Less Faithful to the Source Novel Than 'N+S, Book I'

I agree. There were so many subplots left out of the movies. Of course, if the writers had included everything the movies would have been twice as long.

Elkanah Bent in the books is nothing like the elegant, gorgeous Philip Casnoff. He is a stupid fat slob. He and Ashton never have an affair, she wouldn't have looked twice at him. In the movie, Bent is expelled from West Point and not seen again for several years. In the book, Bent is reinstated at the Point and continues to make George and Orry miserable.

The novels detail Bent's obsession with finding out who his birth parents were. The Senator is not his biological father. It's been so long since I read the books that I don't remember what kind of investigation Bent conducted, but he does find his birth mother in the last novel. She lives in a creepy old house outside of town and is known to be "crazy." Bent hires a driver to take him to the house and wait for him. He meets the woman who gave birth to him, her name is "Miss Todd." There is a hint that she is related to the family of Mary Todd Lincoln, insanity was rumored to run in that family. She shows affection for Bent and tells him she is the one who provided money for him through the Senator. At the end of the visit, she tells Bent that his birth father "was my father too." Bent was conceived from an incestuous rape. He is so sickened and horrified that he runs from the house, then he sees that his driver is gone. He runs all the way back to town.

I initially read the series several years ago and started watching the films shortly after. I thought Book I was fairly well adapted. (I agree about Orry's injury needing to be changed for logistical purposes). However, when I got to Book II, I could barely stand to watch it. To me it seemed like the story was completely changed. :(

I think I read somewhere (a long time ago) that John Jakes was not finished with the novel when they started writing the script for Book II, so that was part of the reason for the discrepencies. I think the same article also said that his finishing Book II about the same time Patrick Swayzee hit it big might have affected his decision to have him killed in the novel. Or I could be remembering wrong.

Thank Heaven, I always feel like I'm alone in feeling let down by Book II. I did like it as a stand alone story but as an interpretation of Jakes novel I thought it fell short.
There was so much in the book that I wanted to see in the miniseries that didn't make it. Love the Bent parentage storyline. Justin's death was so much better in the book too. I also hate what they did with Virgilia, maybe because one of the few things I liked in Book 3 was her coming to the Main's defense (that was billiant!)And Orry's death in the book was much more poignant IMO.
Maybe it's why I would actually be in favour of a remake, which I know most people consider blasphemous. Of course in my dream remake Cooper and Judith get included and he doesn't turn up out of nowhere in Book III.

"Freedom of religion means ALL religions not just your own."

Thank you all for your inputs!! I've just finished watching the mini (books I and II, No III remains) and wonder whether I should also read the books. It was interesting to learn i.a. that Jakes wanted to avoid as many clichés as possible about the Civil War, and that Virgilia's fate is different in the book. Those crazy sisters...

That was the one thing I found irritating when watching the mini -- why include so many "evil" characters? Surely describing the fates of Americans, ordinary and less ordinary, during the Civil War ought to have been enough? Why have an extreme abolitionist, a nymphomaniac and an egomaniac as well?

But the production is on a very grand scale, and I don't think a new production like that could be financed again; 6 times 1 hour and a half, twice, all the settings, costumes, reenactors...

Should you have any links to reviews of Jake's books and the mini I would be grateful! I've also been wondering if the character of Orry is meant to represent the loss of the southern way of life, if that is why he is finally killed (which I haven't seen yet, but dread to watch...)

After watching North and South Book I, I read Love and War because I wanted to know what happened to the characters. It was the first real novel I had ever read and I give that single book, which if I remember right was just over 1,000 pages, in creating a love of reading that has stuck with me for the past 30 years. I didn't see the second part of the mini-series until it was re-run a few years after I finished the book. Since I read the book first I was very disappointment in the mini-series. I was hardly the same story by the end of the Book II. In my opinion the changes cheapened the whole experience and they left out some of the storyline that almost seemed written for television (like Copper on the blockade runner).

I was excited to learn that the Discovery Channel is planning on re-making this mini-series that John Jakes is producing. I hope the second book is followed closely.