Reviews

I don’t get the love for this book. Everyone is terrible and not even in a complex interesting way. The book meanders and has lost a central narrative more times than not. And perhaps most irredeemably, it is boring.

I come away from this book thinking it’s supposed to be a love letter or in depth view of Savannah life. I’ve never wanted to avoid a city as much as I do this one after its depiction in this book.

honnari_hannya's review against another edition

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4.0

Fun, fast-paced, and juicy. This reads more like a profile of a particularly scandalous town than a true crime narrative, but that was the joy in reading it. We really got to know the residents of Savannah really well through Berendt's perspective, and to understand the various ways in which the social climate really contributed to the media circus that were the 4 trials of Jim William for the shooting of Danny Hansford. Reads like a really polished tabloid rag, with all the embellishments that entails, and I do think Berendt was ultimately successful with the liberties he took in telling the story.

bridgeca2's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad medium-paced

3.75

How is this nonfiction?! The people of Savannah are truly unique and interesting. There were many times I wanted this book to be over and it felt like it dragged but I also was so intrigued that this was real life and kept going. I’d definitely recommend reading before/during a trip to Savannah, as reading about these houses after the fact is a little disappointing to not realize the local historical significance. The movie represents a portion of the book but misses and blends a few things.

dannycakez8808's review against another edition

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informative mysterious slow-paced

2.5

katehamm21's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.0

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