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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN num: 9780618526413
ISBN number: 0618526412
Label: Mariner
Manufacturer: Mariner
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: April 21, 2004
Publishing house: Mariner
Release Date: April 21, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 8370
Studio: Mariner
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With the publication of her very first novel, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece very first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for 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. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty. Richard Wright praised Carson McCullers for her ability 'to rise above the pressures of her environment and embrace white and grey humanity in one sweep of apprehension and tenderness.' She writes 'with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming,' said the NEW YORK TIMES. McCullers became an overnight literary sensation, but her novel has endured, just as timely and powerful yesterday as when it was very first published. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate, endearing best.
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Rated by buyers 
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It took me two months and forty-eight hours of nonstop raining to finish this "classic" set in the Deep South during the 1930s. Key characters in the novel are all struggling with embracing and understanding what makes them different from the status quo. These characters also spend a fair amount of time pondering the human condition during a time when race relations in America appear to mirror ethnic relations in Hitler's Germany. The novel is quite dense and for me probably one of the slowest reads I've encountered in a while. I'm sure the story was quite powerful when it was originally published in 1940 but I wasn't able to connect to the story much at all; I simply wanted to finish it because it was a recommended read.
While I didn't get into the story much I'm sure there is much material here for academic and historical analysis but it wasn't much of a pleasure read for me - and definitely not a summer read. I checked this out from library and even with the late fees that I've racked up it was still cheaper than purchasing it. Read it if you have to for a classroom exercise but I can't recommend that you run out a purchase it.
Rated by buyers 
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I very first read this book as a teenager and have read it again several times over the years. There is something so deeply revealing about the human condition in the book that it is as meaningful to me in my sixties and it was in my teens - I think that something is perhaps a window into the angst of the human condition. I have read all of Carson McCuller's works, including the ones out of print.
Rated by buyers 
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This book deals with life in shades of gray, and my feelings about this book are also in shades of gray. Carson McCullers tackles issues that were prominent in the 1930's, including socialism, poverty, and racism. The writing is excellent, but I found this book dreary. Pretty much, it is about disappointment in life. If a positive message was tucked in, I couldn't glean it. It was hard to read - I would put it down and avoid picking it back up. The author did a good job of drawing her characters in an interesting way, and at a book club we had a lively and riveting discusion on the meaning of the deaf-mute character. I have thought about this book a lot since finishing it - a characteristic that I usually consider the mark of a great book. Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend it to just any casual reader.
Rated by buyers -
Maybe I'm just not a fan of the Southern Gothic genre to which this novel belongs, but man oh man, did I not "get" this book. I found it horribly tortuous and plodding in its pace, and felt that it all ultimately amounted to nothing special or remarkable at all. I had to force myself to finish it, and was always loathe to pick it up. I never felt invested in the characters or engaged in any of their stories, and the whole thing just left me feeling hollow inside. At times I would find particular storylines intriguing, but because of the way in which the story is told, all too soon I'd be tracking someone else's tale, and just as it got interesting, you'd have to switch gears and follow someone else's journey. Lather, rinse, repeat. None of the stories wind up being very meaty and left me incredibly hungry.
Not sure why this book is a classic or why it has received so much praise. Yes, people in very different walks of life and situations can be lonely, and loneliness can even bring people together and provide a common comfort. It's not that the message there is trite, it's just that the delivery was really not spectacular or moving at all. I couldn't help drawing parallels to "To Kill a Mocking Bird" the entire time I was reading this, and while I don't love that book either, I think you'd probably be better served reading it than this.
Rated by buyers -
This book was on many high school reading lists and I decided to re-read it 40 years after my very first time. It's still a great read, evocative of an interesting period, like stepping backwards in time. The message on the other hand is timeless, reminding those who think we live in a difficult period that all times are challenging. Readers sensitive to racial stereotyping would do well to remember that, when this book was written inclusion of African-Americans in a novel, much less one who is a doctor, was very unusual. Well worth the time.
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