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A review by ellenhawkins
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
3.0
I was sucked in immediately by the unique characters, the detailed descriptions and the mood that was being built. Once I got halfway through the book though I realized that the murder had not even taken place yet. In effect nothing had happened yet except the introduction of a large cast of local characters.
Once the trial(s) started I kept waiting for a twist or a clencher, something to make the ending worthwhile. But you just see a murderer go through the appeals process four times in a row before the final verdict which ended up being anti-climactic for me. There's nothing lurking beneath the surface here, just the facts of a trial and some colorful characters surrounding it.
The form of this book reminds me a lot of The Great Gatsby, where the POV is from a benign bystander who is separated from the world he is writing about. The major difference is that by the end of The Great Gatsby, the events that Nick Carroway experiences end up having a profound effect on him where he finds it impossible to remain in the same world as Daisy and Tom. Our man in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has no such reaction, no final judgement to offer at all on the story he tells. This is where it falls flat for me.
Once the trial(s) started I kept waiting for a twist or a clencher, something to make the ending worthwhile. But you just see a murderer go through the appeals process four times in a row before the final verdict which ended up being anti-climactic for me. There's nothing lurking beneath the surface here, just the facts of a trial and some colorful characters surrounding it.
The form of this book reminds me a lot of The Great Gatsby, where the POV is from a benign bystander who is separated from the world he is writing about. The major difference is that by the end of The Great Gatsby, the events that Nick Carroway experiences end up having a profound effect on him where he finds it impossible to remain in the same world as Daisy and Tom. Our man in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has no such reaction, no final judgement to offer at all on the story he tells. This is where it falls flat for me.