Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

21 reviews

trashbinfluencer's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

mal_reads_books's review against another edition

2.75

challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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It took a while for me to warm up to this book. The first half was slow and felt like reading a slice-of-life fiction, which is not my cup of tea. Even though it had some interesting, eccentric people, I found myself bored and wanting to quit at times. I was expecting the book to focus more on the murder case, but it’s not even mentioned until close to the halfway mark.

Nevertheless, I’m glad I made it to the end because I gained a more comprehensive understanding of the city. I liked reading about Savannah’s history and how society there functioned. It featured people from all walks of life, many who I didn’t find likable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Transphobia

Minor: Antisemitism, Abortion

Nazi and Confederate references, along with the n-word, are mentioned at least a handful of times.

paronomaniac's review

3.0

funny informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia

Minor: Sexual content

emmonsannae's review

4.25

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder

sjduncan's review

3.75

dark mysterious medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Murder, Outing, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism

thomas_the_capricorn's review

4.0

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol

thecozyrogue's review

4.0

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Classism

corriejn's review against another edition

4.25

informative mysterious medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Murder, Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexism, Alcohol

laurenleigh's review

3.5

adventurous relaxing slow-paced

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil certainly gets points for one of the coolest titles. I almost can’t believe this book is non-fiction. These characters are larger than life. They almost cross the line into caricature at times. It makes me wonder if any truths were exaggerated or embellished for dramatic effect. This brings into question how much trust we place in an author, especially a non-fiction author. Did Berendt’s outsider status help him see Savannah, GA and its inhabitants more clearly? Though I enjoyed this overall, I’m annoyed at the elements of racism, classism, and transphobia. Some of it is just language that’s aged out (it feels dehumanizing to constantly call the Black community just “Blacks”), but other points are just Berendt being a privileged white dude uncomfortable imagining life outside the status quo. When someone explains those runners are an interracial couple that pretends not to know each other, he blindly accepts this. No questions at all. When a report comes out about Savannah’s high murder rate, he quickly blames it on the Black population with little discussion of how economic and social disadvantages are at play. The most cringeworthy parts were his treatment of Lady Chablis, especially at the end during the cotillion. I’m glad that this book helped Lady Chablis gain attention, because she sounds absolutely incredible, but ugh the transphobic language was tough to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Transphobia, Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Alcohol

Minor: Slavery

zorak1996's review

4.5

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Murder, Alcohol

Moderate: Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Car accident, Suicide attempt

Minor: Gun violence