Customer Reviews
A Book for All Ages 
2008-04-11
This is a great story for people of all ages. As a teenager, I felt at one with the antagonist of the story. As an adult I see her transition more clearly than before. It is also a reminder of the power of the emotions of adolescence and those first real learning experiences, something I hope I will never forget.
Story that will stay with you... 
2008-03-29
This is one of my favorites!
This is the first McCullers' book that I have read and it has become one of my favourites. It felt like a timeless story that could have been written only yesterday instead of in the 1930's. It also could have been written by a much older, experienced person instead of a young girl of 23 years. It is a gentle, sad story that might have been typical of small town life. It was very refreshing to feel submerged in the slow pace and emotion of life in a long gone era. The story touched me in an unexpected way, and I know I will long remember the characters and their individual stories.
The story is about a deaf mute named John Singer, who after his best friend(also a deaf mute) Antonapoulos is sent to an asylum becomes lonely, four other characters also become lonely due to some result of isolation; Dr. Copeland is seperated by his family and his race because of his high education and viewpoint; Jake Blount is angry because the radical social viewpoints he has, won't be understood by anyone else in the town; Mick Kelly cannot communicate with her family because of they do not share her interests and ambitions; Biff Brannon becomes alone when his wife dies and ponders and struggles to resolve inner conflicts in life. The book isn't too long and the pace isn't too slow. The dialogue, pace, and tone is astonishing. It is a great book that I highly reccomend Another title that I suggest reading is One Hundred Years of Solitude.
THIS BOOK IS NOT ABOUT HUNTING! 2008-02-24
Consider yourself warned. This book is not about hunting, despite the title. A couple of people do get shot, but they weren't really hunted. The book instead is about a collection of misfits in the South with such names as "Spareribs," "Bubber," and even a deaf mute strangely named "Singer." These people do their best to live their lives, and they seem to find some comfort in setting up one guy as a sort of god-like figure (there is an uber-god who seem to be the only content person in the novel). What happens when your god dies? I guess you keep on going. The lives of these misfits sheds light on personal and inter-personal conflicts. If the soul is the seat of passion and turmoil, of beauty and ugliness, of honor and cowardice, then the South is the soul of America, as far as I can tell from this book. Anyway, like I said in the beginning, this book is not about hunting, but maybe you'll find it worthwhile.
Incredibly average 
2008-01-28
I have no idea why this book is considered a classic. It is quite pedestrian and doesn't have a real "voice". It's a decent portrait of some of societies "left behind" people, but nothing rings of literary immortality. Not memorable.
The Heart of Lonliness 2008-01-22
This is an extraordinary work in the way it is the only novel written that truly catches the deaf experience and feelings. That Carson McCullers was herself disabled may be the reason for such insightful empathy in John Singer, the deaf mute whom a host of characters use to ease their own feelings of emptiness and lonliness. That 'Mr Singer' has feelings and human problems they are oblivious to.
This is a masterful novel. I had 'got into' McCullers work by reading her 'Ballad of the Sad Cafe' short story collection and have yet to be anything other than stunned by her wonderful writing. This is a five star novel with bags to spare.
Easy to put down, hard to pick up. 
2007-11-28
With the publication of her 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 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 black 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 today as when it was first published. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate, endearing best.
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter: An Effective Teaching Tool and Genuinely Good Read 2007-11-08
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is an ideal book for teachers to educate their students on the influential effect of characterization and an author's ability to create tension and evoke sympathy in the reader. Carson McCullers' compelling mastery of characterization and manipulation of the reader's feelings create a world filled with loneliness and disappointment.
One instance where McCullers manipulates the reader's feelings occurs when different characters in the book visit Singer in his room. Four different characters, Dr. Copeland, Biff, Mick, and Jake discuss their problems with Singer in his room on a regular basis. The trouble is that they are not discussing, but merely telling Singer their problems. They use Singer as a sound board and he just nods serenely. They enjoy this time because they are allowed to speak their mind with no inhibitions and feel as though Singer genuinely agrees with them. In reality, they are deceiving themselves by projecting their imagination of how they want him to respond onto him. Unbeknownst to the reader, McCullers creates enough ambiguity in the reader's knowledge of each character that he begins to pass judgment on the characters according to how he wants them to be. This example provides educators an opportunity to demonstrate the author's ability to influence the reader's emotions by portraying certain events in such a way that they conflict with the reader's desires.
