rhett. And while it's natural to want to compare her story to the original GWTW by Margaret Mitchell, such action tends to turn our feelings biased. And maybe many actually don't like the story. But was Ripley a lousy author? Not by any means. While Scarlett reads more like a bubble bath romance novel than a classic piece of literature, it's a good story and could have been done in a worse fashion by a lousy author.

Scarlett is a continuing from the very end of GWTW, picking up right where Margaret Mitchell left off. With Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butlet now void of almost everything she has ever held dear, she has a chance to start over again. She does, however, hold on the past, at least partially, and the hope that she can win Rhett back. Fate takes hold on that note. Scarlett also gets to know a life that she has never known before, and in the process aid her father's homeland.

I will admit that the story was slow and drawn out in some places. I will also agree with other reviewers that Scarlett, Rhett, and I dare say many of the old characters we know were "out of character" here and there. But again, this isn't GWTW. The author isn't Margaret Mitchell. Ripley did a fine job and wrote a good story with what she had to work with. I defy anyone to do a better job than she did. If you intend to read Scarlett, this is my piece of advice: Do it with an open mind and an open heart.

I reaaaaalllllly wanted to like this so-called sequel to the beloved GONE WITH THE WIND, but I just can't. The author was chosen because of her reputation as a romance novelist and her built-in audience/fans. Big mistake on the part of the publisher and the Mitchell family. Huge. It is what it is: a bodice ripper. If you like bodice rippers, then this is a corker and you'll have a great time. If you're a GWTW fan, you'll curse the heavens and tear your hair out. Mitchell's novel isn't perfect by any means: I could edit/cut it by a third without hurting the nuances and characterizations. But this sequel takes the complicated, multi-faceted titular character and turns her into a shadow of herself. The decisions and consequent mistakes she makes are laughable. Worse, Rhett and Ashley might as well have perished along with Melanie because they're woefully underwritten in this novel.

If you have ever read Gone With the Wind, even once, you'll know that Scarlett is a book not even worth reading. It's true that it's a different author in a different time period. And if the characters had had different names, it wouldn't be so intolerable. But as a sequel, the book is horrible. The writing is nothing like Margaret Mitchell's, and I didn't even recognize the characters. They may have had the same names, but their personalities were lost.
Maybe I'm biased. GWTW is my favorite book, as well as my favorite movie. But Scarlett is absolute drivel. The saucy, spoiled brat that we all know and love has been transformed into a whiny, mindless shadow of her former self. All she wants is Rhett. None of the growth shown in the original story is present in the sequel. Rhett doesn't sparkle as he used to. The former sarcasm and witt is destroyed behind a wimpy, serious facade that just doesn't fit with the hero of so many of our dreams and fantasies. The situations the characters are put through are incredible and unbelievable, sometimes even downright laughable. Well known and beloved characters are discarded for a new cast of less interesting characters sprung the mind of a trashy romance novelist.
The book doesn't have the feel of GWTW. It's Ripley's story and Ripely's characters, and the only thing it has in common with the original is the names of the characters. If you want to spend your weekend curled up with a good book featuring a heartfelt romance, a vivid supporting cast, beautiful scenery, and characters that can never be duplicated, read GWTW. Don't even bother to check Scarlett out of the library; it's not even worth your time to read the synopsis on the jacket cover.

Like many other fans of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the wind, I ventured into the reading of Alexandra Ripley's Scarlet, with a mixture of anticipation and deep foreboding. Anticipation because, after all, who WOULDN'T want to know what happened to one of the worlds most beloved couples. Foreboding beacause of the terror that the author may in fact help in totally killing off the character that Margaret Mitchel so lovingly created. But I was not to be dissapointed. In fact, I felt that this book would have deserved all five stars, had it been for the fact that the original idea of the charachters of Scarlett and Rhett were not her own. Alexandra Ripley does not just write a sequel to a novel. She takes a storyline and melds it into her own, a distinct writing style which compliments the novel itself and somehow, also manages to distinguish itself from the previous. The storyline has grown- just as the charachters (Scarlett in particular) grow with her. Those who venture into the reading of the novel with the thought in mind that this will be a poor novel will be totally surprised. I (like many others) feel that there has been a lot of thought and creativity put into this project, resulting in a masterpiece.If there are others who wish to react to this, they may contact me. Outstanding!

Here is the completion to the book that has swept counties and countries alike. Ripely picks up where Mitchell left off on Gone With The Wind, continuing the timeless classic with a novel of her own. In this tale, our heroine, Scarlett O'Hara flees to Ireland, unwilling to face the shame of being divorced and bearing Rhett's child. Amoung her Irish kin, she finds a home there- no one needs to know that her husband threw her over, so Scarlett begins to weave an intricate and delicate web of lies. Earning the title of The O'Hara, and being selected out of her many relatives to be the head of the family, Scarlett grows to be well-known in Ireland. This attracts the attention of a woman determined to make Scarlett an even bigger celebrity. News of the belle travels even as far to the states . . . Back in Charleston, unknown to Scarlett, Anne Hampton, former friend to The O'Hara weaves her own web, with plans to have Rhett caught in the silky threads. He falls into the trap, and is forced to marry the school ma'am or be shunned by all in South Carolina. This choice turns out to be a mistake, for no sooner are the wedding vows said than do Rhett's passions for his ex-wife begin to overcome his senses. And when Anne dies from the yellow fever, Mr. Butler travels to Ireland, and to the side of his ex-wife and younger daughter. All ends well for the threesome, as Margaret Mitchell would have no doubt intended.
As a worthy sequel to Gone With The Wind, Scarlett wraps up the history of Rhett and Scarlett, tying up all the loose ends and leaving nothing but a wholly satisfied reader.

I am a huge fan of Gone with the Wind, both the book and the movie. I remember watching Scarlett on TV years ago and how much I enjoyed that. Granted I was a lot younger and seemed to enjoy even the worst shows then, so I'm no longer sure how great the movie really was. As far as the book, I chose to read it because I love long epic stories, especially when I felt like the first book was left with more to tell. I love the setting of Ireland in this book and that I get my happy ending. Some of the book could have been edited better and trimmed down. It was a long read and at times, hard to get through some parts. Having said that, it was still a "fun" read because I got more of of the of the Scarlett chronicles and was taken back in time.

When i first heard of the book I came across it in my library. I was EXTREMELY skeptical because GWTW is my favorite book of all time and this was not written by the same author. I started it and i picks up where GWTW left off. I honestly enjoyed having an ending to the whole "Rhett Leaves" ending. I LOVED it. The big realization (kinda in the middle) made me EXTREMELY excited to hurry to the ending. Most people think that is automatically is horrible because it was not written by the great Margaret Mitchel,however i think that is not the case at all. If Margaret Mitchell were to write the EXACT same thing people would love it just as much. Anyway i enjoyed almost every word.:)

it gives a more in depth view of Scarlett and her raisings why she thought what she did, and a short back ground of how her mom was raised. I loved it !!
just know you will love the ending.......

I absolutely fell in love with the story and characters of GWTW when I read it for the first time recently. I was so desperate to have the story continue, and so unwilling to let go of the characters I'd grown to love that (despite all the bad reviews) I immediately began reading "Scarlett".

I enjoyed "scarlett" but, like many have said, it is no GWTW... it is comparible in no way, and thus not a true "continuation" of the story we loved. As difficult as the ending of GWTW is to digest, I do beleive that was it's purpose... to end the story. The conclusion of GWTW keeps the characters forever in our aching hearts, and alive in our imagination... BECAUSE it leaves us with questions about the characters we love. It forces our own imaginations to draw possible conclusions beyond that of the book. The characters we come to love become very real in our hearts, and yet we are left with no real answers to the aching questions regarding them. It's part of the magic of GWTW , atleast to me. IMO, it is what makes the story stay so close to our minds and hearts.

"Scarlett" is one writers own imagined continuation of the story, and while it will be agreeable to many and accepted as the conclusion for our beloved Scarlett and Rhett... there is no real conclusion in my mind.
I enjoyed "Scarlett" , very much actually, and being desperate for the story to go on and on.... I got that , roughly 800 pages of it. lol I found the majority of the story plausible even; Scarlett growing up , becoming a woman in a real sense, Rhett trying to make ammends with his family and Charleston as a whole for the sake of his beloved mother... I found every aspect of this story plausible based on former actions of the characters in the original.... but only if I made a genuine effort to do so. It wasn't a natural transgression for the most part. The characters lacked depth, and it was only pluasible for me b/c i kept going back in my mind to the depth they'd had in GWTW and transferring it to the characters in this book. It wasn't somethign that was done by the author, but rather my own will to enjoy the book and feel for the characters with the same depth as I had while reading GWTW.

If you are as desperate to have the story continue and to catch a glimpse of the characters you loved then I woudl suggest reading "Scarlett". If you're not willing to mentally make an effort (by remembering GWTW) and try to take this book on it's own merits.... or worse intend to make a comparison between the two books... leave it on the shelf.

The first third or so of this novel had me feeling excited and optimistic. The early portions had a similar feel to Margaret Mitchell's writing and kept Scarlett in the South where the reader expected her to be. I don't have any objections to Ms. Ripley moving the setting out of the country. However, as soon as she does the book takes a turn. It becomes a typical cheesy romance novel and stops being historical fiction at its finest. I wish she'd been able to keep up the momentum she started with!

If you read Scarlett as a sequel to GWTW there is no comparison. Scarlett is a complete waste of our trees and should be burned.

I am giving the book 2 stars bc if it is read not as a sequel...it is okay. Not great, or good.

Personally I don't think Scarlett would have acted that way...nor would she have "grown into a woman" as the book makes her do.

Rhett irritates me constantly by over use of the phrase "I'm no gentleman" which he only uses a couple of times in the original book.

Mostly I think the writer was trying to exercise her knowledge of Ireland around 1870 and her cheesy romance novel skills.

The book is worth reading if you are looking for a different perspective of the characters, but definately not worth spending the money on. I would suggest if you *have* to read it, check it out from the library and save your money

If you're hoping for a book with superb writing and characterization like Mitchell's original book, then I don't recommend it. But, if you're just looking for a fairly easy read with a happier ending, then look no further. The book itself is basically fan fiction that happened to get published. After reading or watching Gone With the Wind, I always get super depressed with Rhett just leaving Scarlett. I then turn to this book to satisfy my want for a happy ending with the two main characters. After reading other reviews though, I learned of the unpublished book 'Tara' and wish that was available to read.

I was a little reluctant to read this at first... being a big fan of the original. (hate loose ends but maybe that was what was so memorable about gone with the wind, you never knew how they'd get back together) But after a few dozen pages I was hooked, the only thing that might put you off a bit is the fact that its a different author... so of course her writing will be a little different. the story gets a little fantastic, not too fantastic.. but a little hard to believe, so if you like the down to earth stuff from the first that might get to you too. The characters are a little different in this book at some points you think... he wouldn't say that... she wouldn't do that.... but I think its good despite that.... so if you get this book keep an open mind, and I think you'll quite enjoy the story. have fun!!

You know what writing any sequel is hard but to write a sqeuel to a book you didn't write in the first place is even more difficult. I have a first edition of Scarlet and I have read it and reread it many times. I love it. I think it really allowed Scarlet to blossom and grow up. To become who she wanted to be. She could not have done that in the south. She was strong and appreciated for her strength. I would highly recommend this book. As a matter of fact I think I will go read it again!

I, who read Gone With the Wind in about a week at the tender age of 14 (I'm 15 now), and have since read it about six or seven times, was extremely satisfied with the sequal. After my first few readings of the original, I realized what the problem was - I didn't like Scarlett. (Not many authors have the courage to design and write an unlikable heroine.) For everyone else who was yelling at Scarlett to 'grow up!,' 'Don't marry Charles!,' 'Just tell Rhett how you really feel!,' etc, etc, etc, you will be happy with how Ripley matures and softens Scarlett. For everyone who was as frustrated with her as I was, you'll get a pleasent surprise when you come to a certain scene of self-revelation, of 'owning up to failure,' which, as everyone who has read GWTW knows, is a major issue for Scarlett. It also provides insight into the harsh life of the Irish under English rule. 'To anyone with a drop of Irish blood in them,' it will make you wince with empathy, feel anger towards the English military who brutalize Ireland, and feel pride in your Irish roots. The book satisfies everything we wanted for Scarlett, remains true to the characters of Scarlett and Rhett, and is a real page-turner. If you've read GWTW, you'll want to read this.

"Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind"

I love this novel and I call any book that is this big and wonderful a novel. Anyone that is a "Gone with the Wind" fan (book or movie or both) may stick their nose in the air at a sequel done by someone other then Margaret Mitchell but I hope they take the time to stick that up turned nose between these pages. They will not be disappointed. In fact, I don't know if it is because of the wonderful writing, creative story, or just the fact that I can not get enough of Scarlett that I love this book sooooooo much.

My husband bought this book for me a long time ago because he knew how much I love "Gone with the Wind." I smiled and my nose started to turn up but because I love my husband so much and it was a very thoughtful gift I opened the pages and pretended to whole heartily read. The book cover flap that is. I learned that it took four years for Mrs. Ripley to write this novel and that she was hand picked by Margaret Mitchell's family to write the sequel. "Well, maybe I will actually open it up and give it a try but no more then one chapter. I have better things to do and many more books to read." I didn't pull my unturned up nose out till I was well into the sixth chapter! I was hooked.

