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The Wind Done Gone (Paperback)

by Alice Randall (Author)

2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (203 customer reviews)

List Price:	CDN$ 12.80
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Product Details

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (April 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618219064
ISBN-13: 978-0618219063
Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 1.6 cm
Shipping Weight: 241 g

Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (203 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #137,228 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

On April 20, barely a month before the scheduled publication of Randall's retelling of Gone with the Wind from a slave's perspective, a federal district court in Atlanta pulled the plug, ruling that the first-time author had engaged in "unabated piracy" in the crafting of her tale. Whether the book ever makes it into readers' hands, it stands as a spirited reimagination of Mitchell's world, dependent on its predecessor for its context but independent in form and voice. A slip of a tale next to the massive bulk of Mitchell's saga, it relies on tart social observations and imaginative language and, yes, titillating speculation (Ashley ["Dreamy Gentleman"] is gay; Rhett ["R."] betrayed Scarlett ("Other") the night their daughter died) for its appeal. Supplanting elite white Southern society with an elite Creole community, the novel features heroine Cynara (also called Cinnamon and Cindy), Other's mulatto half-sister and R.'s full-time concubine. Cynara is educated; she keeps a diary, through which she tells her story. Settled in a house of her own in Atlanta, she recalls her childhood and describes at length her resentment of her mother Mammy's preference for Other. Cynara has known misery (she was sold to the madam of a whorehouse), but also good fortune: later, she accompanied R. on a grand tour of Europe. After much dwelling on her past, she is finally happily distracted by a romance with a black congressman in Washington. Randall's account of the situation of slaves and mixed-race offspring in the antebellum South sometimes slides into a fantasy of empowerment, but her insights are frequent and sharp. Part playful fabrication, part bid for redemption, and full-on venture into our common literary past, her contested work is best defined as honest fiction.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Think of Margaret Mitchell's epic Gone with the Wind condensed and told from the perspectives of Mammy and the Tara slaves, and you have Randall's debut novel. This sometimes cryptic but always fascinating story is narrated by Cynara (also Cinnamon or Cindi), the daughter of a slave and a white plantation owner. As the story unfolds, we learn of Cynara's hatred of the white half-sister she calls Other and the privileges bestowed upon Other yet denied Cynara even though they are raised side by side. Both sisters vie for the attentions of Mammy (Cynara's mother and Other's nanny) as children, and for the love of the same man as adults. Through the eyes of Cynara and the other now freed slaves, we get unique perspectives of life on a Southern plantation and of the Reconstruction era. Randall, an established country songwriter, uses language and idiom to haunting and poetic effect. Fans of Toni Morrison's Beloved will enjoy this well-written historical fiction. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/01; a trust for Margaret Mitchell's heirs has filed an injunction to stop this book's publication as a violation of copyright. Ed.] Karen Traynor, Sullivan Free Lib., Chittenango, N.
- Karen Traynor, Sullivan Free Lib., Chittenango, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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	62% buy the item featured on this page: The Wind Done Gone 2.5 out of 5 stars (203) CDN$ 11.40
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Customer Reviews

203 Reviews

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(86)

Average Customer Review

2.5 out of 5 stars (203 customer reviews)

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2.0 out of 5 stars A missed opportunity, Jun 10 2008

By	Anna (Atlantic Canada) - See all my reviews

Like many I found the title and the concept to be excellent, and looked forward to a toothsome novel that further developed beloved characters both black and white. But though the idea was great, the execution was poor in most areas.
The writing style was meant to be whimsical but just came out as confusing, inconsistant, and full of errors. Some sentences I couldn't even decipher after reading them several times. The timeline flip flops around too much and the narrator spends far too much time in self-absorbed self-dialogue when a bit more physical action might illustrate her points better. It's all feeling and no story - which makes the book less of an impact on the reader's mind.
Although some of the "secrets" were clever and interesting, some of the basic tenets were unbeleivable. The whole basis of GWTW was that Rhett loved Scarlett's mind as much as he did her body, so it's difficult to beleive he only married her because she reminded him of someone else.
As for infanticide...the concept that the slaves sometimes felt like they were the real owners of the plantation was probably very true, but to actually kill babies to keep it that way seems kind of pointless, as sooner or later another white master would come along, at least before the war.
As others have said, the character development was so poor that the author may as well have written a stand-alone novel instead of attaching her idea to a famous work and then ignoring the characters that readers buy the book to hear about in the first place. This was what happened in "Rhett Butler's People." If you're going to write the novel fine, but if you are counting on association to market it, be sure you write satisfyingly about the associated characters.
In closing - if you're going to do this sort of thing - do it right! I would have loved to hear more about Cynara's life if it was more meaty and not shrouded in such a fog of random, stream-of-conciousness impressions.

