Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Audiobook12 hours

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Written by Carson McCullers

Narrated by Cherry Jones

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

()

About this audiobook

The beloved classic that turned Carson McCullers into an overnight literary sensation and one of the Modern Library's top 20 novels of the 20th century.

“A remarkable book…From the opening page, brilliant in its establishment of mood, character, and suspense, the book takes hold of the reader.”

In a Georgia Mill town during the 1930s, an enigmatic John Singer, draws out the haunted confessions of an itinerant worker, a doctor, a widowed café owner, and a young girl. Each yearns for escape from small town life, but the young girl, Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (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, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJul 6, 2004
ISBN9780060782627
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Author

Carson McCullers

Carson McCullers (1917-1967) was the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Member of the Wedding, Reflections in a Golden Eye, and Clock Without Hands. Born in Columbus, Georgia, on February 19, 1917, she became a promising pianist and enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York when she was seventeen, but lacking money for tuition, she never attended classes. Instead she studied writing at Columbia University, which ultimately led to The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, the novel that made her an overnight literary sensation. On September 29, 1967, at age fifty, she died in Nyack, New York, where she is buried.

Related to The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Related audiobooks

Historical African American Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

Rating: 4.308056872037914 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

211 ratings110 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A deceptively simple book about the loneliness of the human condition. Perseverance against the hard realities of life. Acceptance or simply realization that some things are not the way one wants. Still we try. Generosity and caring where one would not expect it. I am really impressed with this book. It boggles my mind that this is a first novel from someone so young. Started writing this at 19 and published at 23. Yikes. A rare talent. The writing in many places in here is a treasure. There are passages throughout the novel that are just a pleasure to read - little bits of insight into the human condition or descriptions of things such as the joys of discovering how to create music. I started reading this novel with a huge amount of enthusiasm, but my zest tapered off some. I think it was partly because of the sadness and melancholy I associated with numerous characters, but also simply that I think that the book was drawn out too long. I read this over the span of about two weeks.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Like many of the rest of you, I've been enjoying [[Carson McCullers]] this month! Thanks to the American Author Challenge, I read [The Heart is a Lonely Hunter]. Literature serves many purposes, but this is a book that does the important work of marking a place and time. Through these pages, we are taken to a small Southern town in the 1930s. The stories of a handful of characters bounce off one another and provide the texture that is necessary to illustrate the contrasts of their experiences and the enduring elements of the time. It is hard to imagine how the stories of the main characters - a mute, a Black doctor, a restaurant owner, a labor activist, a teenage girl - will cohere into a whole, but McCullers layers them to show that despite their differences, all of these individuals experience struggle and isolation. In their connections, there is a glimmer of hope, of the possibility of connection, but it is only that - a glimmer. It is surprising that McCullers wrote this, her first novel, at the age of 23. It is a book filled with perspective and wisdom. It is also beautifully written. Consider this:"Wonderful music like this was the worst hurt there could be. The whole world was this symphony, and there was not enough of her to listen." Important and readable - this is a classic that deserves the label.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loved it Loved it Loved it... A great read that challenged so many of my own perspectives. The book is quit a venture.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Remarkable, an x ray of the country side South that still lingers until today.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully written! Perfect narration. A peek into an earlier era of a small town. Many divergent lives intertwined. The listener gets an idea of the inner thoughts of each character - the good and the bad. How the actions of each play a part in the grand scheme, in the life of that small‎ town.