Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 20 Aug 2008
A wonderful book about loneliness, love, friendship, misplaced devotion, and seeing in people what you need to see. Somehow sad and yet profoundly beautiful at the same time. A great book who's messages are softly hidden under a rich story, it was a lovely experience to read. I recommend it awfully highly.

A disappointing read, 18 Jul 2008
I read this book for a recent book group and although it made for an excellent discussion, three out of four of us did not enjoy it. We found it a struggle to get through and I, personally would not have finished it if I'd felt I had the choice.
The plot is slow, tediously so at times and I couldn't help but wonder what the point was to all these aimless people wandering in and out of Springer's room.

I do understand what the book is about and I'm very pleased that we were able to flush it out during subsequent discussion, that alone made the whole exercise worth while, but I require a higher level of reading pleasure during the process.

My apologies to those who thought the book was wonderful, I'll stick to my more modern literature :)

The desperate search for love and friendship; the need to reach out and touch, 07 Feb 2008
When John Singer loses his fellow deaf-mute and beloved friend to a psychiatric asylum he finds himself overcome by loneliness in the small town in the Deep South where he lives. But after his friend has gone his amiable and sympathetic ways are appreciated by four equally lonely neighbours who regularly come to his room to chat and to pour out their hearts: a boisterous, sad drunk, a recently widowed café owner, a spirited adolescent girl and an angry, Spinoza-reading black doctor. As they gravitate around him he unwittingly becomes to them all that they want - and need - him to be. An achingly poignant meditation on loneliness, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures all the painful alienation of the human experience; the desperate search for love and friendship, the need to reach out and touch. The anguish of spiritual loneliness and isolation has never been better portrayed than in this beautiful book, made all the more remarkable in that the author was just twenty three years old when she composed it.
Pre-War American literature describes a troubled country still in formation, one still riven by arbitrary violence, debilitating poverty and deep-seated racial and social injustice and segregation. Carson Mc Cullers demonstrates both a deep sensitivity towards the plight of those people most blighted by injustice - blacks and Jews - and anger at the growing tide of fascism in Europe. It is so sad that less than half a century later a fairer and more prosperous society, in part due to the defeat of European fascism, should instead have spawned the nihilism and greed of the Brett Easton Ellis generation.


A Tender Classic, 14 Aug 2007
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an achingly beautiful sad and unforgettable tale. It is the most touching book I have ever read.

Brilliant!, 04 Feb 2005
In her brilliant debut, Carson McCullers explores what may be the central core of human existence. The pursuit of love, understanding,our connection with humanity and the devastation of lonelieness when the connection is severed or misdirected.
What if the object of your affection, the focus of your friendship, the keeper of your confidences, is an illusion?
John Singer is the means by which McCullers brings to life this conundrum. A deaf mute living in the Depression era American South, Singer only commmunicates with his deaf room mate. The problem is, his room mate has no more understanding of Singer's dreams than Singer will have of the people in the town who, because of his silence, see in him reflections of themselves.
Singer's increasing isolation leads to a devastating and heartbreaking conclusion.
There is far more to this novel than I can describe here, so get a copy and discover the beauty of this book for yourself.
The writing is beautiful, the characters exquisitely realized and it is my favorite novel of all time. It is a book I picked up when I was 13 and still revisit.
McCullers speaks for all of us and our very human condition. Her insight is made more remarkable when the reader remembers that the book was published when the author was only 23 years old.

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 20 Aug 2008
A wonderful book about loneliness, love, friendship, misplaced devotion, and seeing in people what you need to see. Somehow sad and yet profoundly beautiful at the same time. A great book who's messages are softly hidden under a rich story, it was a lovely experience to read. I recommend it awfully highly.

A disappointing read, 18 Jul 2008
I read this book for a recent book group and although it made for an excellent discussion, three out of four of us did not enjoy it. We found it a struggle to get through and I, personally would not have finished it if I'd felt I had the choice.
The plot is slow, tediously so at times and I couldn't help but wonder what the point was to all these aimless people wandering in and out of Springer's room.

I do understand what the book is about and I'm very pleased that we were able to flush it out during subsequent discussion, that alone made the whole exercise worth while, but I require a higher level of reading pleasure during the process.

My apologies to those who thought the book was wonderful, I'll stick to my more modern literature :)

The desperate search for love and friendship; the need to reach out and touch, 07 Feb 2008
When John Singer loses his fellow deaf-mute and beloved friend to a psychiatric asylum he finds himself overcome by loneliness in the small town in the Deep South where he lives. But after his friend has gone his amiable and sympathetic ways are appreciated by four equally lonely neighbours who regularly come to his room to chat and to pour out their hearts: a boisterous, sad drunk, a recently widowed café owner, a spirited adolescent girl and an angry, Spinoza-reading black doctor. As they gravitate around him he unwittingly becomes to them all that they want - and need - him to be. An achingly poignant meditation on loneliness, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures all the painful alienation of the human experience; the desperate search for love and friendship, the need to reach out and touch. The anguish of spiritual loneliness and isolation has never been better portrayed than in this beautiful book, made all the more remarkable in that the author was just twenty three years old when she composed it.
Pre-War American literature describes a troubled country still in formation, one still riven by arbitrary violence, debilitating poverty and deep-seated racial and social injustice and segregation. Carson Mc Cullers demonstrates both a deep sensitivity towards the plight of those people most blighted by injustice - blacks and Jews - and anger at the growing tide of fascism in Europe. It is so sad that less than half a century later a fairer and more prosperous society, in part due to the defeat of European fascism, should instead have spawned the nihilism and greed of the Brett Easton Ellis generation.


A Tender Classic, 14 Aug 2007
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an achingly beautiful sad and unforgettable tale. It is the most touching book I have ever read.

Brilliant!, 04 Feb 2005
In her brilliant debut, Carson McCullers explores what may be the central core of human existence. The pursuit of love, understanding,our connection with humanity and the devastation of lonelieness when the connection is severed or misdirected.
What if the object of your affection, the focus of your friendship, the keeper of your confidences, is an illusion?
John Singer is the means by which McCullers brings to life this conundrum. A deaf mute living in the Depression era American South, Singer only commmunicates with his deaf room mate. The problem is, his room mate has no more understanding of Singer's dreams than Singer will have of the people in the town who, because of his silence, see in him reflections of themselves.
Singer's increasing isolation leads to a devastating and heartbreaking conclusion.
There is far more to this novel than I can describe here, so get a copy and discover the beauty of this book for yourself.
The writing is beautiful, the characters exquisitely realized and it is my favorite novel of all time. It is a book I picked up when I was 13 and still revisit.
McCullers speaks for all of us and our very human condition. Her insight is made more remarkable when the reader remembers that the book was published when the author was only 23 years old.

DARK AND MELANCHOLIC COMING OF AGE STORY..., 26 Aug 2007
This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. We see her world through her eyes, so that the reader gets a skewed version of the world around Frankie. Clearly all is not right with her, as her brother is getting married and Frankie thinks that she will be going off with her brother and his bride. Frankie spins a total fantasy around this concept. She does not think that two is company and three is a crowd.

