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204th out of 1,395 books
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Rhett Butler's People
Fully authorized by the Margaret Mitchell estate, Rhett Butler’s People is the astonishing and long-awaited novel that parallels the Great American Novel, Gone With The Wind. Twelve years in the making, the publication of Rhett Butler’s People marks a major and historic cultural event. Through the storytelling mastery of award-winning writer Donald McCaig, the life and tim...more
Hardcover, 500 pages
Published
by MacMillan
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Can you picture Miss Melly as a gossiping complainer? Rosemary Butler marrying Ashley Wilkes? Scarlett and Belle Watling friends? Rhett mooning over a woman?
I love Gone With the Wind, hell–I even loved Scarlett; and that was considered a travesty against GWTW, but this book ruins Margaret Mitchell’s well crafted world and makes kittens cry! I am not sure how a person can spend 12 years working on a novel that is supposed to be an accompaniment to one of the best loved books o...more
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What was the last book that brought tears to your eyes as you finished the last page? Not due to the hero/heroine’s tragic death, but simply because you have finished the story? That’s how I felt after finishing Rhett Butler’s People tonight.
Rhett Butler’s People is set “around” Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel. You meet Rhett before that fateful meeting at a Twelve Oaks picnic and the book continues to weave in and out of the well known events of GWTW. The author then takes you bey...more
Rhett Butler’s People is set “around” Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel. You meet Rhett before that fateful meeting at a Twelve Oaks picnic and the book continues to weave in and out of the well known events of GWTW. The author then takes you bey...more
Deepa
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone wants to kill their love of Gone with the Wind
Dear Estate of Margaret Mitchell:
I'm writing to request that you stop authorizing crappy prequels and sequels to Ms. Mitchell's book. Those of us who have a special fondness for the characters of Gone With the Wind find ourselves compelled to read them because of our interest in these well-developed and complex personalities. We then find ourselves appalled at how modern authors take liberties to turn her story into an implausible, uncharacteristic mess, and invariably try and put ...more
I'm writing to request that you stop authorizing crappy prequels and sequels to Ms. Mitchell's book. Those of us who have a special fondness for the characters of Gone With the Wind find ourselves compelled to read them because of our interest in these well-developed and complex personalities. We then find ourselves appalled at how modern authors take liberties to turn her story into an implausible, uncharacteristic mess, and invariably try and put ...more
So, I finished Rhett Butler's People last night.
I'd seen a lot of negative reviews while I was reading but I vowed to keep an open mind, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed this book. It's one of the better ones I've read in awhile and one I know I will read again someday.
It's NOT Gone With the Wind; there will never be another. It's not even the same caliber as GWTW. I think a lot of people went into reading it expecting and hoping it would be and came out sorely disapp...more
I'd seen a lot of negative reviews while I was reading but I vowed to keep an open mind, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed this book. It's one of the better ones I've read in awhile and one I know I will read again someday.
It's NOT Gone With the Wind; there will never be another. It's not even the same caliber as GWTW. I think a lot of people went into reading it expecting and hoping it would be and came out sorely disapp...more
You really need to read "Gone With the Wind" first in order to really appreciate this book. The author was commissioned by the estate of Margaret Mitchell to write this "parallel sequel" to GWTW, and he has kept faithful to her style. In it, we get background about Rhett's youth, his family, and many characters who are just briefly mentioned in GWTW. The story is told through Rhett's eyes. It goes through his youth, his relationship with Scarlett, and takes it past where G...more
I admit I had mixed feelings about this book. I recall too vividly my disappointment in "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley, which was also billed as a sequel to "Gone with the Wind." I absolutely hated that book! It took a bit to get past the frequent use of "the N-word," (by the way - I hate that phrase! We give the word so much more negative impact by refusing to say the word... sort of like "He who must not be named" in the Harry Potter novels.) Anyway...more
There will never be another GWTW but:
I always like historical fiction, especially when it’s fairly accurate and helps me learn more about “common people” of an era.” McCaig gave me a good picture of life in Charleston and Atlanta just before, during and after the Civil War.
The story is really not well related to the tale of GWTW because the author spins a tale of a man’s journey before and after the Civil War. But, it is helpful to have read GWTW before reading RBP sin...more
I always like historical fiction, especially when it’s fairly accurate and helps me learn more about “common people” of an era.” McCaig gave me a good picture of life in Charleston and Atlanta just before, during and after the Civil War.
The story is really not well related to the tale of GWTW because the author spins a tale of a man’s journey before and after the Civil War. But, it is helpful to have read GWTW before reading RBP sin...more
So, in middle school I read Gone with the Wind and Scarlett and fell in love with the books - well, mostly Gone with the Wind. I will admit, I have a problem...if I like a book and there is a sequel, I will read it. Even if it's horrible.
That said, this book I thought was really good. The author does a really good job with Rhett's role, it really felt much the same as Gone with the Wind. It made me want to read it all over again. He does add a new character who is really central...more
That said, this book I thought was really good. The author does a really good job with Rhett's role, it really felt much the same as Gone with the Wind. It made me want to read it all over again. He does add a new character who is really central...more
I am embarrassed to include this as my first book of 2008, but there it is. The fact that it took me six weeks to finish tells you how interesting it was.
