Gone With the Wind

Gone With the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
read: 2014
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels, Pulitzer Prize

Scarlett O'Hara is maybe the worst mom in literature. Here's a typical quote:

Babies, babies, babies. Why did God make so many babies? But no, God didn't make them. Stupid people made them.

She's an interesting character, though. It was hard not to admire her courage even as I was disgusted by her Machiavellian tactics and lack of maternal instinct.

This is a book that draws criticism for being racist. One can make an argument that Mitchell wasn't espousing a racist viewpoint but rather showing her characters' perspectives on blacks, slavery, and race relations, but she certainly doesn't give any of her black characters equal time.