Why does she do this? There are many reasons. Some of them are rather dark. Frankie's mother died giving birth to her. Her father has remained a widower, letting Frankie sleep in the same bed with him until she was about twelve, when he finally gave her the boot. Her best friend is her six year old first cousin, John Henry. He likes to sleep over, and when he does, he sleeps in the bed with Frankie. She caresses him when he sleeps, and even takes to licking him behind his ear while he slumbers. She also has apparently had a sexual encounter of some kind with a neighborhood boy, an incident about which she will not speak. The author weaves these details into the story, glossing over them, leaving the reader feeling shocked. This feeling is exacerbated by the almost casual interjection of these details.

There is so much emotional trauma in Frankie's life that it is amazing she can function at all. Also distressing to Frankie is the fact that she is isolated from children her own age. The neighborhood girls, who are just a little older than her and whom Frankie envies, shun her. Her father pretty much ignores her, leaving her upbringing to the housekeeper, Bernice. When it comes time to buy her a dress for her brother's wedding, she is sent off to buy the dress by herself. It is little wonder that the dress she ends up purchasing is totally unsuitable. Her feeling of isolation is palpable to the reader.

Although Frankie is somewhat of a tomboy, she likes getting dressed up, slathering on lipstick, and taking a walk through the town, calling herself F. Jasmine, looking older than her years. In this guise, she meets a soldier, who takes her for being much older. It comes as no surprise when it all goes horribly wrong. Yet, Frankie is evidently a survivor and manages to fend for herself.

The moment of truth for Frankie arrives when her brother's wedding finally takes place, but by then that event is almost anti-climactic, as events continue to buffet Frankie, leaving her more isolated that ever before. Still, she continues on, not seeming to have learned anything all from her experiences, an emotionally troubled child suffering a severe disconnection from the world.

This is a thematically complex story told through the jagged fragments of the life of a young girl, one who views the world in a disjointed, unrealistic way, her world view clouded by inner demons that are never given a voice. It is a story that is dark and melancholic, leaving the reader to ponder upon a life so young, yet so despairing.

Slow, funny, touching, 13 Jan 2006
Throughout the authors life she wrote about lonliness and love, usually unrequited. These themes are brilliantly realised in this small novel about a weekend in the life of Frankie, a twelve year old girl unsure of herself and the world. There isn't much plot, and in parts it seems to move on leisurly, taking time over small details, but you are never bored because every detail seems to be whipped up with realistic emotion and perfectly placed within the story. The language is similarily thoughtout, often it boarders on poetic, but than at the moments of highest drama Mccullers draws back into a declarative objective tone. This book feels so real, the charecters, and most of all the things the author puts into words that you have only felt before. I'm blathering, but in short BRILLIANT. Read and read again.

very boring, 24 Mar 1999
This book was very tedious and pointless. Frankie seems very unrealistic and stupid . . .the whole book is based upon a stupid fantasy of hers. It is very tedious reading, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining, 09 Apr 1998
Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 20 Aug 2008
A wonderful book about loneliness, love, friendship, misplaced devotion, and seeing in people what you need to see. Somehow sad and yet profoundly beautiful at the same time. A great book who's messages are softly hidden under a rich story, it was a lovely experience to read. I recommend it awfully highly.

A disappointing read, 18 Jul 2008
I read this book for a recent book group and although it made for an excellent discussion, three out of four of us did not enjoy it. We found it a struggle to get through and I, personally would not have finished it if I'd felt I had the choice.
The plot is slow, tediously so at times and I couldn't help but wonder what the point was to all these aimless people wandering in and out of Springer's room.

I do understand what the book is about and I'm very pleased that we were able to flush it out during subsequent discussion, that alone made the whole exercise worth while, but I require a higher level of reading pleasure during the process.

My apologies to those who thought the book was wonderful, I'll stick to my more modern literature :)

The desperate search for love and friendship; the need to reach out and touch, 07 Feb 2008
When John Singer loses his fellow deaf-mute and beloved friend to a psychiatric asylum he finds himself overcome by loneliness in the small town in the Deep South where he lives. But after his friend has gone his amiable and sympathetic ways are appreciated by four equally lonely neighbours who regularly come to his room to chat and to pour out their hearts: a boisterous, sad drunk, a recently widowed café owner, a spirited adolescent girl and an angry, Spinoza-reading black doctor. As they gravitate around him he unwittingly becomes to them all that they want - and need - him to be. An achingly poignant meditation on loneliness, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures all the painful alienation of the human experience; the desperate search for love and friendship, the need to reach out and touch. The anguish of spiritual loneliness and isolation has never been better portrayed than in this beautiful book, made all the more remarkable in that the author was just twenty three years old when she composed it.
Pre-War American literature describes a troubled country still in formation, one still riven by arbitrary violence, debilitating poverty and deep-seated racial and social injustice and segregation. Carson Mc Cullers demonstrates both a deep sensitivity towards the plight of those people most blighted by injustice - blacks and Jews - and anger at the growing tide of fascism in Europe. It is so sad that less than half a century later a fairer and more prosperous society, in part due to the defeat of European fascism, should instead have spawned the nihilism and greed of the Brett Easton Ellis generation.


A Tender Classic, 14 Aug 2007
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an achingly beautiful sad and unforgettable tale. It is the most touching book I have ever read.

Brilliant!, 04 Feb 2005
In her brilliant debut, Carson McCullers explores what may be the central core of human existence. The pursuit of love, understanding,our connection with humanity and the devastation of lonelieness when the connection is severed or misdirected.
What if the object of your affection, the focus of your friendship, the keeper of your confidences, is an illusion?
John Singer is the means by which McCullers brings to life this conundrum. A deaf mute living in the Depression era American South, Singer only commmunicates with his deaf room mate. The problem is, his room mate has no more understanding of Singer's dreams than Singer will have of the people in the town who, because of his silence, see in him reflections of themselves.
Singer's increasing isolation leads to a devastating and heartbreaking conclusion.
There is far more to this novel than I can describe here, so get a copy and discover the beauty of this book for yourself.
The writing is beautiful, the characters exquisitely realized and it is my favorite novel of all time. It is a book I picked up when I was 13 and still revisit.
McCullers speaks for all of us and our very human condition. Her insight is made more remarkable when the reader remembers that the book was published when the author was only 23 years old.

DARK AND MELANCHOLIC COMING OF AGE STORY..., 26 Aug 2007
This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. We see her world through her eyes, so that the reader gets a skewed version of the world around Frankie. Clearly all is not right with her, as her brother is getting married and Frankie thinks that she will be going off with her brother and his bride. Frankie spins a total fantasy around this concept. She does not think that two is company and three is a crowd.

Why does she do this? There are many reasons. Some of them are rather dark. Frankie's mother died giving birth to her. Her father has remained a widower, letting Frankie sleep in the same bed with him until she was about twelve, when he finally gave her the boot. Her best friend is her six year old first cousin, John Henry. He likes to sleep over, and when he does, he sleeps in the bed with Frankie. She caresses him when he sleeps, and even takes to licking him behind his ear while he slumbers. She also has apparently had a sexual encounter of some kind with a neighborhood boy, an incident about which she will not speak. The author weaves these details into the story, glossing over them, leaving the reader feeling shocked. This feeling is exacerbated by the almost casual interjection of these details.

There is so much emotional trauma in Frankie's life that it is amazing she can function at all. Also distressing to Frankie is the fact that she is isolated from children her own age. The neighborhood girls, who are just a little older than her and whom Frankie envies, shun her. Her father pretty much ignores her, leaving her upbringing to the housekeeper, Bernice. When it comes time to buy her a dress for her brother's wedding, she is sent off to buy the dress by herself. It is little wonder that the dress she ends up purchasing is totally unsuitable. Her feeling of isolation is palpable to the reader.