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This novel is set in a small Georgia mill town in the late 1930s. At the center, is John Singer, a deaf man, who rents a room in the Kelly house after his fellow deaf companion, Spiros Antonapoulos, is sent away to an asylum. Singer becomes the confidant for four of the town's misfits—Mick Kelly, a teenage girl who dreams of becoming a trained musician; Benedict Mady Copeland, the town's black doctor; Jake Blount, an alcoholic socialist; and Biff Brannon, the owner of the local café. Each of these four characters regularly visits Singer, telling him about the injustices and pain in their lives. Each outcast believes that only Singer can understand his or her loneliness, although Singer reveals little of himself to them. What is so heartbreaking in this book is that each of these characters is so self absorbed, they fail to discover that Singer listens, but he doesn’t understand, nor do they realize that he, too, is lonely and isolated — or why. The theme of social and spiritual isolation is overwhelming in this book. Issues of race relations and poverty are also presented. I found the book beautifully written, yet incredibly heartbreaking. One caution I would make is that some of the language is of the time and may be offensive to some. A 4 out of 5 stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Carson McCullers wrote her first novel when she was just 23. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a series of character studies of five lonely people living in a mill town in Georgia in the closing years of the Great Depression. Singer is a deaf mute whose companion, another deaf mute, is institutionalized. Moving into a boarding house, he is befriended by a motley collection of loners, all who see him as understanding and sympathetic. Mick Kelly is entering her teenage years and is often responsible for the care of her two younger siblings. She is passionate about music and would love nothing more than to own a piano or even to have music lessons, but her family's financial situation, already precarious, becomes more and more desperate as time goes on. Dr. Copeland is the town's African American doctor and he fights everyday for the health and future of his people, even as he fears that no one is listening. His relationship with his children is tenuous and his own health is failing. Biff Brannon is the owner of a cafe, one that stays open at all hours. Brannon is a listener and a compassionate man, willing to let a debt slide or to help out someone who needs a place to stay. Jake Blount is perhaps the most interesting of the characters here. He sees and feels too strongly the suffering of the people around him and knows that if they would just rise up or even just understand what is going wrong, they could be saved. His passion has made him into a drunk, leaving him with nothing. These four lonely people look to Singer for solace and understanding, failing utterly to see Singer's own pain. This is no heart-warming story of friendship and fried green tomatoes. There's no happy ending for anyone to be found. McCullers has written a brilliant book about suffering and loneliness. It's beautifully written and utterly heart-breaking.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I find this book a bit boring honestly. There would be moments when I think it would pick up, and then it falls back down to the serene and stagnant pace that it carries throughout. No doubt it carries important messages and revelations, which I am not quite sure to be for me necessarily. I think I prefer something a bit more modern, but it's not the first time that I find Southern literature hard to comprehend. On that note, this book does remind me a bit of Faulkner, whom I find hard and dull to read too.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I dimly remember reading Carson McCullers The Heart is a Lonely Hunter around the time we were reading To Kill a Mockingbird. At the least, my current reading of McCullers reminds me of Harper Lee’s great novel. Set in the days at the end of 1939, she recaptures all the difficulties at the tail end of the depression. Inevitably, it also examines the Jim Crow era in the south. This classic novel should be on everyone’s bookshelf.According to the back cover, Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1917. She graduated from high school at 16, and began to pursue a dream of becoming a concert pianist. Rheumatic fever cut short those hopes. While in recovery, she became a voracious reader and decided to become a writer. Carson wrote a total of nine novels, one of which was made into a play. She died at the young age of fifty in New York. The title of the novel tells all – the Southern town is populated by characters who struggle with loneliness throughout their lives. McCullers begins the novel with the appearance of Singer and Antonapoulos. She writes, “In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together. Early every morning they would come out from the house where they lived and walk arm in arm down the street to work. The two friends were very different. The one who always steered the way was an obese and dreamy Greek. In the summer he would come out wearing a yellow or green polo shirt stuffed sloppily into his trousers in front and hanging loose behind. When it was colder he wore over this a shapeless gray sweater. His face was round and oily, with half closed eyelids and lips that curved in a gentle, stupid smile. The other mute was tall. His eyes had a quick, intelligent expression. He was always immaculate and very soberly dressed” (3). These two men carry a thread through the entire novel, and they