Rating: 
Summary: Spanish Moss & Outrageous Southern Charm
Review: This novel manages--all at the same time--to be both satirical, campy, and melancholy, with psychologically accurate portrayals of eccentrics living in The South's most decadent city. It's a tour de force by Darwin Porter, one of the most entertaining writers in America today. It's sometimes interpreted as a spoof on the bestselling "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" that put Savannah on the tourist charts of the world. But believe me, it goes way, way beyond anything ever conceived by John Berendt.In Porter's book, you'll find all the elements of big BIG drama: Greed, corruption, sexual tension (The South and Porter's books always have plenty of that), BETRAYAL, and murder, all of it set against a backdrop of Spanish moss, Southern decadence, and barely suppressed psychoses. Sometimes, it's devastating, to the point where it seems to blister the paint off the walls--but as Carson McCullers once said, "I always return to The South to renew my sense of horror." Overall, it has provided me with three or four nights of highly pleasurable entertainment, and I am grateful to the author who created it. It's a fabulous read.
Rating:
Summary: Gimme more, Gimme more.
Review: When I visited Savannah, I found it hypocritical, gossippy, deceitful, complacent, and smug. I also found it beautiful, historic, and compelling. Porter's book, which I read after my return, was adept, accurate, and witty. "BRAVO, I say, to the Georgia Literary Assn for portraying one of that state's key cities in such a satirical light. Tourism there will only increase, thanks to this IMPROVEMENT upon the rather dull and disorganized fare originally dished up by John Berendt. Only Darwin Porter had the feistiness to laugh out loud (in print) at the foibles of Savannah and its spectacularly crazed eccentrics, both gay and straight. At least one thing is perfectly clear: If Porter had ever satirized Kabul or Jalalabad with the accuracy he did Savannah, those cities would have fallen even faster than they did under the U.S. Marines!
Rating:
Summary: Gimme more, Gimme more.
Review: When I visited Savannah, I found it hypocritical, gossippy, deceitful, complacent, and smug. I also found it beautiful, historic, and compelling. Porter's book, which I read after my return, was adept, accurate, and witty. "BRAVO, I say, to the Georgia Literary Assn for portraying one of that state's key cities in such a satirical light. Tourism there will only increase, thanks to this IMPROVEMENT upon the rather dull and disorganized fare originally dished up by John Berendt. Only Darwin Porter had the feistiness to laugh out loud (in print) at the foibles of Savannah and its spectacularly crazed eccentrics, both gay and straight. At least one thing is perfectly clear: If Porter had ever satirized Kabul or Jalalabad with the accuracy he did Savannah, those cities would have fallen even faster than they did under the U.S. Marines!
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