You will too if you have ever wondered what happen to Rhett and Scarlett not to mention Ashley Wilkes, Mammy, Melanie, Suellen (Scarlett's sister), Aunt Pittypat, Tara, and Scarlett's two children. One novel could not hold the full story of such a love affair and certainly not long enough to tell the story of Scarlett. Any one that fell in love with Scarlett knew there had to be more to her story and they were right. What did she do next? Did she stay in Atlanta or was Atlanta too small to hold such a beautiful bell?

I don't want to tell you one thing specific that happens to Scarlett in this book. I don't want to spoil it for you. But I will tell you that Rhett and Scarlett are not done. Scarlett ventures farther then she ever has before. She also touches a lot of lives with her folly, business ventures, deep green eyes, money, generosity, boldness,and flip of her fan. If you love Scarlett then every thing you wanted is in this novel. Also I dare others to read it and not fall in love with our Scarlett.

This is pure, unadulterated sacrilege. As bad as I hated to, I DID read the entire thing. I wanted to be able to freely and knowledgeably express my disgust. I did not want to read this and I never would have, but it was a very well-intentioned gift from a friend who knew my appreciation for both, the book and the movie GWTW.

I wanted to toss it in the trash from the start, but then I wouldn't be giving a fair and well informed opinion.

Margaret Mitchell's heirs ought to be sued (or horse whipped) for allowing this.

The publishers out to be sued (or horse whipped) for printing it.

And, Ripley ought to be sued AND horse whipped for having the audacity and disrespect to write it.

If she is such a gifted author why didn't she just write this same story with different names? Since it bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Original Classic, no one in their right mind would have charged her with copyright infringement. Let it stand (and fail) on it's own merit (or lack thereof).

I'm not a foaming at the mouth devotee of Margaret Mitchell, but I just find it hideous to feed off of her work, her name, her reputation in this fashion. GWTW was HER creation and it was wrong to have it vandalized like this.

There are a lot of people who don't like it, never read it, don't want to read it and that is fine. But to be so disrespectful of it while trying to make a buck off of it is reprehensible.

I happened to be at my library for a speaical event. I had like one minute to check out a book so I raced to the rebecca C. books and randomly grabbed it and checked it out. The cover wasn't so convincing but I read it anyway. This book was one of my most favorite books. It is truly an unforgetable novel. It even had me crying on a few parts. just read it! You'll be surprised...

After reading Gone with the Wind I was consumed with what happened next, and another great historical romance delivered with obsessive and consuming thrill, the saga of Scarlett and Rhett. Both books are addictive. Sleep stealing page turners. Scarlett leaves me breathless, satisfied in the end. Finally able to resume my life with many lessons learned. Thank you to the great characters, reviews of history, and completely consuming story telling!

Back in the early 1990s I read this book in a couple of days. Like many GWTW fans, I was curious to see if someone even could write a sequel. They could not, or at least Ripley could not. I admire her nerve in attempting to do so for such a great work as GWTW, but the Scarlett sequel was beyond awful. What happened to Ella and Wade? Why would she give up Tara? Would they seriously let a woman, an American woman at that, in the 1870s be the head of a family (The O'Hara, what was that?!) in conservative, very Catholic Ireland? Really?? I agree with others that Scarlett's selfishness and shrewdness was gone, I guess for a kinder, gentler Scarlett that the 1990s people could handle, otherwise I'm not sure why. The witchraft thing was dumb too as Scarlett from GWTW after the war and hardships at Tara had little use for superstition or religion or anything that didn't relate to food, money, or other common sense, earthly things. Anyhow save your money. If you must read this, borrow it from your local library, but for heaven's sake, don't spend money on it.

I love how Alexandra Ripley picked up exactly where Margaret Mitchell left off. I think she did a wonderful job in transforming Scarlett from a spoiled southern belle to a sophisticated, caring individual. She made Scarlett examine her life and put it into the proper perspective. I felt her emotions as if they were mine. Taking her back to her roots in Ireland was wonderful, I loved reading the vivid descriptions of the countryside. But my favorite chapter was the last when Rhett and Scarlett both realized that they were meant to be together. This was the second time I read GWTW and Scarlett and I would highly recommend both of them. (Although, I would not recommend the movie.) I wish someone would take up where Alexandra left off and take us into Cat's life as a young woman.

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't even get past the second chapter of this book before I decided THE HECK WITH THIS! I really am sorry that I didn't at least give it a chance, but I couldn't! After I finished Gone With the Wind (SCARLETT's prequel), I was starving for more. But SCARLETT is such a disappointment. No one can capture Scarlett's character the way Mitchell did. There were too many obvious differences. Also, the drama in SCARLETT seemed much too forced in comparison to GWTW. And certain rules of etiquette in the South that Mitchell made clear in GWTW were completely forgotten in SCARLETT. I do apologize, but I have to suggest that no one read SCARLETT---no one who HAS read GWTW and no one who hasn't.

After reading Gone With the Wind, I also read this book (and the dismal The Wind Done Gone) as a curiosity. I'm glad I read it, mostly because I could say I did. I also expected the worst, but in the end I believe that this book is entertaining, but not incredibly believable.

The most striking part of this book was how little Rhett was in it. This upset me - I'd hoped that for a book on Scarlett and Rhett's reconciliation, the two characters could actually talk their problems out instead of meeting during a ridiculous bit of danger in a stone tower. Maybe I'm too modern. I also thought that Rhett would need more convincing to re-fall in love with Scarlett. The idea that he was in actuality just repressing his true feelings totally misunderstands Rhett. I also, like many, didn't buy Scarlett's transformation into a loving mother. I did like Cat and Scarlett's relationship with Cat, but it could have been handled better.

The book was also too long - not really length-wise, but after the book got to Ireland it seemed to really, really drag. At about page 500-600 I was begging for the book to be over. And when the book does eventually end, everything is wrapped up too neatly. Ashely has a new wife. Column and Mrs. Fitz end in tragedy, and nobody really cares. What a shame.

And yet, the book is entertaining for many long stretches. I loved Alexandra Ripley's new characters. Rhett's mom, the grandfather, and Scarlett's Irish family were all great fun to read about and I enjoyed learning about them. Even still, entertaining scenes don't make for a good novel. This book is decent, especially if you have low expectations, but I don't believe this is what "really" happened.

Scarlett is an ok book. It's good, but not great. I was kinda disappointed by the ending. It wasn't that great ending you thought that would come from the sequel to GWTW. I was frustrated that it took so long for Scarlett to get Rhett, and how many chances they missed. Jeez, they waisted 10 years! Like Rhett says at the end, to many missed signals and chances. But i guess, that's what makes you keep reading. It was different from the first book in the way that the Scarlett that you came to love for her spirit, changes, and is totally different and takes getting used to. I will say this. A sequel for GWTW should have been written by Margaret Mitchell. SHe was the only one who truly knew what it was all about. And if there was to be a movie, it should have been made when Gable and Leigh were still able to do the parts, but thats another story.

The bottom line on this book is this author attempted to make it her own. She took beloved characters and developed a silly storyline, set in Ireland, of all places (sooo not interesting), she left all the interesting parts of GWTW behind, all of the reasons anyone might have picked up this atrocious book to begin with. It went on and on in the most self-indulgent way, the endless dialogue and descriptions of nothing, i found myself skipping many, many pages toward the end, racing toward a very disappointing ending. The author seems to think she developed Scarlett into a very mature, interesting character, when what she really did was create an even more unlikeable, somewhat boring caricature of the past (Scarlett embarrassingly becomes known in Ireland as "The Ohara"-so ridiculous). Stick with the original, this book is shamefully bad, the previous reviewer was spot-on, this is a cheesey Harlequin novel in disguise. Shame on the author.

I read GWTW last summer, when I was 16. I had never really looked into the book or the movie until it was one of the options on my summer reading list. I was the only one in my class to choose it to read, and it turned out to be the best book I've ever read. I rented the movie and watched it. I was so enthralled! It was soo sad when I finished the book (in record time). Last week I went to Borders to do this year's summer reading shopping (I'll be a senior in high school), and I found "Scarlett". I jumped up and down because I was sooo happy to be able to read about the characters I've grown to love! The ending of GWTW was amazing. Who would have thought Rhett would leave Scarlett? GWTW is this untouchable beautiful and mysterious thing, like Rhett... Yet I read Scarlett to read about the charactors. The original will never be surpassed. No original ever will be. The growing and learning about the charactors can only happen once... But Scarlett tells a story about everyone's favorite couple... I read it in 6 days. I'm hooked!!

Alexandra Ripley offers her readers the roots of what GWTW left un-touched. The intricate details of Scarlett's life as first Scarlett, one and only, and as she matures through children she had, husbands she married that died, spirits that could of been dead, re-vived. Before her marriages of convenience, including the marriage to Rhett, but more importantly what, little Katie Scarlett like Gerald O'Hara used to call her, did to amuse herself when she was alone, afraid, happy, sad. This real in-depth development of the heroines character is not as flamboyant as some of the prety frocks she wore.

Ripley researched what women like Scarlett would of endured and how tough they would of become despite the suppleness of youthful skin and hair. Ripley goes beyond the skin-deep attributes and one really knows 'scarlett' by the end. This book guarantees a reader will discover many things about the eerie Irish culture; while never having read GWTW, not be lost in the character development, the locations, the past and the present. It is told through Scarlett's eyes and with her mind, body and spirit as if a real tru bloodied southern Irish belle, appreciation is awarded and interest is satisfied.

Enjoy & Thank you for reading me

everybody is always giving this book a bad rap granted theres some parts that could use reworking its still really good. and hey no sequel is ever as good as the first.

800+pgs is abit much and i have to say im impressed that i actually finished it. and even if you have a hard time with the beginning as i did the last 200+pgs make it all worth while for a romantic like me that wanted everything (more or less) to work out. so i think you should make up your own mind if you like it great if you dont then i hope ur able to find something you like with out feeling like you have to trash someones work weather it was hard work or not.

This book was tough for me to review. I liked that it fed my GWTW addiction and gave me a way to get more. I liked that it gave me a resolution between Rhett and Scarlett (even though I didn't like how it was reached.) I disliked how the story was so obviously a different path than the original. In other words, It was a collection of mixed emotions for me.

As many other reviewers have commented, a book can only really be a sequel if it is written by the original author. This book is a stand alone book. However, since it is marketed as a sequel, that is what the readers expect and unfortunately do not receive. I believe it is worth reading, but I caution readers not to take it too literally. Take it as one person's view point on "what happened next", and know that it is just an opinion and not fact. Your own opionion of what happens to these characters might be far more satisfying to you.

******spoiler alert ***********
I doubt that Mitchell would have sent Scarlett to Ireland. I feel like GWTW was a story to be told in the South and should have stayed there. I feel that Scarlett had a lot to learn (and face) about love and trust and peace, but instead Ripley had her running away. I doubt that Mitchell would have had Rhett marry someone else - he wasn't the marrying kind except for Scarlett. I could go on and on with the things that didn't feel right to me.

In the end, I'm glad that someone wrote a continuation, but I'm sticking with my own opinion of how Scarlett's story unfolded. If 10 more sequels are written, I'll probably read them all. But unless Mitchell herself tells me what really happened after GWTW ended, then I'm going to believe the version that is floating around in my own head.

Ok, so it's not Margaret Mitchell...we all knew that. I still loved how Scarlett's life played out. In some ways, I really like it if an author doesn't try to ape every little thing the author did, but surprises me with a great "story". So it wasn't the Rhett I thought I knew, I still really enjoyed stepping off into the life of Scarlett O'Hara and picturing the relationships and emotions that came from these strong ties. Go easy on it. It's still a great read if you love Gone With the Wind.

I think everyone started reading this book expecting another GWTW and Alexandra Ripley is NOT Margaret Mitchell. But she is still an excellent writer with a slightly different style. GWTW, in my opinion, is a novel that practically begs for a sequel, but on the other hand it seems to be next to impossible to write a good one. Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler are such complex characters with such conflicting emotions that I believe that the only person who ever really understood them was Margaret Mitchell. I know that not every story has a happy ending and in real life very few do, but that is why people read books. At least that is why I do. I enjoyed GWTW, but every time I read it my heart breaks for the characters. It is a wonderful peice of literature, but the ending leaves me slightly depressed for days and I ask myself why I read it over and over.After reading Scarlett I finally felt like I could rest easily because Scarlett had found happiness. In the 2nd book Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler seems to finally be sorry for the things she had done and she seemed kinder and less cold. While I don't think that Margaret Mitchell intended on having her portrayed that way, I certainly liked it.

I just finished reading this book last night. The first 425 pages were pretty good. They take place in Atlanta, Charleston and Savannah with Scarlett and the standard GWTW characters and some new faces. The Rhett/Scarlett dynamic was great. I think the author did a good job keeping true to Scarlett and Rhett's true characters and there are some great scenes with great lines! Having said that, pages 425 to around 775 are a true waste of time. This is the part where Scarlett goes to Ireland. They only good parts are when Rhett shows up. I don't regret reading the book because it renewed by love for Scarlett and Rhett but I wish it would have been more focused on Rhett and Scarlett and not Ireland.

