Rating: 
Summary: Simply Outstanding
Review: One of those rare instances where an author working in a two dimensional plane, the written page, adds the third dimension of depth thereby giving the characters life. True the characters are based on actual persons, but not many authors have the talent of bringing them to life as does Mr. Berendt. His accounts of Savannah and its citizens makes me want to make a return visit to that city, or perhaps even look around my own city of Charlotte to see what is lurking here just below the surface...
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, facinating read.
Review: I am not normally a non-fiction fan, but I loved this book. The characters are quirky and it reads as fast as any fiction. I can't wait to see Savannah for myself!
Rating: 
Summary: A good piece of commercial fiction
Review: Behrendt certainly knows how to write a good yarn. Like Capote's In Cold Blood, the principal characters are dead and cannot refute what he says about them. How do we know that this is true? We have only the author's word. This book is not a murder mystery, but a novel that happens to have a murder in it. Mostly, it is a gossipy look at Southern uppercrust society, with a good many "stretchers" as Mark Twain would say. The incident of the dead cat and the ladies' luncheon is pure urban folklore. We suspect that walking the dog is more of the same. As for style, the storytelling and dialogue are fine, but it clunks a little in places. How can an outsider ingratiate himself so thoroughly with the natives and not be sullied by the sleaze that seems to infect them? Good thing for him that he went back to New York.
Rating:
Summary: Very thorough book
Review: Having just visited Savanah, Ga this summer I enjoyed the details of the people,houses, streets and churches, but then to know that this mystery is a true story, makes it all the more fasinating. I for one enjoyed it thoroughly.
Rating:
Summary: Uncovering the other Savannah
Review: My mother grew up in Savannah and I have a number of relatives who still live there. I visit several times a year. However, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," was a surprise. As sensational as the case was, neither my family nor friends mentioned it or the book. It was by accident that I saw the author on a PBS talk show and was intrigued. The characters are so colorful, one would think it was a novel. These people just can't be real, is your first thought. The book or "The Book," as it is called in Savannah is funny and well-written. I would NOT recommend the abridged audiotape of the book. Many of the best scenes of the book have been left out. It is a shell of the author's gift. I can't wait for the movie Clint Eastwood is producing.
Rating:
Summary: HISTORY not Story
Review: I am amazed as I read some reviews of this book at the number of times the reviewers called it a story. That means that Mr. Berendt must be an excellent writer considering that this is non-fiction. I am wondering if Mr. Berendt would consider making a career change. I'm thinking he should be writing our history books for schools. Why? I fell asleep reading my history books in school. They were dry. Let's face it they were boring. But this account of the events occurring in Savannah in the 1980's is no substitute for a sleeping pill! Althrough I enjoy history now. I have to wonder if John Berendt's style wouldn't perk up the interests of younger readers. Loved this book. Think I'll read it again.
Rating:
Summary: A delicious slice of life at once regional and universal.
Review: John Berendt is a master. *Midnight* is atmospheric, fascinating and suspensful-- and while it's a portrait of Savannah, GA, the characters' weaknesses, foibles and strengths can be found everywhere (if you're willing to look). It's a cliche, but sometimes an 'outsider' really can paint the perfect portrait of a place and culture. While it dishes up 'Southern sleaze' in generous helpings, most of the 'sleazy' characters are likeable and understandable-- and familiar to us all. Don't believe me? Think of your town drunk, of the arrogant rich guy, of the loveable con man no one can quite manage to catch...they're everywhere. But *these* 'sleazy' types belong to Savannah. Equally impressive is Berendt's gift with dialogue and skill at ordering events. Did everything happen *exactly* as he said it? Probably not. But for the duration of the novel, you're willing to believe it-- and the ending alone proves that truth is *always* stranger than fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Much ado about nothing
Review: Mr Berendt is a good writer. However, I found his book to be boring and I found it difficult to belive that so many people were recommending it. It would have been a good short story because of his character development, but that is about it. I was really dissapointment when I read the book. Great title and cover.
Rating:
Summary: Modern day Prejudice
Review: After visiting Savannah and hearing so much about this book, its cast of characters and seeing the actual locale, I just had to read it. John Berendt has a very humorous way of depicting what is really a very sad story about blue-blood snobbery and a tragic murder. You can't help but love Joe Odom & his freeloading lifestyle. I enjoyed this book & can easily recommend it to any broadminded person
Rating:
Summary: Two very good books, one (almost) great book
Review: I loved Berendt's evocation of the ambience of Savannah and his cast of eccentric characters. I also loved the 'mystery' story. He has a gift for dialogue, place and character. It would have been better if he'd integrated the ambience theme more effectively with the mystery story so that the whole was greater than the parts. As it is when the two fall together it seems contrived rather than inevitable or natural. Still, it is a wonderful book and definitely rates as one of my top reads so far this year (a bit behind Wild Swans, Primary Colors and Snow Falling on Cedars)
|