affect a variety of characters in an almost exclusively positive way.Mick Kelly a 16-year-old high school student, began to develop a strange attraction to the tall Mr. Singer. She secretly followed him to work in the morning, and she waited for him after his work day ended. She thought of him constantly. Singer welcomed her into his apartment, where they played chess, listened to the radio, and talked about their lives. Singer held up his end of the conversation with a silver pencil. Everyone liked Mick and Singer, and several other people visited Singer for the same purposes. Even an African-American Doctor had been partially abandoned by his children. In one scene, he sits in a rocking chair in his empty house as his children try and move him into retirement.As any reader can imagine, all of the characters spend vast amounts of time reflecting on their lives, fretting about their future, or the impending war. I frequently found myself deeply involved with these characters. I wanted to sympathize, to advise, to help them. Carson McCuller’s splendid novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, is anything but dull and depressing. It is, however, a story which drew me into this town, the local bar, the doctor’s office, the apartment where Singer and Mick lived, and the quiet lives most of these characters experienced. Be prepared. The ending is startling. 5 stars--Jim, 4/22/17
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A novel of great depth and originality, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' is moving and unsentimental. The book's main theme is loneliness and the search for connection. I loved it!Set in the 1930s in the American deep south, the central character is Mister Singer, a deaf mute. Like Singer, the other four main characters are outsiders with few friends. They are Biff Brannon, a cafe owner; sometime drunk Jake Blount who rails against the expoitation of workers; Benedict Copeland, a "coloured doctor" who is disappointed in the failure of his adult children; and a young girl, Mick Kelly who has a talent for music but no money for lessons. Mister Singer moves into a room in a boarding house owned by the Kelly family and begins to eat his meals at Biff's New York Cafe. Individually, the four begin to confide in Singer believing they have found someone who truly understands them.But they are wrong. Singer has no capacity to understand them. They are all projecting a connection that isn't there. One of the saddest moments in the book is when Mick asks Singer if she should drop out of school to take a low paying job in Woolworths and he says yes.Other moving scenes are where Mick sneaks into a stranger's yard to listen to a radio playing classical music, and when she tries to make a violin out of a broken ukelele and some violin and guitar strings.Something else the characters don't realise is that Singer is missing deeply his friend and old housemate, Spiros Antanopoulous ( "The Greek"), also a deaf mute, who has been taken to an asylum in another town.One of my favourite, and again, very sad parts of the book was a letter that Singer wrote to the illiterate Greek, describing his four visitors and how they all talk so much and he has no real understanding of what they are saying.Ironically, the Greek is interested only in food and drink, and doesn't seem to care much for Singer either.The book's characters and themes transcend time although there are are also some great moments that fix it as being written in the 1940s, for example when 12 year old Mick Kelly buys herself cigarettes, goes to a cafe and orders beer, and leaves her baby brother tied to a wagon and in the care of another infant brother!There are no happy endings but I won't spoil what happens.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rated: B+As a child of Georgia in the 1950's, I appreciate the soleful story of the South and its look into white and black relationships.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A classic. The struggles of the downtrodden as represented by a deaf-mute and his relationships with the forgotten of society.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    After his large Greek friend is taken away to a hospital, John Singer moves into a boarding house during the Great Depression. A quiet man, also a deaf-mute, the small southern town thinks of him as something special, someone they can pin their fantasies to or talk to and for some reason feel that he's listening without any prejudices. This comes as a great comfort to those who are trying to find answers to what their hearts are telling them: Mick Kelly, the young daughter of the boarding house owners who has an affinity for music and attempts to understand her new feelings for boys; Biff Brannon the local café owner whose wife just passed away; Jake Blount, a man who feels he has some mission to communicate the ideals of a free government to the folks in town; and Dr. Copeland, the only black doctor in town, well-educated and struggling to make his black brothers and sisters peaceably fight against their hardships in the South.In Singer each has found a confidant, someone to discuss issues and questions, someone who doesn't judge them.And yet, throughout their discussions and the increasing political and racial tensions in the small town, no one tries to understand what Singer's