When she was only twenty-three, Carson McCullers's first novel created a literary sensation. She was very special, one of America's superlative writers who conjures up a vision of existence as terrible as it is real, who takes us on shattering voyages into the depths of the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition. This novel is the work of a supreme artist, Carson McCullers's enduring masterpiece. The heroine is the strange young girl, Mick Kelly. The setting is a small Southern town, the cosmos universal and eternal. The characters are the damned, the voiceless, the rejected. Some fight their loneliness with violence and depravity, Some with sex or drink, and some -- like Mick -- with a quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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"To me the most impressive aspect of THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is the astonishing humanity that enables a white writer, for the first time in Southern fiction, to handle Negro characters with as much ease and justice of those of her own race. This cannot be accounted for stylistically or politically; it seems to stem from an attitude toward life." -- Richard Wright
"When one puts [this book] down, it is with . . . a feeling of having been nourished by the truth." --May Sarton
"A remarkable book . . . [McCullers] writes with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming." The New York Times
"Quite remarkable . . . McCullers leaves her characters hauntingly engraved in the reader's memory." The Nation
"To me the most impressive aspect of 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter' is the astonishing humanity that enables a white writer, for the first time in Southern fiction, to handle Negro characters with as much ease and justice as those of her own race." -- Richard Wright New Republic
"One cannot help remarking that this is an extraordinary novel to have been written by a young woman of twenty-two; but the more important fact is that it is an extraordinary novel in its own right, considerations of authorship apart." -- Saturday Review of Literature Saturday Review
"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter has remarkable power, sweep and certainty . . . Her art suggests a Van Gogh painting peopled with Faulkner figures." The New York Times Book Review
"Sensitively conceived and expertly told . . . Its quality as writing and the intensity of its theme combine to make it one of the outstanding novels of recent years." --Times-Picayune
"Besides telling a good story, the author has peopled it with a small group of characters so powerfully drawn as to linger long in memory." Philadelphia Inquirer
"[McCullers] writes with a calm and factual realism, and with a deep and abiding insight into human psychology. She does so without an- --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"When one puts [this book] down, it is with . . . a feeling of having been nourished by the truth." --May Sarton
"A remarkable book . . . [McCullers] writes with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming." The New York Times
"Quite remarkable . . . McCullers leaves her characters hauntingly engraved in the reader's memory." The Nation
"To me the most impressive aspect of 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter' is the astonishing humanity that enables a white writer, for the first time in Southern fiction, to handle Negro characters with as much ease and justice as those of her own race." -- Richard Wright New Republic
"One cannot help remarking that this is an extraordinary novel to have been written by a young woman of twenty-two; but the more important fact is that it is an extraordinary novel in its own right, considerations of authorship apart." -- Saturday Review of Literature Saturday Review
"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter has remarkable power, sweep and certainty . . . Her art suggests a Van Gogh painting peopled with Faulkner figures." The New York Times Book Review
"Sensitively conceived and expertly told . . . Its quality as writing and the intensity of its theme combine to make it one of the outstanding novels of recent years." --Times-Picayune
"Besides telling a good story, the author has peopled it with a small group of characters so powerfully drawn as to linger long in memory." Philadelphia Inquirer
"[McCullers] writes with a calm and factual realism, and with a deep and abiding insight into human psychology. She does so without an- --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Carson McCullers was born in 1917. She is the critically acclaimed author of several popular novels in the 1940s and '50s, including The Member of the Wedding (1946). Her novels frequently depicted life in small towns of the southeastern United States and were marked by themes of loneliness and spiritual isolation. McCullers suffered from ill health most of her adult life, including a series of strokes that began when she was in her 20s; she died at the age of 50. The Member of the Wedding was dramatized for the stage in the 1950s and filmed in 1952 and 1997. Other films based on her books are Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967, with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968, starring Alan Arkin) and The Ballad of the Sad Café (1991).
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IN THE town there were two mutes, and they were always together. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
IN THE town there were two mutes, and they were always together. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
BORING?!?! Good heavens. I read this book years ago (in high school) and I loved it. I re-read it recently, and found it even more beautiful. It takes us to the meaning of loneliness and love in ways that other books don't. If you can appreciate works that pack a lot of meaning into the limited actions of characters (It's not a thriller, gang) and ask the reader to associate rather than merely see, you'll love this book. My favorite book is a toss up between this and To Kill a Mockingbird.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Gordon Dent
Format:Paperback
The lives of a number of outsiders in a small town in the American south cross and recross without the character's alienness or isolation ever being relieved. Watch for the comical clash between the two Marxists: an intellectual doctor and a radical worker who can't agree on anything.
At the novel's heart is John Singer (a desperately ironic choice of name), a deaf man who choses also to be mute. The eyes of his blind companion, he is also the confessor of the town's other lonely people, who find fruitless comfort in his patient attention.
The prose is astonishingly beautiful and the mood of the novel stays with the reader for days afterwards. Deeper and more moving than "The Ballad of the Sad Café", this is probably Carson McCullers's best work.
At the novel's heart is John Singer (a desperately ironic choice of name), a deaf man who choses also to be mute. The eyes of his blind companion, he is also the confessor of the town's other lonely people, who find fruitless comfort in his patient attention.
The prose is astonishingly beautiful and the mood of the novel stays with the reader for days afterwards. Deeper and more moving than "The Ballad of the Sad Café", this is probably Carson McCullers's best work.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 20th Century Classic
There are certain 20th Century writers who tower above all others and Carson McCullers is one of them. I have only read this book by McCullers an d I understand that already. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Stuart Tomanek
4.0 out of 5 stars
So who's the lonely one?
This is the first novel written by Carson, also later famous for `Member of the Wedding' (which I have also read), in 1940. Read more
Published 17 days ago by H. Tee
2.0 out of 5 stars
Means well, but ...
Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers' debut novel continues to thrill readers, at least according to reviewers on Amazon, but I found this... Read more
Carson McCullers' debut novel continues to thrill readers, at least according to reviewers on Amazon, but I found this... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. D. James
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit depressing
I bought this because a friend of mine said it was her favourite novel. Although beautifully written I found the story to be very sad with no reprieve from the misery or hope for a... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Donna Malone
5.0 out of 5 stars
Carson McCullers
Excellent writing, familiar and warm despite lack of happy ending and tattered hopes.. I'm definitely recommending it to American literature lovers.
Published 3 months ago by DonWombatos
2.0 out of 5 stars
Just couldn't get interested in it
and wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know.
I don't like the writing - it just failed to get my interest.
I don't like the writing - it just failed to get my interest.
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. J. Bloomer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatly depicted; but doesn't touch any semblance of 'truth'.
I was led onto McCullers works by Bukowski - a kind of literary sage to me, dropping the odd name of a writer who'd shone some magic for him throughout his works (Bukowski being... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Joely
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good
Great book, also downloaded the film which is a bit different but well worth watching if you have read the book.
Published 9 months ago by Kate
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very poor kindle edition
The book is great but the Penguin Kindle edition is full of obvious and disruptive scanning errors, about one per page. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Arthur Hugh
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worthy of a place on your book shelf
To me, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a classic novel. It certainly is a masterpiece. The setting of the story is down south in Georgia. The era is during the Great Depression. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Pius
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