Rhett Butler's People
I honestly can’t recall when I first read Gone With The Wind or saw the movie. Growing up in the South it seems as though I have always somehow been a fan of Margaret Mitchell’s iconic novel of the Civil War and David O. Selznick’s epic screen adaptation. Although I, personally, was never at all sure, most women I knew believed with all their hearts that Scarlett O’Hara Hamilton Butler would win back her husband who so famously "didn’t give a damn" once she went home to Tara and tomorrow turned into "another day." And after reading Donald McCaig’s extraordinary novel Rhett Butler’s People, I can say with certainty that those women were right.
Having been quite unimpressed with Alexandra Ripley’s 1991 novel Scarlett, the first instance in which Margaret Mitchell’s estate licensed a living author to revisit Mitchell’s characters and setting, I initially took little notice of the November 2007 release of Rhett Butler’s People. But once I got my hands on the book, I was very pleasantly surprised. Ms. Ripley was well known as a romance novelist and her Scarlett , billed as a "sequel" to me read much like her many, many other romances. Frankly, it’s a genre that has never appealed to me and after perusing the first chapter at a book store, I found I had no interest at all in reading Ms. Ripley’s book.
By contrast, Donald McCaig is an historical novelist with extensive expertise in the Civil
War period. And he has written a stunning novel chronicling the life of Rhett Butler, from his troubled youth as the rebellious son of large rice planter in the South Carolina Low Country to his career as blockade runner in the early years of The War to his tumultuous romance and marriage with Scarlett O’Hara. While remaining always faithful to both the artistic vision and specific details of Mitchell’s classic novel, McCaig adds greatly to the depth of Rhett Butler’s character and help to make clearer how he came to be the man Scarlett (as well as generations of readers and movie-goers) loved and admired. Additionally, Mc Caig is able to provide us with additional detail about the feelings and motivations of the supporting characters such as Melanie and Ashley when they speak or write to people from Rhett’s side of the family who never appeared in Ms. Mitchell’s story. Melanie’s correspondence with Rhett’s sister Rosemary in particular suffuses her character with much greater depth, sympathy and believability than the ‘too nice to be true’ great Southern lady she came across as in GWTW.
It was at times thrilling to witness from a completely different perspective scenes seen so many times before, such as the interlude at the Wilkes’ barbecue where Scarlett first makes Rhett’s acquaintance, though McCaig wisely for the most part focuses on other moments and episodes in the chacater’s lives or allows a completely different character to tell part of the tale from a very different point of view, as when Melanie relates to Rosemary in a letter her reasons for throwing her sister-in-law India out of her house and protecting Scarlett’s reputation, as well as her husband’s, when the two were caught in an illicit embrace. The back cover promotional verbiage bills the novel as "The other side of the greatest love story ever told". I call it an exceptional historical novel that is a fitting companion volume (most assuredly Not a sequel Nor a romance novel) to one the great American novels.
If you are even remotely a fan of Gone With The Wind or a Civil War Buff, Rhett Butler’s People is Not To Be Missed, An ABSOLUTE MUST READ.
Sorry people! Ive read them all, own them all, and love them all! Scarlett is hard to get into at the beginning but i assure you that once it grabs you then you will read it over and over. I didnt read GWTW until I was a senior in high school because it had too many pages. Now i have read it more times then i can count and all the sequels as well. To all of you that havent been able to get through the first few chapters of Scarlett…please give it another try. I think it is a wonderful extention of a truely iconic story.
Ripley’s ‘Scarlett’ was an embarrassing sequel for GWTW …I’m looking forward in reading Rhett butler’s people…
I totally agree with you Sheila. I didn’t like Scarlett at all. When I came across ‘The Winds of Tara’, the unauthorized sequel by an Australian publisher, I was also a bit skeptical. I just finished reading it and absolutely loved it! I couldn’t put it down either. It’s a real sequel true to the spirit and style of the original masterpiece that I’m such a fan of. A must read!
I recently also bought The Winds of Tara here in Australia, and I wholeheartedy agree, THIS is the sequel that should have been authorised and released years ago – it’s everything the others weren’t: faithful to the characters, seamless continuuation and very well written. My heart goes out to all those in the U.S. who are unable to get their hands on a copy with the expensive shipping costs.
I didn’t like Scarlett, and didn’t much like Rhett Butler’s People either. I didn’t like the way either author portrayed the characters. I think Ripley is a good author as I have read some of her other work, but I was turned off when I read the article where she said she only agreed to write it because it would boost the sale of her other books. To write a sequel to a book like GWTW, you should really want to, at least. I just read another sequel (Fontaine Press) that just came out in Australia called The Winds of Tara. I was skeptical, but am glad I got it. It was really fantastic! It seemed as if I had turned a page at the end of Gone With The Wind. It was a really good story and I couldn’t put it down. The author really captured the essence of Margaret Mitchel’s characters.