Although Frankie is somewhat of a tomboy, she likes getting dressed up, slathering on lipstick, and taking a walk through the town, calling herself F. Jasmine, looking older than her years. In this guise, she meets a soldier, who takes her for being much older. It comes as no surprise when it all goes horribly wrong. Yet, Frankie is evidently a survivor and manages to fend for herself.

The moment of truth for Frankie arrives when her brother's wedding finally takes place, but by then that event is almost anti-climactic, as events continue to buffet Frankie, leaving her more isolated that ever before. Still, she continues on, not seeming to have learned anything all from her experiences, an emotionally troubled child suffering a severe disconnection from the world.

This is a thematically complex story told through the jagged fragments of the life of a young girl, one who views the world in a disjointed, unrealistic way, her world view clouded by inner demons that are never given a voice. It is a story that is dark and melancholic, leaving the reader to ponder upon a life so young, yet so despairing.

Slow, funny, touching, 13 Jan 2006
Throughout the authors life she wrote about lonliness and love, usually unrequited. These themes are brilliantly realised in this small novel about a weekend in the life of Frankie, a twelve year old girl unsure of herself and the world. There isn't much plot, and in parts it seems to move on leisurly, taking time over small details, but you are never bored because every detail seems to be whipped up with realistic emotion and perfectly placed within the story. The language is similarily thoughtout, often it boarders on poetic, but than at the moments of highest drama Mccullers draws back into a declarative objective tone. This book feels so real, the charecters, and most of all the things the author puts into words that you have only felt before. I'm blathering, but in short BRILLIANT. Read and read again.

very boring, 24 Mar 1999
This book was very tedious and pointless. Frankie seems very unrealistic and stupid . . .the whole book is based upon a stupid fantasy of hers. It is very tedious reading, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining, 09 Apr 1998
Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

Beautifully written prose, odd characterisation, 26 Nov 2007
This novella by Carson McCullers is certainly distinctive, boasting some of the most beautifully-written and authentic prose I have ever read. It concerns an odd character named Amelia, a woman who lives in a tiny American hamlet. Some years after an incredibly short marriage to a vile man named Marvin, a new man enters Amelia's life in the shape of a hunchback named Lymon who claims to be some distant cousin of Amelia's. The hunchback has a profound effect on Amelia and she falls in love with him. It is at this stage in her life that she opens a cafe, which becomes the heart of the town, incredibly popular and atmospheric.

McCullers writes about the nature of love in an acutely touching way. Her descriptions of how a bad penny like Marvin falls for Amelia and is reduced to someone lovelorn and meek in her presence is very affecting and real, something that most people can relate to. So too is Amelia's fascination with Lymon the hunchback, and her affection/love for him.

Another of the novella's attributes, as I have mentioned, is the natural and effortless beauty of the prose. McCuller's describes places, weather, people and events in a thoroughly unconventional, detailed and striking way, using some truly beautiful and inspired imagery. There is no doubt that McCullers is a naturally gifted writer.

Yet there were things about this novella which bothered me greatly. The main thing was the characterisation. McCullers descriptions of all of the three main characters makes them sound like absolute freaks which virtually no-one would be able to relate to. Amelia is described as tall, and McCullers conveys this in a way which makes Amelia sound like a circus freakshow, which tall women clearly aren't. Undoubtedly, some tall women can be clumsy, but McCuller's descriptions of Amelia dressing in men's clothing and boxing do not ring true and are distinctly unbelievable. Without stereotyping, it is a great leap for the reader to have much belief in a female character who is clearly supposed to be heterosexual, yet chooses to wear men's clothing and get into physical fights with men. It simply doesn't ring true.

The characterisation of Lymon, too is distinctly far-fetched and alien. He's portrayed as a downright weirdo; an attention-seeking, shambling freak of a human being who talks to himself and behaves in a way which can best be described as repugnant. Yet we as readers are supposed to believe that he manages to capture the heart of a woman twice his height? Far-fecthed doesn't even begin to describe the relations between characters here.

All of this culminates in the return of Marvin Macy, and it is this event which truly leads the relations between characters down Weird Street. After Marvin punches Lymon in the face for absolutely no reason, Lymon then becomes fixated and obsessed by Marvin, following him everywhere. Then McCullers begins to describe the tension and hatred between Marvin and Amelia, but also Lymon's apparent love for Marvin. After a fashion, a boxing match is then planned between Amelia and Marvin. This is deeply insulting towards tall women, and somehow implies that tall women are by their very nature aggressive and/or more suited towards physical fighting than smaller women. Besides which, the very inclusion of violence against women in any form is deeply irresponsible and to somehow condone it defies belief. It simply isn't the case that taller women are somehow more suited towards bare-knuckle fighting simply because they are tall. Height isn't what matters in a fight - it's muscle definition that counts, of which men have significantly more than women. One of the most unconvincing events at this point in the book is Lymon's intervention in the fight between Marvin and Amelia, as McCullers describes him jumping on Amelia's back and pinning her to the ground, helping Marvin violently beat her. I found this not only unbelievable, but very distasteful. The man who has had the hospitality and love of Amelia for several years suddenly turns on her violently for no apparent reason? Wouldn't this strike YOU as unconvincing?

All of this made it incredibly difficult for me to relate to any of the characters, and especially difficult to like them. They simply weren't portrayed in a believable way, and their oddness wasn't charming, but alien. I felt no rapport, no connection.

Which is a shame, because in other ways, Carson McCullers is a wonderfully talented writer. Her recognition and description of unrequited love is touching and deft, engaging and real. Her examination of the themes of love and obsession and loneliness is particularly affecting, and one is left in no doubt that McCullers has the ability to gaze into the human condition and describe it eloquently in prose. It's just that in this particular prose, I felt her characterisation was not engaging in the slightest, and left me feeling somewhat cheated.

I have to give kudos to Carson McCullers for her treatment of important human emotions, but would stop short of heaping praise on this novella, simply because of my dislike of her characterisation. Neverthless, there is some truly beautiful prose here.

spelling mistake, 03 Jul 2007
Great book - I loved it. Did you know that it's 'ballad' and not 'ballard'?

The lover and the beloved, 28 Feb 2006
This book is a must read, I am saddened that it has been relegated to a few reading lists and that it took a celebrity like Oprah to bring it back and restore its worthy readership in America. Here in England, we still haven't managed to see that works of fiction out side of the canon are capable of being literary and worthy of both a high readership and scholarly study.

Carson McCullers is a fantastic author and this book showcases her genius. Her work is timeless, applicable and deals with social issues beyond that of her periods understanding. This book contains in depth characterisation of: 'the grotesque','gender subversion' and racial dis/harmony.

I know that some will argue that its just another deep south novella about racial difference but its not. Equally I know that some will argue that the themes of loneliness, love and the loss of identity are prevalent because of McCullers' personal life. Again, I would suggest that these views are a little ignorant.

McCullers' novella, beautifully demonstrates the frailty of humanness; the fickleness of love and the crushing pain of rejection. McCullers confronts issues that are just as applicable today as the were half a century ago. Her novella is a work of fiction that brings relief and sadness to the soul. Her characterisation is amazing, vivid and at times necessarily repulsive.

