Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

11 reviews

trashbinfluencer's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Misogyny, Outing, Abortion, Addiction, Classism, Death, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Dysphoria, Murder, Sexism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mal_reads_books's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

2.75

It took a while for me to warm up to this book. The first half was slow and felt like reading a slice-of-life fiction, which is not my cup of tea. Even though it had some interesting, eccentric people, I found myself bored and wanting to quit at times. I was expecting the book to focus more on the murder case, but it’s not even mentioned until close to the halfway mark.

Nevertheless, I’m glad I made it to the end because I gained a more comprehensive understanding of the city. I liked reading about Savannah’s history and how society there functioned. It featured people from all walks of life, many who I didn’t find likable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Abortion and Antisemitism

Nazi and Confederate references, along with the n-word, are mentioned at least a handful of times.

paronomaniac's review against another edition

funny informative mysterious sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual content

emmonsannae's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Homophobia

sjduncan's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Sexism, Classism, Death, Transphobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Racism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Homophobia

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Sexual content, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, and Outing

thomas_the_capricorn's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual content

thecozyrogue's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Classism and Sexual content

corriejn's review

informative mysterious medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Homophobia, Murder, Gun violence, Classism, Antisemitism, Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexism

laurenleigh's review against another edition

adventurous relaxing slow-paced

3.5

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil certainly gets points for one of the coolest titles. I almost can’t believe this book is non-fiction. These characters are larger than life. They almost cross the line into caricature at times. It makes me wonder if any truths were exaggerated or embellished for dramatic effect. This brings into question how much trust we place in an author, especially a non-fiction author. Did Berendt’s outsider status help him see Savannah, GA and its inhabitants more clearly? Though I enjoyed this overall, I’m annoyed at the elements of racism, classism, and transphobia. Some of it is just language that’s aged out (it feels dehumanizing to constantly call the Black community just “Blacks”), but other points are just Berendt being a privileged white dude uncomfortable imagining life outside the status quo. When someone explains those runners are an interracial couple that pretends not to know each other, he blindly accepts this. No questions at all. When a report comes out about Savannah’s high murder rate, he quickly blames it on the Black population with little discussion of how economic and social disadvantages are at play. The most cringeworthy parts were his treatment of Lady Chablis, especially at the end during the cotillion. I’m glad that this book helped Lady Chablis gain attention, because she sounds absolutely incredible, but ugh the transphobic language was tough to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery

zorak1996's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Racism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Homophobia, Gun violence, Drug use, Death, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, and Sexism

Minor: Gun violence