Scarlett [Import] [Paperback]

ALEXANDRA RIPLEY (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: HEYNE (1994)
• Language: German
• ISBN-10: 0330699253
• ISBN-13: 978-0330699259
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #888,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Torture Yourself By Reading This Trash, July 24, 2010

By 

Elagabalus (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarlett (The Sequel to Gone With the Wind) (Hardcover)

There's a reason this book can be purchased for pennies on amazon. 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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For people who love happy endings, December 12, 2011

By 

That Girl You Love - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scarlett (The Sequel to Gone With the Wind) (Hardcover)

Okay, okay. I know all the true, die-hard Gone with the Wind fans hate this book with a passionate passion. But. I didn't. At. ALL.

See, I'm the kind of girl who will not finish a sad movie. Moulin Rouge? I stop it right before she (SPOILER ALERT) dies. A Walk to Remember? I stop it right before she (SPOILER ALERT) dies. Old Yeller? I stop it right before he (SPOILER ALERT) dies.

I felt the same way about Gone with the Wind. I loved Rhett and I loved Scarlett and I loved Rhett and Scarlett. Yes, I know that she didn't deserve him and he made his choice and a woman can't change a man and it's soooo like realistic and blah blah.

Don't give me that crap. I want a happy ending, dang it!

Scarlett was written for all the people who demand happy endings.

Basically, Scarlett goes back to her motherland (no, not Africa, although WHAT A HILARIOUS PARODY!!!) of Ireland, finds her extended family, and learns how to be a decent person who works and makes money. She has a random run in with Rhett, they DO THE DEED (in detail--yikes!), and a baby ScarRhett is born. The rest of the book is about Scarlett obsessing over her very cool daughter, and about Rhett and Scarlett eventually (SPOILER ALERT) dying. Just kidding. They don't die. They get back together and happy ending and yay!

You should buy this if: you are a normal person who likes happy endings.

You should not buy this if: you are a cynical, grumpy person who likes real life.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pillar of the Irish Community ?, February 18, 2011

By 

Erica Hidvegi (N.E. Ohio--planet Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarlett (The Sequel to Gone With the Wind) (Hardcover)

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