In short, if your studying it, look past Cousin Lymon's obvious disability and concentrate on the homo-social relationship between him and Marvin Macy, and the Eros/Agape in-balance between him and Miss Amelia. Also, recognise the importance of the lover and the beloved and the significance of the Twelve Mortal Men.

If you want to read this book for pleasure, ENJOY, it is beautiful!

A harrowing yet beautifully written novella, 17 Mar 2000
I read this book last year when I was twelve and have read it many times since! It is beautifully poetic and tells the story of Miss Amelia and her unrequited love for Cousin Lymon, a hunchback . It also tells of her rejected husband, Marvin Macy, and how he stole the admiration and the heart of the hunchback with depressing consequences. A must bedtime read if you like sad books or any of Carson Mc Cullers other books.

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 20 Aug 2008
A wonderful book about loneliness, love, friendship, misplaced devotion, and seeing in people what you need to see. Somehow sad and yet profoundly beautiful at the same time. A great book who's messages are softly hidden under a rich story, it was a lovely experience to read. I recommend it awfully highly.

A disappointing read, 18 Jul 2008
I read this book for a recent book group and although it made for an excellent discussion, three out of four of us did not enjoy it. We found it a struggle to get through and I, personally would not have finished it if I'd felt I had the choice.
The plot is slow, tediously so at times and I couldn't help but wonder what the point was to all these aimless people wandering in and out of Springer's room.

I do understand what the book is about and I'm very pleased that we were able to flush it out during subsequent discussion, that alone made the whole exercise worth while, but I require a higher level of reading pleasure during the process.

My apologies to those who thought the book was wonderful, I'll stick to my more modern literature :)

The desperate search for love and friendship; the need to reach out and touch, 07 Feb 2008
When John Singer loses his fellow deaf-mute and beloved friend to a psychiatric asylum he finds himself overcome by loneliness in the small town in the Deep South where he lives. But after his friend has gone his amiable and sympathetic ways are appreciated by four equally lonely neighbours who regularly come to his room to chat and to pour out their hearts: a boisterous, sad drunk, a recently widowed café owner, a spirited adolescent girl and an angry, Spinoza-reading black doctor. As they gravitate around him he unwittingly becomes to them all that they want - and need - him to be. An achingly poignant meditation on loneliness, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures all the painful alienation of the human experience; the desperate search for love and friendship, the need to reach out and touch. The anguish of spiritual loneliness and isolation has never been better portrayed than in this beautiful book, made all the more remarkable in that the author was just twenty three years old when she composed it.
Pre-War American literature describes a troubled country still in formation, one still riven by arbitrary violence, debilitating poverty and deep-seated racial and social injustice and segregation. Carson Mc Cullers demonstrates both a deep sensitivity towards the plight of those people most blighted by injustice - blacks and Jews - and anger at the growing tide of fascism in Europe. It is so sad that less than half a century later a fairer and more prosperous society, in part due to the defeat of European fascism, should instead have spawned the nihilism and greed of the Brett Easton Ellis generation.


A Tender Classic, 14 Aug 2007
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an achingly beautiful sad and unforgettable tale. It is the most touching book I have ever read.

Brilliant!, 04 Feb 2005
In her brilliant debut, Carson McCullers explores what may be the central core of human existence. The pursuit of love, understanding,our connection with humanity and the devastation of lonelieness when the connection is severed or misdirected.
What if the object of your affection, the focus of your friendship, the keeper of your confidences, is an illusion?
John Singer is the means by which McCullers brings to life this conundrum. A deaf mute living in the Depression era American South, Singer only commmunicates with his deaf room mate. The problem is, his room mate has no more understanding of Singer's dreams than Singer will have of the people in the town who, because of his silence, see in him reflections of themselves.
Singer's increasing isolation leads to a devastating and heartbreaking conclusion.
There is far more to this novel than I can describe here, so get a copy and discover the beauty of this book for yourself.
The writing is beautiful, the characters exquisitely realized and it is my favorite novel of all time. It is a book I picked up when I was 13 and still revisit.
McCullers speaks for all of us and our very human condition. Her insight is made more remarkable when the reader remembers that the book was published when the author was only 23 years old.

DARK AND MELANCHOLIC COMING OF AGE STORY..., 26 Aug 2007
This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. We see her world through her eyes, so that the reader gets a skewed version of the world around Frankie. Clearly all is not right with her, as her brother is getting married and Frankie thinks that she will be going off with her brother and his bride. Frankie spins a total fantasy around this concept. She does not think that two is company and three is a crowd.

Why does she do this? There are many reasons. Some of them are rather dark. Frankie's mother died giving birth to her. Her father has remained a widower, letting Frankie sleep in the same bed with him until she was about twelve, when he finally gave her the boot. Her best friend is her six year old first cousin, John Henry. He likes to sleep over, and when he does, he sleeps in the bed with Frankie. She caresses him when he sleeps, and even takes to licking him behind his ear while he slumbers. She also has apparently had a sexual encounter of some kind with a neighborhood boy, an incident about which she will not speak. The author weaves these details into the story, glossing over them, leaving the reader feeling shocked. This feeling is exacerbated by the almost casual interjection of these details.

There is so much emotional trauma in Frankie's life that it is amazing she can function at all. Also distressing to Frankie is the fact that she is isolated from children her own age. The neighborhood girls, who are just a little older than her and whom Frankie envies, shun her. Her father pretty much ignores her, leaving her upbringing to the housekeeper, Bernice. When it comes time to buy her a dress for her brother's wedding, she is sent off to buy the dress by herself. It is little wonder that the dress she ends up purchasing is totally unsuitable. Her feeling of isolation is palpable to the reader.

Although Frankie is somewhat of a tomboy, she likes getting dressed up, slathering on lipstick, and taking a walk through the town, calling herself F. Jasmine, looking older than her years. In this guise, she meets a soldier, who takes her for being much older. It comes as no surprise when it all goes horribly wrong. Yet, Frankie is evidently a survivor and manages to fend for herself.

The moment of truth for Frankie arrives when her brother's wedding finally takes place, but by then that event is almost anti-climactic, as events continue to buffet Frankie, leaving her more isolated that ever before. Still, she continues on, not seeming to have learned anything all from her experiences, an emotionally troubled child suffering a severe disconnection from the world.

This is a thematically complex story told through the jagged fragments of the life of a young girl, one who views the world in a disjointed, unrealistic way, her world view clouded by inner demons that are never given a voice. It is a story that is dark and melancholic, leaving the reader to ponder upon a life so young, yet so despairing.

Slow, funny, touching, 13 Jan 2006
Throughout the authors life she wrote about lonliness and love, usually unrequited. These themes are brilliantly realised in this small novel about a weekend in the life of Frankie, a twelve year old girl unsure of herself and the world. There isn't much plot, and in parts it seems to move on leisurly, taking time over small details, but you are never bored because every detail seems to be whipped up with realistic emotion and perfectly placed within the story. The language is similarily thoughtout, often it boarders on poetic, but than at the moments of highest drama Mccullers draws back into a declarative objective tone. This book feels so real, the charecters, and most of all the things the author puts into words that you have only felt before. I'm blathering, but in short BRILLIANT. Read and read again.

very boring, 24 Mar 1999
This book was very tedious and pointless. Frankie seems very unrealistic and stupid . . .the whole book is based upon a stupid fantasy of hers. It is very tedious reading, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining, 09 Apr 1998
Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

Beautifully written prose, odd characterisation, 26 Nov 2007
This novella by Carson McCullers is certainly distinctive, boasting some of the most beautifully-written and authentic prose I have ever read. It concerns an odd character named Amelia, a woman who lives in a tiny American hamlet. Some years after an incredibly short marriage to a vile man named Marvin, a new man enters Amelia's life in the shape of a hunchback named Lymon who claims to be some distant cousin of Amelia's. The hunchback has a profound effect on Amelia and she falls in love with him. It is at this stage in her life that she opens a cafe, which becomes the heart of the town, incredibly popular and atmospheric.