I think many of the customer reviewers here are basing their comments on their feelings about GWTW (which I also read) and not on the merits of Ripley's work. While GWTW is a great novel, I don't feel that it is a sacred text so I didn't mind that a sequel to it had been written.

Ripley's work is well-written and her research impressive. I have lived in Charleston and it is clear that she spent a lot of time there. I recommend this book. It's really entertaining!

When I found out there was a sequel to Gone With the Wind I screamed. I had just finished reading Gone With the Wind and I had been discouraged because every book I would try to read didn't compare to it. When my friend asked to read Gone With the Wind I gasped but after the first page I barely put it down. Gone With the Wind was the most grabbing novel I had read but it left me wanting more. I read Scarlett in 9 days and the last 2 I didn't want to read because I couldn't bear the thought of not having anything to read after it. Scarlett's life would be over but I did finish it and I have read it a second time since then and I still can't believe nothing more than what I have already read will happen. Right when Scarlett figures one part of her life out another part falls apart. What she does to keep Cat hers is amazing to me and how she gets the effection of every man except the one she wants is something that I think is truly the immature,lovable,hot headed Scarlett. The love, hate, conflict,and commitment of Rhett and Scarlett in the end is unceasingly miraculous. I recommend this novel to every person who needs a book that they will admire forever.

I have been a Gone with the Wind fan since I was tweleve years old. I worship the movie and the book. The original novel, however, left some unanswered questions. What happened to Rhett and Scarlet? What happened to Ashley, Mammy and the rest of the characters? What happens to Tara?
I have read the sequel by Alexandra Ripley four times and I have also seen the movie "Scarlett." I think the main point to remember is that Ripley is not Margaret Mitchell. They are two completely different authors with different experiences and writing styles. Let's face it writing a sequel to the "greatest love story ever told" is quite a challenge. Yes, there are quite a few surprises in the sequel. Ripley does kill off Mammy, Rhett only shows up for a fraction of the book, and Scarlett gives Tara away and moves to Ireland. This can seem far fetched, but it is plausable. Any GWTW fan has created their own ending to the sequel before Ripley wrote her version. This is where the problem occurs! When Rhett leaves Scarlett, we all want to know what happens next and many of us have created our own "sequel" prior to reading Ripley's version. Keep that in mind when you read this book!
I think Ripley,does her best to bring these characters to life, although Scarlett does not have the same vivacity,she is a more mature version of herself. I have always admired Scarlett for her strength, wit, courage and perserverance. In the sequel, Scarlett grows up and matures into womanhood. She learns how to really love and care for others. She learns that the best gift she can possible give is unconditional love. Mitchell's Scarlett is self-centered, egocentric, and lacks compassion for the world around her. Ripley's Scarlett is thirty-five and a woman who finally learns how to love and be loved in return. Although this book will never be GWTW, I recommend this book on the basis that it is Ripley's personal interpretation of the characters and how they continue their lives. To all those who hate this sequel, why do you hate it? Think about your ideal continuation to GWTW. I think the answer lies there.

The story was good, the writing was fine - but I have serious reservations about the quality overall, especially considering this as a sequel to Mitchell herself.

I read Ripley's Charleston years ago and she lost me pretty quickly as a fan when she referred to the two girls in pre-war Charleston as going on "double dates"....

It was refreshing to see Scarlett finally grow up. Too many times in 'Gone with the Wind' I wanted to slap her silly for being such a pampered, spoilt brat. In 'Scarlett' though she matures into a headstrong but likeable woman, still determined to do things her way and succeeding at it. Several interesting characters are introduced and loose ends from 'Gone with the Wind' are tied up. All in all, a satisfying read.

I grew up on GONE WITH THE WIND thanks to my grandmother...so when I heard about this sequel, I was fascinated. Yes, the story and plot take some strange turns, but the book itself is well-written, and the character of Scarlett is captured very well, in my opinion. She was always one to make impetuous decisions, some of which even turned out bad, so to me, her choice to go to Ireland wasn't all that weird. Plus, the ending was exactly what a romantic would want :)

I have been a big fan of Gone with the Wind since I could remember. It's a beautifully written classic. This "sequel" is about as far from that as you can get.

On nearly every page Scarlett moans and whines about how she wants Rhett or finds some reason to complain about money. She is written as a selfish child, despite the fact that she is in her twenties and thirties throughout the book. I don't recall Scarlett acting this spoiled in Gone with the Wind, even if she was spoiled. But towards the end of Gone with the Wind, she seemed to have matured. Having to take over Tara and then losing Rhett to me was something that aged her, brought her beyond being a young belle to a grown woman. In Scarlett, she's transformed into a three year old in a grown woman's body. Rhett isn't written as badly as Scarlett but he's still not the Rhett Butler that Margaret Mitchell created either, but he seems to have developed the ability to be anywhere he's needed at any time, from Tara to Ireland.

The writing is awful, jumpy, and repetitive. The author chooses to describe several things over and over again. She spends nearly three pages describing how Scarlett thinks her mother did not love her, that people were forcing her to be a lady, which is nothing she wanted to be. And yet for more important things, like her visit to Tara and her attempt to get her children to join her in Ireland, are brushed away with one or two paragraphs. It was basically written off as her children did not want her, and that was that.

Scarlett's children from Gone with the Wind are brushed off for Katie Colum O'Hara, Scarlett's child that is conceived after a shipwreck that leaves Scarlett and Rhett in a cave where they, of course, make love. Cat as the child is called, of course has a miraculous birth despite the fact that Scarlett was told she would most likely never have another child. An Irish witch delivers her via c-section, which is apparently the excuse for writing Cat as a genius child who is supposedly wise beyond her years.

In fact, nearly every character from Gone with the Wind is distanced from Scarlett to make way for the author's own creations. Mammy, a solid character from Ms. Mitchell's classic, is killed off within the first few pages. Other characters like India Wilkes and Uncle Henry Hamilton, would pop up from time to time in small mentions or cameos. Scarlett, though, screams of the author making the characters "hers" and changing the story in what felt like her attempt at a romance novel.

It is like an awfully written fanfic that somehow managed to get itself published. I would never recommend it. If you truly want to read a companion piece to Gone with the Wind, I'd suggest Rhett Butler's People over this. Or make up your own. It surely wouldn't be as bad as Scarlett.

I really liked this book, Alexandra Ripley isn't as good of writer as Margrett Mitchells but I loved what she did with this book. After everyone reads Gone With The Wind they always come up with a different ending so that Scarlett and Rhett are happy and in some way everyone tries to change Scarlett and so Ripley wrote her own version of this and even though its just a book once it's written down then that seems to makes it "real" so Ripley just tried to answer everyone's questions about what happens next and so on. And she made it a happy ending so that everyone was satisfied and not always wondering "what's going to happen next?", or "How can Scarlett get Rhett back?" So all in all I loved this book because it just but my mind at ease knowing that everyone was happy.

I see that many people wrote that this book is not fit to be the squel to margret mitchell's great novel and I agree with them. There are major changes in the book that will make you think 'What is this??' quite a few times while reading it. It would have been a great story to everybody if it didn't have the title "The sequel to Gone with the Wind" I think you shouldn't think about this story as the sequel to gone with the wind while reading it cuz it may be disturbing to some people. Some people may be caught in the thought of "who can continue Gone with the Wind?" and dislike this story because it is written by a different author. However, I personally enjoyed the story. I want to thank Alexandria Ripely for writing this story.

Being a writer myself, I think I could do more justice to Scarlett then this book, but oh well. Basically, Ms. Riply just took the names of Margret Mitchell's beloved characters (well, few she didn't kill off) and some of her plot. But she takes it to a whole new setting, and the characters have lost all their remarkable spark which made us love gone with the wind in the first place. So basically, it's GWTH minus the lovable characters and minus the interesting plot. I did finish the book, it was long, and took a while since i never really did get into it, but I finished. There was an ending, but after all that reading, it just stopped. Everything was tided up too quickly, as if someone said to Ms. Riply, that's all the pages you have, you most tie everything up now, after she had blabbered on about nothing the rest of the time. I personally did not like it, but I would recommend finding out for yourself. If you like long books that drag on with no real purpose, you'll love it!

The author Alexandra Ripley did a wonderful job writing this sequel to "Gone with the Wind".

"Gone with the Wind" ends with question marks. Rhett Butler has left Scarlett O'Hara --- and she determined to get him back. Can she? Will they become happy? A lot of fans wanted to know.

But Alexandra Ripley was not Margaret Mitchell. Scarlett's personality was coming from Margaret's personality and life. Ms Ripley was an excellent writer but she was a completely different personality. She said to herself, "Scarlett is not my kind of person". So we don't have to compare these two books.

At any rate, Ms Ripley did her best. She continued the story the only way it could be continued. This book has shown me the greatness of experiencing true love.

Please don't pass this book up because of pre-judgments or the movie version of Scarlett. I would recommend this to anyone who loves the heroine, Scarlett O'Hara.

I am a sophmore in high school, and for a book report my english class had to read a "classic" book. My teacher recommended "Gone WIth the Wind." when i looked at it i almost passed out. Two weeks to read 1,024 pages?? i had never read a book that long. But upon reading it, it only took me two days. I couldn't put it down. I absolutely loved it. The thing about it though, was that the ending left me depressed! i couldnt understand how mitchell could just end the book like that, so sad and heart wrenching. i cried, and i usually dont cry while reading books. i immediately thought of the sequel. i had to know what happened to rhett and scarlett. this book was absolutely wonderful. it gave me a peace of mind knowing that scarlett and rhett and their daughter would live happily ever after. Ireland and the O'hara's were facinating, and the book captivated me the entire way through. I also loved the way scarlett grew up, but still had the same qualities that readers loved and admired her for. I recommend this sequel to anyone who likes a happy ending and is searching for a peace of mind.

I loved this book. I have loved GWTW since I was five. The book GWTW was good, but honestly I loved Scarlett better. I loved her in Ireland, I loved the ending... A great book that brought my favorite characters back to life for me.

I read this book years ago, and was put off by the hackneyed writing and the way the plot developed. Too many,"Fiddle-de-dees", and unbelievable plot twists. I was hoping for a better ending for Scarlett and Rhett, but was disappointed.

"Gone With The Wind" is my favourite book, and like many others I bought this book because who doesn't want to know what happens with Scarlett and Rhett?
I was so disappointed. Our herione spends at least three quarters of the book acting in a most un-Scarlett like manner, and Rhett seems to have lost some of his bite as well. If you love "Gone With the Wind", leave it there.

I didn't want to put this book down from the minute I started it. If you are a Gone With the Wind fan, you will love this one! There is a lot of detail and character development. Scarlet picks up right where Gone With the Wind left off. I'll be looking at other books by this author.

I have been a diehard fan of Gone With the Wind since i first saw it when i was a little girl. I had become obsessed with the movie and wanted to become Scarlett (of course that never happened). But as a little girl i always believed in happy ending and the end of GWTW just wasn't that happy to me. But the novel Scarlett finally gave me that happy ending i had always wanted as a child, even though the novel seemed to have Scarlett more different and mature then you ever believed possible and Rhett more hard and less scarcastic. But the book is still a can't set down till the end book. It isn't as great as the original but it is still just as powerful and amazing. It is definately worth your time and effort in reading it! It is still truely one of the best stories ever.

This book lived up to my expactations and even went passed what I was expecting. Most sequals are a dissapointment, but this book was a terrific follow up to Gone With the Wind. Alexandra Ripley really researched Gone With the Wind before she wrote this book. Her information follows up on what was started in the first book and continued what Margaret Mitchell would have written. Ripley keeps the reader guessing and always suprised at what Scarlett gets into next. She keeps the same excitement and fire that Scarlett had in the first book and expanded it into something more mature as Scarlett got older. I was pleased with how the book was written and expecially how it ended. If one enjoyed Gone With the Wind, they would most likely enjoy the sequal to it.

Okay, here goes. After days of contemplating how I felt about this book, this is the best explanation I can give for the two stars. Straight through to chapter 32, I was thinking "5 stars! " It held my attention very well, and the story was captivating and gave me plenty of "Scarlett and Rhett" to keep me going. Althought the dialogue is not nearly as elegant and "make you want to smile because Rhett is so clever" as the original. Then more and more chapters of disapointment went by, with only a few positive little highlights to make me turn the next page, so 3-4 stars until chapter 55. After that, the book falls apart. It was so awful and so frustrating, all I could think was "She is ruining the best love story ever told with a storyline that would never have appeared in a Margaret Mitchell sequel to GWTW." So, I give chapters 55 through the last chapter 0 stars. It was uninteresing, and I was so upset and frustrated by what Ripley did in chapter 55, that I couldn't even stand to read any more. I honestly thought I was going to get up and burn the book for what she did on page 808. But, no I read on, praying for the ending that had made me pick up the book in the first place. And there it was, finally, the last 15 pages of the book gave me the closure I had been searching for. Yes, the book has a good ending. The ending gets 5 stars. So this is what I recommend. Read chapters 1-55, then read the last 15 pages of the book. Save yourself a lot of frustration. Oh, and read pages 862-865 just so you have a clear picture of what is going on in the end.

