Reviews with content warning for Death - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

This books weaves a very wide lens view of Savannah, GA and a specific community of people living there and involved directly with, or at least on the periphery of, a real-life murder that took place in the 80s. The bulk of the book introduces the reader to the history and personality of Savannah, as well as a variety of eccentric characters who play a role in the story. Details of the events leading up to and following the murder serve as bookends to the author’s description of his time researching the story in Savannah and interviewing its residents to obtain their impressions of what happened.

John Berendt does an excellent job creating an interesting atmosphere of the particular historical city of Savannah, and is respectful in relaying his impressions of the uniquely entertaining personalities he encountered. More than anything, the neighborhoods and communities included in the book ooze with old-fashioned southern charm and gentility.

I listened to the audiobook and feel the narrator, Jeff Woodman, delivered a superb characterization of every individual in the story with lovely diction and subtle accents. His performance thoroughly enhanced my enjoyment of this book.

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emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

4.0

I was 43% of the way into the book before the murder promised to be the central focus of the book took place. After readings the author's note and understanding his desire to introduce all the players bed the murder, I understood the point of it. It also somew at mimicked the slower pace of life in Savannah, as opposed to a place like New York, where the author hails from. There's some exploration of bigotry and biases in tradition and among the players in the book that lack self awareness and the murder isn't really the most important part of the story being told. It's what times the players together, at a lot of points, but it seems to be one wild and weird Savannah thing in a sea of wild and weird Savannah things. Chablis is referred to with the correct pronouns for the entirety of her time on the page and after reading this, I want to know more about the planning for Savannah's squares. So many crimes were committed by the people in this book.

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