The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

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The desperate search for love and friendship; the need to reach out and touch - Rated
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 - Rated
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! - Rated
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.

Small town loneliness, beautifully explored. - Rated
McCullers' novel explores the sadness and loneliness felt by those living in a small American town.

We become involved with a small number of characters, and learn that they are all yearning for something they don't have, can't have, once had...there is not much happiness in the book. This doesn't stop the novel being a beautiful and inspiring read. If nothing else, it makes us count our blessings!

I really enjoyed the character of Singer, the deaf-mute who is central to the book, and a main link between the other characters, whose lives cross from time to time.

All the characters who are yearning for something are drawn to Singer, visiting him regularly to pour their hearts out, drink with him or listen to his radio. Whereas the other characters are defined in large part by what they say and their expressions of their hopes and desires, Singer does not convey his thoughts back to them. This seems to suit them, and Singer soon becomes, in the eyes of each townsperson, exactly what they want him to be. He becomes almost a deity. They all remain a little confused about him, who is he, where does he go?... And, interestingly, though Singer has the advantage, as we may see it, of words from all these visitors, he is often equally confused about them, their motivations, desires, anger.

Singer yearns for something he does not have, too; his deaf-mute companion, with whom he opens the book. His loneliness without his friend is so acutely felt by the reader throughout, yet none of the other characters are aware of this gaping hole in Singer's life. The reader is given access to Singer's thoughts and feelings, so to us, he is a much more rounded character than he is to the others in the book.

I had wanted to read this book for a long time. It hasn't become one of my favourites, but I very much enjoyed it, and would recommend it. McCullers has a very flowing writing style that makes reading an easy pleasure; deceptively so given the touching sadness of her text.

In the ghost country of the human condition - Rated
Aside from oprah's recommendation, why is this book finding such resonancein the American heart? Because of its bold and compassionate explorationof spiritual isolation, the tortured inner life of people -- and inMCullers passionate evocation we see ourselves, we see our profoundloneliness, and that of those around us.
For me, an optimism comes with this painful knowledge. Anotheroutstanding, and perhaps more mainstream, exploration of the same themescan be found in Peter Hillary's new book, In The Ghost Country -- althoughit could well have borrowed McCullers title. Both books are brilliantpieces of art, with vital insights into the human condition.