McCullers continues to use the reader's wants to force them to feel the characters' loneliness through John Singer's lack of response to his visitors. The audience wants Singer to respond to the people. The characters are crying out for help and Singer continues to sit and never replies. McCullers refuses to give the reader that satisfaction or else the reader's imagination could not fill in the holes of ambiguity. If Singer were to talk to the people and help them out with their problems, then the tension would relax and everything would work out in the end. The space and distance between the characters that interact on a daily basis create the loneliness both they and the reader feel. This helps students realize that authors intentionally illustrate characters and events in a very specific way in order to elicit certain emotions and expectations in the reader.
The reader's expectations are further heightened as McCuller provides situations in which the conflict could finally be resolved. One night, Singer meets three other mutes and begins to converse with him. This event provokes a sense of excitement in the reader because Singer may finally find someone in which he can relate. His loneliness may be resolved at last. But in the end something is amiss and Singer wants nothing to do with them. And so, the reader gets pulled in and then crushed. Likewise, both Jake Blout and Dr. Copeland live in this small town, love Communism and Marxism, and spend their lives fighting for it. They eventually run into each other and only need to share their thoughts to each other, but they miss the opportunity. They skip over the only person that could relate to their situation and continue to live their lives in sorrow and alone. Because all these experiences promote a sense of hopelessness and loss, students can easily see that authors carefully place situations throughout a book that tie back to a specific objective and feeling.
In addition to unresolved expectations, McCullers successfully uses characterization to elicit sympathy in the reader. For instance, the reader especially bonds with Mick because she is the closest to Singer and like a child. She is the musically talented struggling girl that the readers yearns to see succeed. The beautiful diction by which Mick speaks and the faith felt in her causes the reader to love her. Yet she is tainted. She smokes against the reader's will. She has one shot at a musical scholarship but loses it. There is one shot in the book for a true loving relationship to occur between Mick and Harry and it ends with a fumbling, inarticulate sexual intercourse. The great potential in Mick fails and the reader is left feeling lost and hopeless. Having the opportunity to seriously relate to characters lets the reader emotionally invest in the novel and form a deeper connection with the book, thus making it a better read and profound teaching tool.
Another instance of McCullers' effective use of characterization is seen in Dr. Copeland. Dr. Copeland is the epitome of a crushing figure. He is described as a wrinkled old black man that only wants to help save his people. He has this passion for Marxism and names his children after communist philosophers. Yet his children do not understand him and he cannot seem to get through to anyone he reaches out to. The reader experiences his extreme frustration as he witnesses his family being broken apart and is powerless to stop it. He is constantly attending to the sick while coughing and spitting into a handkerchief. The appeal to the reader's emotions leaves him feeling helpless as he watches Dr. Copeland get sicker and sicker and become a martyr for his people. As teachers and students read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, they will notice they have developed a new sense of sympathy toward the characters and will regard the book on a more personal level.
Additionally, this novel exudes tension and loss that the reader can feel through McCullers' character Bubber. Bubber, later known as George, symbolizes the reader's relationship and experience with the novel. In the beginning, Bubber is an ignorant and innocent toddler that is merely starting his life in the community. Although he has been introduced to the harsh society, he later learns the true loneliness and cruelty of the world. When Bubber accidentally shoots Baby in the head, his whole world changes. He is loses his innocence and is no longer called Bubber, but his real name George. He has responsibilities and his family treats him as an adult. Comparatively, the reader begins the novel assuming it will be another happy ending story. Experiencing the events through the eyes of various characters exposes the reader to a realistic and depressing life. Therefore, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is unarguably an optimal instrument teachers can draw on to demonstrate the power characterization has on influencing the audience's feelings.
McCullers' extraordinary use of characterization and control of the reader's expectations allow her to create a society full of conflict and tension. She uses each character and his or her experiences to evoke a specific emotion in the reader. These skills collaborate together to form an effective novel that is a perfect tool for teachers to instruct their students in the great power of characterization while students can simultaneously enjoy an enthralling and thought-provoking book. It is greatly recommended for its usefulness in educating students in the power of both one author and one book's ability to instill a new sense of the need for acceptance, love, maturity, and understanding.
the lonely who need understanding 2007-10-27
Carson McCullers' masterpiece about lonely people living together
in a small Southern town during the Great Depression is a confusing
and yet intriguing story about how the human condition often forces
us to make decisions that question our existence. The story is about
a deaf-mute man and his interactions with other lonely people,
including an invalid, a black doctor and his rebellious daughter
and the family the man lives with, including a young tomboyish girl
who longs to be accepted by the kids in her neighborhood.