Hi,
This isn't really a review for the book seeing as I have never read Scarlett the sequel, I have just resently found out about the continution of GNTW and I was so HAPPY ! my friend told me about it yesterday, I wished that Rhett would get together with Scarlett excually people might hate me for saying this but the way Mrs.Mitchell wrote gone with the wind was very long and time consumming, she didn't need to write down all those adjectives now did she? I was reading it outloud to my grandmother and she thought that it was very long winded, Did mitchell get payed by the word or something? Sure looks like it, I DID enjoy the book and the movie to go and look for a sequel though and NOW I can't wait to get my hands on it, I even found some Jane Austen sequels that I'm lookin' forward to reading, I was very startled at the end of the book when Rhett gave up on her I kinda felt sorry for the guy but she was a ROYAL B*I*T*C*H sorry about that, all she cared about was money and Ashyly and then when she found out that she really did care about Rhett and had for a very long time it was ironic, I heard that they are making a sequel sometime forgot were I heard it but they are making a movie sequel to GNWTW and this is probebly the book they are bassing it on,
By the way I am 15 years old,
bye

Okay, I went into this book with, not high hopes or expectations, but with average ones. Sadly this didn't even meet the very mediocre expectations I had for it. The story starts off well enough, Scarlett is exactly where Rhett left her and she's dealing with Melanie's funeral and the completely useless Ashley. But it pretty much all goes downhill from there. As the book progresses the characters are much less Margaret Mitchell's idea and more the "ideal" version that this "Fan" fiction author would have made them. The author attempts to make Scarlett the same fiery, determined, headstrong woman we all love, but she comes across as whiny, spoiled and bratty. Not at all what Margaret Mitchell envisioned.

I guess the book isn't all bad, but it's mainly bad; mostly bad. If these characters weren't supposed to be Scarlett and Rhett and were some other antebellum aged characters the story would be okay. But since they "are" these iconic characters the story falls excrutiatingly flat. You will read this book and be so overly bored that it will be a struggle to read one of the 5 paged chapters. Skip this one and leave the great Gone With the Wind a sequal-less book. 2/5

of the main character Scarlett O'hara. All you need to know to determine how bad this book is, is that the author has Scarlett give away Tara to her hated sister Suellen. Puh-leaze. Scarlett drew her strength from Tara. She survived the war and learned to survive everything else by returning to Tara and taking it over from her father. It is to Tara that she retreats after Rhett leaves her, and we know she will emerge stronger when she sets out to win him back.

About getting him back...of course she does. Scarlett got everything she set her mind to. You don't need this book to determine what happened to Scarlett and Rhett. You don't need this book for anything...stay away. Don't even sully your mind with this "Scarlett goes to Ireland, helps the Irish rebellion, has a baby born with a pall and gives away Tara" nonsense.

Margaret Mitchell had left us hanging in the air with "Gone with the wind". Would Scarlett ever put her life back together or not? Well, Ripley's sequel was an amazing end to the story. The author not only understands Scarlett's character perfectly, but also makes the reader keep the pages turning. This time, Scarlett is most determined to get Rhett back and makes a fool of herself far too many times to get his attention. But, the way she earns the title of The O'Hara reflects her strong will and no-nonsense attitude. Reading about Gerald O'Hara's Irish roots and Scarlett meeting her father's kin is a refreshing experience. Scarlett finally learns what love is. At the end of the story you find her more mature, caring, yet with the same bossy nature. (some things never change!) All in all, a fantastic book!

I finished reading Gone with the Wind, wondering what would happen to Scarlett and Rhett. When I learned there was a sequel, I eagerly picked it up, even though it was written by a different author. I had many expectations when I began reading. The first thing I noticed was that it drew me in very quickly, and Ripley had obviously made a considerable effort to imitate Margaret Mitchell's writing style.
However, as the book wore on, the plot seemed to drag and get extremely boring at parts. It was a bit like Ripley had been ordered to fill up a certain amount of pages and she had to add in unnecessary detail to stretch the story. For example, she described in superfluous detail trips to the market and little tea parties. These scenes could be taken out and the story would be able to move along fine.
The characters Ripley added seemed very shallow, and the old characters seemed to unravel in their complexity. They seemed to disappear completely near the end of the book as Scarlett made her home in Ireland. Wade, Ella, Aunt Pitty, Ashley, Mammy, Will, Suellen, etc, escaped all mention, as if Ripley wanted to create her own little world for Scarlett.
And how can Scarlett so recklessly give up Tara to Suellen, the sole thing she worked and sweated and schemed for in "Gone with the Wind"? How can she just shrug off the fact that Suellen, her absolute rival, is running HER Tara, and Will and Ella are extremely happy without her? Scarlett is a very selfish and possessive soul, who would definitely want her past children to love her, and would do anything it took to achieve that goal.
I also wonder how Ripley came up with the commonplace name "Cat" for her last little girl, the center of Scarlett's life. "Cat" is not a name that the old Scarlett would even consider. I think that Ripley may have given some effort and four years of research, but the story overall could be MUCH better and Mammy shouldn't have gotten rid of so quickly.

Those who expect this book to be an exact replica in style,characterization, etc., as Gone With the Wind expect too much. I enjoyed this book very much, and I beleive Ms.Ripley did the best job she could. The relationship between Scarlett and Rhett was as compelling as in it's predecessor, and I was satisfied with Scarlett's growth into a woman. The only complaint i would have about this book, is the lengthy amount of time Scarlett spent in Ireland. But trust me, this book is a joy everyone should read.

This past month I have spent reading GWTW and Scarlett. After finishing GWTW, I was not satisfied...Scarlett's too strong a character not to have Rhett. Despite the comments from the critics and unsatisfied readers, I read Scarlett and found it to be a wonderful book. Every setting makes you think you are there, every description of Scarlett's clothes makes you think they are in your closet, and the storyline keeps you guessing what will happen next. Even if you start to read it and don't like it, then try to make it to the end...for the last 20 pages or so, this book did not leave my hands. Rhett is not in the whole book, but when he does "show up" you can't help but smile and realize he'll always be back. I strongly urge anyone who's read Gone With The Wind to read this sequal...It's wonderful.

Let me count the ways! Clearly the author was terrified to deal with reconstruction, or racial turmoil. No, instead she basically left Tara behind, and moved the story to Ireland and England, where we know the Irish were treated as sub-human. Yet another racist problem the author failed to deal with. This story had little, to nothing to do with the original story. Gone With the Wind was a novel of it's time. In a very real way an insight into the antebellum era, in human terms. This is just another sleazy romance novel.

I do not agree with those who think that it is a scandal for Ripley to have done it. This is the most exciting book I have ever read, my first sleepless night on a book too, Scarlett gained at last the humanity she missed in Mitchell's novell without loosing her willingness. Moreover the countryside of Ireland makes you feel like flying straight to it, so green, beautifull but realistic to the true Ireland at this time. In fact it was so good that it has been my next vacation destination. In conclusion : an extatic book, a wondefull love story with plenty of romance.

I have read this book more than just a few times. I was a great fan of GWTW and thought this would be great.

I really do think its a good book. At first read its a little disappointing if you are intent on thinking of it as a continuation to Gone With the Wind. But if you read it as a book for its own worth it is really quite enjoyable!

It would be really unreasonable to expect Ripley to write like Mitchell, so think of it as 2 separate books and allow yourself to be presently surprised!

I usually read a book all the way through in one night, regardless of how long it is. (I read "Deathly Hallows" twice in a week when it first came out.)

For some reason, I put down "Scarlett" when she was about to get on the boat for Ireland. I wasn't really excited - it seemed that Ripley expected that 98% of readers would have seen the movie but not read the book, so the first thing she does is has Scarlett throw money at every plot point that differed to make it go away. It also seemed much easier to drop in historical information to define the time and place rather than describing the setting.

I read the second half the next night and decided it was absolutely awful. The plot got stranger and stranger. It didn't read like a sequel authorized by the Stephens Mitchell Estate and written by a respected Southern author, it was like better-than-average fan fiction.

I am embarrassed to admit that I actually finished this book, painful as it was. Two things stick out about this book: first, most of the book and dialogue is simply a re-write of GWTW; second, the parts that are original are the most ludicrous, simple-minded drivel that I have ever read. How can you screw up a book when you're writing from a classic original? Well, it's been done. Scarlett returning to Ireland and going from a drunken lush to "The O'Hara" a respected member of her clan? How about the almost instantaneous metamorphasis of Scarlett from shallow and selfish to caring, loving and intellectual? Or Rhett from the masculine character to the love-struck wimp? Or the birth of the changling baby? Is there always a witch in these dime-store romance novels? Don't bother with this one, it's a total waste of time.

The question that went through my mind as I read each page of this bloated, preposterous potboiler: What on earth made Margaret Mitchell's family think that ridiculously far-fetched Harlequin Romance was worthy of being the "official" sequel to Gone With the Wind? Were the other entries so horrible that this one seemed like a masterpiece by comparison?

I've read far superior work on FanFiction.net.

My advice: forget this travesty was ever written and read "Rhett Butler's People." While not perfect, it is highly engrossing, is written in a voice that sounds much more like Mitchell's, and is far more believable as a sequel to the original.

For one thing, you think it's easy trying to follow in the footsteps of an epic novel? For another, I think she caught Scarlett's and Rhett's characters very well. We all know that people grow up and people change, and we know that Scarlett was a very determined person who always gets what she wants. Do you not agree that she would have done everything she could to get Rhett back while of course, maintaining her dignity? If you ask me, Alexandra Ripley's 'Scarlett' is a perfect sequel to GWTW. Just because it wasn't the way you would have written GWTW fan fiction doesn't mean Alexandra was off the mark from Mitchell's expectations, it just means it was off the mark from yours. And I truly, truly hope no Scarlett fan will be put off by the bad reviews.

I pre-ordered this novel when is was published in hardcover. I raced to the bookstore to pick it up as soon as the store opened. I spent the next two days reading constantly, with decreasing interest and passion. This is not Scarlett and this is not Rhett. She wouldn't leave Tara, not in a million years. This is some other woman's story, and it's not a bad one. Ms. Ripley writes well and plots even better. I have to give it a low score since it's supposed to be a sequel.

One would think that a sequel to Gone With the Wind would be great, but that individual would be wrong. Gone With the Wind is my favorite book, so I was so excited when my mom notified me there was a sequel. I found the sequel to be a great disappointment. Although it carries on right where Gone With the Wind ends, Scarlett seems to be a COMPLETELY different character. Of course, after her experiences she would be a changed person, but I felt that Alexandra Ripley took her change to an extreme.
As well as being disappointed by the character portrayal, I also felt that the ending to the book was inappropriate after how Margaret Mitchell finished. Well, I guess I shouldn't give it away, but overall I felt that this sequel ruined the emotion created in the original version.

Very interesting read. I never read Mitchell's gone with the wind but I love the movie. The book let me know rt off the diff btwn the original novel and the movie. But it doesn't even matter. You can imagine Clarke Gable and Vivian Leigh as you read. Recommend it.

As an AVID GWTW fan, I knew no sequel could compare- perhaps this is why Margret Mitchell herself, never wrote a sequel or published another book in her life time. While this novel cannot hold a candle to GWTW, I give Alexandra credit for taking on such a big project, and her historically accurated descriptions of a post-civil war south. Scarlett isnt the same character she was in GWTW, neither is Rhett- Scarlett's adventures to Ireland leave a bit to be desired and 1/2 the book only covers 1/6 of the time spand of the novel, the plot tends to go ON and ON and ON with no direction. When it comes to descriptive lanuage however Alexandra has it right on the money- if the characters were anyone other than Rhett or Scarlett the book may actually be very good. But then its very easy to fall short when you are trying to imitate a classic.

Though I'm fairly disappointed with this book, I admit that it does have some notable strengths, which is why I gave it two stars; I'll begin with the positives before going on to the negatives.

Ripley has an excellent eye for historical detail, and these details help give the book a Mitchellesque feel, as well as ground the book in reality--as much "Mitchellesque" and "reality" as Ripley allows, but I'll get to that in a minute. In fact, at least the first chapter, if not the first 100 pages or so, is really pretty good. The action begins right after GWTW ended, at Melly's funeral. While I don't agree with all of Ripley's choices, she keeps the characters pretty consistent as Scarlett moves from Atlanta, to Tara, and back to Atlanta.

Modern fans will be happy to note that Ripley portrays the Black characters with more dignity than Mitchell gave them in GWTW. At the very least, she doesn't throw the n-bomb around like confetti, and credits them with actual sense. On the other hand, the lilting-voiced Irish relatives who dance attendance upon Scarlett "The O'Hara" are about as stereotyped as Lucky, the Lucky Charms mascot, so progressiveness is kind of at a draw here.

As Ripley takes Scarlett out into the greater world, she strips Scarlett's world of all of the people and things we liked about the original novel. Also, she puts Scarlett in an increasingly improbable series of situations; I literally laughed out loud at the ending. Additionally, as a previous reviewer mentioned, not only are many of these events boring, but they add nothing to the overall narrative--take `em or leave `em, it won't matter in the end, because very few situations seem connected to the others or have much meaning.

Overall, this would probably be a pretty good romance novel if it didn't star Rhett and Scarlett, whom Ripley mutates almost beyond recognition. This novel is not worthy to follow GWTW.

