Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

1994 • 388 pages

Ratings114

Average rating3.8

15

My impulse is to say that Berendt got lucky in meeting such a cast of characters, but really I guess that's part of the art of narrative nonfiction–letting yourself be open to all the weirdos. This is a perfectly-observed page turner. Even the first third or so–before the “crime drama” sets in–is totally compelling scene setting.

PS: the movie is so bad. Stacey warned
me that it was terrible but I had to check it out anyway. I was so curious about how they were going to put such a complex story into a 2-hour movie and the answer, of course, is very badly. I advise just watching clips of the Lady Chablis on YouTube.

October 1, 2012