Carson Mac Cullers

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Carson McCullers

The heart is a lonely hunter

♱ zuzanna 

„The way i need you is a loneliess I cannot bear.”

At the novel's center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for all various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music.

Ein Buch dass so voll mit Weisheiten ist und unfassbar schwer ist. Da das Buch zu einer Zeit geschrieben wurde, als Hitler noch an der macht stand, hatte diese 23-jährige Frau eine viel klarere Vorstellung davon, was mit der Welt nicht stimmte, als ich jemals erreichen konnte. Und sie erzählt von dieser Vision auf die einzige Art und Weise, wie sie erzählt werden kann.

Was für ein trauriges Buch, und doch so aufschlussreich über Einsamkeit, Verzweiflung und Entfremdung, dass es unmöglich ist, es nicht irgendwie zu lieben.

Fatima

Ein Buch dass so voll mit Weisheiten ist und unfassbar schwer ist. Da das Buch zu einer Zeit geschrieben wurde, als Hitler noch an der macht stand, hatte diese 23-jährige Frau eine viel klarere Vorstellung davon, was mit der Welt nicht stimmte, als ich jemals erreichen konnte. Und sie erzählt von dieser Vision auf die einzige Art und Weise, wie sie erzählt werden kann.

Was für ein trauriges Buch, und doch so aufschlussreich über Einsamkeit, Verzweiflung und Entfremdung, dass es unmöglich ist, es nicht irgendwie zu lieben.

A story of a person who has mastered attention (in the Weil-ian sense) but is surrounded by people who can't offer him the same. It's depressing, brilliant, and quintessentially American.

elizabeth

Colton Ray

What can I say except that it is one of the best books I've read? Draws you in and doesn't let go. Filled with beautiful and heartbreaking writing and characters. This is the kind of novel I see myself returning to time and again and uncovering new meaning each time.

Edmond Rostand

Heroic Comedy in Five Acts

Cyrano de Bergerac

Sarah Sammis

I've reread this novel a number of times. It holds up.

jack

weeping at the end of this. i don't really buy the sweet ending. everything here is just so incredibly bleak.

...

"Like a skein of loose silk blown against a wall
She walks by the railing of a path in Kensington Gardens,
And she is dying piece-meal
of a sort of emotional anemia.
 
And round about there is a rabble
Of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor.
They shall inherit the earth.
 
In her is the end of breeding.
Her boredom is exquisite and excessive.
 
She would like some one to speak to her,
And is almost afraid that I
will commit that indiscretion."
 -Ezra Pound

Laura Mauler

** spoiler alert **
           More like a 2.5 star book.

I liked how it started, with people of all sorts coming in to see a play. It was fun to think about the different types of people portrayed, and how over the centuries us humans don't really change that much. There's always the stuffy middle-agers taking themselves very seriously, the young fellas pulling pranks and acting out, the vain young men strutting around and provoking others. It's somehow sweet to see. All that happened during the acts in the theater was tops.

Then came the wooing, the main event. What an absolute snooze-fest. Cyrano's long-windedness, which is what Roxane loves most about him/Christian, is flat-out boring to this modern reader. We get it, she's hot and you have the feels, WRAP IT UP.

Then we are on the frontlines of a siege in the war between France and Spain. Here things perked up considerably. And that moment when Roxane's carriage rolls into camp - I about died! It was so unexpected and brilliant. This love triangle is brought to a head, but then with a little twist our author avoids the explosion. What what what?! So then does Roxane marry Cyrano to give us the happy ending, or does she marry the villain-whose-name-I-forget and break our hearts? OMG NEITHER. It is so perfectly done.

So the first and last acts were really good, but that middle dragged the whole thing down. I've got it at 2 stars right now, but as it percolates in my subconscious and conscious over the next few days I might bump it up.

Colleen

3.5 Stars
 
*An insightful exploration of human nature*
 

This was the first book by Carson McCullers that I’ve read. And there are many impressive things about this classic tale. First off, this was a debut novel, and it was published when the author was only twenty-three! McCullers certainly has the insight of an old soul. Her writing shows an emotional maturity and an empathy for humanity. The comparisons to John Steinbeck make sense both because of her down to earth, brusque writing style and because of the content being centered on the impoverished American South.
 
One thing I love about reading classics is how they demonstrate the more things change, the more they stay the same. Yes, there are many things about the time period of this book that are drastically different than today. But there are many things – both good and bad – that remain the same. Human nature, oppression, working to live just so you can die. Each generation likes to think that they are the first to experience the highs and lows of life or that they experience them more strongly than those who came before them. But reading old books shows you that all that joy and heartache, the dreams and disappointments, the triumphs and struggles have been experienced by countless people before you. And those emotions will be experienced by countless generations after you.
 