Like most GWTW fans, I was skeptical about the novel, Scarlett. Margaret Mitchell was obviously finished with Rhett and Scarlett and had no intentions of bringing these characters back to life, leaving readers with an unfinished but realistic conclusion to the greatest love story of all time. Ms. Ripley was later chosen my Ms. Mitchell's estate to write the sequel and Scarlett was reborn...

Entitled "Scarlett", this novel's central focus is Scarlett, the character. Unlike GWTW, which was a novel written just as much about life in the south, the American Civil War, and Reconstruction, this novel is exclusively the story of Scarlett's journey to win back the heart of Rhett, a task which she vowed she would accomplish at the conclusion of GWTW. Mostly absent from the novel are characters, such as Ashely, Miss Pittypat, Suellen, Will, and Scarlett's children, Wade and Ella. This novel is not about them, Scarlett's life was never about them, it's always been about her and this novel remains true to her character. In Scarlett we experience the spirit, determination, strength, and fire that flourish so wildly in the character we all love and simultaneously hate. Repeating phrases such as "I won't think about that now, I'll think about that tomorrow" take us back to the days Scarlett was the young belle of Clayton County and the Yankee occupation of Charleston reminds us of the hell of the war years. But throughout flashbacks of the original girl in GWTW, Scarlett matures, for the first time in her life and her selfish exterior melts away until she becomes a loving, confident, generous, and selfless woman. The many adventures Scarlett takes throughout the novel contribute to her change in character, Charleston to Savanna to finally to Ireland, her transformation does not steer away from the original but instead remains true to the changes any one of us might experience in the same situations. Even Uncle Henry comments on Scarlett's new found maturity "Scarlett's grown up. She didn't call me 'Uncle Henry'". There are even times in the novel Scarlett admits defeat, only to rise again the next morning ready to wage war against the world if it dares stand in her way, the heart and soul and true motivation of the character, Scarlett.

I've personally read this novel over 16 times (averaging twice a year) as well as read GWTW multiple times and done research on the novel and film. Scarlett takes some amazing journeys halfway across the world and her new experiences contribute to her beauty and charm at every turn, with Rhett popping up "just enough to keep the gossip down" and just enough to leave readers always craving more of his bright white smile, daring blockade courage, crude but humorous anecdotes and raw masculinity. I believe this book dared to do the impossible, continue the story of Rhett and Scarlett and I believe it was done with honesty, with nothing but great respect for the characters, Ms. Mitchell, and readers and lovers of GWTW everywhere.

I had just finished reading "Gone with the Wind" and I was absolutely in love with it. Then i read "Scarlett" and suddenly.... Before, Scarlett O'Hara had stood for the south and how much it meant to her. Suddenly, she goes off to Ireland and hates America! And Rhett, who left her because he lost all passion he had, comes back because she keeps drawing him in or something. Thats not what should happen. And her and Rhett have another kid! And Scarlett likes it for once! Plus, she gives up her corset and fancy dresses for black peasant clothes, gives up her home in Atlanta for a shack in Ireland. It was terrible. Everything Scarlett ever stood for in gone and the whole story is changed around into a bad romance that I secretly suspect thats how Alexandra Ripley meant it to be. It did not deserve to be the sequel to the greatest book ever written. it doesnt even deserve a spot in your supermarket checkout line.

I cannot begin to describe how disgustingly horrible this book is. The book's characters have no relation whatsover to that of GWTW. It's set in a whole other place, in Ireland of all places(!) and Scarlett isn't Scarlett, Rhett isn't in 80% of the book, he wouldn't have done what he did in this "sequel" of GWTW, and Scarlett could not, in a million years change the way she did. She turned from a Scarlett, to a person like Mellie, or more so. She ultimately turned into a goodie two shoes. It's disgusting. And then, in this book none of the original characters are even in here. Mellie's dead, Mammy got chopped off, Rhett is as good as invisible, and only sometimes comes into the story and Ashley, well Ashley barely exists. The only good part in the whole book was meeting Rhett's side of the family. But then, when you find out that another women loves Rhett, I mean for goodness sake. That one star should not be there it should be more like a -2 star. I like reading books that are set during the time of the Civil War, the time just interests me. But in this, it barely mentions the huge event in the American life that altered our life. Some parts were good then the whole thing was ruined because one or the other has said or done something idiotic. All in all, if you want to read a sequel to a book without reading the first book read "Scarlett" because if you read the first one and then the second one you will be sorely dissapointed.

There can be no comparison between this book and the original Gone With the Wind. This book, unfortunately, is just a cheap romance novel and not even a good one at that. Ms Ripley made the daunting task of following up GWTW as easy as possible by eliminating pretty much all of the original characters and promptly leaving the American South for the Irish countryside. Forced probably against her will to keep the primary characters, she made the decision not to bother to keep them true to form or learn anything about them. They are Scarlett and Rhett in name only. I wish this wasn't at all connected with the original work because it pretty much has nothing to do with it. Gone With the Wind was a masterpiece - this was something I was sorry I read once.

Completely unsatisfying -- none of the depth and complexity of Mitchell's GWTW. Characterizations are shallow and very inconsistent with the original work, and crucial scenes are just skipped over with a brief mention after the fact -- as though the author wasn't confident in her ability to write them. Worst of all, the ending is a joke: characters aren't supposed to KNOW they're larger-than-life -- it nullifies any sense of humanity they may have been given (which in this case wasn't much). If this story was meant to stand alone, I'd simply be rolling my eyes at it (like the dime-store trash novels it resembles -- you know, the ones with Fabio on the cover?), but as a so-called sequel to "Gone with the Wind", it's appalling and downright contemptible. It's tragic that the iconic excellence of "Gone with the Wind" has been corrupted by this pandering mess.

Oh my God, I never get as mad as when I hear about this type of butchering of a book. AAhh! No one, and I mean no one, besides the original author should write sequels to other peoples books. Thats just ethical, you can't take someone elses ideas that they slaved over for years to write and then try and steal their characters, plot line, and everything else. Its not just about money, its about the art of the book. I don't care if its technically legal, its still wrong to do. I have just started reading GWTW and am on the tenth chapter, and even I know that so many things are wrong with this book. Scarlett, would never leave Tara like that. That was one of the main themes of the book, that the land is apart of Scarlett, no matter what she does, she can't escape Tara. Also, its almost sacreligious to take any of the characters out of the south. That is the essense of the book. The old southern charm is what gave GWTW the movie, the grander it has. To take Scarlett out of the scenes with the big plantations, hooped skirts, and the south all together is like stripping the story of any sparkle. I know this is silly to say but its how I feel, it actually offends me that they would take a story that is apart of southern culture and the one piece of literature that we can look to and show the world that we arn't just redneck, no teeth, white trash, that there is elegance and manners in our culture and she goes and puts it in another country altogether is so awful to do. If Riley felt she had to write a sequel to the greatist American epic I think she should of at least TRIED to follow Margert Michels' blueprint alittle better, at least for the fans' sake if you do make a sequel you should be careful to get as close to the original book as possible. It almost seems like Riley only read the Sparknotes' version of the book and decided that actually reading the full book was too hard for her or maybe some hotshot editor told her that tearing apart a work of art and then trying to peice it together without trying to sound like the original author was a good idea. She may be a good writter on her own, but I don't really care because I would never read her books after she did this. ERR, it makes me mad, but, I could go on for hours about it, so I think I should stop here.

I've read Gone With the Wind, and it will go down into history as one of my favorite books. I have read "Scarlett" 3 or 4 times (I lost count) and it is a quick easy read. One of my favorite elements of "Scarlett" was Charlestown. I love how in all of Ripley's books with Charlestown there are the same charactors. It keeps me on my toes, and turning pages. The chapters melt away and I usually cry when I finish the book. Because I know that era is over and won't return again. The beauty and culture are irreplicable, but nice to dream about. I would reccomend this to anyone, but read "Gone With the Wind" first. Then read some more Ripley novels, they're great. Thanks-

This is absolutely one of my favorite books. I read other reviews on here and people are disappointed in the author. In fact, I love that Scarlett loses her sensibilities and goes off the deep end. She finally grows up.
The fact is, this is nothing like Gone With the Wind because it's a different author and it's a sequel. You have to take it for what it is without expecting the book to be a certain way.

I'M SO SORRY MOM!!!! I finished GWTW in less than a week. I had already seen the movie (which was GREAT by the way…) so I knew what awesomness I was in for. As soon as I finished GWTW I ran to the shelf and picked up Scarlett. When my mom saw what I was carrying she made a face and said "You're not reading THAT are you?" I told her yes and she said "Really honey I did not ask for this book. Someone gave it to me for my birthday a while ago. It was so bad I didn't even finish it. Believe me you will not like it. It's REALLY bad." I said "Mom I know it may be bad but I want to try it." my mom just shrugged and said "ok".
One week later the book was finished. I had but one thought in my mind- WHO THE HECK WROTE THIS TRASH???!!!
And here re my reasons for wishing the book was alive so I ciuld kill it:
1) This book must have been written about characters in an alternate realitybecause every attractive trait in them was gone forever.
2) The so-called "love scenes" were not in the least bit romantic which I found highly disappointing
3) Who was this Cat kid?? Which side of the family did her personality come from??
4) Ding dong lets hope the witch is dead!! So we go from everyone basically worshipping Scarlett to let's kill her!! Where did this transaction happen?
5) Who cares about Ireland when everything Scarlett knew and loved was in (surprise surprise) AMERICA!!
6) You know a book is awful when you can't even remember the characters' names. I opened the book not long after I finished it and saw the name Rosemary and thought wjo's that??
I could go on forever but unfortuneately typing on a kindle takes much longer than a computer. Mybe I'll go on the Today Show sometime and rant.

This book should never been written !!!

The book ( GWTW) was not meant to have a sequel. Only to let each reader supply their own answer.

I'm sure Margaret Mitchell would be appalled at this book.

Respect her wishes. Don't read it. Instead supply your own sequel in your imagination.

My sequel takes note of the fact that Scarlett always achieved what she set out to achieve. So of course she got Rhett back.

I regularly watch the movie again. It's a moving experience each time. Can't do it too often or it loses it's sense of awe and wonder. I think it's time to experience it again.

Read this once out of morbid curiosity. Little more than a romance novel without depth. The characters don't seem to be the fascinating creatures Margaret Mitchell breathed life into all those years ago and some situations border on ridiculous, particularly the Ireland sequences. GWTW was about real, often gritty circumstances. Not so this trite sequel. If you are just satisfied to read to get the ending you always wanted for Rhett and Scarlett, this should be right up your alley. If you are like me and realize that classics should just be left alone, don't bother. You will just get annoyed.

I finally read this book long after its initial publication. I should have let even more years roll along. It is a laughable sequel to one of the greatest American epics. And there lies the irony...the continuation of an American epic somehow transmogrifies itself into an Irish one? It's as funny as letting Huckleberry Finn run loose in London to find himself beknighted into the nobility by Queen Victoria, or Atticus Finch running off to Nuremburg to defend Nazi war criminals. Ripley's understanding of the narrative American epic and its relationship to the American psyche is beyond comprehension.

Ripley's writing is pulp romance writing at best and High School Creative Writing Class at its worst. What was the Mitchell Estate thinking by choosing this talentless hack writer to carry on Margaret Mitchell's tradition? It's length doesn't miraculously turn this stinker into literature.

Her understanding of the two lead characters is so far off base it staggers the imagination. Scarlett abandon Tara? Highly unlikely. The focal point of Scarlett's existence is Tara, which will always be there to protect her from her many disillusionments. Take Scarlett away from that milieu and you have a pointless premise and an irrational plot that denies the integrity of Margaret Mitchell's greatest creation.

And Rhett Butler, the pragmatic scallawag who didn't give a tinker's damn if the South survived or not suddenly becomes dewy-eyed and passionate over restoring and preserving a dilapitated southern plantation into its ante-bellum glory? Did Ripley ever read "Gone With the Wind"? Did she confuse Rhett's character with Ashley's?

Skip this sequel at all costs unless you want to learn how NOT to write an American epic.

I have been an avid reader my entire life. I remember when my Mother first gave me Gone with the Wind, at aged 10. When Scarlett came out, I knew I had to own my own copy. Margaret Mitchell is gone, and when she left, she took away the information on one of the greatest historical romance ever written. Alexandra Ripley did a wonderful job of capturing Scarlett in all of her moods. I urge the readers saying it's not a very good sequel to try reading other spin offs- which definitely aren't well written. Four star review only because she's not Margaret Mitchell.

I absolutely loved Gone With the Wind, but the ending left me hanging and disappointed. I was glad that there was a sequel to continue the story. I liked Margaret Mitchell's writing style better, and I think that GWTW is much better than Scarlett, but I still think the sequel is worth reading. Even though it breaks from the ideals of GWTW, at least it gives a better ending to the story of Scarlett and Rhett. If you're expecting a book that's as wonderfully written and captivating as GWTW, don't bother reading Scarlett. But if you're looking for a continuation of the story and an interesting aftermath to Rhett's abandonment of Scarlett, then I recommend you read it.

