Thursday, May 22, 2008

Rhett Butler's People


I finished listening to Rhett Butler’s People a few days back and all I have to say is that I now have a closure.
The first time I read ‘Gone with the wind, I was in school. I am not sure but I think it was an abridged version and I just wanted to know the story, didn’t care for it much then.
I picked it up again, a few years ago.
Loved, loved, loved it... But like a lot of us, I didn’t think the book should have ended at that junction. Rhett and Scarlett were both fighters and they cannot give up, what happened next?
I read Scarlett. It was a good book but I didn’t consider it a sequel to ‘Gone with the wind’. It didn’t have much continuation and the story moved to a totally unknown destination and the only connection was the names Rhett and Scralett.
I was pretty disappointed....

I heard about the book ‘Rhett Butler’s people’ a few months ago from an online friend. I mentioned it to my DH (Darling Husband) over dinner one day. Since my plate is always over full, I wasn’t seeking anything to add to it but my DH found me the audio book and to say I was hooked is an understatement...

In the initial stages of the book, I kept comparing it to its predecessor but once I got the hang the new writing style, I loved it even more.
Its unlike GWTW that it doesn’t describe the foods and the dresses and the emotion and the culture in great detail.
Its more straight forward, to the point and connects the loose ends from GWTW and also the history of that time.
I loved discovering Rhett Butler, why he was the way he was, what his disappearances meant; basically his side of the story... this book is a very good complement to GWTW. It weaves beautifully through the GWTW, completes the initial fabric, adorns it and brings the story to a closure.
When I was reading this book, I didn’t analyze it from the perspective of a stand alone book, I judged it based on what I knew of the emotion and circumstances of other characters based on GWTW, so it would be hard for me to think it that way but if you haven’t yet found your closure to the ‘Gone With The Wind’, this book is a must read...

2 comments:

  1. Can you believe I have never read Gone With The Wind? I really, really should!
    And I love the idea that there is a sequel.
    I love when books have good sequels :0)

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  2. thank you!~ I didn;t realize there was another sequel out there. I agree that Scarlett didn;t quite do it, although it was better than nothing. I will be looking for this book

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