McCullers writes about the nature of love in an acutely touching way. Her descriptions of how a bad penny like Marvin falls for Amelia and is reduced to someone lovelorn and meek in her presence is very affecting and real, something that most people can relate to. So too is Amelia's fascination with Lymon the hunchback, and her affection/love for him.

Another of the novella's attributes, as I have mentioned, is the natural and effortless beauty of the prose. McCuller's describes places, weather, people and events in a thoroughly unconventional, detailed and striking way, using some truly beautiful and inspired imagery. There is no doubt that McCullers is a naturally gifted writer.

Yet there were things about this novella which bothered me greatly. The main thing was the characterisation. McCullers descriptions of all of the three main characters makes them sound like absolute freaks which virtually no-one would be able to relate to. Amelia is described as tall, and McCullers conveys this in a way which makes Amelia sound like a circus freakshow, which tall women clearly aren't. Undoubtedly, some tall women can be clumsy, but McCuller's descriptions of Amelia dressing in men's clothing and boxing do not ring true and are distinctly unbelievable. Without stereotyping, it is a great leap for the reader to have much belief in a female character who is clearly supposed to be heterosexual, yet chooses to wear men's clothing and get into physical fights with men. It simply doesn't ring true.

The characterisation of Lymon, too is distinctly far-fetched and alien. He's portrayed as a downright weirdo; an attention-seeking, shambling freak of a human being who talks to himself and behaves in a way which can best be described as repugnant. Yet we as readers are supposed to believe that he manages to capture the heart of a woman twice his height? Far-fecthed doesn't even begin to describe the relations between characters here.

All of this culminates in the return of Marvin Macy, and it is this event which truly leads the relations between characters down Weird Street. After Marvin punches Lymon in the face for absolutely no reason, Lymon then becomes fixated and obsessed by Marvin, following him everywhere. Then McCullers begins to describe the tension and hatred between Marvin and Amelia, but also Lymon's apparent love for Marvin. After a fashion, a boxing match is then planned between Amelia and Marvin. This is deeply insulting towards tall women, and somehow implies that tall women are by their very nature aggressive and/or more suited towards physical fighting than smaller women. Besides which, the very inclusion of violence against women in any form is deeply irresponsible and to somehow condone it defies belief. It simply isn't the case that taller women are somehow more suited towards bare-knuckle fighting simply because they are tall. Height isn't what matters in a fight - it's muscle definition that counts, of which men have significantly more than women. One of the most unconvincing events at this point in the book is Lymon's intervention in the fight between Marvin and Amelia, as McCullers describes him jumping on Amelia's back and pinning her to the ground, helping Marvin violently beat her. I found this not only unbelievable, but very distasteful. The man who has had the hospitality and love of Amelia for several years suddenly turns on her violently for no apparent reason? Wouldn't this strike YOU as unconvincing?

All of this made it incredibly difficult for me to relate to any of the characters, and especially difficult to like them. They simply weren't portrayed in a believable way, and their oddness wasn't charming, but alien. I felt no rapport, no connection.

Which is a shame, because in other ways, Carson McCullers is a wonderfully talented writer. Her recognition and description of unrequited love is touching and deft, engaging and real. Her examination of the themes of love and obsession and loneliness is particularly affecting, and one is left in no doubt that McCullers has the ability to gaze into the human condition and describe it eloquently in prose. It's just that in this particular prose, I felt her characterisation was not engaging in the slightest, and left me feeling somewhat cheated.

I have to give kudos to Carson McCullers for her treatment of important human emotions, but would stop short of heaping praise on this novella, simply because of my dislike of her characterisation. Neverthless, there is some truly beautiful prose here.

spelling mistake, 03 Jul 2007
Great book - I loved it. Did you know that it's 'ballad' and not 'ballard'?

The lover and the beloved, 28 Feb 2006
This book is a must read, I am saddened that it has been relegated to a few reading lists and that it took a celebrity like Oprah to bring it back and restore its worthy readership in America. Here in England, we still haven't managed to see that works of fiction out side of the canon are capable of being literary and worthy of both a high readership and scholarly study.

Carson McCullers is a fantastic author and this book showcases her genius. Her work is timeless, applicable and deals with social issues beyond that of her periods understanding. This book contains in depth characterisation of: 'the grotesque','gender subversion' and racial dis/harmony.

I know that some will argue that its just another deep south novella about racial difference but its not. Equally I know that some will argue that the themes of loneliness, love and the loss of identity are prevalent because of McCullers' personal life. Again, I would suggest that these views are a little ignorant.

McCullers' novella, beautifully demonstrates the frailty of humanness; the fickleness of love and the crushing pain of rejection. McCullers confronts issues that are just as applicable today as the were half a century ago. Her novella is a work of fiction that brings relief and sadness to the soul. Her characterisation is amazing, vivid and at times necessarily repulsive.

In short, if your studying it, look past Cousin Lymon's obvious disability and concentrate on the homo-social relationship between him and Marvin Macy, and the Eros/Agape in-balance between him and Miss Amelia. Also, recognise the importance of the lover and the beloved and the significance of the Twelve Mortal Men.

If you want to read this book for pleasure, ENJOY, it is beautiful!

A harrowing yet beautifully written novella, 17 Mar 2000
I read this book last year when I was twelve and have read it many times since! It is beautifully poetic and tells the story of Miss Amelia and her unrequited love for Cousin Lymon, a hunchback . It also tells of her rejected husband, Marvin Macy, and how he stole the admiration and the heart of the hunchback with depressing consequences. A must bedtime read if you like sad books or any of Carson Mc Cullers other books.

McCuller's unique voice haunts after others are silenced., 03 Jan 2002
We know that Tennessee Williams, Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote and others wrote about America and the Deep South. Yet it is Carson McCuller's unique voice that haunts long after the others are silenced, for no other writer has plumbed the depths of loneliness as profoundly as McCuller, or encapsulated the suffering caused by the Deep South's singular sense of displacement. Searingly insightful and heartrending; exquisitely agonizing in her compassion for flawed humanity; hauntingly unforgettable, her novels test and test again the ultimate resources of the human spirit. And in the testing we find that the spirit is unquenchable.

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 20 Aug 2008
A wonderful book about loneliness, love, friendship, misplaced devotion, and seeing in people what you need to see. Somehow sad and yet profoundly beautiful at the same time. A great book who's messages are softly hidden under a rich story, it was a lovely experience to read. I recommend it awfully highly.

A disappointing read, 18 Jul 2008
I read this book for a recent book group and although it made for an excellent discussion, three out of four of us did not enjoy it. We found it a struggle to get through and I, personally would not have finished it if I'd felt I had the choice.
The plot is slow, tediously so at times and I couldn't help but wonder what the point was to all these aimless people wandering in and out of Springer's room.

