The Winds of Tara [Paperback]

Kate Pinotti (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 499 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corp (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401063578
• ISBN-13: 978-1401063573
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,896,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unauthorized sequel to GWTW - and I say: OMG, August 16, 2009

By 

SusieQ (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Winds of Tara (Paperback)

After finishing THE WINDS OF TARA, all I can say is: Oh, my God.

Because no review I've yet read had told me how pitifully dreadful this book really is, I had high hopes that the Mitchell Estate was wrong to prevent its publication in the United States. That THE WINDS OF TARA would at least be a well plotted, decently written book, if not exactly comparable to what Margaret Mitchell accomplished with GONE WITH THE WIND. And I didn't think (before I read this novel) that GWTW was some untouchable bastion - why shouldn't any writer have a go at a sequel? After all, might not THE WINDS OF TARA be just as worthy an effort as the two authorized sequels? Wasn't the Mitchell Estate just being unnecessarily harsh by restricting Ms. Pinotti from publishing her book in the U.S.? How unfair! Perhaps they should have embraced her version... Or so my thoughts ran.

So, I went to considerable trouble, and expense, to obtain a copy of this novel... and, having done so, I beg every single person who reads this review, and, especially those readers who care even a tiny bit about GONE WITH THE WIND -- DO NOT invest in obtaining a copy of this unauthorized sequel. If you are a reader who cares about what could have happened to Rhett and Scarlett or any other character from GONE WITH THE WIND, believe me, please, your daydreams will be more satisfying than ANYTHING presented here. On the other hand, if you are simply a reader who doesn't have a strong opinion about GWTW, and just wants to read a well-written story, then you surely musn't read this book. Because your stomach will turn at the first capitalizations of the words 'typhoid' and 'brandy', and the fact that the author brings (admittedly, minor) characters who died in GWTW back from the dead. And --I beg that you believe me-- the author's writing powers only decrease from there.

If I could vote *zero* stars for this book on the Amazon system, I certainly would. It's not only that THE WINDS OF TARA is not a good sequel. It's just not GOOD, period. I'm not even a devoted fan of GWTW, the book or the movie - but this novel doesn't even come CLOSE to the good qualities of either. Frankly I feel as if I'd participated in some unholy act just by reading it, it's that bloody awful.

Thank you, Mitchell Estate, from keeping this book off our U.S. bookshelves. You were right all along.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad, bad, bad, November 1, 2010

By 

amymarie - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Winds of Tara (Paperback)

A real "Windy" would not find this book to be even close to an acceptable attempt at a sequel. Grammar, spelling, syntax, context - all amiss. Did Pinotti not have an editor? Or a spellcheck program? Basics were ignored, as was MM original and timeless story. If possible, I would have rated this book "no stars." I can find nothing legit in those here who credit Pinotti with being a good writer as nothing in her book suggests she knows how to write.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A weird sequel to a classic story, June 15, 2009

By 

Judith "Judith" (Tampa, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Winds of Tara (Paperback)

Having been disappointed by both "Scarlett" and "Rhett Butler's People" - the two sanctioned Mitchell Estate sequels to GWTW, I thought that maybe this unauthorized book might be better. I was sorely mistaken. Not only is the writing style below par, basic facts - from both the original books and American history went unchecked. Most are silly mistakes, but they make the reader groan in their stupidity. Established birth parentage (Dilcey and Prissy,) established name origins (Ella [also called in the book by her middle name Lorena], Careen [Caroline Irene], Belle Watling [not "Watlin" as in the book] Eleanor [not Charlotte as in the book] Butler, are ignored and misspelled, American holidays misinterpreted (Thanksgiving is mentioned often as being celebrated by Scarlett and her family - is not routinely celebrated in the South having been thought of as "Lincoln's holiday" long into the 20th century) and locations (a precious package arrives from England through Ellis Island - where immigrants, not parcels, entered the United States). A beloved and very observant Catholic character is cremated, against strict Catholic burial customs (not modified until 1918) instead of buried - it all adds up to a sub standard and silly attempt to concoct a happy ending for Scarlett and Rhett. Perhaps most disturbing is that a character killed off my Mitchell in 1936 reappears here and has a major impact on the plot. Lots and lots of food and food scents are mentioned, most "swimming in butter" and Rhett "reaches for", "lights up", "puts out" "smells", "flicks the ashes off", picks up" "puts down" "throws out", "throws down", "discards" his many, many, many cigars ad nauseum. Some sentences and terms are lifted right off of Margaret Mitchell's pages. Aside from the "forbidden fruit" aspect of it not available in the U.S., it is not worth the read. And if you are a real GWTW fan, it's sloppiness will make you mad.