Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by: John Berendt

Challenges: What's in a Name?

Published: 1994

# of pages: 400



This is a fascinating and engrossing book that I was amazed to discover is non-fiction! Berendt describes Savannah, Georgia as it was in the 1980s, including a large variety of eccentric characters. Jim Williams is the man who ties the book together. He keeps cropping up in the first part, at the end of which he is accused of murder, and the second part concentrates on his murder trial.

I remained interested throughout the entire book. The first part doesn't have a steady storyline, it jumps around and doesn't have a concrete theme. However, I still remained interested. I enjoyed hearing about the many people Berendt came into contact with while living in Savannah. The second part has a different atmosphere. I was eager to see what the outcome of Williams' trial would be and was also interested in the legal procedures that are described.

There was one chapter that concentrated on a woman named Chablis that I did not like. It was very crude. Her language and choice of topics didn't appeal to me whatsoever. Other than that chapter, I highly recommend this book to all adults, but especially those interested in Southern literature.



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