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1.0 out of 5 stars No., Jun 20 2004

By	emnnj "emnnj" (NJ, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wind Done Gone (Hardcover)

Yes, there were many injustices in the south during the Civil War. Yes, slaves were abused, sexually and in many other ways. But here's the thing--Gone With the Wind, racist as it may be, is a beautiful, classic novel. Do I like that I have to turn off the "offense" button when I read it? No--but that hasn't stopped me from reading it more times than I can count. Novels don't have to be real; they're fantasy. I loved GWTW and I will always love it, though I would never want to live it. This book is exploiting the grandeur that was the story of Scarlett O'Hara. It's relevant--but not as a rip-off of the classic. Write it over; create new characters; write your own story of slavery. I would read it with pleasure and recognize how easily it could have happened like that. But, please, don't just take someone's ready-made story and change it around. I love Scarlett and Melanie and Rhett and Ashley and Mammy and Pork. The idea of Mammy killing Ellen's and Gerald's sons is horrifying. Yes, the black characters of GWTW were abused, but they were lovable. At the end of the day, GWTW is a story. It's not meant to be taken as truth. Please, Ms. Randall--write your own story. It's unfair to take one we love so much and tarnish it.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful First Novel, April 9 2004

By A Customer

Margaret Mitchell's estate claimed that "The Wind Done Gone" was a copyright violation of "Gone with the Wind," and was granted a preliminary injunction to prevent it's publication in 2001. The injunction was later lifted, after a confidential agreement was reached, one part of which was that the book must prominently display the words "an unauthorized parody" on its cover.

"An unauthorized parody" made me think that the book would likely turn out to be part "Read the shocking unauthorized biography of Scarlet O'Hara!!" and part second rate sitcom script. I could not have been more wrong. It is, rather, the haunting, thought-provoking and beautifully written story of Cynara, the slave half-sister of the character we know to be Scarlett, born to Scarlett's father and a much younger Mammy. The book is her diary, written in the spare and evocative voice of a woman who has seen past the appearance of things to the truth behind.

What struck me most about the story was how authentic it seemed, as if "Gone with the Wind" was the appearance, and this was how it really would have been. What happened to Scarlett, called Other, after Rhett left her, rang true, and seemed to be what would have been most likely to have happened in the real world of people we all know. Compare this, if you will, to the nonsense in the _authorixed_ sequel to "Gone with the Wind" called "Scarlett" where Rhett and Scarlett go off to have adventures, get ship-wrecked, swim with dolphins, and so on. The other characters, Mammy, Ashley, Rhett, Melanie, Mrs. O'Hara, are each given a history and a future that has the ring of truth to it. Most interesting of all is the extent of the true contribution the slaves would most likely have made to the life of this most famous of plantations.

The book is slim, and does not take time to work out the whole story. But its economy of language and delicacy of perception has the effect of focussing the reader on the essentials -- the life of a woman who sees things as they are, and who understands that uncompromising self-knowledge gives rise to spiritual dignity, not only for an individual, but also for a group of people whose passage through pain and injustice can create a sure knowledge of what is true, and of what is of value.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars The ugly side of Tara
Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" was immensely popular, and, in its depiction of happy "darkies" devoted to "massa", immensely romanticized. Read more

Published on Mar 8 2004 by JLind555

4.0 out of 5 stars This is not so different from what'd done in Japan
In Japan (where I live, long story) there is a thing called "doujinshi" which is a kind of underground comic book that fans and amateur artists create, parodying famous characters... Read more

Published on Jan 25 2004 by Peter Payne

2.0 out of 5 stars What A Let Down!!!!!!
This book is a letdown in several aspects. First of all, after reading the original book, I was looking forward to a compelling, witty parody based on GWTW's flaws. Read more

Published on Jan 17 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars A Retelling of a fundamentally American story
This neat novel is told from the point of view of view of Scarlett O'Hara's half sister. Cynara is Mammy and Scarlett's Dad's daughter. Read more

Published on Nov 24 2003 by Julia Walter