going through. He's separated from his most intimate friend by hundreds of miles, and the toll it's taking on him grows more and more until he learns the fate of his friend which ends up affecting more than just Singer.A sad and rich book that it sometimes surprises me that Carson McCullers was only twenty-three when the novel was published. She tackles the politics and race relations of the day with a careful and thoughtful eye. When Dr. Copeland speaks of the struggles of blacks in the South, it comes across as someone speaking who has experienced those struggles, who truly cares for all peoples, wanting them to succeed even when they feel wronged and blocked at every step. Such insight from McCullers strikes me as remarkable. Her attention to detail also helps to bring the story to life, from the traveling carnival at which Blount finds work to the depictions of how Mick feels the music which she loves.Her description of the intimacy between SInger and his Greek friend to me almost borders on homosexual. They never do anything more than talk -- Singer singing with his hands while the Greek nods and sometimes signs back -- but their closeness is apparent in Singer's feelings of loss when separated from the Greek or his complete happiness at their brief reunions. It's interesting that everyone turns to Singer as the most understanding and non-judgmental when, if they scrutinized his association with the Greek, they would have most likely turned on him."The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" is an incredible book that I recommend to anyone who enjoys the written word.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When I began this book I found the first chapter almost comical. The characters of Singer and Antonapoulos seemed a bit unrealistic and, based on the descriptions of where they worked, slept, what they did for fun, etc. I found myself comparing them to Laurel and Hardy. However, I soon found the story to be a complex study of human nature, touching on the topics of social isolation, love, dreams, religion, politics, bigotry, heroism and much more. I find it surprising that such a young author could have and share so much insight into the human soul. While it is not a feel-good story, there is still hope and much to think about. I'm sure I will continue to ponder this book and its characters for a long time.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Depressing book
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Oof, what a heartbreaking read. A novel that highlights the futility and struggle of the human experience. The four main characters all find wisdom or understanding via their conversations with deaf mute John Singer, whose silence and sadness is mistaken for something more. Singer in turn sees his fellow mute Antonapoulos as a soulmate and friend, while to the reader he seems oblivious and simple. Alongside the gradual unfolding of these relationships, McCullers paints a vivid portrait of the South - racial and political tensions, cruel poverty and random violence interspersed with brief moments of beauty and love.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I heard so many good things about thie book that I couldn't wait to read it. I have to admit that I struggled mightily trying to get through it. I'm so sorry to those of you who absolutely loved it, but I just didn't get into it. I do admit that McCullers was an awesome author, and the fact that she wrote the book so young is quite remarkable. The book is a portrayal of four unrelated and very different people who all manage to gravitate towards a deaf-mute man. The setting begins in pre-WWII Georgia. And it all begins in a neighbourhood cafe where all five of the main protagonists eventually meet. The book is a haunting and evocative tale of the mid 20 century in the southern states, and it is about loneliness, poverty, hope and despair. These are all very complex emotions to base a novel upon and McCullers handles this difficulty quite well.. But, to me, the book doesn't seem to really go anywhere. Everyone is in the same situation by the end of the book as they all were at the beginning, with the exception of Singer, who, by the end of the book, is dead. This is certainly not a feel-good book, and there is no happy ending. It is a very realistic portrayal of what life was like in this timeframe in the deep south for the poor and disenfranchised (both black and white).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I'd heard of the book for years but had no idea what it was about. Catchy title, catchy author. Would I have read it by Lula Carson Smith? It is very hard for me to believe that this masterpiece is the first novel written by a 23 year old. The depth of characters and the perceptive insights on the society they inhabit are wonderful. Five stars are not enough. This book is a must read. It could be my favorite book. I'm keeping this one to read again.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    We are drawn into the lives of certain individuals and in to life in general and the condition of folks in a southern mill town of the 1940’s
    We witness deep and strong love,
    Oppression and prejudice,
    Vision and understanding juxtaposed against
    Emptiness, hopelessness, fear, violence, and filth.
    Silent deep understanding and love and Incomprehension.