Lisa,
Thank you for sharing a different perspective. Sorry you didn’t like this one.
Leah,
You are the first person ever in my experience to say anything nice about Ripley’s Scarlett. I suppose it’s a fair argument that the subsequent sequel should have taken into account the previous sequel as well as the original novel, but it appears that the Mitchell estate gave McCaig free reign to write a whole new sequel and I think it reasonable that he chose to write a different sequel to the original novel rather than a subsequent sequel taking into account Ms. Ripley’s work. And thank you, also for offering a different perspective. Comments that agree with a review are always nice but I learn a lot more from comments that offer other opinions and perspectives.
Alan
Hi all, well i must be in the minority here, because i didn’t mind “Scarlet”. Sorry. I’ve read gwtw about 400 times and love it still. However, I have to say, that i’m quite disappointed in “Rhett Butlers People” so far. Again, sorry. I’m about 1/3 of the way through it and I find myself wishing that the author didn’t completely disregard “scarlett”. There’s is so many differences between the two books that it’s making me cranky… For example Rhett sister Rosemary in “Scarlett” is a change of life baby who has grown up into an old maid. In “RBP” she is married. Rhetts mother is Elenor is “Scarlett” and Elizabeth in “RBP” . His brother is Ross in “scarlett” and Julian in ”RBP”. AAARRRGGHH. I know its trivial but Mr McCraig really should have taken into account that people would’ve read Scarlett first. I liked “Scarlett” because Scarlett finally grew up. The movie was ridiculous though!!
Thanks for letting me vent
The first time I read GWTW I was in the 5th grade and have read it about every 4-5 years since then. I am now 51. Having said that, it should be obvious I don’t have a problem getting through long novels. However; I just finished Rhett Butler’s People and it took me a long time to get through it. To the avid fan of the story and characters in the original novel, Rhett Butler’s People doesn’t ring true. I just kept thinking,”he doesn’t get it.” It seems that the author made a list of characters in GWTW and the wrote a book with those names in it. None of the characters seem true to the ones that Margaret Mitchell created. He doesn’t understand the characters or the culture. The crowning blow…. Melanie writing a letter to Rhett’s sister complaining that she is feeling amourous and Ashley isn’t meeting her needs…puhleeeez….
I’m meming you. Welcome to the six word memoir meme. Dorlana from Supernatural Fairytales got me invited.
http://bookcalendar.blogspot.com/2008/03/six-word-memoir.html
I’m so ashamed that I haven’t visited here lately. I love what you’ve done with the place! It’s beautiful.
Now, about GWTW. I read it in college, about 10 years after the actual war. It’s a page-turner and I loved it. Over the years I’ve seen the movie maybe 10 or 1,200 times. I remember thinking, at first viewing, that it was all about the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression for you Southern Boyz). The 2nd time I saw it I thought it was an empty-headed love story. Finally, when I saw the Turner Restoration in 1986 or thereabouts, at a giant showing at Radio City Music Hall attended by just about every gay male in the tri-state area, I realized that it was all about survival. And about doing whatever a girl had to do in order to get by in life.
I liked that interpretation best. And I’m sticking with it.
Like you, I prefer well-researched historical novels. Not antebellum “moonlight and magnolia” romance novels. (I’ve finally gotten around to reading Ken Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth” and am loving every page of it.)
So, on your recommendation, I’m going to get “Rhett Butler’s People”.
Thanks for the tip, Alan. I can always rely on your superb taste.
I went into Borders to buy Gone With The Wind because my favourite singer/actor, Darius Danesh, was cast as Rhett for the brand new musical of GWTW, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn ( Les Mis/ Cats) opening in the West End in April, but Borders were sold out so I bought Rhett Butler’s People instead.
I’m so glad I did. It’s an easy read but really adds to the characterisation of Rhett shown in the film. I’m now reading GWTW.
I got Scarlett out of the library quite a few years ago but I didn’t read more than a couple of chapters and remember nothing at all of it. Maybe I’ll try again, just for completeness.
I absolutely love Gone With the Wind (must but an all-time favorite), but I also couldn’t get through Scarlett. I’ll have to run over to my library and see if they have this one. It sounds good. Thanks for the recommendation.
OOOOOOhhhhhhh, as a Gone With the Wind lover, I will be picking up a copy of that book. It sounds wonderful!
I too loved Gone with the Wind … the book and the movie. I could never get through the sequel by Ripley. And I actually love a good romance novel. But it just didn’t ring true to the original. You’ve tempted me to start looking for Rhett Butler’s People in the libraries and used book stores that I haunt. I may even sit and read it a bit in Barnes & Noble next time I wander through.
What a lovely, well-written presentation of a book. I’m glad I stumbled by your place on the ‘net.
Peace,
L&T