My friend loaned me her copy, just in time for me to move to Savannah myself.
I had been told many, many times that the first part of the book is incredibly dry and just sets the stage for the montage of people John Berendt meets his first year in Savannah. But my friend described it differently.... she said "It's kind of like the 'Southern Hello' where you can only say 'Hey, how's it going!' so many times before you're like 'oh my god why am I still greeting people.'"
Anyway, I made it about halfway through the book before I started asking myself when the true crime aspect of the book was going to start. Now, there are a few petty crimes mentioned beforehand. For instance, Joe Odom is a squatter and literally jumps from house to house giving tours, raking in money, and never paying a cent to live there. Oh, and he consistently writes bad checks and leaves parking tickets unpaid. But the best part of Joe's story? He's a lawyer.
But the main focus of the story was Jim Williams and Danny Hansford.
There's no question about it, Jim shot Danny. The question then becomes, was it self defense or premeditated? Was it a fight between friends or a lovers quarrel? There are so many questions that I don't believe we'll have answers to. Yet, after four trials, Jim Williams was finally found not guilty.
Honestly, the true crime aspect of the book was not near as entertaining as the rest of the book. John Berendt created a masterpiece based strictly on the types of people he met while living in Savannah for eight years. It was amazing seeing all of the different ways of life in such a small city. But what was even more amazing is that John somehow inserted himself into all of their lives. He was getting literally every side of the story and crafting this memoir turned true crime.
I'll definitely be getting myself a copy for my personal library!
Looking for other books featuring John Berendt?
No comments:
Post a Comment