I do understand what the book is about and I'm very pleased that we were able to flush it out during subsequent discussion, that alone made the whole exercise worth while, but I require a higher level of reading pleasure during the process.

My apologies to those who thought the book was wonderful, I'll stick to my more modern literature :)

The desperate search for love and friendship; the need to reach out and touch, 07 Feb 2008
When John Singer loses his fellow deaf-mute and beloved friend to a psychiatric asylum he finds himself overcome by loneliness in the small town in the Deep South where he lives. But after his friend has gone his amiable and sympathetic ways are appreciated by four equally lonely neighbours who regularly come to his room to chat and to pour out their hearts: a boisterous, sad drunk, a recently widowed café owner, a spirited adolescent girl and an angry, Spinoza-reading black doctor. As they gravitate around him he unwittingly becomes to them all that they want - and need - him to be. An achingly poignant meditation on loneliness, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures all the painful alienation of the human experience; the desperate search for love and friendship, the need to reach out and touch. The anguish of spiritual loneliness and isolation has never been better portrayed than in this beautiful book, made all the more remarkable in that the author was just twenty three years old when she composed it.
Pre-War American literature describes a troubled country still in formation, one still riven by arbitrary violence, debilitating poverty and deep-seated racial and social injustice and segregation. Carson Mc Cullers demonstrates both a deep sensitivity towards the plight of those people most blighted by injustice - blacks and Jews - and anger at the growing tide of fascism in Europe. It is so sad that less than half a century later a fairer and more prosperous society, in part due to the defeat of European fascism, should instead have spawned the nihilism and greed of the Brett Easton Ellis generation.


A Tender Classic, 14 Aug 2007
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an achingly beautiful sad and unforgettable tale. It is the most touching book I have ever read.

Brilliant!, 04 Feb 2005
In her brilliant debut, Carson McCullers explores what may be the central core of human existence. The pursuit of love, understanding,our connection with humanity and the devastation of lonelieness when the connection is severed or misdirected.
What if the object of your affection, the focus of your friendship, the keeper of your confidences, is an illusion?
John Singer is the means by which McCullers brings to life this conundrum. A deaf mute living in the Depression era American South, Singer only commmunicates with his deaf room mate. The problem is, his room mate has no more understanding of Singer's dreams than Singer will have of the people in the town who, because of his silence, see in him reflections of themselves.
Singer's increasing isolation leads to a devastating and heartbreaking conclusion.
There is far more to this novel than I can describe here, so get a copy and discover the beauty of this book for yourself.
The writing is beautiful, the characters exquisitely realized and it is my favorite novel of all time. It is a book I picked up when I was 13 and still revisit.
McCullers speaks for all of us and our very human condition. Her insight is made more remarkable when the reader remembers that the book was published when the author was only 23 years old.

DARK AND MELANCHOLIC COMING OF AGE STORY..., 26 Aug 2007
This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. We see her world through her eyes, so that the reader gets a skewed version of the world around Frankie. Clearly all is not right with her, as her brother is getting married and Frankie thinks that she will be going off with her brother and his bride. Frankie spins a total fantasy around this concept. She does not think that two is company and three is a crowd.

Why does she do this? There are many reasons. Some of them are rather dark. Frankie's mother died giving birth to her. Her father has remained a widower, letting Frankie sleep in the same bed with him until she was about twelve, when he finally gave her the boot. Her best friend is her six year old first cousin, John Henry. He likes to sleep over, and when he does, he sleeps in the bed with Frankie. She caresses him when he sleeps, and even takes to licking him behind his ear while he slumbers. She also has apparently had a sexual encounter of some kind with a neighborhood boy, an incident about which she will not speak. The author weaves these details into the story, glossing over them, leaving the reader feeling shocked. This feeling is exacerbated by the almost casual interjection of these details.

There is so much emotional trauma in Frankie's life that it is amazing she can function at all. Also distressing to Frankie is the fact that she is isolated from children her own age. The neighborhood girls, who are just a little older than her and whom Frankie envies, shun her. Her father pretty much ignores her, leaving her upbringing to the housekeeper, Bernice. When it comes time to buy her a dress for her brother's wedding, she is sent off to buy the dress by herself. It is little wonder that the dress she ends up purchasing is totally unsuitable. Her feeling of isolation is palpable to the reader.

Although Frankie is somewhat of a tomboy, she likes getting dressed up, slathering on lipstick, and taking a walk through the town, calling herself F. Jasmine, looking older than her years. In this guise, she meets a soldier, who takes her for being much older. It comes as no surprise when it all goes horribly wrong. Yet, Frankie is evidently a survivor and manages to fend for herself.

The moment of truth for Frankie arrives when her brother's wedding finally takes place, but by then that event is almost anti-climactic, as events continue to buffet Frankie, leaving her more isolated that ever before. Still, she continues on, not seeming to have learned anything all from her experiences, an emotionally troubled child suffering a severe disconnection from the world.

This is a thematically complex story told through the jagged fragments of the life of a young girl, one who views the world in a disjointed, unrealistic way, her world view clouded by inner demons that are never given a voice. It is a story that is dark and melancholic, leaving the reader to ponder upon a life so young, yet so despairing.

Slow, funny, touching, 13 Jan 2006
Throughout the authors life she wrote about lonliness and love, usually unrequited. These themes are brilliantly realised in this small novel about a weekend in the life of Frankie, a twelve year old girl unsure of herself and the world. There isn't much plot, and in parts it seems to move on leisurly, taking time over small details, but you are never bored because every detail seems to be whipped up with realistic emotion and perfectly placed within the story. The language is similarily thoughtout, often it boarders on poetic, but than at the moments of highest drama Mccullers draws back into a declarative objective tone. This book feels so real, the charecters, and most of all the things the author puts into words that you have only felt before. I'm blathering, but in short BRILLIANT. Read and read again.

very boring, 24 Mar 1999
This book was very tedious and pointless. Frankie seems very unrealistic and stupid . . .the whole book is based upon a stupid fantasy of hers. It is very tedious reading, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining, 09 Apr 1998
Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

Beautifully written prose, odd characterisation, 26 Nov 2007
This novella by Carson McCullers is certainly distinctive, boasting some of the most beautifully-written and authentic prose I have ever read. It concerns an odd character named Amelia, a woman who lives in a tiny American hamlet. Some years after an incredibly short marriage to a vile man named Marvin, a new man enters Amelia's life in the shape of a hunchback named Lymon who claims to be some distant cousin of Amelia's. The hunchback has a profound effect on Amelia and she falls in love with him. It is at this stage in her life that she opens a cafe, which becomes the heart of the town, incredibly popular and atmospheric.

McCullers writes about the nature of love in an acutely touching way. Her descriptions of how a bad penny like Marvin falls for Amelia and is reduced to someone lovelorn and meek in her presence is very affecting and real, something that most people can relate to. So too is Amelia's fascination with Lymon the hunchback, and her affection/love for him.

Another of the novella's attributes, as I have mentioned, is the natural and effortless beauty of the prose. McCuller's describes places, weather, people and events in a thoroughly unconventional, detailed and striking way, using some truly beautiful and inspired imagery. There is no doubt that McCullers is a naturally gifted writer.

