Word: scarlett
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...really interesting characters were killed off in Gone with the Wind, except for two: Scarlett and Rhett. These two alone should have provided sufficient sparks for a sequel. But Ripley has managed to turn Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler into pale, insubstantial shadows...
...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...
...reader is all too aware that during one of these visits Rhett will break down and acknowledge that he still loves Scarlett desperately (although it is hard to imagine why). When he finally does, one feels a sense of relief that the chase, and consequently the novel, is finally over...