  “The people dreamed and fought and slept as much as ever. And by habit they shortened their thoughts so that they would not wander out into the darkness beyond tomorrow.”

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was first published in 1940 and provides a fascinating look into the times. The world sat on the brink of the worst war in history. And that does have a huge impact on this story. Fascism is discussed in depth. Hilter and the mistreatment of Jews is mentioned repeatedly. And yet there is also an insular focus on the characters’ mundane day-to-day lives. The story is set in a small, impoverished town in the South. People are still reeling from the Great Depression. They’re struggling to make the best of their lives, nurturing hopes and dreams while trying to make ends meet. The story is a wonderful peek into the past. Certain things stand out – whether it’s how much you could buy for a dollar (and how comparatively low wages were) to children being able to buy cigarettes and beer – it was so interesting to look at everyday life in that time period.
 
The story is very much a slow character exploration. There is almost no plot. At the crux of the story is John Singer – a deaf man who stands as the keystone to the other characters. Considering the time when this was written, it was almost unheard of to include any diversity in novels. Having a deaf character (particularly one written as smart and compassionate rather than mentally handicapped) was sadly uncommon. Singer’s character also provided a mirror for the other characters that allowed the author to explore their psyche. Each character sees the world (and Singer) as a reflection of themselves and uses him for their own validations. As the title indicates, this is a story focuses on loneliness and the many ways it can affect one’s life.
 

   “In his face there came to be a brooding peace that is seen most often in the faces of the very sorrowful or the very wise. But still he wandered through the streets of the town, always silent and alone.” 

McCullers certainly didn’t shy away from controversial subjects. Not only did she feature a deaf main character, she also blatantly discussed racism and poverty as well as religion and political issues. The characters demonstrate the ways that passion can morph into obsession and madness.
 
While this story had many fascinating elements, it never connected with me on any deeper, emotional level. I remained strangely disconnected the entire book. The writing style features beautiful and insightful phrases contrasted with vulgar bluntness. There were many quotes I wanted to save. There were also times when I found the writing off-putting. But the biggest problem was that the story lacked any emotional connect to me. I enjoyed it on an intellectual level, but I felt no emotional bond to the characters. Part of this may have been that I went into the story expecting to be moved, so it felt all the more disappointing when I wasn’t.
 
The story starts to drag in the middle. I mentioned that there is very little plot. So I found my interest wavering at times. Thankfully it isn’t a long book, so I was still able to finish it quickly. Aside from the emotional disconnect and the lack of plot, there was far too much proselytization. I know that was the point, but it made the story tedious at times. There is one scene where two characters are literally shouting their opposing views simultaneously and it just turned into this exhausting mess. I couldn’t wait for that chapter to end.
 
The overall effect was mixed for me, and I’m still waffling about my rating. There were parts of this story that were insightful, powerful, and beautifully written. But other parts were drawn-out and boring. And the biggest disappointment remains the lack of emotional impact to me. I think this is a great piece to read and discuss for its place in both literature and history. But sadly, it didn’t come anywhere close to hitting my Favorites shelf. Although I would recommend The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, my reflections on this book are always going to contain a thread of disappointment.

 
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

Gia Palamos

I had no idea what this book was about when I started reading it and it surprised me in so many ways. Carson McCullers wrote about the injustices, inequality and racism during her time and it still holds true today. Chapters 6, 10, 13 and 15 broke me.

'The way I need you is a loneliness I cannot bear' Making its twenty-three-year-old author an overnight literary sensation, this story of isolated, lost lives intersecting in a small town in the American South is a masterpiece of humane sensitivity. Ten new titles in the colourful, small-format, portable new Pocket Penguins series

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Ram Kumar Ramaswamy 

The book had me in tears, and in thorough wonderment when I look back now, at how simple the story is, and yet so timeless in its literary quality. I also watched the film version taken in the 1960s and was even more impressed. These characters are eternal, and I can imagine them in my city in today's timeline having a parallel stream of moments. The human experience, indeed. What else can I say except thanks, to Carson McCullers, who managed to write this at such a young age of 23, and with such profundity, equality, and nonchalance as the characters ride the rollercoaster of time, and emerge battered... As most of us including myself are suckers for tragedies, this book gave me that closure, and left me in such sweet melancholy for weeks. The book's impact should be judged by what thought changes occur in a reader, and in me, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter made me more stoic, and accepting of people. The reading also strengthened my resolve to reach out to those around me, secretly suffering, even if I cannot help them in real terms, I will have, more than ever before, time to listen to their tales.

