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Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
3 reviews
megmoo's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Transphobia, Antisemitism, Classism, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
sjduncan's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Antisemitism, Sexism, Classism, Death, Transphobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Racism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Homophobia
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Sexual content, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, and Outing
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