Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312945787
ISBN: 0312945787
Label: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 704
Publication Date: 2008-08-26
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: 2008-08-26
Studio: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Margaret Mitchell's story of Scarlett O'Hara's and Rhett Butler's beguiling, twisted love for each other, set against the gruesome background of a nation torn apart by war, is by all accounts epic--so much so that it feels untouchable. Yet McCaig's take on what many would consider a sacred cow of 20th-century American literature is a worthy suitor for Mitchell's many ardent fans, for reasons that may not be altogether obvious. It would be easy to look at Gone With the Wind and Rhett Butler’s People side by side and catalog what is accurate and what isn't and tally up the score. In doing so, however, the fan is apt to miss out on the best part of this whole book: Rhett Butler himself. McCaig's Rhett is thoroughly modern, both a product of his Charleston plantation and an emphatic rejection of it. He is filled with romance and ingenuity, grit and wit, and a toughness matched only by a sense of humility that evokes so gracefully the hardship and heartbreak of a society falling apart. It's not hard to love Rhett in his weakness for Scarlett's love, but it is entirely amazing to love him as he rescues Belle Watling, mentors her bright young son Tazewell, adores his sister Rosemary, dotes on dear Bonnie Blue, and defends his best friend Tunis Bonneau to the very end.

To pluck a character from a beloved book and recalibrate the story's point-of-view isn't an easy thing to do. Ultimately, the new must ring true with the old, and this is where Rhett Butler’s People succeeds beyond measure. In the spirit of Mitchell's masterpiece, McCaig never questions that love--of family, lover, land, or country--is the tie that binds these characters to life, for better or worse. --Anne Bartholomew

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Customer Rating:
Summary: wonderful book
Comment: Book was very nice, exactly what it was supposed to be. I would have paid double the price had I ordered from our bookstore in town. I'm so glad I checked here first.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Awful... I'm throwing this book away.
Comment: Having read GWTW when I was 12, there is a special place in my heart for anything involving Rhett and Scarlett. I did enjoy "Scarlett" although it certainly wasn't as good as Margaret Mitchell's writing. At least Ripley made an attempt to preserve the original characters and the style of writing.

I managed to suffer through 200 pages of "Rhett Butler's People" but I can't take anymore. The writing style is crude and the dialogue is awful - nothing like Margaret Mitchell's writing at all. McCaig has completely destroyed the original characters and added a few whom I don't find remotely interesting. I'm throwing this book in the garbage.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Could not put it down
Comment: A friend of mine recommended this book to me and I am so glad that she did because it was great!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Long-Awaited Sequel To "Gone With The Wind" Is Here, But It's SO MUCH MORE...
Comment: For those who wondered if Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler ever got back together and suffered through the horrible sequel "Scarlett," the wait is over. Here, the mystery surrounding one of the most iconic fictional characters is stripped away to reveal...no, I won't spoil it. Here, we can experience Rhett's past, only alluded to in "Gone With The Wind," see some of the most famous scenes from "Gone With The Wind" through his eyes & enjoy a thrilling read all the way through 600 plus pages. There's also a wicked plot twist almost in the last 1/3 of the novel. Rated PG for mild language and some war violence.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected
Comment: I came to "Rhett Butler's People" prepared not to like it for the simple reason that whatever any original author said or didn't say about his or her characters should never be said.

Presumably the GWTW copyright will eventually expire, so better for the Mitchell estate to authorize additions to the canon now before the floodgates open with all manner of versions coming out of the woodwork down the road.

That said, this book was an enjoyable read, most especially those sections where the story is being told from Rhett's point of view. The Rhett we see in these parts of the story appears to be in keeping with the Rhett that Mitchell created.

The weaker parts of the novel are the countless letters between Melanie and Rhett's sister Rosemary. They fill in details as McCaig imagines them, but they don't have the punch of the earlier parts of the book. The ending brings us a kinder, gentler Rhett and a more adaptable Scarlett than Mitchell left us with. While that works okay within McCaig's universe, it's still rather a shame. It kills the unresolved mystery of GWTW.

However, when viewed as a standalone novel in its own right rather than as material only to be compared with Mitchell's work, the book is well written, compelling and interesting "take" on the time period in which is was set.

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