  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this first as a teen-ager and it made an enormous difference in my life. One of the reasons I am with the man who has been my husband for 32 years is because when I first went to his apartment, this was one of three books on his desk. At that point I hadn't met anyone else who had read it.

    I don't know how Ms. McCullers was capable of this level of insight into human nature, considering she was 22 when it was published. As a teen-ager I really related to Mick, the young girl who was gifted musically and dreamed of a creative life. And as an adult when I re-read the book I love how many of her adult characters are struggling to break free from the stultifying rules of whatever culture they're part of. In addition, the rants of Jake Blount against capitalism are still profound and relevant today.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a book I picked up because it is considered a classic of modern literature, and I felt I should be acquainted with such. I ended up not being able to put it down. There is not a lot of plot; the story is almost completely character driven. It takes place in a small southern town during the Depression. The pivotal figure is John Singer, a deaf mute who, along with knowing ASL (American Sign Language) can read lips very well. His best friend, the only other person in town who knows ASL, is a man with mental illness that gets worse in the very first part of the book, so that his cousin puts him in a mental hospital. This leaves Singer essentially alone; he knows what others say, but cannot express himself to them. His own thoughts and opinions are trapped inside. But he makes a great ‘listener’ and four people find themselves irresistibly drawn to him.All around Singer, other plot lines play out for different characters. Mick, a thirteen year old girl both eager and reluctant to grow up; Dr. Copeland, who reveres and promotes education, is greatly respected by the Black population of the county but treated like dirt by most whites; Jake Blount is an alcoholic union organizer; while Biff Brannon, widowed during the course of the novel, owns the town’s café where everyone comes but no one talks to him. Each of these characters is multidimensional and deep; each of these people face loneliness and isolation in the midst of other people. The man who cannot say anything is ironically named “singer’.The book is incredibly rich with characters and interactions and even political statements; the fact that the book was McCullers’ first novel amazes me. It’s about racism, classism, capitalism, coming of age, the hazards of giving loaded guns to 7 year olds, and so much more. 5 stars!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “ ‘All I can say is this: The world is full of meanness and evil. Huh! Three fourths of this globe is in a state of war or oppression. The liars and fiends are united and the men Who know are isolated and without defence. But! But if you was to ask me to point out the most uncivilized area on the face of this globe I would point here [...]”

    The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a work of true craftsmanship. The characters are well-appointed, the relationships between them are well structured. The themes and issues picked up by the book are not only conveyed in sympathetic manner, the fact that they are conveyed at all is an act of both foresight and courage.

    The fact that Carson McCullers was only 23 when she wrote the book is astounding – and humbling.

    McCullers throws us into the sweltering heat of summer in a small town in Georgia, where Mick Kelly is a tomboy on the cusp of growing up. One of things that set Mick apart from the other people around her is a love for music.

    We also get to meet Mr Singer, a mute, who owns a radio, keeps himself to himself and focuses his life on his one friend – Mr Antonapoulos. This chosen retreat from society, from the people in the town has the remarkable consequence that the townspeople attribute Mr Singer with all sorts of rumours.

    In a way, the character of Mr Singer, reminded me much of Brian in Monty Python’s story – where people would mistake the main character for the messiah and project their expectations on him.

    Mr Singer really is the centre character that holds the story together. Through him we also meet Biff, the owner of the local all night cafe/bar, Jake, whose desire for social change leaves him mostly drunk, and Dr. Copeland.

    Each of the characters has a story that is revealed. Each has hopes and dreams. Each is a representation of different minority groups of the time and at the time that the book was written. We are confronted with the violence against African Americans, the struggle of artistic young people who are pressured into mundane jobs, the idealists who are despairing over the lack of change.

    The major turning point in the novel comes with the death of one of the characters. For the past few days I have been wondering if that death was meant to symbolise Nietzsche’s aphorism that God was dead. And in a way, this event does come close to it but that would presuppose that the events that follow this turning point were caused by or in any way influenced by that death. However, they are not. What follows the death of that character is merely the unravelling of the inevitable. In a way I understood this as a joke. As if to say, whether or not there is a God has no relevance on the suffering that is caused by humanity.

    I did not love reading this book. I regard The Heart is a Lonely Hunter as a great and clever book, but it did not enjoy the act of reading as much as I hoped. For all its fabulous structure and courageous stances, I was not gripped by the writing. It is slow, languid, and perfectly at home in its southern setting, in contrast to which I am more at home with the few passages that contrast this.

    “The silence in the room was deep as the night itself. Biff stood transfixed, lost in his meditations. Then suddenly he felt a quickening in him. His heart turned and he leaned his back against the counter for support. For in a swift radiance of illumination he saw a glimpse of human struggle and of valour. Of the endless fluid passage of humanity through endless time. And of those who labour and of those who – one word – love. His soul expanded. But for a moment only.”
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a quietly profound book. It was published in 1940 by a 23-year-old author, who then went on to write more books. I've only read this one but will search out others now. The setting is a town in the south with racial issues, poverty, coming of age, characters and situations particular to the 1930s and even to today.

    If you like shoot-'em-up action books, you might not like this, but it was a page turner for me. It's hard to say what was so compelling about it. I found the actual writing to be really different and couldn't tell if the things I noticed were done on purpose or not. The story was almost a prediction of the future at some point, accurately. It may give some readers a new perspective on why some of today's news items mean so much to African Americans, such as the election of Obama to the Presidency.

