Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, 1936. When read, what do you think of? Personally, all I thought before I read the novel was "Long. Over 1,400 pages. NO. WAY." However, after reading this classic, I am here to assure you that Gone With the Wind is so much more than simply "Long. Over 1,400 pages. NO WAY." 

    Mitchell said in an interview that, "If the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people come through catastrophes and  others, apparently just as able, strong, and brave, go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those that go under? I only know that survivors used to call that quality 'gumption'. So I wrote about people who had gumption and people who didn't." After reading the novel, anybody can tell you that this work is so much more than  the center idea of human survival and vitality. It is a masterpiece that gives a new name to the American Revolution, slavery, the Old South, and trial. 

    Gone With The Wind follows  Miss Scarlett O'Hara from the time she is 16, till she is 28 and no longer a young girl, but a woman. Throughout the novel the reader is reminded over and over that Scarlett, along with every character, is not perfect, but all too human. What makes this book so compelling is perhaps the fact that it is impossible to hold just one opinion on each character. There is always a side to love, a side to despise, and a side of mystery and confusion. Mitchell helps her characters and their emotions live beyond the ink and pages within the two covers of a book. 

     Personally, no book has ever gotten me to respond so much, both mentally and emotionally. There were times when I, as the reader, was fiercely angry and others when I was moved to tears. It is definitely a piece that will cause you to think hard about any number of things from your own personal life to humanity as a whole. Mitchell writes in such a way that you don't realize how drawn into the story you are until you either can't put the novel down or you throw it from you because you can't bear to see what comes next. This classic American novel is most assuredly a must read. Once you finish, you will no longer be saying "Too long" , you'll be saying "Let's read it again".