Rating: 
Summary: Either read the book or see the movie, but don't do both.
Review: Do not miss this one! It is absolutely fascinating. You must experience it! But there is little in the book that is not in the movie. Not worth going through twice.
Rating: 
Summary: Readable, but what's the fuss?
Review: Only a 3 because a book on the bestseller list for over three years had better be great, it wasn't. Every chapter develops a character with a murder "mystery" to keep a thread. Yawn. Do not compare to "In Cold Blood," Capote invented the fiction, non-fiction genre and is still the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad
Review: If you don't know the background of the story, you may think that this is a work of fiction (for it reads like it), but it is not. After reading the book, I feel that I could find my way to a few spots in Savannah, and also know a few things that a tour guide would never tell!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read. Flowing and funny
Review: I really enjoyed reading about the various people Mr. Berendt encountered in Savannah. There were many places througout the book when I just broke out laughing. It is enticing, and thus quick to read.
Rating:
Summary: I know these people...and I'm from Texas!
Review: I read "Midnight" when it first came out. I am happy for the author's success, but I can tell you that anyone from a small town in the South could write a story just like it. The South has long been famous for its eccentrics. I grew up in a small town goverend by much the same rules as the ones that rule Savannah's society. A lady NEVER wore velvet after Valentine's Day, nor did she dare wera white shoes after Labor Day. Card games were as important as anything that happened on Wall Street and one's ancestors were to be honored. Perhaps I wasn't taken to the cemetary with a picnic basket and a pitcher of martinis, but I know all these people...or characters just like them. They're Southerners and they're my friends. I have no intentions of seeing the movie. I understand Eastwood butchered the book's story...what a pity. Maybe that explains the movie's poor showing. No one who loved the book would want to see it mishandled like that!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping Non-fiction
Review: Though Brendt took a few liberties in writing the story, this was a turn paging account of real life occurances. If anything, this book had sparked my interest in savanaha, and all the real life wacky characters in the book. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes modern history.
Rating:
Summary: F. Scott Fitzgerald meets Pricilla Queen of the Desert...
Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was a delight to experience. In Berendt's Savannah I found a mix of Gatsby-ish characters (Joe Odom and Jim Williams), colorful dragqueens (look out Ru-Paul and Pricilla... Lady Chablis is here...yeasss) and don't forget the witch doctor, shaman, guru Minerva. This was a story of diverse people living in a ridged society and doing very well. It showed that society will adapt to all types of individuals and still have the audacity to be pretentious. It also shows that old money and new money do not truely mix and that the times of society being two-faced is not an extinct phenomena. Do yourself a favor and step into Savannah as Berendt sees it. Don't act like an uptight northerner or an uppity visitor but ease into the town and look around and most of all enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Very Captivating
Review: I read this book when it first came out and I found it very fascinating. The characters where typical of small town USA, and that usually makes for the most interesting reading. I enjoyed Lady Chabilis's character her/his brashness. I would definitely recommend it. I haven't watched the movie yet.
Rating:
Summary: Now I know why this has been a bestseller for so long!
Review: I debated about reading this book for a long time. I usually don't read non-fiction, but since my preference is for murder mysteries, what better non-fiction book to read than a true crime story. Boy, am I glad I did. This book was so close to fiction that I had to remind myself frequently that is was a true story. I hope before I die that I'm able to go to Savannah and experience first hand the beauty that John Berendt wrote about so eloquently. I've always prided myself on my active imagination while I'm reading, imagining this person or that (actors, mostly)as certain characters. With this book, I could easily visualize Savannah and it's people. Before I read this book, I watched the special "Midnight in Savannah" on A&E and was "taken in " by this city. The characters are one of a kind-only Lady Chablis could have portrayed herself(?)in the movie. No other could immitate him/her!! And the voodoo woman, the woman of 6,000 songs, the Married Woman's Card Club-who could make this stuff up?!? I laughed alot and shook my head in disbelief at other times. But, when all was said and done, maybe Jim did finally pay the price for murder. After four trials, he was acquitted and dropped dead less than a year later. Go figure!!
Rating:
Summary: Witty with a murderous edge to it.Relates well to the south.
Review: This book is truely hilarious! It has an edge with the murder so that the reader is asking themself, "what happens next? Who did what to whom, truthfully?" I enjoyed the way Berendt portrayed the south, it spoke with a realistic tone (i.e. the voodoo, and the grand southern hospitality). The Lady Chablis, I have to say, was incredibly funny. Even in the movie, she was worth the ticket!!! I stongly suggest reading the book, as well as seeing the movie.
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