Word: ripley
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Ripley's Scarlett and Rhett are at least vaguely recognizable. Scarlett comes up with a well-placed "Fiddle-dee-dee" here and there, and Rhett remains a veritable sultan of sarcasm. Somehow, though, one gets the impression that Ripley had the Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable movie characters in mind when she wrote this novel. Scarlett and Rhett say all the right things and make all of the right gestures, but they lack substance...
...Ripley has stated that she identifies more with Melanie Wilkes, the epitome of southern womanhood who perished at the end of Gone with the Wind, than with Scarlett. As a result, Ripley's Scarlett contains a good deal of Melanie within her. Scarlett buys Ballyhara, the O'Hara family's ancestral Irish home, where she becomes "The O'Hara," family matriarch...
After a waterlogged tryst with Rhett results in a daughter, Scarlett suddenly becomes something quite extraordinary: a devoted mother. Having become a model of domesticity, Scarlett now resembles the matronly Melanie--Ripley's tempestuous heroine has lost her fire...
Fortunately, Rhett does not undergo any such astounding transformations. He remains the same old cynic with a heart of gold. But Ripley has him sailing back and forth to Ireland so frequently that his random appearances become aggravating...
...Gothic romances go, Scarlett is not a bad read. For all of the novel's problems. Ripley has concocted a tightly-knit story. Some of the sections involving Irish nationalism have been written with quite a heavy hand. But Ripley's prose elicits chuckles and tears at the appropriate moments, and the reunion between Scarlett and Rhett is touching, if a bit contrived...