The plot was okay; I'm almost always okay with reworkings of classic plots from the viewpoint of a different character. But the writing was unbearably poor. If I hadn't cared very, very deeply about the characters -- a legacy entirely of Margaret Mitchell and having nothing to do with this book -- I would have been unable to fin...more
The plot was okay; I'm almost always okay with reworkings of classic plots from the viewpoint of a different character. But the writing was unbearably poor. If I hadn't cared very, very deeply about the characters -- a legacy entirely of Margaret Mitchell and having nothing to do with this book -- I would have been unable to fin...more
Takes Gone with the Wind and poops on it.
Rhett Butler is one of the best romantic heroes, both in literature and cinema. He deserves a good companion novel or sequel or prequel told from his point of view. This aint it.
Mr. Darcy has a kazillion books recently, and I hope ole Rhetty gets another shot.
This book sucks. For reals.
Rhett Butler is one of the best romantic heroes, both in literature and cinema. He deserves a good companion novel or sequel or prequel told from his point of view. This aint it.
Mr. Darcy has a kazillion books recently, and I hope ole Rhetty gets another shot.
This book sucks. For reals.
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I give up - I am halfway through and I just don't care what happens to anyone. In fact, this has dampened my love of Gone With the Wind and Rhett Butler, so I am just stopping now. I read the sequel by Alexandra Ripley, Scarlett, and it was very good. But this - it has no heart, no emotional punch and way too much about the war. All the emotional scenes are flat and short and I didn't really learn much about Rhett Butler that I hadn't surmised from the original book, except that according to...more
Lara
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
well, if you're curious...
Recommended to Lara by:
my own warped idea of what to expect
Shelves:
gwtw,
historical-fiction
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The Margaret Mitchell Estate should have left well enough alone. I'm not even sure where to start in putting my feelings about this book into words. Gone With the Wind is one of my all time favorite books, and Rhett is right up there in my favorite, fascinating male characters in fiction and I was looking forward to a good meaty look into Rhett's life before Scarlett. Boy was I ever wrong. This book is called Rhett Butler's People for a reason - it's not just about Rhett, it's about all the peop...more
Finally finished this book. Gone With the Wind is my favorite classic, so I am always eager to read the authorized follow-ups. Um...yeah. So far two strike outs (don't even get me started on Alexandra Ripley's sequal!). I feel like I could have really appreciated the complexities of some of McCaig's supporting characters if only his prose wasn't so choppy, awkward, and bland. Where was the passion? The grandeur? The glorious description of the South pre Civil War and the bleakness followi...more
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As a borderline psychotic fan of Gone with the Wind and even the trashy sequel Scarlett, my heart was open to liking this book. Sigh. I was not happy. The title is apt; there are so many "people" in this book that it made my brain hurt. Just when I would start to get the characters straight, the author would just start killing them off. There's more blood in this thing than Saw II. This is also the kind of book where characters do things that real people never do, such as put a f...more
this has got to be one of the worst books i have ever read (and this guy has had 7 other books published!). i would recommend it to No One except to those with a seriously unhealthy obsession with Gone with the Wind. You will be disappointed, very very disappointed: things come out of Rhett's mouth that he'd never say, drunk or sober. and that's the least of my complaints about a book that turns Rhett into Huck Finn (no shit). notice, however, i am STILL reading it. don't be too hard on me.
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This book doesn't so much retell Gone with the Wind from Rhett's view (like I originally thought) as it does give the account of Rhett's life prior to meeting Scarlett and describes the lives of his friends and family. In doing so, it gives a well-researched look into life in Charleston Atlanta just prior to and during the cival war.
I enjoyed it mostly for the historical aspects--it gave a different view of the cival war period than GWTW did. McCaig is great in describing individua...more
I enjoyed it mostly for the historical aspects--it gave a different view of the cival war period than GWTW did. McCaig is great in describing individua...more
Were it not for Gone With the Wind, there would be absolutely no reason to read Rhett Butler's People. Even with GWTW, I'm still wondering if I should have devoted a few hours to this novel. It relies so heavily on GWTW that it can't stand alone and really wouldn't make much sense without it. Like Ripley's unfortunate Scarlett, this novel was authorized by the Margaret Mitchell Estate. These two follow-ups, though, are entirely contradictory. No, Scarlett does not go rowing off to Ireland for a ...more
Lani
rated it
Recommends it for:
flexible fans of gone with the wind
Shelves:
own,
historicalfiction
Read this book all in one sitting today, though I can't say that's a vote of confidence for it considering my mood.