Yet there were things about this novella which bothered me greatly. The main thing was the characterisation. McCullers descriptions of all of the three main characters makes them sound like absolute freaks which virtually no-one would be able to relate to. Amelia is described as tall, and McCullers conveys this in a way which makes Amelia sound like a circus freakshow, which tall women clearly aren't. Undoubtedly, some tall women can be clumsy, but McCuller's descriptions of Amelia dressing in men's clothing and boxing do not ring true and are distinctly unbelievable. Without stereotyping, it is a great leap for the reader to have much belief in a female character who is clearly supposed to be heterosexual, yet chooses to wear men's clothing and get into physical fights with men. It simply doesn't ring true.

The characterisation of Lymon, too is distinctly far-fetched and alien. He's portrayed as a downright weirdo; an attention-seeking, shambling freak of a human being who talks to himself and behaves in a way which can best be described as repugnant. Yet we as readers are supposed to believe that he manages to capture the heart of a woman twice his height? Far-fecthed doesn't even begin to describe the relations between characters here.

All of this culminates in the return of Marvin Macy, and it is this event which truly leads the relations between characters down Weird Street. After Marvin punches Lymon in the face for absolutely no reason, Lymon then becomes fixated and obsessed by Marvin, following him everywhere. Then McCullers begins to describe the tension and hatred between Marvin and Amelia, but also Lymon's apparent love for Marvin. After a fashion, a boxing match is then planned between Amelia and Marvin. This is deeply insulting towards tall women, and somehow implies that tall women are by their very nature aggressive and/or more suited towards physical fighting than smaller women. Besides which, the very inclusion of violence against women in any form is deeply irresponsible and to somehow condone it defies belief. It simply isn't the case that taller women are somehow more suited towards bare-knuckle fighting simply because they are tall. Height isn't what matters in a fight - it's muscle definition that counts, of which men have significantly more than women. One of the most unconvincing events at this point in the book is Lymon's intervention in the fight between Marvin and Amelia, as McCullers describes him jumping on Amelia's back and pinning her to the ground, helping Marvin violently beat her. I found this not only unbelievable, but very distasteful. The man who has had the hospitality and love of Amelia for several years suddenly turns on her violently for no apparent reason? Wouldn't this strike YOU as unconvincing?

All of this made it incredibly difficult for me to relate to any of the characters, and especially difficult to like them. They simply weren't portrayed in a believable way, and their oddness wasn't charming, but alien. I felt no rapport, no connection.

Which is a shame, because in other ways, Carson McCullers is a wonderfully talented writer. Her recognition and description of unrequited love is touching and deft, engaging and real. Her examination of the themes of love and obsession and loneliness is particularly affecting, and one is left in no doubt that McCullers has the ability to gaze into the human condition and describe it eloquently in prose. It's just that in this particular prose, I felt her characterisation was not engaging in the slightest, and left me feeling somewhat cheated.

I have to give kudos to Carson McCullers for her treatment of important human emotions, but would stop short of heaping praise on this novella, simply because of my dislike of her characterisation. Neverthless, there is some truly beautiful prose here.

spelling mistake, 03 Jul 2007
Great book - I loved it. Did you know that it's 'ballad' and not 'ballard'?

The lover and the beloved, 28 Feb 2006
This book is a must read, I am saddened that it has been relegated to a few reading lists and that it took a celebrity like Oprah to bring it back and restore its worthy readership in America. Here in England, we still haven't managed to see that works of fiction out side of the canon are capable of being literary and worthy of both a high readership and scholarly study.

Carson McCullers is a fantastic author and this book showcases her genius. Her work is timeless, applicable and deals with social issues beyond that of her periods understanding. This book contains in depth characterisation of: 'the grotesque','gender subversion' and racial dis/harmony.

I know that some will argue that its just another deep south novella about racial difference but its not. Equally I know that some will argue that the themes of loneliness, love and the loss of identity are prevalent because of McCullers' personal life. Again, I would suggest that these views are a little ignorant.

McCullers' novella, beautifully demonstrates the frailty of humanness; the fickleness of love and the crushing pain of rejection. McCullers confronts issues that are just as applicable today as the were half a century ago. Her novella is a work of fiction that brings relief and sadness to the soul. Her characterisation is amazing, vivid and at times necessarily repulsive.

In short, if your studying it, look past Cousin Lymon's obvious disability and concentrate on the homo-social relationship between him and Marvin Macy, and the Eros/Agape in-balance between him and Miss Amelia. Also, recognise the importance of the lover and the beloved and the significance of the Twelve Mortal Men.

If you want to read this book for pleasure, ENJOY, it is beautiful!

A harrowing yet beautifully written novella, 17 Mar 2000
I read this book last year when I was twelve and have read it many times since! It is beautifully poetic and tells the story of Miss Amelia and her unrequited love for Cousin Lymon, a hunchback . It also tells of her rejected husband, Marvin Macy, and how he stole the admiration and the heart of the hunchback with depressing consequences. A must bedtime read if you like sad books or any of Carson Mc Cullers other books.

McCuller's unique voice haunts after others are silenced., 03 Jan 2002
We know that Tennessee Williams, Scott Fitzgerald, Truman Capote and others wrote about America and the Deep South. Yet it is Carson McCuller's unique voice that haunts long after the others are silenced, for no other writer has plumbed the depths of loneliness as profoundly as McCuller, or encapsulated the suffering caused by the Deep South's singular sense of displacement. Searingly insightful and heartrending; exquisitely agonizing in her compassion for flawed humanity; hauntingly unforgettable, her novels test and test again the ultimate resources of the human spirit. And in the testing we find that the spirit is unquenchable.

A very good grasping book, 12 Dec 2000
I really enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone

Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 20 Aug 2008
A wonderful book about loneliness, love, friendship, misplaced devotion, and seeing in people what you need to see. Somehow sad and yet profoundly beautiful at the same time. A great book who's messages are softly hidden under a rich story, it was a lovely experience to read. I recommend it awfully highly.

A disappointing read, 18 Jul 2008
I read this book for a recent book group and although it made for an excellent discussion, three out of four of us did not enjoy it. We found it a struggle to get through and I, personally would not have finished it if I'd felt I had the choice.
The plot is slow, tediously so at times and I couldn't help but wonder what the point was to all these aimless people wandering in and out of Springer's room.

I do understand what the book is about and I'm very pleased that we were able to flush it out during subsequent discussion, that alone made the whole exercise worth while, but I require a higher level of reading pleasure during the process.

My apologies to those who thought the book was wonderful, I'll stick to my more modern literature :)

The desperate search for love and friendship; the need to reach out and touch, 07 Feb 2008
When John Singer loses his fellow deaf-mute and beloved friend to a psychiatric asylum he finds himself overcome by loneliness in the small town in the Deep South where he lives. But after his friend has gone his amiable and sympathetic ways are appreciated by four equally lonely neighbours who regularly come to his room to chat and to pour out their hearts: a boisterous, sad drunk, a recently widowed café owner, a spirited adolescent girl and an angry, Spinoza-reading black doctor. As they gravitate around him he unwittingly becomes to them all that they want - and need - him to be. An achingly poignant meditation on loneliness, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures all the painful alienation of the human experience; the desperate search for love and friendship, the need to reach out and touch. The anguish of spiritual loneliness and isolation has never been better portrayed than in this beautiful book, made all the more remarkable in that the author was just twenty three years old when she composed it.
Pre-War American literature describes a troubled country still in formation, one still riven by arbitrary violence, debilitating poverty and deep-seated racial and social injustice and segregation. Carson Mc Cullers demonstrates both a deep sensitivity towards the plight of those people most blighted by injustice - blacks and Jews - and anger at the growing tide of fascism in Europe. It is so sad that less than half a century later a fairer and more prosperous society, in part due to the defeat of European fascism, should instead have spawned the nihilism and greed of the Brett Easton Ellis generation.


