Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (unbridged)

Rating:
Summary: Am I missing something?
Review: I bought this book expecting it to be one of the best ever, and I struggled daily to finish it. I found the author's descriptions to be completely dry and drab, considering the topic. The only reason we might consider Savannah a eccentric, unusual, and colorful place is because the author keeps telling us we should, not because he's written it that way. So much more could have been done with this book, in the hands of a better writer. What has made it as popular as it is I cannot imagine. The movie, however, was even worse.

Rating:
Summary: I simply enjoyed the book. I also saw the film! Excellent!
Review: John Berendt, along with actor-director, Clint Eastwood, did an excellent job describing a southern town full of secrets -- even deadly ones. This book deserves to be on the best-selling list and people living in small southern towns should get a kick of knowing that a person can come into ones' town and reveal many things that tourists are not aware of.

Rating:
Summary: COULDN'T PUT DOWN!!!
Review: I was never really interested in True Crime books, but I had heard a lot of good things about the book. I admit that I was skeptical, especially when I discovered how much the book cost. I certainly was NOT disappointed. I had a hard time remembering this is a True Crime book, the author was so skillful in how he wove the many threads into a beautiful, seamless tapistry. It read like a "you-are-there" style of fiction writing that I find lacking in the work of many modern writers. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: I'm Still Yawning
Review: Berendt has the uncanny ability to take potentially interesting characters and render them completely pedestrian. The dialogue is particularly innocuous, inartistic and obvious. Nothing of any interest happens in the entire first half of the book -- just Southerners caught in the act of being themselves. National Geographic stuff. Then, thankfully, voodoo enters the picture, and we finally have a decently interesting subject to attend to. Believe me, it is this book's sole saving grace. But it comes way too late and reenters the narrative way too infrequently. Had Berendt focused on the voodoo, he might have produced a genuinely interesting work, instead of this slumbering hulk of a book and its curious band of admirers (none of whom have obviously read a REAL Southern book, like Faulkner's "Light in August"). Want to read a good book in which a city is an important character, but isn't forced on you as one? Try Saul Bellow's love letter to Chicago, "The Actual." Shows you how it's done, John.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Read..., Interesting Characters...
Review: Very well written, a book could be written on each of the characters in the story and would still be very interesting. A touch of the old South. Money well spent. Can't wait for Berendt's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Better than a sleeping pill.
Review: Here's a quarter for the clue phone, McGuireN from New York City, It's BORING!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: Even if you don't care for the story line, it is so beautifully written, I do not understand how anyone could not enjoy it. It's amusing to note that the relatively few criticisms here generally have to do with the plot and the characters. Here's a quarter for the clue phone, folks: it's NON-FICTION!

Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING !
Review: I had seen excerpts of the film and was suitably unimpressed then I was given the book as a gift and I loved it. The characters were fascinating and totally engrossing and I could picture all of it. I have known people like this! Certainly not your run-of -the-mill murder book, much more compelling and I loved the authors writing style. Even though some of the characters were obnoxious, whilst others were just outlandish, I was enthralled by them all. Enjoyed it from start to finish and would highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: So bad I didn't finish the book
Review: I heard so much hype about what a great book this was. I was working as a travel agent and a woman booked a weekend trip to Savannah because of this book. I found the book totally uninteresting. I'm sorry I wasted my money.

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST EVER
Review: BEING A TRUE SOUTHERNER I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE BOOK AS WELL AS THE MOVIE. I HAVE TWO BOOKS ON THE MARKET AND A THIRD DUE OUT IN MARCH. YOUR STYLE HELPED ME CONSIDERABLY. BEST WISHES.....