When I had finished "GWTW" I was utterly depressed, Margaret Mitchell had made me fall in love with her characters, so naively i picked up this book. The first couple chapters disapointed me with the death of Mammy, who seemed almost immortal to me. As things progressed the story became more unbelievable, Scarlett an alcoholic, traveling to Ireland to discover her roots, and that whole buisness of making love on a beachwith Rhett after a boat wreck just seemed wrong to me. Scarlett was a strong woman in the original but in this book she appears desperate and the ending is the most unbelievable part. I would rather die than read this book again!

I now enjoy scarlett better than when I did as a reader in Gone with the Wind. I was happy about the way she turned out in the end. I am a big classic reader so I really enjoyed this story! I strongly suggest that you read this book, but read Gone with the Wind first. I thought all they characters were quite charming except for Rosemary. I do not like her at all. In this book, scarlett is much more matcure and a wonderful mother. I would read this book again.

The story of Scarlett O'Hara is much more than just about a southern belle during the Civil War. It's about the becoming of a woman, a human woman with faults just like the rest of us. We love her and hate her at the same time. We love and hate Rhett at the same time too. I just finished reading Gone With The Wind for the third time (huge fan since I was a teen), followed by Rhett Butler's People, followed by Scarlett. Before reading either of the sequel/companion stories, I made sure to write down how I would have finished Scarlett and Rhett's story. That was much more satisfying than either Scarlett or RBP.

Scarlett, the book, was okay. It's definitely not how I would have written it. The first part, while she is in Charleston is more like the Scarlett I came to know in GWTW-- cunning and shrewd. It's no wonder Rhett would be "afraid" of falling back in love with her. Once she leaves for Savannah, it's like she's a different person, and not in a good way, particularly during her metamorphosis entering Dublin society. There are aspects of her that show her vulnerability as Margaret Mitchell showed (for instance, her first trip to the gardens after returning home to Tara in GWTW), but it's just not satisfying. I found most of her time in Ireland to be a waste of pages. The characters that were introduced were flat, not developed in any satisfactory way. One of the things I loved about Margaret Mitchell's writing was you could actually see and hear the individual character's voices through her writing. The Irish peasants and the English aristocrats were pretty much the same, except just a few characters.

The story itself reads more like a cheap romance novel, with Scarlett and her many suitors, parties, and intermittent "home problems". The problems she encounters were also no more gripping than the characters in Ireland-- she suffers no more of the internal conflicts, but is miraculously liberated as a free woman. I found myself skipping ahead to see when Rhett reappears. To me, this means I was mostly curious about how someone else would finish Scarlett and Rhett's story. I'm glad I had finished my own version of their story before reading Scarlett. I wasn't hoping for someone else to fill in the blanks for me since I had done it to my own satisfaction. I'd never publish it, because nothing could compare with the original. However, I think quality writing is attainable by a good writer, and while no story will ever finish the same way, the quality of the writing in Scarlett could have been better.

As for Rhett Butler's People, OMG, it was awful. I found myself confused and the story hard to follow. It read more like a screen play with what actors would be doing, but none of the internal thoughts and emotions that make a book good. If RBP is an accurate description of Charleston at the time, I would never know. Regardless, Rhett's adventures out west were glossed over, and all the sudden he's smitten by Scarlett. RBP is definitely the worse of the two companion books to GWTW. Other people have complained that RBP doesn't acknowledge Scarlett. I don't think that would have been necessary if it was well written. It was just plain bad. The thoughts were choppy, and reminded me of a murder mystery where they write in short sections to keep enticing you to find out what happens at the end. It could have been a 50-100 page book, but wasn't.

I have read the book Gone With the Wind once, and seen the movie twice, so, even though I am not as entitled to complain as some of the rest of you, this book was so ludicrous that I shall.

First, riddle me this. If this is a sequel to Gone With the Wind, an American Novel about the antebellum South, the South during the Civil War and during reconstruction, how is it that most of it takes place in Ireland?

And while we are on the subject, if most of the main characters from the previous novel are only mentioned in passing, and largely ignored in favour of new characters (in Ireland), then how is this a sequel?

Also, most of the Irish people in the book are portrayed as poor, drunk, superstitious, and crazy, or some combination thereof. Also, they generally disport themselves as if they are the Lucky Charms leprechaun.
Clearly, the author has watched Darby O' Gill and the Little People too many times.

Actually, this book would make a fine sequel to Darby O'Gill and the Little People. As a sequel to Gone With the Wind, however, it is extremely lousy and generally awful.

I grew up in South with Gone with the Wind and could not wait for Scarlett to be written. I've now reread it twice and thought I would review it. I know people seem not to like it, but I can't really see why. No, Ms. Ripley is not Ms. Mitchell, but she does give us closure on a story that has caused many people to long for it since 1936, and many have died waiting to know what happened to Scarlett and Rhett.

I thought Scarlett was wonderfully written and a beautiful story. It will go down as a classic to the classic. It is filled with moving emotion and a gripping plot just like the original. Come on people. If you keep trashing good writers we'll soon have nothing to read but senseless tripe.

I really find it hard to believe that Margaret Mitchell's family approved this author. This book doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as GWTW. This is basically a cheap romance novel, same tired plot as a thousand others. The characters do not in the least bit resemble the richly drawn characters in Mitchell's book.

This book absolutely reeked. Margaret Mitchell's book was one the finest pieces of American literature ever written. If you want to read a cheesy, Harlequin style novel, maybe you will like this book. It was so bad I couldn't even give it a one star rating. There was a book written "Rhett Butler's People" that helps the reader understand the story from Rhett's point of view. It also provided background information on Rhett's years growing up. It explains who Rhett was and why he held such an unorthodox view of life and why he rebelled against society's unbending rules. No book could ever come close to the original, but it was a good read.

I didn't like this novel. If you never read this book before read no further as the following review contains spoilers...

To me, the author changed the character of Scarlett O'Hara from the original novel in order to try to make this novel work. Scarlett in this novel is just way too whiny and to beggy especially in the beginning of it. Also, Rhett in this novel is a totally horrible human being with no redeeming qualities. I know he's supposed to be a scoundrel but this novel takes it way too far and he's a total cad and brute to Scarlett until the very last pages of the novel and then suddenly without notice or warning in the last pages poof Rhett changes and acts like a nice person. This sudden change makes no sense to me. It also seems to me the novel paints it like the whole world hates Scarlett's guts and she's a total outcast wherever she goes until she goes to Ireland. Also, the stuff with the fairies, the witch, and calling Scarlett's child the changeling turned me right off. It almost makes the novel fairy talish. One more thing this novel contains way too many details about things in my opinion that don't matter. All the silly little details make it a very boring read.....

I didn't like this novel at all. I think the author could have done a way better job with it.

Although entertaining, Alexandra Ripley's Scarlett is too idealistic and would not at all portray the views and style of Margaret Mitchell. Ripley changes the traits of the characters, making them much more tolerable but so unreal and it feels as if you are starting on a new novel with new characters, not a continuation of Mitchell's classic. Ripley deserves credit for trying to top a masterpiece, but Scarlett cannot be compared to the utterly amazing Gone With the Wind.

I absolutely LOVE GWTW, and was a little skeptical of a sequel by an unknown author in the first place, but decided to read it anyway. It was horrible. It shouldn't even be associated with GWTW.

The author's style of writing seems to skip along without much detail or insight into the characters, save Scarlett. I felt like the author spent most of her time trying to tie in key phrases and ideas from the main book (to the point that I was fairly annoyed by the end of it), all the while failing miserably and making it quite obvious that she couldn't have penned the original.

It was a pain to read and I was thankful when I finally closed the book. I understand the author must have had big shoes to fill and a high standard to meet, but it would have been better if the book had not been written at all and we were left with our imaginations to decide Scarlett and Rhett's fate.

I liked Scarlett. It eased the withdraw after I read GWTW. At times I found myself cheering or chastising the various characters as though they were tangible. A lot of the reviews I read criticize this book, tearing it to shreds and picking apart the characters. I think that such passionate opposition the the (fictional) characters' actions is a testament to how fantastic GWTW was. They were real to us and when they grew and changed (which all real people do), some were obviously (these reviews) bewildered and scared. But not to worry, it's just a book. I recommend Scarlett but only if you're not already overly emotionally-involved with any of the characters. Even I was disappointed when Rhett and Scarlett got back together, (it meant he was no longer available ;)

I know there are already more than 425 reviews on this book, and realize full well mine may never even be read buried among all the others, but I spent the last four days trudging through this book, so by golly, I'm leaving a review!

I cracked the spine on this with an open mind, I really did. However, my mind was not that open I guess. This was awful.

Good thing Ms. Mitchell was already dead when this was written or this might have done it. Everything there was to love about Gone With The Wind ie. a strong, independent Scarlett and Tara were stripped away from the start and Rhett's cool, somewhat allusive personality were soon to follow.

Now, don't get me wrong, I can appreciate why it was necessary for the author to create a story away from Tara. Not being the original author, she could never write scenes that could compare with the originals by keeping the same background. I get that. I really do and I can appreciate it. To a degree. But to just have Scarlett just hand over the deed? No. I don't buy that. I'd have bought she was going to leave to discover herself and win Rhett back, and while away she was leaving her precious Tara in Suellen and William's care, but NOT give it to them!

Scarlett, who was once independent, headstrong and not afraid of anything, turned into someone unrecognizable. Maybe it was just me, but she came off weak and flighty. There were times when I honestly wondered if she'd lost her mind or at least the ability to make up her mind. Some of the decisions she made, such as consulting a witch doctor, just struck me as completely out of character.

Don't even get me started on Rhett and his 180. The tough man who hid his heart behind a wall turned into a big sissy.

The romance between Scarlett and Rhett didn't seem real, either. Especially them having sex on a beach. Really? That was just too much for me. I will say on this, him claiming he'd only had sex with her then because they hadn't drowned did seem to fit in with the earlier Rhett from the first book who left Scarlett to go to Europe for a few months after they'd slept together as a defense mechanism. That and the fact I did feel the author did her best to attempt an impossible task of writing a sequel to one of the most loved novels in American history are the reasons for the two stars instead of one.

I agree with the low raters on this one. Pretty disappointing. Gallant try for the writer but my brain felt like a ping pong ball reading Scarlett's emotional reactions from one line to the next, first she loved something, then next phrase she hated it, then loved something else, then hated it.... Is she bipolar?

I have always had a love for the pre and post-Civil war era, but this book has brought it to a new level. I was so facinated by 'Gone With the Wind' and how the characters seem to become apart of my life. 'Scarlett' was a wonderful book, i read it twice. Both times I read it I couldn't put it down. I laughed and cried with Scarlett and became to feel as if I loved her; as if I had known her in the flesh. This book takes you on journeys to old and new places; Tara, Savannah, Charleston, and Ireland. The bes part of the book is the end. Scarlett discovers herself...cant tell the rest. The end will leave and almost permenent smile on your face. Read it! It EXCEPTIONAL!

As a huge fan of Margaret Mitchell's classic book, "Gone With the Wind", I was eager to read her estate's follow-up to the amazing story. Upon reading Alexandra Ripley's "Scarlett", I was severely dissapointed! This book was horrible! Not only does Ripley not understand the characters created by Mitchell, but she makes no effort to mimic Mitchell's writing. Not only does Ripley begin the book by removing some of the book's most beloved characters, but she makes Scarlett act in a way that any reader of Mitchell's amazing novel knows she wouldn't. With out going in to detail and 'ruining' this dreadful book, I would like to conclude by saying if one wants a good sequel to "Gone With the Wind", read the book, also commissioned by Mitchell's estate, "Rhett Butler's People". I really enjoyed reading it.

Basically, "Scarlett" was a terrible, horrible, atrocious creation. I wouldn't do it the honor of calling it a novel.

I was very happy to have a sequel to GWTW, but this book left much to be desired. There was such a long winded tale just to find out if Scarlett gets her man. I especially didn't like the ending it left me wanting more. There was not much development on the relationship between Scarlett and Rhett so the way their relationship ends was too sudden and abrupt. It is a very good read if you are not looking for GWTW but that is the purpose of reading this book. It may be that my expectations were too high, I was very excited after reading GWTW and was very much looking forward to finding out how it ends. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed.

There's a reason this book can be purchased for pennies on the store. There are hundreds of readers out there desperate to forget it ever existed. As a stand-alone novel, it may be entertaining in a Harlequin romance sort of way; with its requisite action sequences; stock romance characters; and happy-ever-after resolution. As a sequel to the Pultzer Prize winning novel written by Margaret Mitchell, it's an infamous literary mistake. Mitchell's estate have finally come out on record as saying they were "embarrassed" by Ripley's effort. Of course, it's safe for them to say that now that Ms. Ripley has passed away.

For a comparison between this and the original version, consider that Mitchell spent 7 years and 8 months writing Gone With The Wind. Ripley devoted less than a year to her sequel. In it, she completely disregards the characters of Scarlett & Rhett, whom Mitchell so painstakingly and exquisitely detailed, in favor of making them "her" people (in otherwords, bland and one-dimensional)---this comes directly from Ripley herself, in an interview. From start to finish, this effort was never seen as an attempt to re-capture and expand upon Mitchell's masterpiece. It was inspired by, and designed for making money. And it's painfully obvious that Alexandra Ripley approached her subject matter from this perspective.

