John Berendt: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil

[tundra]

Justin..I noticed you are reading this book. What do you think so far? I read this book a couple years ago, and have never discussed it with anyone.

 

[Ronny]

I'm curious too, I read it right after the movie came out. I also read Hiding My Candy, the biography of the Lady Chablis (sp?). I lived in Savannah while they were filming the movie and it was all very exciting

 

[tundra]

I haven't seen the movie. Is it very good?

 

[Ronny]

I liked it but as I said as was very partial due to the excitement of it being filmed locally. A lot of what I liked is so tied in with loving the town that I am biased. It was a beautiful place with wonderful people and I think the book and film captured that

 

[mehastings]

I read the book years ago and then bought the movie when it came out on DVD. We both enjoyed the movie enough that I got "he who rarely reads" (that's right I'm copying Geenh, so deal) to listen to the audio book on our drive to Savannah last year. When we got there we spent a day walking around town looking for all the different places we had seen in the movie. We did not, however, tour Mercer House or see the Bird Girl statue, two things I've gotten a lot of flack for.

Never having lived in Savannah I can't say much about the accuracy of the book, but I can say that I found it to be a truly enjoyable read. I thought that the best aspect of the book was the character development. Berendt really did a wonderful job of painting all the wacky people he met while writing about Williams' Christmas Party and then subsequently investigating the murder central to the book. In fact, the fact that they just couldn't fit all of the characters in, and

Spoiler

the shortening of the trials into one trial

were the two aspects of the film that I really didn't care for.

I'm looking forward to reading The City of Falling Angels to see if it is as good. I was waiting for it to come out in paperback, but now that I'm using the library again I think I will just order it.

 

[tundra]

Never having lived in Savannah I can't say much about the accuracy of the book, but I can say that I found it to be a truly enjoyable read. I thought that the best aspect of the book was the character development. Berendt really did a wonderful job of painting all the wacky people he met while writing about Williams' Christmas Party and then subsequently investigating the murder central to the book.

I enjoyed the character development too. I initially thought the book was very dull since there wasn't much of a story, but it wasn't meant to be a murder thriller, and once I got over my initial expectation I enjoyed it much more. I've never been to Savannah. I can see why someone who had lived there would like this book even more, since the city itself is such a large part of it.

 

[Justin91]

I have read the book twice now and I really enjoyed it. I had no clue the book existed until my wife and I visited Savannah Last year. We were supposed to go to New Orleans last Labor day, but a hurricane hit, so we made travel arrangements for Savannah instead. We stayed three days at the Desoto Hotel and really had a chance to see the character of the historic district. If I had independent wealth, I would like to live on one of the old squares. My wife checked out real estate in the historic district and it was expensive.

From what I understand, some of the prominent locals of Savannah were upset that so much of the cities dirty laundry was put out for all to see when the book was released, so to them at least, this book was controversial. To me the book was an enjoyable story, but the characters were the amazing part of the story. The movie was really good, I thought it should have been more like the book.

 

[Tamsine]

The book is one of my favourites.

I have totally drawn into that somewhat out of time southern atmosphere. The movie didn't quite succeed in capturing it entirely, although I enjoyed it as well and always like to watch it again.