Jeannette Ordas

This took me a long time to get through, probably because I wasn't truly captivated by the book. That said, I did think it was a good read and beautifully written. While I liked getting to know these outcast and lonely characters in the South, the one I was most interested in was Mick.

Matthew Rasnake

Why do I feel like I just finished a 359 page novelization of a depressing Seinfeld episode?

Kirsten Simkiss

For the record, I was reading the Helen Dole translation.

A tragic tale of love and confidence. Two men very much in love, but both with loss of confidences that just so happen to align - a team effort that was always doomed to fail. Together, they woo a woman they both love and admire, and therein lies the story of the play. It's a beautiful and sorrowful story. 

While I am unfortunately stuck reading a translation and could not even hope to read the original as I don't speak a lick of French, I enjoyed the story. I'm not sure I've ever encountered another one quite like it, even with as many books and as many films as I have consumed in my lifetime. I can see why it has lasted so long as a classic play.

alina s

this book got published decades ago but is still relevant cause nothing has changed about racism and capitalism in America (clown emoji)

Irene Alegre

This was boring. Dull. I might have read at the wrong time, the wrong way, because it looks like I'm in the minority here, but I didn't like this novel. It's not that it has disappointed me, or that I expected more from it than what I got. I got what I expected, and I like the concept of the book. I think it's beautifully written, and Mick Kelly in particular sounds like a very human, realistic character. The way she thinks about music, and the way she dreams about her future, and her ambition to live different things, to see the snow, and live somewhere else, and learn to write music. And then the last scenes with Harry, you could see what was going to happen, you could feel it, that pubescent curiosity, the initiation to sexuality, the children that want to act like adults and when they do, they become adults that would rather go back to being children. 

And yet it's taken me a whole month to read this rather short novel, which is not a good thing to say about a book. It made me sleepy. It didn't trap me except for a few pages. I kept reading, waiting for the final light, the big surprise, the pages that would make me change my mind, but those never arrived. And in that sense, I am disappointed.

Jaymie Lemke

Biggest waste of time. I feel generous giving this book one star.

Matthieu Baumier

Vittoria Vespoli 

I still love it just as much (and it still hurts just as much). Did anyone notice the whole blood-physique, pleurs-âme thing they did with Cyrano’s and Christian last letter? Anyway. Read it Read it Read it is all I got to say, once again.

Reread for Secret Santa in April:
This was fun to annotate (I thought my commentary was hilarious) and well yk. Passing the love of one of your favourite books is just. Yes. So there’s that. Anyway. Go read it.

Melody Izard

I was expecting more from this Southern star and it was probably not fair of me. And even though, no doubt, Ms. McCullers builds some pretty obscure characters, the story got tiresome to me. I love the dusty, Southern past she writes about though.

Jade Flynn

A quote that frequently entered my thoughts whilst reading this novel is one found in East of Eden "Perhaps the best conversationalist is the man who helps others talk". It encapsulates the heart of the story splendidly. If you prefer fast paced action packed novels, this is not something you would enjoy, the pace is slow, sweltering and suffocating just like the South itself. Part coming of age, part snapshot of a troubled region and country, McCullers takes you on a slow ride through poverty, violence, racism, loss of innocence, music and isolation in an unnamed town. Shown through a deaf-mute with a mysterious religious significance, a young girl trying to fight for her place in the world, a newcomer to town that doesn't quite fit in, a man who truly knows the meaning of "you never know what you've got until it's gone" and a medical doctor who is one of the most unforgettable characters I have ever read. Even though each of their lives are laced with tragedy they are not without hope. The two main things I took away from this novel are, firstly - do not rely solely on one person for happiness or have unrealistic expectations of people because it's a one way ticket to Heartbreak City. And secondly, in order to change your own life or change the world, you cannot walk alone because the heart is not always supposed to be a lonely hunter. Beautifully written, thoroughly enjoyed every page. 

Would highly recommend to Harper Lee and John Steinbeck fans. 

"Maybe when people longed for a thing that bad the longing made them trust in anything that might give it to them.”

Malin Alexander

I hadn't cry because of a book in quite a while...

Shea Newton

This might be a five star book, I need to think about it for awhile.

A quiet, sensitive girl searches for beauty in a small, but damned Southern town.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Reviews

Highlights