Not a bad book…

Being a huge Gone With the Wind fan, I had to try Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig.  Yes, I mean try, like trying on a new pair of shoes or trying a different dessert. The reason is that, and I am sure this isn’t a shock to you, but the original author of Gone With the Wind is dead.  Margaret Mitchell died in 1949.  The Margaret Mitchell Estate authorized the first so-called sequel to this great American novel in 1991 with the publishing of Alexandra Ripley’s Scarlett.  It went to press amidst great controversy since it was never really clear if Mitchell planned a sequel.  Sources close to her say she did not. But Scarlett did do well despite poor reviews, and I suspect Rhett Butler’s People will do the same over time.   People like sequels, and perhaps enough time has passed or the collective national brain has become mush to the point that something ‘authorized’ by an estate passes for the real thing.  It is nothing  more than riding the GWTW gravy train.  I read Scarlett  and was less than impressed. The book tried too hard to be something it could never be. When I tried to sell it on half.com earlier this year, I could not give it away.  Fortunately, while not a ‘companion book’ to GWTW, Rhett Butler’s People  fares much better.

Rhett Butler’s People  tells of Rhett’s life growing up, his point of view during the ‘GWTW’ years, and adds a postscript on what happens to everyone after the war for a time. It is not a bad book. It is written well enough and interesting enough to be able to stand alone as a novel. McCaig interjects enough tidbits from the original novel to give it flavor and does expand Rhett’s character quite a bit.   The same familiar characters are there, as well as many new ones who intertwine with the ones we know and love.  However, is this what Margaret Mitchell would have approved of?  Rosemary Butler Haynes Ravanel and Melanie Wilkes become friends and Melanie writes to Rosemary about how she would love to make love with her husband, Ashley, but cannot because Dr. Meade forbade her from becoming pregnant again.  However, after Scarlett and Ashley are caught in an embrace at the sawmill, Melanie turns her womanly charms on Ashley and ends up pregnant.  Hmmm. Interesting. Good reading. But would Margaret have done it that way?

The fact of the matter is that we will never know.  For some estate to authorize something with hopes to mimic the original-which was artistic and individual and fiercely personal- simply for the sake of their gain, is not art. It is greed.   Rhett Butler’s People is no sequel.  It has no authority to set a tone for GWTW, nor provide details on the post-war life. It is merely a southern historical fiction novel.  Not terrible at all. Well-written and entertaining for sure. But for true fans of the epic Gone With the Wind, this book is nothing more than another attempt at padding the bottom line.

You cannot rewrite history.