Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Easily read page turner

Customer Rating:

I will admit, my reason for reading this book was based solely on the fact that I will be visiting Savannah in 2009 and judging by what I read online and was told by friends it seemed like a good idea if I had read the book before I went. The book is well written and very easy to read, although with the numerous characters you do find yourself flicking back to remind yourself who is who. You do get drawn very easily into the stories that unfold, and it's difficult to put the book down. I had many late nights reading this book! John Beredent has done a wonderful job of capturing the story, the characters and their personalities. Definitely a great read!

Read it & visit Savannah

Customer Rating:

I visited Savannah this summer & then read the book. I had seen the movie when it first came out & remembered that is was a good one, but I forgot so much of it. After touring the Mercer House & confusing several timelines, I borrowed my sister's book & could hardly put it down, and I am a seldom reader. I only read Non-fiction, but this book seems so full of interesting subjects, that it is more like reading fiction. If you like southern history or if you like The southern style that has all but disappeared, then this is a must read, especially if you were not very familiar with Savannah as I was.

Great	Customer Rating:
This is a great book. It's a truly engaging story. For all those who enjoyed it, I just read another book that is similar in certain ways and also very evocative and compelling - Saving Savannah. What I found particularly interesting was reading both and then thinking about some of the parallels and divergances that emerge. Savannah during the Civil War never ceases to be a fascinating topic...!

Disappointed

Customer Rating:

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with this book. I was really looking forward to reading it because of all the positive reviews I had read. The only reason I gave it two stars is for the authors descriptions of Savannah and its residents. The book was very slow moving and there were characters introduced that were extensively discussed in the beginning but never reappeared in the book near the end. I also purchased the City of Falling Angels for my husband and he said the same thing about it. Nice description of the city but definitely not worth recommending to someone.

Fine read, but what the fuss about?

Customer Rating:

I enjoyed "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," John Berendt's 1999 blockbuster about the underside of Savannah's genteel lifestyle. But though I enjoyed the story and the characters, I'm not entirely sure why it took off as it did to top the NYT Bestseller list for 200 weeks. The story is lots of fun and kept me engaged till the end. The story is narrated by a New York journalist hoping to write a story about Savannah. In the first third of the book, he manages to stumble across just about every Southern type, from dueling renovators of old buildings to drag queens, to good ol' boys, to voodoo priestesses and everyone else in between. The collection of roustabouts and ragamuffins is endearing and mostly harmless. They inhabit a dreamy world of quaint customs, elaborate parties, petty rivalries and jealousies, and grand old Southern houses. Then suddenly, a character is found dead in the elegant study of another. The rest of the book traces the intricacies of the trials related to the death. I was less impressed than some by Berendt's handling of the trials. He breezed through these, leaving out details in one in order to use them for shock value in another. His use of Chablis, the memorable drag queen, seemed added more as comic effect than anything else. Take her out of the book and the plot would not have suffered an iota -- I am *serious*, child!. One wonders whether the fascination for readers is the novelty that the book purportedly features real Savannah houses and landmarks. "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is a fun read that probably won't hold up as a classic. Enjoy it anyway.