I can only account for the high praises of this book by its fans (thankfully in the minority) as people who were left so desperate for resolution to Scarlett's relationship, that they are willing to accept anything written about it. If that's the case, they might as well pick up any book published by Harlequin and simply change the characters' names to Scarlett and Rhett. It amounts to the same thing.

What they fail to understand is that S&R's relationship ended on the last page of GWTW. It's over. They broke up. There's no happy ending. Just the way it is in real life; just as Mitchell spent 7 years and many, many pages informing us as devoted readers. Scarlett & Rhett made for great reading, but as people they were failures. They were not capable of having satisfactory relationships. The clue to their futures were given to us in the final chapters of GWTW. Mitchell informs us that Rhett is burned out; he's tired of battling himself and the world, looking backwards and inwards with nothing but regret; in short, he's given up.
As for Scarlett, in fiction's greatest moment of arch-irony, inherits the helpless Ashley just as she realizes that she doesn't want him. She loses Rhett in the same moment; only then, only when he's lost, does she want him. So very true to Scarlett's character.

There really is nothing else to add to their story; unless readers want to read about Scarlett going home to Tara and growing old with Ashely tied around her neck like a millstone. Or suffer through Rhett's self-destruction as he slowly drinks himself to death. The idea that these two people could make it as a couple is ludicrously simple-minded. Scarlett herself tells us it is over with the last line of Gone With The Wind: "I can't think about that now. I'll think about it tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day." This trademark line of Scarlett's, uttered throughout the book, is a que from Mitchell to the reader: Scarlett has consigned the thing to oblivion, never to think about it again.

To affect a different outcome, Ripley literally had to create new characterizations for Scarlett & Rhett, characters who bare no resembalance to anything in Mitchell's epic novel. This was never a happy story, or even a romance.

Ripley is no Mitchell. Quite frankly, is not a very good author. I must say, the first portion of the book had me entertained, but it failed to capture me the way good literature does. After Scarlett moved to Savannah, it was all downhill. By the time she reached Ireland, the book read more like a cheap romance novel than a great work of literature. The scenarios, while well researched, were somehow unrealistic and laughable. Some of Scarlett's qualities do show through, but otherwise, the maturation process Scarlett suffered through in GWTW was totally lost. You are better off imagining your own conclusion to the story of Scarlett than reading this monstrosity of a sequel. It's not worth the paper it is printed on.

Unless you like sappy hollywood-type happy ending love stories DO NOT read this book! I fell in love with Gone with the Wind and i couldnt resist reading Scarlett but i was VERY dissappointed with the sequel. It has nothing of the style of Margaret Mitchel, or of her elegant and consistent writing. It changes the characters, makes them less deep and complex, simplifies everything.. if GWTW was believable and lifelike this book is like a fantasy tale, set in unreal surroundings with unreal events.. Events that would have never happened with the original Mitchel characters. Plus the whole idea of writing the sequel to GWTW seems almost.. illegitimate. It ruins the legacy of a great writer and a great novel. Mitchel MUST have had a reason for ending her masterpiece the way she did, it means something an contributes to the understanding of the story. Giving it an alternate and extremely unrealistic ending is just wrong. Especially if the writing is as unexceptional as the plot and the overused cliche storyline. Please stay away from this book for your own good. :)

Let's face it, the author presented herself with an almost impossible task. Gone with the Wind is a classic, I have read it at least a dozen times myself and nothing (in my mind at least) will ever compare to it. So, if you plan to read "Scarlett" with high hopes of it being the next "Gone with the Wind" you will indeed be disappointed.

As a stand along book, it is mediocre. Some of the storyline is simply unbelievable but again, I give it the benefit of the doubt. I doo simply prefer that someone gave writing a sequel a shot rather than it not existing at all; even if it is far from perfect...adn honestly, would anything ever have been perfect? Probably not.

"Gone with the Wind' is the true story that generations will continue to love, "Scarlett" will be much shorter lived but is still well worth the read on a cold, wet day when there is nothing else to do.

It could never be as good as GWTW but I really enjoyed it. When I read the 1 star reviews, I really don't get it. I loved that we get to see Scarlett inthese different environments. While I was happy Rhett and Scarlett get back together, I didn't enjoy the way it ended as much as the whole rest of the book. But I do recommend it.

Was delighted when I finally had sense enough to look at my VCR tapes on Scarlett and get author of book. Could not find DVD on this until I have now on I-pad found both book and DVD from the store. I have now started trying to pass this book to anyone interested....I love it. I am 84 and Gone W T W was fantastic but LOVED Scarlett because you finally get closure on happy ending that you had always hoped for.

I know the reason they did this...it was greed, pure and simple. This book is just horrible....the plot meanders aimlessly, just as Scarlett and Rhett is missing from most of the book!!! Where is Ashley??? Oh, the pain, the pain.....

please do yourself a favor and relish the original "Gone With the Wind" and consider this piece of garbage really gone with the wind!

I thought Ripley possessed the type of detailed writing that bound the readers into the fabric of GWTW by Margaret Mitchell. Considering an entirely different person wrote this sequel, I felt she did a brilliant job bringing the characters back to life and also gave them depth and took us places with them that we would've never imagined ourselves.
Thank you the store for making this available for Kindle readers!!!

Great begging it starts right were GWTW left off.But then the story drags on throught he on again off again love affair of Scarlet and Rhett.The auther dose a good job of the emotions of the characters throught he whole book.The story is kidda fare fetched at times Scarlett moves to Ireland and finds out she's pregnet and dosent tell Rhett becouse he re-marries.After that the story drags on in pointless storylines.But overall it was a well done sequal that should enjoy all fans of the origianl.

Like most people I had just finished Gone With the Wind, and found out there was another book, a sequal, so i snatched it up, and devoured it. I started a little skeptical at first but it was magnificent, it filled up all the sadness left from the first book, and at some points it got a little slow, i just wanted to keep reading. It held true to Rhett's and Scarlett's attitudes before, and I just loved it, I just finished the 800+ page book today in like a week and a half, and am soo happy, and can't wait to see the movie! Enjoy!

I really don't understand why Margaret Mitchell's estate chose Alexandra Ripley to write the sequel to Gone With the Wind. GWTW was a beautiful piece of literature, and Scarlett is a cheesy romance novel. Rhett and Scarlett are both really annoying in this book. I seriously doubt that the Rhett from GWTW would ever do or say some of things that the Rhett from Scarlett does. In short, this book is readable, but it sucks when compared to the original. There are many other authors out there that could have done a better job, but I really think that maybe GWTW should have been left alone.

Just what was Alexandra Ripley thinking when she agreed to write the sequel to Gone With The Wind, one of the greatest American novels ever written? And boy-oh-boy does she deliver? She fails miserably and comes up with this absolutely ghastly novel that is a blemish on the sacred name of GWTW!

First things first, any sane person who has read GWTW will easily make out that the novel ends with a finality that does not entail a sequel. The much publisized and discussed "Question Mark" at the end of the story is fairly rhetoric. And let me tell you, it is one of the most beautiful endings ever to a very memorable novel. Just why people felt the need for a sequel is incomprehensible to me. Because the people had been clamouring for a sequel right from the begining when the novel came out in 1936. This is the sole reason a sequel was written and also because it was a very lucrative deal for the publishers. So the sequel actually came out in 1991, 64 years after the publication of the original masterpiece and became one of the fastest selling novels of the century solely due to the good name of its famed predesessor. But the novel itself is a very sad addition to the legacy of GWTW, which also spawns an outstanding film that won 8 Oscars including Best Picture.

So we open the novel where GWTW ended and move out to Charleston and then to Ireland from the original setting of Atlanta, none of which have been as richly and deeply evoked as in GWTW. We follow a considerably lame plot which is stripped of all the heartfelt human emotions and heartbreak and tragedy of human life which GWTW was soaked in and are plunged into a mushy love affair not less cheezy than your new summer romantic comedy. The tumultous war and reformation background of GWTW is conspicuous in its sudden absense (the novel is afterall a continuation of GWTW) and we delve no deeper into Scarlett's psyche. All in all a sorry affair. I read it because it was irresistible, but don't be tempted like me because disappointment lies at the end of the long road (the novel is very bulky in keeping with tradition). Even Margarett Mitchelle herself couldn't have followed suite to her own novel because the novel simply ends where it does.

The only reason I dwell so long on this discussion is to point out that this should not happen again (the publishers encouraged by the success of Scarlett were thinking of a second sequel). Imagine if somebody tried to write a sequel to War & Peace! It is an unpardonable crime to write sequels to these classics. Punishable only by death!

This book is awful not just in comparison to GWTW, but stands firmly as such completely on its own. From the part near the beginning where she kicks alcoholism through sheer force of will in about 2 pages (very realistic, yes) to the horrible Breakfast-at-Tiffany's ripoff ending, it's just plain embarrassing to read.

I can't help by feel that it takes a certain amount of narcisstic arrogance to pen a sequel to one of the best loved novels of all time. While Alexandra Ripley obviously attempted Scarlet as a labor of love, her work comes up short. The tone and voice of the characters is somehow dishonest to the ear of this reader. Some things, as our grandmothers taught us, are better left alone.

I don't understand how people can say this book was not true to the original characters. I think that Rhett WANTED Scarlett to come to him. In a way he wanted to hurt her the way she hurt him, but he still loved her too much to lose her altogether, she was to big a part of the man he was. If he didn't want Scarlett he would have cut her off at the end of GWTW. He wouldn't have cared anything about her reputation and he certainly wouldn't keep footing her bills. I think "Scarlett" was beautifully written and just what Mitchell would have wanted.

It's almost impossible to describe how disappointing "Scarlett" is to a serious fan of GWTW. The character becomes two-dimensional; the deep pain between Rhett and Scarlett is portrayed as a mere lovers' tiff; and worst of all, the plot inexplicably abandons the deep south setting where GWTW is so firmly rooted for a trip to Ireland, so that the last vestiges of Scarlett's original characterization can be laid aside in favor of romance-novel tropes. When the villagers decided Scarlett's new daughter was "cursed," I seriously wanted to call up the Mitchell estate and ask who approved any version of this story. I understand that Ripley's other work is better, but she was just the wrong person for this sequel.

I have lots of quarrels with the original book, and Margaret Mitchell's whitewashed vision of the Old South, slavery, and the KKK. But it's still a good book with solid characters. I can't say that much for its sequel.

Other than Scarlett finally finding a little sense in her maturity, this book was pure pulp! To think that Scarlett would ever risk her reputation by sleeping with a man she wasn't married to is ridiculous beyond words.
That's a 20th Century character, not a 19th Century one. And certainly not one with Scarlett's background.

It starts out okay, with Scarlett off to Charleston to chase after Rhett. Since appearances were always important to her, she pretends as if Rhett doesn't want to leave her, but she finally loses him.

Then, she takes a boat to Ireland where she makes an entirely new life for herself. Never mind that all the Irish are coming to America in droves during this time period, not the other way around. Never mind that her Irish background and family would've prevented her from mingling with the English nobleman she becomes friendly with. Never mind that she'd never go too far from Tara, the land for which she sacrificed all.

This book probably had Margaret Mitchell turning over in her grave when it was published. Yes, her "poor Scarlett" matured, but into a woman Ms. Mitchell would never have recognized.

Skip this one and hope that someday someone will breathe real life back into some beloved characters.

the first couple chapters good, middle is just a waste of my time cause i actually read it hoping and praying that it would get better, it doesn't,, i was soo bored, but i refused to stop reading cause i had to know, i just had to know, well i'm saving you the trouble that i went through, After being missing for about 80% of the book he finally returns in the last chaper and they get back together.
this book left me with questions also, but this time i just did not want to know...
i was so disapointed as were most people who read this book too long to boring. I liked the descriptions of the olden irish days in Ireland.

I started reading Scarlett the same night I finished reading GWTW. Frankly, I was mad that GWTW ended in the way that it did. I could't believe it. Sure, Scarlett was hopeful at the end, but I wanted full closure. For Alexandra Ripley to pick up and continue Scarlett's story, I'm sure it was a hefty undertaking that she did not take lightly. I would have enjoyed to see how Mitchell would have continued the story, but who is to say that she ever would have? I'm thankful that Ripley wrote this book to give readers closure. I really needed that.

The book isn't perfect and is boring in some parts, however I thought it was a pretty good sequel. It would obviously have been better if Margartet Mitchell had written a sequel but Scarlett was entertaining and I was happy with the ending. The only thing I didn't like was that there wasn't more Scarlett and Rhett at the end. It's good if you don't think of it as a sequel and itstead think of it as fanfic.

An insult to the memory of the great writer, this book is no more than a cheap commercial pot boiler that has nothing to do with the original "Gone with the Wind". I've read Ms Mitchell's book from cover to cover twice, but I couldn't get past the first few pages of this one. I flipped through the remainder in the vain hope to find at least something and returned it to the library the next day. The end.

This novel picks up right where GWTW leaves off. I was skeptical about a sequel to what I consider the greatest story of all time. However, the writing stays true to the style of Margaret Mitchell. The story takes us on a journey of growth and maturity. Our opinion of our heroine turns into one of admiration as we see her attempt to get her man back, but then she gets side tracked into developing a deeper meaning of life. There are a lot of suprises and it is very different from the movie ending. Scarlett has become a strong, independent and always charming (southern style) adult woman.