    The book is about a set of characters and their lives, so realistically told. And for her time and age, the author had a profound and deep understanding of people and issues. This is remarkable coming from a southern white girl in the early 1900s. This book is timeless, as evidenced by those who read it now, 70 years after it was first published. It's been more recently published in soft cover format.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I saw the film first and it was enjoyable, sort of reminded me of being a school kid in the 70s and there was always a 4 o'clock movie on, and the film version of this novel was very much like that.

    The book is a lot more intense, detailed oriented and has a lot of parts that the film left out.
    The characters are all interesting in their own ways and I will probably remember them for a long while, especially Mr Singer.

    I glanced at the other reviews and was a bit surprised to see that there were well over 1,000 one star reviews and most of them said the same things - boring, dull, depressing, no plot, story that went nowhere, dull characters, etc. Yet another polarizing book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It is very hard not to be in awe of a 23-year-old McCullers after reading this book. Drawing from your own childhood and teenage years is one thing, turning that into a deeply sad and absorbing tale that magnifies the all-too-real "problems" of the South is another.

    Here, we meet a small town wriggling under the oppressive thumb of poverty and ignorance. There are four visionaries, who will never be that, but visionaries nevertheless. And their deaf and mute confidant. The lack of good communication is striking, where people find it hard to say what they think or believe they have been understood by those who hear them. In this regard, it was a good idea to read this book after Morrison's Beloved.

    Beyond the hunger, the poverty, the ignorance and lack of education, beyond the racial lines that haunt every conversation, beyond it all, there is loneliness. This loneliness bleeds every one of the characters, bleeds them in their isolation, their desire to find someone to love/understand/listen, until it blurs their vision so much that when they are listened to, they think they are understood, and when they are hurt they think they are alive.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is definitely a very good book and I am sure the discussion at our book club this week will be stimulating. The high rating is well deserved, I just can't go any higher because it is not a happy story. I am beginning to think it is a common thread throughout southern literature. My preference for happier works is not because I am simple, I just find that there is enough sadness in real life, every day in the papers, the internet and the news, that I prefer to be lightened by my reading. Everything I could say about the story seems like a spoiler of sorts, so I will save my thoughs for book club! Pretty damn good work for a 23 year old though!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Amazing novel and I found the audiobook itself to be really good as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Døvstumme Singer blir en slags skriftefar, eller klagemur, for en fargerik samling mennesker i en liten sørstatsby på 1930-tallet. Alle som én betror de seg til han: Ungpiken som elsker musikk, den sorte doktor Copeland, den godhjertede barkeeperen og den krakilske kommunisten. Singer er der for alle, mens han lengter intenst etter sin greske venn Antonapulos som ble lagt inn på asylet i en annen by.McCullers gir et lavmælt og krystallklart bilde av den daglige kampen omkring klasse, rase og kjønn og skildrer det fattige og harde livet i byen. Hjertet er en ensom jeger er debutboka til amerikanske Carson McCullers, utgitt i 1940, da hun bare var 23 år gammel. Boken ble en sensasjon og gjorde navnet hennes kjent verden over. Hun viser i debuten en sjelden litterær modenhet, en menneskekunnskap og en livsinnsikt som treffer leseren midt i hjertet. Det er en inntrengende bok, full av ømme, varme og bittert sanne portretter.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    With a promising opening: "In the town there were two mutes and they were always together,"the book evolves into an unremitting sense of dread for each character.Mick Kelly falls off roof - or worse? Black people are attacked or killed? Drunk Jake hurts John?Doctor Copeland and Etta never get needed treatment? Boring Spiros returns to town? Grandfather's farm burned or stolen?Though evocative of each character's changes, everyone's story cascades into depression or death.Characters are memorable, but hard to sustain caring about any of them.Mysteries: Mick having no relationship with her Mother...?What connection or "communion" John sees in Spiros?Is this a parallel to what the others have projected onto him?Why can't he see that the others simply want him to be the friend that they need?Dreams in novels always feel contrived to the plot.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Life sucks and then you die.