We've had this for passages but not analysis of a whole book, I don't think?
I'm rereading Gone with the Wind again. I last read it about eight years ago and enjoyed it a lot. Unusually, since becoming a writer, I'm enjoying it even more this time. A few of the technical reasons why:
Scarlett. She's not a likeable main character. She's selfish, shallow, cruel and a little bit stupid about world affairs. She has inexcreable taste in men. But we are kept in her point of view all the time and, using fantastic showing, Mitchell lets us know Scarlett is wrong about eg Melanie, but, because of the strength of the pov we find this makes Scarlett someone to be sympathised with. And when she has to find strength, and does so in spades, we're rooting for her. When self-awareness comes, far too late, the tragedy of what she has lost (Rhett, essentially) is all the starker for it.
The secondary characters are well sketched, from the Tarleton boys in the opening scene (who are used so evocatively later on to bring home the horror of the war in a scene I read with my mouth open this time) to her Oirish father, are all vivid and real. Rhett is well-drawn and, again, Mitchell doesn't shy away from showing his less than likeable traits.
The dialogue is well done with a mix of dialects well captured and written in such a way as to not draw the reader out.
The description. Two things here:
Where she uses it. Some scenes have hardly any description; she assumes we know what a sitting room looks like, for instance. Some have loads of rich, rich description that draw us in.
The use of senses. She captures crowd scenes so well. She uses colour and noise and smells. When Atlanta burns, we are pulled right into it.
Finally, the journey. The reader knows she should love Rhett. The reader can see the horror that is ahead for her. We are screaming at Bonnie to slow down. We want the Tarleton boys to not go to war. And it all still happens. Like a car crash we can't stop. And that is one of the reasons it works, so we can go noooooooo, and yet have to read on.
Lots for me to take from it, I think.
I'm rereading Gone with the Wind again. I last read it about eight years ago and enjoyed it a lot. Unusually, since becoming a writer, I'm enjoying it even more this time. A few of the technical reasons why:
Scarlett. She's not a likeable main character. She's selfish, shallow, cruel and a little bit stupid about world affairs. She has inexcreable taste in men. But we are kept in her point of view all the time and, using fantastic showing, Mitchell lets us know Scarlett is wrong about eg Melanie, but, because of the strength of the pov we find this makes Scarlett someone to be sympathised with. And when she has to find strength, and does so in spades, we're rooting for her. When self-awareness comes, far too late, the tragedy of what she has lost (Rhett, essentially) is all the starker for it.
The secondary characters are well sketched, from the Tarleton boys in the opening scene (who are used so evocatively later on to bring home the horror of the war in a scene I read with my mouth open this time) to her Oirish father, are all vivid and real. Rhett is well-drawn and, again, Mitchell doesn't shy away from showing his less than likeable traits.
The dialogue is well done with a mix of dialects well captured and written in such a way as to not draw the reader out.
The description. Two things here:
Where she uses it. Some scenes have hardly any description; she assumes we know what a sitting room looks like, for instance. Some have loads of rich, rich description that draw us in.
The use of senses. She captures crowd scenes so well. She uses colour and noise and smells. When Atlanta burns, we are pulled right into it.
Finally, the journey. The reader knows she should love Rhett. The reader can see the horror that is ahead for her. We are screaming at Bonnie to slow down. We want the Tarleton boys to not go to war. And it all still happens. Like a car crash we can't stop. And that is one of the reasons it works, so we can go noooooooo, and yet have to read on.
Lots for me to take from it, I think.
