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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil by John Berendt
14 reviews
brown_nat's review against another edition
3.25
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Addiction, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Drug use
themis_biblos's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, and Homophobia
Moderate: Classism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Antisemitism
ruthypoo2's review against another edition
3.75
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.
Moderate: Alcohol and Death
Minor: Physical abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Classism, Racism, and Sexual content
cooliuscaesar451's review against another edition
3.25
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Drug use, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Sexism, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Ableism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Sexual violence
librarymouse's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Alcohol, Classism, Abortion, Cursing, Racism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Outing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Antisemitism, Infidelity, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Incest
trashbinfluencer's review against another edition
3.25
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Misogyny, Outing, Abortion, Addiction, Classism, Death, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Dysphoria, Murder, Sexism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
cyberhavok's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Racism
emmonsannae's review against another edition
4.25
Moderate: Racism, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Homophobia
savvylit's review against another edition
1.5
First things first is the rampant homophobia and transphobia. Early on in the narrative, the author befriends Chablis, a trans woman, but is kind of afraid of her because he finds her attractive. He also never takes anything Chablis says or does seriously, seemingly maintaining friendship with her just to scandalize everyone he knows and have someone "unusual" to write about. As for the homophobia - it is continuous throughout the book, waxing and waning in its severity, with hate crimes being casually discussed and the f-slur being used repeatedly by the characters.
The second problem is the treatment of all Black people featured in this book. Berendt describes Black people that he meets as curiosities, taking a creepy anthropological approach. It's incredibly dehumanizing. Outside of Berendt himself, the people that he gets to know best over the course of his time in Savannah are very bigoted. For instance, the heavily-featured character Joe Odom loves to drop the n-word. Odom's racism is the most overt but there is quite a lot more covert racism throughout. Often, the high society of Savannah seems to be surprised that Black people who don't serve them even exist!
The third problem with this book is its entire elitist approach. Berendt is cashing in on people's very real lives in a way that ultimately paints him as above it all. Everyone is two-dimensional. Clearly, Berendt enjoys merely collecting folks in his life for their writability. As the story progresses, it begins to feel more and more like a mocking story told over drinks at a bougie New York party. (Berendt is from NY). I can see him saying "You wouldn't believe all these wealthy Southerners and their odd habits. Or the crazy gay people I met! Isn't the South so quirky and bizarre? Isn't bigoted behavior & conversation just so quirky and fun?"
Graphic: Classism, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Outing, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Hate crime
oh_w0rm's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent