Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (unbridged)

Rating:
Summary: you might fall asleep by the end
Review: incredible story..and I was hooked for the first 150 pages....but the trial UGHHHHH! i hope to god the movie version is more exciting--by the end of this book i was snoozing. also, some people seemed impressed that berendt didn't judge or condemn gays or transvestites...but i thought he did. in one point of the story, he noted that it was good to hold one of the trials outside of savannah because the jurors were more accepting of gays. he said something about how jurors admitted that they didn't mind gays, as long as they didn't know them or have to have them live in their town. they also claimed that there was absolutely NO gay population in their area. I found berendt's statement that these people were accepting ludicrous and homophobic. There were points when he should have taken a stand, on the basis of human rights, and criticized their blantant hatred. other than that, a good summer read

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Summary: Beneath live oaks and Spanish moss, fate damns a city.
Review: The Deep South is America's bastion of antebellum traditions and social graces that permeate every tier of life. Savannah is the gatekeeper of it all, wrapping itself in isolation from intrusions of northern or foreign influences that have even permeated its sisterly rival, Charleston, in a more homogenous age. John Berendt, a true foreigner in this antique city, slowly unfolds a murder mystery with the same whispery gossip that can only exist in venues where the present day characters have evolved from a musty, mildewed past. To wend his way into Savannah's cloistered social maze, Berendt must become a trusted confidant, a real participant in wildly divergent lifestyles extending from a black drag queen's flamboyant escapades to a loveable drunken shyster and into the silver and crystal studded mansion society that still rules much of the South. Integrating himself into this intense crazy quilt of fascinating people who make up Savannah, Berendt has created a magnificent novel, one of the best to come from the South in many years. To truly understand the non-fiction side of this scandalous murder story, one must become a part of the society that whirled around it. A southern murder event is like none other. It envelopes families, history, racial and social barriers, and seems to silently pervade the oppressive summer mist that often creates a surreal stage amid the huge live oaks and their ghostly moss on moonlit nights. As a southerner who was raised in the hot, wet, multi-caste system of the coastal South, I can empathize with Berendt's dreamy, drifting stroll through the lives of people who, though real, appear as gothic players on a perpetual stage. That is the real South lying beneath the patina of grand mansions filled with the necessities of gracious living and the secretive parochial personas of all its children, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight. Berendt's magnificent insight into the imbeded historical southern culture makes his book a great venture through the minds and lives of a cast of people not found elsewhere in America. The story is so engrossing, I could not leave it to eat or sleep. Southeners may denigrate it publically, but quietly within themselves, they recognize and know the world of the garden of good and evil. It just is not acceptable in polite society to expose one's inner self to outsiders, they being beyond the fringe of the delicate balance that rules and perpetuates a sadly diminishing chapter in American history. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to find the unveiled truth beneath southern charm, become spell-bound by a great murder mystery, and ultimately have every sense tweaked by a master writer who came to cherish seemingly unloveable subjects. These are the intriguing players whose varied lives retain the beauty and ugliness of a storied society not found elsewhere in the New World. They have enriched our best literature. Their demise would diminish future generations of fascinating material for great stories like this one. The South does not need to rise again; it is alive and well in Savannah

Rating:
Summary: Compelling travel guide, disappointing book.
Review: The book does an excellent job of stirring an interest in visiting Savannah, and little else. The story itself is a contrivance, a vehicle for tying together characters in what would otherwise be an issue of People magazine. This book should be in the Savannah Chamber of Commerce, not the NY Times best seller list

Rating:
Summary: And the point was...?
Review: I looked forward to reading this book and was thrilled when my book club chose it as a selection. For the life of me, I have no idea what we will say. I feel like I just finished a Dominick Dunne book after the plot had been extracted. I forced myself to finish this book, and I like to limit forcing myself to doing the truly necessary unpleasantries in life, like paying taxes.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant,fast read but oddly disturbing.
Review: While the characters are interesting and the author has a keen eye for detail,in the end I found the work somewhat disturbing.People interested in travelogues will find it very enjoyable but might be put off by the constant intrusion of a murder case and those that enjoy a good murder and trial story might find it annoying for the story line to keep being interrupted by irrelevant albeit colorful characters.

When I finished the book I could not help being somewhat confused with the trivialization of a gruesome death.A young man was killed and it has been used and read by the book buying public as just another amusing touch of Southern Gothic.The book and its success may say more about us than we may want to see.And it certainly would not make me proud to be from Savannah.

Rating:
Summary: When the truth is more engaging than fiction.
Review:

John Berendt takes his place in the Garden as a quiet and careful watcher. With a place in his heart for those he observes, he reports his findings with charm and humor. Not one to let an opportunity for adventure pass, he finds himself involved with the lives of those he watches. We come to find him at a drag show, in a cemetary at midnight with a voodoo priestess and on the sidelines of the juciest scandal to rock Savannah in quite some time. His ability to watch and be involved without passing judgment is a skill most of us would probably find hard surrounded by such encentric folks. A true tale spun with heart and wit, this is recommened reading for anyone that knows life should be looked with a sense of humor and an open mind. One may not find what they expect but they will enjoy a tale well told

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Summary: Clinched my decision to return to my hometown.
Review: Being a native of Savannah, I anxiously awaited the release of this book. Upon purchasing, I could not put it down until I had read it cover to cover. It is indeed a true story, if embellsihed in some points. I lived in Savannah at the time of the murder of young Mr. Danny Hanford. I knew he and Mr. Jim Williams and many others in the book. John Berendt exposed some of Savannah's dark deep secrets. Read this book, enjoy and yes, you can go home again

Rating:
Summary: Call My Travel Agent
Review: Let's catch the next plane to Savannah! Where do we go, first? The homes have character, or is it, 'the characters have homes?' It doesn't matter. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has that title any author would kill for. It opens the doors and the closets to a portion of the South with one too many stereotypes. A great read and a super travelog. When do we leave?

Rating:
Summary: Niceness doesn't make compelling reading
Review: As I read this book I was reminded of "Seinfeld" a show in which the characters are terribly engaging despite the fact that they're utterly unlikeable. Berendt has an eye for the weakness of the flesh, but he reports on it, not judgementally, but with good humor. The people who populate the book, from the murdered boy to the man who killed him, from the feckless party boy to the black drag queen, are all beautifully written. If they end up looking less than savory, it's their own doing - out of their own mouths they are condemned - Berendt just reports the facts as he saw or heard them. I don't think that this story is as much about Savannah, or even about the South as it is about how people in any fairly inbred socity can become odd or eccentric. This is the sort of story that could take place anywhere; the grace notes are typically Southern, but the passions involved are universal, and that's what makes this such a compelling book. I recommend it highly

Rating:
Summary: Interesting account of small town life in Savannah, GA
Review: From first glance I was taken by the depth and breadth of the "characters" I was introduced to in this lively non-fiction account of southern life. The characters jump off the page with an authenticity reminiscent of old family friends and neighbors. I felt like I was on summer vacation in grade school...my granny's friends gossiping about so and so, and the town's latest scandal. A thoroughly enjoyable read!

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