Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners
Following the extremely popularCharleston Style, Susan Sully has brought us another book about a southern city,Savannah Style. In this collection of photographs and stories of 20 houses, inspired byMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evilby John Berendt (who gives a charming introduction), she builds a dark atmosphere in words. Her writing is intelligent and lyrical, and brings to the mind images that, unfortunately, the photographs cannot compete with--oddly disconnected, they seem to be the result of a botched mandate to capture the rich shadiness of her writing. Most of the exteriors are too much in shadow to see details, and a suspicious yellow-orange cast looms over many of the interiors. Weighed down by its predecessor, Berendt's novel, and its gloomy photographs,Savannah Styleseems to have too much weight to bear for one book. Still, the imagery of Sully's writing make this coffee-table book a surprisingly good read.--Juliette Cezzar