Scarlett...so many things to say about this book. First of all it was not written by Margaret Mitchell. After seeing the movie GWTW, I just couldn't stand not knowing what happened next. What was Scarlett going to do? Were Rhett and Scarlett going to get back together? So many unanswered question. One day I was at a book sale and I saw this book. I snatched it before you can say Scarlett. The beginning was fabulous. I loved it how Rhett couldnt resist Scarlett but he had too. But then...she went to Ireland. I must say it started out a little slow and later on a little faster. BUT IT WAS SO BORING. I found myself scanning the page looking for the word: Rhett. I mean..come on.. thats the only reason why everyone read this book. But in the end when he came back for her I was THRILLED! I give this book 4 stars because Alex. answered a lot of my questions although I think if Margaret Mitchell had written a sequel she would have made it so Rhett and Scarlett didnt get back together.I recommend it to anyone who, like me , had many unanswered questions.

This was a horrid sequel; trite and uneven plot throughout.

I cared nothing of the characters, nor their actions as I plodded through this tome. Surely it MUST get better. Shame on me wasting my time on this. IT did not get better. No moonlight. No magnolias. No hint of a viable story. Why did this book ever come to fruition? I assume it ws merely a commercial venture.

I am at a loss of words to even describe how this would/could/should be a ,"sequel to Gone With the Wind."

Margaret Mitchell would be turning over in her grave.

Its long and kind of boring. It is an okay book. But it has a happy ending. If you really liked " Gone With The Wind" then you maybe a little disappointed. It has some adventures but they are not very exciting. But I think that you will like the end

Love this book! Alexandra Ripley did an amazing job, she kept true to Margaret Mitchell style of writing, and above all else kept the characters alive! Wonderfully written and I highly recommend this book!

I loved this book. it tied up all the ends left in Gone with the Wind. It had a wonderful satisfactory ending. The connection to Scarlett is just as strong as it was in GWTW. I couldn't put down! I strongly recommend this book to GWTW movie and book lovers.

This book was very well written. Ripley is obviously no Mitchell but I don't believe she deserves the raw criticism of people who've only read the book in order to justify their prejudiced opinions of a novel written by someone other than Margret Mitchell. If you are willing to allow for the fact that this book is not by Mitchell, and read it with a neutral mindset, you may be presently surprised.

If you are worried about reading the book after viewing the awful made for t.v. movie, please don't allow the movie to act as a deterrent.

Ok, I tried it. I even went out and bought a FIRST EDITION (not a wise investment). I think Ms. Ripley missed the point. Remember in GWTW that Scarlett would do anything to keep her precious Tara? It was the motivation behind the underhanded things that she did. In the sequel, she simply passed Tara on to Suellen and hightailed it to Ireland. The Scarlett of the South and of GWTW would have NEVER done that!! The book was believeable at the beginning; I was actually interested when Scarlett went to Charleston, and I was glad to "meet" the Butler family. After that, it got too weird for me. Not one to put a book down, I trudged through to the end. I was very disappointed and would advise only the curious to read this book. Don't expect much out of it!

Nothing is ever going to be GWTW. Face it.
This story is like fan fiction, fun to read, entertaining and mildly informative. I enjoyed it, I still enjoy both books. Trudge through, Scarlett has some amazing growth and strength.

This was a really good book. I could read it in three days. Although I know that Alexandra Ripley doesn't have the same writing style as Margaret Mitchell, she does an excellent job. I liked how she made Scarlett "grow up", and I loved the way she described everything as if you were right there. There is no other book as good as GWTW, but this one comes really close. They blend together in an unusual way, and I recommend it to anyone who loves historical romance.

Seriously? The movie was a better portrayal of what a sequel could, and should, have been! However, we are here to discuss a book, and not a movie. As far as books go, Ripley has a fine way of discribing area, culture and character. Consequently, the reader will find satisfaction in those areas, though be prepared, the book comes across as being somewhat predictable. My suggestion would be to check the book out at the library and save your money purchasing something else. Perhaps an audio version would be more thrilling ... who knows.

This book is definitly in my top 10! Cathy sues amazing language, and gets the emotion of it across really well. I would definitly recommend it to anyone (most probably moe appealing to girls) from the age of 9 or over. Really captivating, like any other Cahy Cassidy book, once picked up , it can't be put down! Another Cassidy book that I cna recommend to anyone who is reading/read Scarlett is Indigo Blue. 5+* !

I am so glad I read this book. I don't think I could have gone along and never known how Rhett and Scarlett ended up. I went into it knowing it was written by a different author and wasn't disappointed. It kept me up well into the night.

I didn't feel like Alexandra Ripley got the point of the first book. 'Gone With the Wind' wasn't a romance novel, and a lot of it was symbolic or metaphorical. Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler were larger than life characters because they were embodying the entire New South. In 'Scarlett', they were two kind of shallow, somewhat boring people who rutted sometimes and complained a lot. Oh, and we're supposed to believe a woman who decided she would go to hell and sell her body to the highest bidder is going to give up the land she was willing to be degraded for and hang out with a bunch of canny, incredibly twee poor Oirish relatives? And that the Irish in 1880 were still so superstitious that they would want to burn a toddler at the stake for being a changeling child? I'm not even a full quarter Irish, but I was pretty offended. Oh, and let's not forget the woman hopelessly in love with the IRA priest who gets shot in the street like a dog by those disgusting Brits, who also set fire to a village because the village elder (the kooky American cousin) with the oh-so-original name of "The O'Hara" refused to marry a British lord, who she banged before marriage even though Scarlett clearly finds sex completely distasteful until Rhett inadvertantly wakes her up?

I enjoyed the film Scarlett and I found it a fabulous sequel to the MOVIE, but the book though I thought was good in the beginning, did not hold true to Scarlett.

In the book, Scarlett leaves Wade and Ella to her sister, Suellen. Now at the time prior to the Civil War she made have done this. Yet after the Civil War and Rhett Butler she would have never left her children! She wished to be with them and play with them. I'm wondering if Alexandria Ripley even read Gone with the Wind for having this happen. Scarlett leave the children she created, the ones whom she AND Rhett love? I think not! Nevermind that Rhett would find it horrible to be with Scarlett when she so easily gave away her children to her sister.

I can give you some pages of Gone with the wind which would show you the love she has for Wade and parts which bluntly state that she wishes to play with her children when the war is over, when she is not so busy. But Alas, instead of playing with her children, being with her children she knows she and Rhett would want...she instead has them stay with her sister. And Ella would not be so easy to stay, nor would Wade. Even though Scarlett was not the greatest of mothers, her chilren loved her. She is and forever will be their mother and they love her for that. They love their 'Uncle Rhett' and it just makes me angry that Alexandria Ripley would take away such a profound love. Separate the family that Scarlett would have kept together.

Yet, only because Wade and Ella are not in the movie, this book as a movie is good. So as long as I do not read it I am glad that Alexandria Ripley wrote it because now we have a sequel to the movie.

I read all the other reviews about this book, and though I agree with the ones that are saying this book is horrible, they did not exactly furnish reasons for it.
The first aspect of Gone With the Wind that makes it a classic is the character analysis. Mitchell blatantly, in Scarlett's case, and more subtly in other cases, analyses the different characters in her novel: Rhett, the state of Georgia, the city of Atlanta, the Confederate cause, Melanie, Gerald O'Hara... This is completely and totally missing from Scarlett. Instead there is only a constant monologue in her head. Besides the fact that Ripley contradicts every single characterization in GWTW on Scarlett (she's a shrinking little idiot who alternates between obsequiousness and fright), she also removes every bit of analysis that made GWTW great. Scarlett and the other characters just simply are not interesting without the analysis.
Secondly, GWTW was wonderful because of Mitchell's portrayal of the historic attitude. This appeal never once appears in Scarlett because it is completely contradicted. Somehow, I do not think that it would be considered proper in the rigidly structured Southern society to have a casual conversation with a married woman about how you used to look up her skirts.
The overall impression I got from this book was that it was fake. The plot was fake, the characters were fake, and it sounded like a cheap scandal bestseller. It does not deserve to steal Gone With the Wind's wonderful story and characters and pervert them.

For years I always wanted to know what might have happened. I loved gone with the wind and watching it every couple years. They don't make movies like that anymore! Where people say pardon and bless you! It was awesome to see Scarlets character evolve into and lady and an adult and have an instilled compasionate persona. This a was great and refreshing addtion to times that were almost gone with the wind.

Thanks,

Cassie

Will try to be succinct and objective as possible. The plot is far fetched. I lost interest in the middle and the last fourth is disjointed. I do not advise reading it. However, if you choose to embark on this laborious journey, viewing it as a stand-alone work will make it somewhat more enjoyable.

scarlett is a definite page turner as preteen scarlett - who is constantly causing trouble - is sent off to live with her dad who left her and her mum years ago.when scarlett sees her dads old morris traveler and the twee cottage he lives in with his wife and daughter she is apalled.and then she meets mysterious and gorgeous local boy kian. can he solve her problems?

As I remembered correctly at the end of GWTW, Scarlett had finally come to her senses regarding Ashley and knew she didn't love him. Then in the beginning of Scarlett, she is whining about him again at Melanie's funeral? Scarlett lost her edge. The real Scarlett wouldn't have run off to Ireland. She was a true southerner and wouldn't have left HER roots--the south. i thought this book was very weak to be the sequel to GWTW. Don't even bother with it.

After years of refusing to watch and read the sequel, I finally did after re-reading the original. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. The supposedly maturity in Scarlett is all wrong. The book comes off as a second-rated romance story, written only to gather bucks from readers who have been anxious to see Rhett and Scarlett back together. Rhett is still the a whore-lover yet he is now a mama-boy and respected in Charleston. Scarlett still selfish and money loving.

Well, I love Scarlett and like Rhett a whole lot. But the way they are in this sequel, they could never get back together. He is as immature as she is. And to have a man approaching 50 marries that young timid Anne is just wrong if the author were to make Scarlett change to fit 21st century woman's definition.

All in all, it is sad for me to realize that as time passes, more readers will walk away from the original book misunderstanding Scarlett. It is hard for people who have grown up in luxury and too much individual rights (and by God, Americans have lived life beyond luxury in compare to other parts around the world. We also have more rights than God would want us to.) to understand Scarlett (and even Rhett). It is indeed unfortunate. However, I am certain, people in the poverty striken, war torn parts of the world will appreciated Scarlett if they have a chance to read her plight.

Ripley's Scarlett is to GWTW what Heinz Beans is to Ulysses. And you can quote me. Luckily, she didn't go on to write a sequel to David Copperfield or Vanity Fair. Believe it or not. The truth is, had Margaret Mitchell been alive, she would never had allowed this to be written; as it is when the book was published--and you may not believe this--people said that her tombstone rose three feet in the air and screamed.

After reading the incredible novel, Gone with the Wind, I thought Scarlett would be a good finale on a snowy day. I was disappointed and shocked at how much it ruined the classic book for me. The happy ending was nice, but it took FOREVER to get their. Besides that the characters change dramatically. Scarlett selling Tara? I was actually enraged when this was even put in the book. That was the whole outlook on the last book. I accept the fact that Tara does bring Scarlett problems, such as when she goes back and mothers dead. However, Scarlett would have NEVER sold Tara to the sister whom she despised. Alexandra Ripley is a fine author, but putting her in the position of writing this hopeless piece was ridicules. Gone with the Wind was one of those books that was not meant to have a sequel. Margaret Mitchell probably could have never written a good sequel to her own book. Gone with the Wind is an unforgettable novel of drama and especially romance which nothing could compare to. It was meant to be a question mark kind-of-book. That's all there is to it.

I waited impatiently for this sequel only to be disappointed.

I made two mistakes when this was first released in 1991; pre-ordering, paying full price for the hardcover and then reading this. It’s a waste of resources to print and market this book in any format; not to mention the wasted time and money of readers who read this awful book. Both critics and fans of the original novel felt that it was bad and it was panned by book critics worldwide. It was a commercial success, most likely because of pre-orders and it debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. While no book will ever please everyone who loved Ms. Mitchell’s original I believe that Donald McCaig has done a good job with the two books that the estate has allowed him to write. He has not written a sequel that has Scarlett as the main character, although IMHO she shares the spotlight in “RHETT BUTLER’S PEOPLE and he have said that it was his impression that they “were thoroughly embarrassed by “SCARLETT”. The book is over 830 pages long and for the most part is just a cheap, tawdry romance that would probably only exist in used book stores if it was not linked to GWTT. It is in the top five on my list of the worst books I’ve ever read and I’d rate it zero stars if I could..

Alexander Ripley's sequel ruined Miss Mitchell's great classic and she should have to buy back every copy from readers who were disgusted with the trash she wrote.

I was thouroghly impressed by this sequel. At times the diologue was rather stiff and good scenes didn't not reach their full potencial, such as the section when Rhett discovers Cat, but I still found this book spectacular. The plot was deep and twisting, it takes you through a ride of emotions, sad, happy, depressed, happy again... I could not put this book down to save my life. Read it! Now! Before something bad happens and you miss your chance! ;)