Rhett Butler's People

By: Donald McCaig

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

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 times of the dashing Rhett Butler unfolds.

Through Rhett's eyes we meet the people who shaped his larger than life personality as it sprang from Margaret Mitchell: Langston Butler, Rhett's unyielding father; Rosemary his steadfast sister; Tunis Bonneau, Rhett's best friend and a onetime slave; Belle Watling, the woman for whom Rhett cared long before he met Scarlett O'Hara at Twelve Oaks Plantation, on the fateful eve of the Civil War.

Of course there is Scarlett. Katie Scarlett O'Hara, the headstrong, passionate woman whose life is inextricably entwined with Rhett's: more like him than she cares to admit; more in love with him than she'll ever know.

Brought to vivid and authentic life by the hand of a master, Rhett Butler's People fulfills the dreams of those whose imaginations have been indelibly marked by Gone with the Wind.

©2007 Stephens Mitchell Trust (P)2007 Macmillan Audio

Unconvincing

I struggled with this book. Mostly because of the story and partly because of the narration but that might be the writing. I'm just not buying any of it. There are SO MANY inconsistencies with Gone With the Wind and it just doesn't have the same kind of tone. I don't think Mccaig has even read GWTW. It is written with no regard to Scarlett which I see little reason for and I don't understand what is supposed to be canon buy even so there is no excuse for writing it with no regard to the original novel. I don't really believe most of the story, character's actions and dialogue. I don't really care about any character. Belle is dumb rather than just uneducated lower class woman, Archie is a completely different character who apparently knew and adored Rhett prior but didn't play his correct role the night of the Klan incident, Scarlett says Father and no PA in addition to behaving quote differently and Belle and Melanie having an interaction that is specifically contradictory to later events in GWTW. I find all this embarrassing for the author.

Okay, not really Gone With the Wind quality

I've just finished Gone With the Wind and Scarlett before this one and I struggled to finish it. The story contradicted a lot of Scarlett and was not very true to the difficult characters Rhett and Scarlett. The man who performs the reading tries but his voice is soo deep and not very versatile so when he narrates a woman's voice it comes across as distracting and corny.

Horrible

The writer got a lot of names wrong and facts. Did he even read gone with the wind?

I don't think the author read Gone With the Wind!

Disappointed! Narrator was boring and monotone most of the time. The characters were not true to their original personalities, timeline was off, and half of the story wasn't even about Rhett. The ending felt like the author got bored decided to kill some people off and call it a day. Ripley's Scarlet was better and that is saying something!

A much better companion/sequel/prequel

Definitely a much better book than Scarlett. This book does not acknowledge the Scarlett Sequel at all. Rhett Butler's People is Gone with the Wind from Rhett's perspective. It covers Rhett's early life before he meets Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, him during Gone with the Wind and after the original ended. The storyline is as convincing as if Margaret Mitchell herself helped write the book. I could not stop listening. The only part I didn't enjoy was how John Bedford Lloyd voice for women sounded... He does tell a great story though. I definitely recommend this book if you didn't love the book Scarlett as much as Gone with the Wind. This is a much better storyline.

Good book but...

After finishing Gone with the Wind and Scarlett (the sequel written in 1991 by Alexandra Ridley), I was so excited to listen to Rhett Butler’s People and Ruth’s Journey. I’m disappointed. The story lines don’t really line up. I can somewhat forgive these books for not following Scarlett’s storyline, but it’s unforgivable to stray from the original story.

Confusing

I’ve listened to GWTW, Scarlett & also now RBP & the storylines are so different & even the timelines don’t match up! I need more! Now I have a lot more answers than I even did questions & few of the answers make any sense at all after GWTW. Scarlett has a much better storyline although the narration went off the rails halfway through the book. I would have liked to have learned much more about Rhett from this novel, but as the title suggests, this is about Rhett Butler’s People, not so much about Rhett. Would someone please write a follow-up book about Rhett? Or continue Rhett & Scarlett’s love story? The narrator did a good impression of Rhett, but after a little while most of the men sounded only slightly different from Rhett which started the confusion. There were times that I had no idea who was speaking or being spoken about. The women’s voices were terrible! Just terrible. They should have had a male & a female narrator. Listen to Scarlett & then maybe listen to this one in a couple of years. Both sequels left me wanting & both disappointed me.

MUST listen to for any GWTW fan!!

I just finished listening to this and this is my very first review EVER. If you are a GTWT fan you MUST listen to this. It's so interesting to hear the familiar story from Rhett's perspective. I can't say much other than he DOES give a damn, it's not over, and she's not as spoiled as she seems. LISTEN TO THIS!

I’m glad I got to experience this book

It was so good to finally be able to have an ending that was so satisfying. The only thing I disagree with was his recounts of Melanie. She would have never wrote anything or talked to anyone no matter how much knew. I feel how he portrayed her was in a manner that one would think less of her.

so good!

Don't take the other reviews about how the listeners didnt like the male narrator too seriously. Trust me, he was wonderful!