Book Review: Gone with the Wind, Wild Swans, & the Chinese Revolution

By -
When I was fourteen, I told Mom that I admired Scarlett O'Hara because as an anti-belle, she rejected conformity and succeeded by being selfish, opportunistic, and trigger-happy. Driving like a banshee, my red-haired mother slammed on her brakes and fiercely condemned Scarlett O'Hara for her lack of morals.

Mom also questioned my taste in literature and suggested I read about the Chinese revolution. My sister who was reading Wild Swans, a book about three generations of Chinese women, took the opportunity to ridicule my ignorance regarding Deng Xiaoping. I replied, "I'm a 4.0 student. If that guy is so important, why didn't I learn about him in school?" 

As a teenager, the lesson I gleamed from Gone with the Wind was -- you can live in the past and romanticize a time now "gone with the wind," or you can live in the present, collaborate with your enemies, and move on. I frequently applied this analogy to Asia where southerners frequently expressed anxiety about the north. 

Now that I'm older, I think --  the American civil war didn't need to happen. The south could have freed its slaves if the Union had subsidized southern plantation owners who were often close to bankruptcy.


#GoneWithTheWind #WildSwans #Revolution #CivilWar #Libertarianism #Satire #South #North #UnitedStates #America #Slavery #Cotton #Restoration #Romanticism #Realism #Individualism #Libertarianism #RonPaul #RandPaul #OldSouth #Romanticism 





  






Location: Mountain View, CA, USA

Popular posts from this blog

Ask Licia

By -
Image
Dear Licia, I loved Firm Resolve. It's not a romance, but I'm dying to know, who did Lana secretly like? From, Curious Dear Curious, Thank you so much for your support and what a great question. I think Lana secretly has feelings for Rob Schneider because she mentions him twice in the book. Alternatively, I think the Cryptkeeper ( Tales from the Crypt ) is a good match because they say that the secret to a good relationship is a shared sense of humor. But I guess you'll have to read Firm Denial to find out. Love, Licia #FirmResolve #FirmDenial #LiciaFlynn #Satire #Mystery #Horror #DryHumor #Political #Adventure #Novel #Escapism #Literature #PageTurner #Thriller 
Read more

Scheherazade of 1001 Arabian Nights

By -
Image
I think my mother read 1001 Arabian Nights to me as a child, but I can only vaguely remember the Arabic tales within it. What has always stood out in my memory is the framing device of the story. A King was outraged to learn that his wife was unfaithful and thus had her killed. Deciding that all women were inclined towards infidelity, the king determined to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning. After exhausting the supply of women, Scheherazade offered herself as the next bride. This young woman was well versed in history, poetry, philosophy, the sciences, and arts. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade began telling the king a tale but did not end it. The King was extremely intrigued by the cliffhanger and decided to postpone his new bride's execution in order to hear the story's ending. The next night, as soon as Scheherazade finished the former tale, she began another one but did not finish it, thus postponing her execution. T
Read more

The Space Where You Were by Nina Denison

By -
Image
       The Space Where You Were  begins sharply with a vivid depiction of edgy encounters at a college party, causing the reader to wonder what transpired between Diana, a college sophomore, and her ex-boyfriend Leo, whom she began seeing in high school.     Diana is hit with heavy nostalgia while returning to Leo's grandmother's home, a place that once made her feel safe.  Tension flares while she observes her so-called friends betraying her trust. They do this by invading Leo's grandmother's home and disregarding her treasured belongings: dusty mahogany, crystal ashtrays, and formal living room. Diana's friends also betray her trust by ignoring unspoken boundaries created by former couples.      Overall, The Space Where You Were is a taut, haunting short-story that eloquently depicts the loss one feels while transitioning from youth into adulthood. Very often it's not the individuals one misses, but a time, place, and slipping-away version of oneself.      For
Read more