Midnight in the garden of Good and evil
The book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was written by John Berendt and was
388 pages long. This was a non-fiction story of the beautiful town of Savannah, Georgia. John
Berendt was a reporter who lived in New York and one night while dinning out he realized that
one plate of food cost him the same amount of money that it would to fly to Savannah. So he did
and he found himself in love with the city and stayed.
It is a spellbinding story peopled by a
gallery of remarkable characters: a fading belle who packs a pistol in her decolletage; a
charming, piano-playing con man who moves like a hermit crab from one empty showplace
house to the next, accompanied by his high-living entourage and pursued closely by his
creditors; a moneyed dowager who conducts business from a cruising Mercedes limousine; a
sour alcoholic inventor who claims to own a vial of poison so powerful that it could kill off the
entire city; a voodoo priestess in purple shades; and a foul-mouthed black drag queen who
passes so convincingly for a woman that she is able to extort abortion money from the parents of
her white boyfriend. With these and other people from savannah, Berendt reviles his alliances
and enemies in the town where everybody knows everybody else.
The exciting colorful town of Savannah is said to be the main character in this Novel, but
the main character was actually John Berendt, he was the narrator and main character . He was a
reporter from New York who made savannah and the people in Savannah his interest, his home,
and his life. He learned all about this secluded city through observation, meetings, and gossip.
He was an intelligent man who always knew where to be at the right time. There was this one
scene in the book where he was having an interview with Jim Williams when Danny Hansford
walked in, in a tirade, with a shirt on that said F-U on it. Well earlier that day his other friend
Joe Oldem had been talking about this strange man who woke up in his bed with that same thing
printed on his shirt. John was in the right place at the right time to put two and two together. Jim
Williams was the other major character in this book, he was an antique dealer who owned one of
the nicest homes in Savannah. He was a major player in the restoring of the city.
He would buy
the homes, restore them, then sell them. He didn't get much credit for his work but it didn't let it
bother him. He was very rich and let everyone know it by living like it. He hosted the grande
party of the year. It was the social event that everyone prayed to get invited to.
Jim was a smart
man who didn't care what people thought of him and spoke his mind through his actions. There
was a scene where he was telling about a time that a movie was being shot right in front of his
home and the camera crew were being very rude. so he asked them to leave and when them
didn't he took a Nazi flag out side and hung it over the side of his house to ruin their shot, it was
a part in the book I found extremely funny.
Another character in this novel was Joe Oldem, he was a piano playing con-artist who
moved in and out of vacant homes that were for sale.
He had a charm about him that always had
people trusting him. He was broke but didn't let anyone know it by all of the checks he wrote.
The checks of course always bounced and he would have to appear in court to keep from
going to jail, his charm of course always got him out of things. His girlfriend Mandy was also
another interesting character in this book, she was a strange but funny women who you couldn't
help but like.
She was the winner or the Big Beautiful Women of America Pageant and was
kinda crazy when it came to driving. She would do her makeup, hair, nails, and watch tv all
while she was driving. How did she do it, she drove with her knees, yes her knees. I liked
