Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

It's not like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt wasn't on my radar for the past however many years. I've heard people talk about it in glowing terms. People have even gone as far as telling me that they were pretty sure this is a book I'd enjoy. But until Books & Beer selected it for our monthly read, I was never inclined to pick it up. Not even prior to my first trip to Savannah as an adult, 8 years ago.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a love story about Savannah. Yes, it's a true crime story. Yes, it's history. Yes, it's full of the quirky characters found in Savannah. But it's also a love story about the love that the people of Savannah have for their city. If only I could hop in the car and drive up to Savannah right now. That's how much I want to see this city I've just spent the last few days reading about.

John Berendt is a writer from New York who traveled to Savannah, fell in love, and spent a good part of the next 8 or 9 years there. He took some liberties with the story line and the timing, and I wonder how much liberty he took with the dialogues in the book. That's neither here nor there. This is non-fiction that reads like fiction. It's told in first person so it's Berendt's account. It flows well and the characters you meet along the way.

At the heart, this is a story about a murder and the subsequent murder trials. A murder is committed in one of the majestic mansions of historical Savannah. But the framing of the trials, getting the reader acquainted with the heart of Savannah, covers many more pages and it was that which I loved reading.

Okay... so when will it be safe to take a trip to Savannah? (Writing this in the midst of a global pandemic.) The book club felt that it would be great to take a trip to Savannah as a club to go on the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil walking tour. Oh, how I would love to do that! But I think many in the club will be prepared to do that long before I'm ready.

Even though I've read that the book is way better than the movie (no surprise there), I think I'm going to have to rent the movie one night this week.