Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt
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Book Summary Information
Author: John BerendtEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999-06-28
ISBN: 0679751521
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Book Review: Truth is stranger than fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
Author of Afinidad: A novel of a serial killer
One of the many eccentric characters that populate John Berendt's novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, has the regulars at the restaurant where he goes every day wondering whether he is ever going to put poison in the town water supply. Well, I think he must have put something else in, namely, a narcotic of some sort, because it would be hard to find anywhere that has as many oddballs as Savannah, Georgia, when John lived there in the early 1980s. From the black drag queen who loves to shock; the above mentioned possible poisoner who also carried flies around on pieces of string; the retired butler who took a `dead dog walking' (excuse the play on words there) so that he could still collect a fee for walking his master's pet; the old voodoo witch weaving spells in graveyards at the dead of night - the list is endless. But the book is more than a description of them, far more. Primarily a murder mystery, it also gives a very good account of the social strata of the town (no one who is any one goes south of Gaston St). Through the voice of Chablis, the drag queen, the reader also learns what black people think of their own society - "The whiter you are, the higher you get to rise in it," and "Black may be beautiful, honey, but white is still right when it comes to gettin' ahead. . ." In fact, one of the reasons the murder accused, Jim Williams, was charged with that crime is probably because he was not a native Savannahian and he was not born rich. Berendt cites several examples of high society members who committed similar crimes of passion and had the whole matter hushed up. There is pathos in the way Williams realized that he would never be accepted by the strata of society that his own tastes and hard earned wealth inclined him towards. However, there was obviously a very dark side to him as well. The man he was accused of murdering was a psychopathic street hustler whom he was having a sexual relationship with, proving yet again that no matter how refined a person is, they still fall prey to their most basic instincts.
The backdrop to all this drama and eccentricity is the beautiful old city of Savannah itself. We learn a great deal about its history and its beautiful buildings. The author clearly loves the place. His descriptions makes one want to catch the next plane there and see it for oneself.
The only disappointment in the book, for me, was the detachment with which Berendt writes. We feel we know many of his characters very well by story's end, but we never learn more than quite superficial things about him. Perhaps that is his journalistic training coming through.
One final word for those who have not yet had the pleasure of reading this book - watch out for those characters who get only a very brief mention, such as the salesman who loves to wear heavy eye makeup to work but then, in order to avoid censure by his employer, only makes up one eye and spends all day keeping that side of his face averted. Or the would be poisoner's attempts to make fish fluorescent so that they glow prettily in the dark for the benefit of bar patrons but succeeds only in highlighting their intestines, a spectacle that revolts everyone. Fascinating stuff. This is a book you'll never forget reading.
Summary of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city has become a modern classic.
John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has been heralded as a "lyrical work of nonfiction," and the book's extremely graceful prose depictions of some of Savannah, Georgia's most colorful eccentrics--remarkable characters who could have once prospered in a William Faulkner novel or Eudora Welty short story--were certainly a critical factor in its tremendous success. (One resident into whose orbit Berendt fell, the Lady Chablis, went on to become a minor celebrity in her own right.) But equally important was Berendt's depiction of Savannah socialite Jim Williams as he stands trial for the murder of Danny Hansford, a moody, violence-prone hustler--and sometime companion to Williams--characterized by locals as a "walking streak of sex." So feel free to call it a "true crime classic" without a trace of shame.
Georgia Books
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