First, understand that this is not a book in anyway related to the other sequel - Scarlett. I guess I sort of assumed it would follow along with that storyline, and it most assuredly does not. The most obvious change is that made to Rosemary (Rhett's sister) and her mother. Because I am really a huge fan of Scarlett, I had a tough time adapting to these new interpretatio...more
First, understand that this is not a book in anyway related to the other sequel - Scarlett. I guess I sort of assumed it would follow along with that storyline, and it most assuredly does not. The most obvious change is that made to Rosemary (Rhett's sister) and her mother. Because I am really a huge fan of Scarlett, I had a tough time adapting to these new interpretatio...more
This book had a lot to live up to considering it was solicited by Margaret Mitchell's estate so that people would know what Rhett Butler was doing throughout the extended periods of time where he was absent in Gone with the Wind. Donald McCaig is best known for his book, Jacob's Ladder, which is about the civil war in Virginia. McCaig already knew a great deal about the civil war but with this being such a historically rich book, it still took him six years to write it. I went to his book sig...more
At first I really liked this book, but as it went on it began to drag. It tells the story of Gone With the Wind from Rhett's point of view, altho it stretches farther back, giving us a picture of his childhood on a South Carolina rice plantation. I loved reading Gone With the Wind in high school, so it was fun to revisit those characters.
BUT, the author presumes everyone has read GWTW, as major events (such as character's deaths) are glossed over or not included (Scarlett's miscarria...more
BUT, the author presumes everyone has read GWTW, as major events (such as character's deaths) are glossed over or not included (Scarlett's miscarria...more
Rambling waste of time! My original thought was that this was going to be bad but a woman I work with loved it and since she and I often have similar tastes I changed my mind. Excitedly, I put it on my Christmas wish list and was so happy when I got it I started it as soon as i finished the book I had been reading.
Well, it has been how long since and I am finally finishing it. I just didn't care!!! It wandered from character to character failing to flush them out enough for me ...more
Well, it has been how long since and I am finally finishing it. I just didn't care!!! It wandered from character to character failing to flush them out enough for me ...more
Christmas gift...
done now: As a standalone read, certainly it rates 4 *s. Having visited Charleston a couple times, I can visualize some of the locales. And the history is interesting.
As a GWTW companion/prequel/sequel, I'm not sure. The Rhett info reads true (although anyone who has read Scarlett will have to erase that info from their memory banks -- the 2 books have nothing to do with one another), and the situations presented fill in some informational gaps in the...more
done now: As a standalone read, certainly it rates 4 *s. Having visited Charleston a couple times, I can visualize some of the locales. And the history is interesting.
As a GWTW companion/prequel/sequel, I'm not sure. The Rhett info reads true (although anyone who has read Scarlett will have to erase that info from their memory banks -- the 2 books have nothing to do with one another), and the situations presented fill in some informational gaps in the...more
I know some of the reviews for this book haven't been great but I personally really liked this story. True, it isn't the same as GWTW but I loved all the background on Rhett. I thought the way Rhett's story and things we know from GWTW were woven together was really neat. Seeing Scarlett and some of the other characters in a different light was very interesting.
I also thought this sequel was better than Scarlett. Though I did enjoy both.
I think I would have given this ...more
I also thought this sequel was better than Scarlett. Though I did enjoy both.
I think I would have given this ...more
Smokinjbc
rated it
Recommends it for:
people who love GWTW and hated Scarlett
Shelves:
booksthatrock
I am very excited about this book- although the "sequel" to GWTW was disappointing(but admittedly, entertaining in a cheesy way). Don MacCaig is a well known writer in my border collie world- he wrote one of my favorite books "Nop's Trials" and some excelllent non-fiction as well. He is an incredibly talented writer who can move a story well and with beautiful language. I don't think they could have picked a better author to tackle Rhett's story.
Ok.. finish...more
Ok.. finish...more
My favorite book of all time is GWTW. As a result, I was hesitant to read this book. I was sadly disappointed in the other book, Scarlett, that was approved by M. Mitchell's family. But, this book was wonderful. The writing style was very similar to MM's and the historic aspects were wonderfully done. Many have said that Rhett Butler's biggest asset was the mystery surrounding him. For me, this book only added to his appeal. I was unhappy with some of the liberties taken with a few of the ...more
There were some fairly-long history dumps, which were interesting enough but sort of detracted from the flow. I've found a lot of spin-offs disappointing, and this one is no exception with the glossing-over of Rhett's faults, giving Scarlett a very OOC sense of humor. Worst was Melanie, who became all-knowing, in addition to being all kindness.
Mostly, it underscored how good Mitchell's writing is. It gave a "happy ending" to the story, which I worked better than Scarle...more
Mostly, it underscored how good Mitchell's writing is. It gave a "happy ending" to the story, which I worked better than Scarle...more
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Donald McCaig is the award-winning author of Jacob’s Ladder designated “the best civil war novel ever written” by The Virginia Quarterly. People magazine raved “Think Gone With the Wind, think Cold Mountain.” It won the Michael Sharra Award for Civil War Fiction and the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction.
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“I'm afraid, Belle, that being a lady is more than proper clothes. It is an attitude. From your...experience, you may know more of business and politics than ladies are supposed to know. Gentlemen are pleased to think ladies are ornamental, and it is an ill-advised ornament who contradicts her gentleman.”
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