Frankly Scarlett, I Do Give a Damn!: Classic Romances Retold

With all the politically correct retellings of classic tales flying around the book market these days I'm surprised there hasn't been one of these sooner. But now its here and its great. Some of the stories are better that others, Wuthering Heights, The Scarlet Letter and Gone With the Wing are the best but they're all amusing & entertaining. I only hope the authors will honor us with some more, maybe Antony & Cleopatra, Guinevere & Lancelot, Daphne & Apollo.

Ever thought that Rhett was slightly obtuse about Scarlett's struggle against the patriarchy? (Of course, Scarlett was pretty clueless about Ashley's unresolved boundary issues). That Heathcliff might have worked out a healthier way of dealing with angerÐand CatherineÐthan storming across the moors? That Sam's penchant for immortal one-liners (in Casablanca) was avoidance behavior? That Gatsby's deep-seated fear of intimacy was a dick thing and that he and Daisy would be happier in a third-floor walk-up in Greenwich Village? Me neither. I swallowed the heroine-trashing endings of all these literary classics without a backwards glance. But I like the ones in Frankly Scarlett, I Don't Give A Damn a whole lot better. They give the classics a whole new twist, never take themselves seriously, and are absolutely hilarious. Ashton Applewhite, New York City