Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

    • 4.3 • 1.1K Ratings
    • $14.99

Publisher Description

THE LANDMARK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR MUSICAL COMING SOON TO BROADWAY • An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: “Elegant and wicked.... [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime." —The New York Times Book Review 30th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author.

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 true-crime book has become a modern classic.

GENRE
Nonfiction
RELEASED
1999
June 28
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
400
Pages
PUBLISHER
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
10.1
MB

Customer Reviews

Mauri in Paradise Valley ,

Second time through...

I loved this book the first time I read it, and have loved it the second time! The way the story has been told keeps you reading through the night! Highly recommend!

Mzhenya ,

Much more than the movie

Even if you saw the movie, which was very nice, you won't be disappointed to read this book. It has a ton of wonderful information on Savvanah and the Savvanahians, so much history and background included. I enjoyed every page of it.

EmilyGilmour ,

Maybe I just don't get it...

This is a nice enough, tongue in cheek account of savannah and her special weird characters that is somewhat entertaining.

But I really fail to see the great literary acclaim this book earned - it is in the end a disjointed, jumbled up book consisting of separate stories thrown together and held loosely together by the murder trial.

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