Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

出版者:Vintage

作者:John Berendt

页数:400

出版时间:1999-6

价格:USD 14.95

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780679751526

具体描述

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981.Was it murder or self-defense?For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares.John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction.Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.

It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight.These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city has become a modern classic.

读后感

小说由于它的的虚构性，其中每一个出场人物必须被人为安排一个准确而合适的支点。每一个人物，无论大小主次，一定与作品中的整个大环境有某种内在逻辑关系。要说得通，否则不予存在。要紧凑，消除节外生枝的可能。 而伯兰特的人物不需要这些理由，他们存在因为确实存在。...  

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“南国有佳人，绝世而独立。”——在美国文学史册上，“南方文学”宛若南国佳人，总有一番别样的风姿。艾伦•泰特在《南方的文学职业》一文中曾提到美国南方小说家具有一种“特殊的历史感”，由于这种“历史感”，才造成了“我们处在历史十字路口时所出现的奇异的文化爆发”...  

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一个浓雾笼罩的凌晨，枪声回荡在美国南方古城萨凡纳一座豪华的大庄园内，是谋杀还是自卫？在之后将近十年的肘间，枪击事件引起的轩然大波一直萦绕在这座绿树环绕，广场密布的古城居民的心里。约翰・贝伦特以其犀利笔触以记述萨见纳枪击事件为主线，将自己在这座与世隔离...  

用户评价

逼格极高的pure gossip。有人可能认为这本书的成功源于Savannah这地方太特殊，又碰巧遇到一班超有料的cast，谋杀案就更是锦上添花。我倒觉得不管在哪个城市哪个小镇，只要挖的够深，都能掘出个jim williams、danny hansford、chablis。

Witty and wicked, elegant and enchanting. John Berendt's words have such a magic that makes you want to visit this wild, beautiful, dangerous, and parochial city.

Who is the protagonist? -Savannah, the whole town, which stays detached like always

02/28/2017 P 倒不能说多有意思，可是对于萨凡纳小城的描写确实对旅行大有裨益。

The ordinary became extraordinary. Eccentrics thrived. Every nuance and quirk of personality achieved greater brilliance in that lush enclosure than would have been possible anywhere else in the world.