Rating: 
Summary: Savannah Bound
Review: This book was so intriguing -- it's made me want to see Savannah, to see the mansions and terraces, to have lunch at Joe Odum's place... I'd even like to catch a revue featuring Lady Chablis. I feel like I know these people, and reading the book has even given me mental pictures that make me feel like I've already been there. Reading this book was like watching a movie in full color -- the descriptions and the characters are poignant. They are so interesting, it's hard to believe it's nonfiction.
Rating: 
Summary: As a non-non-fiction reader I was pleasantly surprised.
Review: As the first 200 pages of Berendt's book read like a catalog listing of "Who's Who" in Savannah, GA, it took some time for me to get into this story. It is only once past these effusive descriptions of every person and place that the "true-crime" plot of the book takes place. However, once the crime was revealed I was hooked; where it took me 5 days to get through the first 200 pages, I finished the last 200 pages in 4 hours. When I was done, I had that same guilt pleasure feeling as if I had just read a great novel--not something I have ever experienced while reading a piece of non-fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Vastly entertaining if not entirely believable
Review: Berendt claims he made none of this up, and who's to say he's wrong? Still there are SO MANY eccentrics packed between these two covers, one espies a frustrated novelist lurking in Mr. Berendt. (And the book just reinforces the idea that all Southern towns, large and small, are crammed with crazies.) Fictitious or factual, the book is loaded with memorable characters and set pieces: Lady Chablis crashing the cotillion is especially hilarious, the midnight voodoo ritual, the saga of the fancy Georgia lawyer and his UGA mascot, on and on. The greatest service the book provides though is to bring fuller attention (whether the natives like it or not) to Savannah, Georgia, one of the most beautiful cities on the face of the earth.So enjoy MIDNIGHT but take it with the proverbial grain of salt.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Characters
Review: I just went on a trip to Savannah and I carried "THE BOOK" (that's how it's referred to in Savannah) with me. I read while I was there and even took the "Midnight" tour. I loved how Brerendt developed the characters and it was especially amazing being right there in historic Savannah. The book was an enjoyable read, although at times, I found it to drag a bit with details. Savannah was captured beautifully and Berendt gave us a wonderful peak at the secrets that Savannah holds that may not be apparent to those passing by. We actually benefit greatly from Berendt's 8 year on and off stay in this charming place filled with intriguing personalities. I highly recommend Midnight and I think you too may contemplate a visit to Savannah after you finish reading.
Rating:
Summary: A High School History Student
Review: In the view of aa high school student this in some sense was a boring book, the only historic revelance was that it was true story. It had its good points and bad points. The first portion of the book was interesting but boring because it skipped between characters all the time talking about all different things. The second part was worse because it was repetitive. After going through four trials you expect what the lawers were going to use as evidence.
Rating:
Summary: Naive and unsuspecting...
Review: I thought this book to be extremely entertaining...in fact, it was so entertaining, I couldn't believe when I got to the end that I found most of it to be true. Although I live in a small town, I don't think I would find people to be as interesting and full of information here as most Savannahians are. Being naive and extremely unsuspecting made the story all the more interesting for me. I found myself not really knowing what was going to happen next and thinking "that can't be right, they wouldn't really do that" many times throughout the story. Each character boasts a vivid description that allows you to either love or hate them, despite their small (or large) flaws. A very good book, definately worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: You'd SWEAR it was all fiction...
Review: I saw the movie first; probably not a bad idea, as the movie is NOWHERE NEAR WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED, but is pretty good on it's own. This book, however, was so infintely incredible, that I still rant about it two years after having read it. Berendt does a fabulous job winding all the BIZARRENESS of Savannah together, but the story ultimately wrote itself. The 'characters' are so INSANE and jaw-dropping UNBELIEVABLE, that you'd swear it was all a work of fiction on Berendt's part; but it's not. And all the good folks os Savannah are so loveable that you fall in love with each and every one of them. (With the exception of Danny Hansford, but that's to be expected.) You simply MUST read this book! (And, you know, it might be a good idead to watch the movie as well...)
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful guilty pleasure
Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is just that. A snap shot into the lives of the wealthy and privileged of the South captured in the pages of this novel by the more than skilled and nimble fingers of John Berendet. I almost did not want to reach the end. I fell in love with Savanah, with the wild, wacky and wonderful people that fill this book to the brim with a richness that could only be true. There is a reason that Midnight was the longest running hardback on the New York Times Bestsellers list. It was only recently made into a paperback so that it could reach another audience. This is the story of wealthy and eccectric Jim Williams, who throws lavish parties, is the envy of all of Savannah and equally despised by the same people. During a wild party, one of many, the readers begin to glimpse the underbelly of Jim's world and then suddenly a shot rings out and a man is dead. Accident or murder? How does a transvestite, a vodoo priestess and UGA fit into the picture? You will have to read this fantastically crafted book to discover the truth. If you love the book as much as everyone else - you should rent the movie (which does not hold a candle to the book) just to see the REAL Lady Chablis as she plays herself in the movie. Enjoy this one - it is really worth the read!
Rating: 
Summary: I forced myself to finish it.
Review: This just was not an interesting book. None of the characters were very well developed, so I didn't really cared what happened to them. The first half described houses in Savannah and the second half was about a trial. The second half was a little better than the first, but I thought the book overall was a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Even better on the third read....
Review: I must preface this review by saying I just returned from a week in Savannah...I did all the tourist things...even took "The Book" tour... I've just re-read "The Book" for the third time and find it even more compelling, charming and utterly delightful than before. As for its detractors, maybe this is a Southern thing, as we do celebrate our more colorful characters down here...my town's character doesn't collect insects, but he rides a bicycle, sits on Main Street all day, waves at everyone and knows their children...and yes, there are people who are one step ahead of their creditors, but I don't think they have tour buses stopping at their houses for lunch and the occasional hair cut. And no one I've ever known has taken a visitor to a cemetary, no matter how pretty is was, for chicken salad sandwiches and martinis. I don't think the Married Women's Card Club could have survived for all these years if it were located say, in Chicago or St. Paul. It takes years of strict social standards to keep such rituals as when to serve water and when to "pass the linen" alive. The Olgelthorpe Club, Savannah Yacht Club (and its cousins) are still alive and well in the South, and have not yielded to outside pressures to become politically correct. The charm and the underbelly of Savannah is real...Berendt captured it on paper and I saw it first hand. I've never "fallen" for a city like I did for Savannah and, had it not been for "The Book," I would have never visited. From what I read and what I learned on my trip, Jim Williams would have reveled in the spotlight of "The Book." I'm sure he's looking down (or up, depending on your point of view) and enjoying every snapshot the tourists take of Mercer House. In fact, I could have sworn I saw him looking out of the second story window....or it could have been the sun.... Enjoy!
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