Analysis Of John Berendt's Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is known simply as “The Book” to Savannahians. John Berendt’s mostly nonfiction novel provides an in-depth look at a southern city and its inhabitants, loosely centered around a murder and subsequent trials which occurred in Savannah during the 1980’s. The New York Times Book Review declared “Mr. Berendt's writing is elegant and wickedly funny, and his eye for telling details is superb.... [this] might be the first true crime book that makes the reader want to call a travel agent and book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.” Tourism in the city grew after publication, and the narrative has revived interest in Savannah-born songwriter Johnny Mercer. Probably the most prevailing point of the book was Southern culture, specifically Savannahian culture. The book is an in-depth look at an isolated city during the 1980’s. Local Mary Harty notes, “We’re a little enclave on the coast—off by ourselves, surrounded by nothing but marshes and piney woods. We’re not easy to get to at all, as you may have noticed. If you fly here, you usually have to change planes at least once. And trains are not much better.” With such isolation comes a unique culture. For example,many houses in “America’s Most Haunted City” are painted “haint blue,” a color believed to protect the inhabitants from evil spirits. Because Savannahians refused to allow outside influences and
John Berendt’s narrative provides a personal and one-of-a-kind look at this historic Southern city and one of the murder trials that shocked the town. The Savannah Morning News reviewed the book positively, although they did call the characters “Overwhelming and overindulgent” and were disappointed in the absence of a “strong plot” concerning the murder