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Rhett Butler's People
Rhett Butler's People
Author: Donald McCaig, Margaret Mitchell
A sequel to Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind". — 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 c...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780312262518
ISBN-10: 0312262515
Publication Date: 11/6/2007
Pages: 500
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 186

3.7 stars, based on 186 ratings
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

ktleyed avatar reviewed Rhett Butler's People on + 72 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 18
Well, I can't say I loved it, but I did enjoy reading it. I was surprised that the book wasn't so much GWTW from Rhett's viewpoint, but rather, it was about his family, his parents, his sister Rosemary (who's a cross between Scarlett and Melanie IMHO), his old friends, and of course, Scarlett. So that's what it means by Rhett Butler's *people*.

I was a bit disappointed that some favorite scenes from GWTW were not included in this, or were completely changed!

This book is rated PG-13, nothing racy, so if you're expecting sex scenes between Scarlett and Rhett - sorry, they're not here, but there's enough to indicate they had a passionate relationship in and out of bed. The author, has added a lot of behind the scenes scenes, especially Melanie's thoughts and they are quite an eye-ful!

The book is worth reading if you can't get enough of GWTW and it was worth reading for curiosity's sake. I recommend the book, if only to get another peek into the world of GWTW and this time around a lot of it takes place in Charleston. I think anyone who loves GWTW would enjoy this book. The author focuses a lot on slavery and reconstruction, this is a different look than Margaret Mitchell gives us. It's not as rich and detailed as GWTW, of course, but it wasn't bad either. His new characters were better defined than the characters from the original. Almost as if he didn't want to "mess" with Mitchell's originals.

I guess my one big gripe is it lacked a lot between Rhett and Scarlett during the time of GWTW. McCaig adds a whole extra part in the book after "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." The book does not end there by any means. I thought the book would be more detailed and a lot of the GWTW parts were kind of glossed over. So in that respect it was disappointing, but overall, I liked it.
J avatar reviewed Rhett Butler's People on
Helpful Score: 12
This was the biggest waste of time. The book could've been a 100 pages shorter. The story drug on and on. The characters were poorly defined. An overall disappointing book. I'm glad I checked it out from the library and didn't waste a credit on it here!
reviewed Rhett Butler's People on
Helpful Score: 7
Thank goodness for this website, because this is one of the worst books I have ever read, and I am glad to be posting it back to get rid of it. This book is as bad as Alexandra Ripley's "Scarlett." It is poorly written and the prose is just like a Danielle Steel novel. I am very disappointed that the Trust once again sold out. There is no need for a sequel to GWTW; Margaret Mitchell said what she had to say. Let us use our imaginations and decide if Scarlett and Rhett got back together.
pelette avatar reviewed Rhett Butler's People on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
For me the characters in Gone With the Wind are so intertwined with the movie actors that I see them as I read it. In Rhett Butler's People I had a very hard time conjuring up the actors. Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, Melanie, etc. don't come off as the same people. The new characters fit into the story, but they didn't develop strongly identifiable personalities like the ones from GWTW. We hear a lot about Rhett's sister, but I didn't get a good sense of what kind of person she was or how she would react.

The scenes mentioned from the original were glossed over and only served to establish a timeline. The new parts were interesting and believable enough, given the background, and do add to the overall story.

3-3 1/2 stars-I did finish it, and of course you can't really compare it to GWTW, but I didn't love it.
reviewed Rhett Butler's People on
Helpful Score: 1
It's pretty slow for the frist 2-3 chapters, but an okay read. This book is good as an independant story. However, if you link it to Gone With The Wind, if falls disappointingly short.
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reviewed Rhett Butler's People on + 8 more book reviews
I read this book...actually kept with it for
the 600-some pages. I liked the first part of the
book, aboutRhett Butler's background, family etc., and
historical background of Charleston, S.C. where
he grew up. What I did not care for was how the
author seemed to change the personalities of
some of the characters, such as Melanie Hamilton
Wilkes, and Belle Watling, after being well-written
about, and characteristics established in GWTW. I
guess the author wished to demonstrate that all of the
characters lives changed drastically by the time the Civil War was quite a few years in the past.
Overly long story. For me....it was just 'so-so'.

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