I didn't quite enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed the movie, though.
I would suggest to watch the movie after reading the book to clear
up any confusion or questions that the book failed to resolve.
Thought-provoking, memorable 2007-10-22
As far as an enjoyable reading experience, I preferred Dawn Powell's Dance Night, which is about a similar time and place. But there is no doubting the power of this book. It follows several intertwined characters -- a cafe owner, a young puberty-aged girl, a drunken socialist agitator, a scholarly black doctor... And a kind, mute young man, almost Christ-like in the way he is perceived by others and who is at the very core of the tale. Each of these people are defined by a special vision that is at the core of their lives -- they are driven: for knowledge, for art, for mankind, for freedom and respect, for love of another. To some degree, I found the story contrived despite its gritty, unforgiving realism -- almost like a mathematical formula. But after a while I stopped thinking about that contrivance and was gripped by the story itself. It is clearly a product of the Depression and the threat of War and the social and racial injustices of the 1930's, so it helped me to experience that time. The protagonists in this story are all so driven by, and truthful to, their inner visions, it made me think: What is my vision? And am I truthful to it? As flawed or limited as each the central characters are, each became admirable as the story progressed -- each supremely driven by love and caring in their own way.
The Quiet Man. 2007-09-27
An outstanding and realistic examination of the human condition. It's an indirect examination ("thoughts that wound from behind" as the great philosopher/storyteller Soren Kierkegaard put it) and that's what makes it so effective.
Everyone is so caught up in their own problems and acting out their desires that nobody notices the quiet suffering of the saintly central character. When he exits his void is felt yet no one can fathom the reasons for his disappearances. Maybe Jean Calvin was/is right about that thorough-corruption doctrine.
Carson McCullers sounds Kierkegaardian in showing the limits of organized religion and social action. The men of purposeful action (street preacher Simms, vagabond Jake Blount, and house-calling Doctor Copeland end up estranged, embittered, and feeling a lack of accomplishment. Meanwhile, the non-formalists (John Singer, Mick Kelly, and Biff Brannon) are better-adjusted and seem to have done more for the world. McCullers doesn't forget the "middle path" either by giving us Portia Copeland, a decent and generous church-goer who talks a little too much.
Our author echoes the sentiments of fellow Southerner William Faulkner on the civil rights issue. Both McCullers and Faulkner despaired at the suffering of blacks under Jim Crow but were wise enough to know the situation could not be legislated away (after all Jim Crow was a creation of government too.) Racism is a human failing to see The Other as a fellow child of G-d. It's an animalistic impulse, as Rabbi Daniel Lapin (a teacher of mine) rightly points out. Trying to speed the undoing of this impulse through legislation and protest marches, while not completely unhelpful, risks bloodshed. Having the faith/attributes of Biff (who runs a restaurant/hospitality center in the spirit of Biblical patriarch Abraham, the father of faith), Mick and Singer makes peaceful change possible in time.
Doctor Copeland and Jake Blount foreshadow the professional protestors of our era. Their enjoyment in physical confrontations tells us a good bit about the psyche of poverty pimps and union thugs.
Singer's life shows the truth of what another of my teachers (the saintly Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT"L) once said -- "It is the quiet man that is respected." The public activist hero portrayed in Hollywood and TV news misleads many into thinking that they must pour forth a constant stream of verbiage to make an impact and promote "understanding." Rabbi Miller and other sages know better -- Most talking is counterproductive.
McCullers (who was 23 at the time "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" was published) proves herself the Great American Prophetess of the Great American Loneliness. Widespread ambivalence and inarticulateness amid the Information Age and cell-phone-driven communications "revolution" wouldn't have surprised Carson McCullers.
To close, here's a gem -- "He (Biff) had known his loves and they were over. Alice, Madeline, and Gyp. Finished. Leaving him either better or worse. Which? However you looked at it."