A Tender Classic, 14 Aug 2007
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an achingly beautiful sad and unforgettable tale. It is the most touching book I have ever read.

Brilliant!, 04 Feb 2005
In her brilliant debut, Carson McCullers explores what may be the central core of human existence. The pursuit of love, understanding,our connection with humanity and the devastation of lonelieness when the connection is severed or misdirected.
What if the object of your affection, the focus of your friendship, the keeper of your confidences, is an illusion?
John Singer is the means by which McCullers brings to life this conundrum. A deaf mute living in the Depression era American South, Singer only commmunicates with his deaf room mate. The problem is, his room mate has no more understanding of Singer's dreams than Singer will have of the people in the town who, because of his silence, see in him reflections of themselves.
Singer's increasing isolation leads to a devastating and heartbreaking conclusion.
There is far more to this novel than I can describe here, so get a copy and discover the beauty of this book for yourself.
The writing is beautiful, the characters exquisitely realized and it is my favorite novel of all time. It is a book I picked up when I was 13 and still revisit.
McCullers speaks for all of us and our very human condition. Her insight is made more remarkable when the reader remembers that the book was published when the author was only 23 years old.

DARK AND MELANCHOLIC COMING OF AGE STORY..., 26 Aug 2007
This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. We see her world through her eyes, so that the reader gets a skewed version of the world around Frankie. Clearly all is not right with her, as her brother is getting married and Frankie thinks that she will be going off with her brother and his bride. Frankie spins a total fantasy around this concept. She does not think that two is company and three is a crowd.

Why does she do this? There are many reasons. Some of them are rather dark. Frankie's mother died giving birth to her. Her father has remained a widower, letting Frankie sleep in the same bed with him until she was about twelve, when he finally gave her the boot. Her best friend is her six year old first cousin, John Henry. He likes to sleep over, and when he does, he sleeps in the bed with Frankie. She caresses him when he sleeps, and even takes to licking him behind his ear while he slumbers. She also has apparently had a sexual encounter of some kind with a neighborhood boy, an incident about which she will not speak. The author weaves these details into the story, glossing over them, leaving the reader feeling shocked. This feeling is exacerbated by the almost casual interjection of these details.

There is so much emotional trauma in Frankie's life that it is amazing she can function at all. Also distressing to Frankie is the fact that she is isolated from children her own age. The neighborhood girls, who are just a little older than her and whom Frankie envies, shun her. Her father pretty much ignores her, leaving her upbringing to the housekeeper, Bernice. When it comes time to buy her a dress for her brother's wedding, she is sent off to buy the dress by herself. It is little wonder that the dress she ends up purchasing is totally unsuitable. Her feeling of isolation is palpable to the reader.

Although Frankie is somewhat of a tomboy, she likes getting dressed up, slathering on lipstick, and taking a walk through the town, calling herself F. Jasmine, looking older than her years. In this guise, she meets a soldier, who takes her for being much older. It comes as no surprise when it all goes horribly wrong. Yet, Frankie is evidently a survivor and manages to fend for herself.

The moment of truth for Frankie arrives when her brother's wedding finally takes place, but by then that event is almost anti-climactic, as events continue to buffet Frankie, leaving her more isolated that ever before. Still, she continues on, not seeming to have learned anything all from her experiences, an emotionally troubled child suffering a severe disconnection from the world.

This is a thematically complex story told through the jagged fragments of the life of a young girl, one who views the world in a disjointed, unrealistic way, her world view clouded by inner demons that are never given a voice. It is a story that is dark and melancholic, leaving the reader to ponder upon a life so young, yet so despairing.

Slow, funny, touching, 13 Jan 2006
Throughout the authors life she wrote about lonliness and love, usually unrequited. These themes are brilliantly realised in this small novel about a weekend in the life of Frankie, a twelve year old girl unsure of herself and the world. There isn't much plot, and in parts it seems to move on leisurly, taking time over small details, but you are never bored because every detail seems to be whipped up with realistic emotion and perfectly placed within the story. The language is similarily thoughtout, often it boarders on poetic, but than at the moments of highest drama Mccullers draws back into a declarative objective tone. This book feels so real, the charecters, and most of all the things the author puts into words that you have only felt before. I'm blathering, but in short BRILLIANT. Read and read again.

very boring, 24 Mar 1999
This book was very tedious and pointless. Frankie seems very unrealistic and stupid . . .the whole book is based upon a stupid fantasy of hers. It is very tedious reading, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining, 09 Apr 1998
Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

Beautifully written prose, odd characterisation, 26 Nov 2007
This novella by Carson McCullers is certainly distinctive, boasting some of the most beautifully-written and authentic prose I have ever read. It concerns an odd character named Amelia, a woman who lives in a tiny American hamlet. Some years after an incredibly short marriage to a vile man named Marvin, a new man enters Amelia's life in the shape of a hunchback named Lymon who claims to be some distant cousin of Amelia's. The hunchback has a profound effect on Amelia and she falls in love with him. It is at this stage in her life that she opens a cafe, which becomes the heart of the town, incredibly popular and atmospheric.

McCullers writes about the nature of love in an acutely touching way. Her descriptions of how a bad penny like Marvin falls for Amelia and is reduced to someone lovelorn and meek in her presence is very affecting and real, something that most people can relate to. So too is Amelia's fascination with Lymon the hunchback, and her affection/love for him.

Another of the novella's attributes, as I have mentioned, is the natural and effortless beauty of the prose. McCuller's describes places, weather, people and events in a thoroughly unconventional, detailed and striking way, using some truly beautiful and inspired imagery. There is no doubt that McCullers is a naturally gifted writer.

Yet there were things about this novella which bothered me greatly. The main thing was the characterisation. McCullers descriptions of all of the three main characters makes them sound like absolute freaks which virtually no-one would be able to relate to. Amelia is described as tall, and McCullers conveys this in a way which makes Amelia sound like a circus freakshow, which tall women clearly aren't. Undoubtedly, some tall women can be clumsy, but McCuller's descriptions of Amelia dressing in men's clothing and boxing do not ring true and are distinctly unbelievable. Without stereotyping, it is a great leap for the reader to have much belief in a female character who is clearly supposed to be heterosexual, yet chooses to wear men's clothing and get into physical fights with men. It simply doesn't ring true.

The characterisation of Lymon, too is distinctly far-fetched and alien. He's portrayed as a downright weirdo; an attention-seeking, shambling freak of a human being who talks to himself and behaves in a way which can best be described as repugnant. Yet we as readers are supposed to believe that he manages to capture the heart of a woman twice his height? Far-fecthed doesn't even begin to describe the relations between characters here.

All of this culminates in the return of Marvin Macy, and it is this event which truly leads the relations between characters down Weird Street. After Marvin punches Lymon in the face for absolutely no reason, Lymon then becomes fixated and obsessed by Marvin, following him everywhere. Then McCullers begins to describe the tension and hatred between Marvin and Amelia, but also Lymon's apparent love for Marvin. After a fashion, a boxing match is then planned between Amelia and Marvin. This is deeply insulting towards tall women, and somehow implies that tall women are by their very nature aggressive and/or more suited towards physical fighting than smaller women. Be