In a brilliant rejoinder and an inspired act of literary invention, Alice Randall explodes the world created in Margaret Mitchell's famous 1936 novel, the work that more than any other has defined our image of the antebellum South. Imagine simply that the black characters peopling that world were completely different, not egregious, one-dimensional stereotypes but fully alive, complex human beings. And then imagine, quite plausibly, that at the center of this world moves an illegitimate mulatto woman, and that this woman, ...
Read More
In a brilliant rejoinder and an inspired act of literary invention, Alice Randall explodes the world created in Margaret Mitchell's famous 1936 novel, the work that more than any other has defined our image of the antebellum South. Imagine simply that the black characters peopling that world were completely different, not egregious, one-dimensional stereotypes but fully alive, complex human beings. And then imagine, quite plausibly, that at the center of this world moves an illegitimate mulatto woman, and that this woman, Cynara, Cinnamon, or Cindy -- beautiful and brown -- gets to tell her story. Cindy is born into a world in which she is unacknowledged by her plantation-owning father and passed over by her mother in favor of her white charges. Sold off like so much used furniture, she eventually makes her way back to Atlanta to take up with a prominent white businessman, only to leave him for an aspiring politician of her own color. Moving from the Deep South to the exhilarating freedom of Reconstruction Washington, with its thriving black citizenry of statesmen, professionals, and strivers of every persuasion, Cindy experiences firsthand the promise of the new era at its dizzying peak, just before it begins to slip away. Alluding to events in Mitchell's novel but ingeniously and ironically transforming them, THE WIND DONE GONE is an exquisitely written, emotionally complex story of a strong, resourceful black woman breaking away from the damaging world of the Old South to emerge into her own, a person capable of not only receiving but giving love, as daughter, lover, and mother. A passionate love story, a wrenching portrait of a tangled mother-daughter relationship, and a bookthat gives a voice to those history has silenced, THE WIND DONE GONE is an elegant literary achievement of significant political force and a novel whose time has finally come.
Read Less
Add this copy of The Wind Done Gone to cart. $28.49, new condition, Sold by M3Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wilmington, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Mariner Books.
Add this copy of The Wind Done Gone to cart. $56.98, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Mariner Books.
Add this copy of The Wind Done Gone to cart. $90.65, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Mariner Books.
This book was in good condition, but the content was of a poor quality. The constant usage of initials and synonyms to descibe characters was annoying. I didn't even finish it
Awarra
Oct 15, 2009
Confusing
ok...expected better. Very confusing with it's use of "Other" to refer to Scarlett O'Hara and other psuedonyms for other characters. It didn't paint a scene for me.
Selina
Sep 20, 2007
a masterpeice
Who wouldn't love a heroine who lives on an estate named Tata. This off beat take on Gone with the Wind is a real pleasure. I couldn't put it down. I read it in a single evening. This book has the right mixture of drama and fun. Too bad the lead couldn't find a decent love interest. She seems too good for R and the other characters were lacking. "The Other" came across as a selfish vain alcoholic and no one could feel sorry for her demise.
