Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, deceptively simple writing style, great themes.
Review: Like it did for another reviewer above, this book also recalled To Kill A Mockingbird for me. The deceptively simple writing style, the setting --the South in the '30s -- the involvement and viewpoint of a strong girl character (even more believable than Lee's Scout) and the sympathetic treatment of Blacks, all seem to have influenced Harper Lee. But who knows?The only thing lacking, for better or worse, is a sense of humor. However, it would have been a true challenge to inject humor into such an un-sentimental story. But because the story avoids sentiment, it occasionally takes on an air of a modern magazine feature article. Mockingbird, despite its similarities and overall serious intent, provides plenty of humor. I guess no comic relief is one of the qualities that distinguishes the Southern Gothic, but also it may be behind its short-lived influence. I regard this as McCullers' best, but there is also considerable power in The Member of the Wedding. As for the critics love for The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, I guess I missed the point and it's greatness. McCullers' writing is always so clean, but in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, she combines a great and unique story about universal and personal isolation in people rarely written about to make a true modern classic.
Rating: 
Summary: This book was powerful.
Review: I found "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" a very good book.I think a lot of people can relate to any of the characters in this book.Each person comes across one or more problems that I find a lot of people dealing with in every day life.I think this book would be good for people who are in similar situations.This books tells about what it's like for black people in a town of racist whites,what it's like for a deaf person to live in a world of silence,of a little girl's dream to play and write music.The book tells of many other things also.Most of all I recommend this to anyone who would like to read a great novel.
Rating: 
Summary: It is a slow book but it has a unique style of writing.
Review: I read "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" as a class assignment. At first I didn't like the book at all because it is relatively slow. Then, at the end, the whole book comes together. This ending made me sit back and think about the book and how each event leads to the conclusion. The book is slow but it has great detail. Another good quality that the book offers is its unique style of writing. I have never read a book like this one by Carson McCullers. Although I enjoyed the style of the book, overall I didn't like it. Not that it wasn't a good book, it just didn't suit my tastes. I like fast books, the ones which you cannot put down. This is the only reason that kept me from enjoying "The Heart is a Lonlely Hunter" to its fullest.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it.
Review: This book, which reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird even though the two are completely unrelated, was very good. It's about confused and lonely teenagers, a crazy deaf Greek, and lonely man, and how they meet and react with each other. Tres interessant!
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: Hi, I'm a scholar of Carson McCullers so obviously I reccommend this novel to anyone and everyone who appreciates good literature but does not have the time to read a long thomas wolfe novel, or the brainpower needed to get through a joyce text. And also, I'm always looking to talk to other Carson experts so email if you are. thank
Rating:
Summary: A thought provoking, insightful classic.
Review: It amazes me that Mc Cullers wrote this book at such a young age. Her characters speak of worlds and ideas that most people wouldn't dream of at 23. Her portrait of Mick, a troubled adolescent, is wonderful, touching on the myriad of stormy feelings that a 13 year old goes through. Her depiction of Singer leaves an open interpretation; he becomes what you want him to be. Each character is so alone, so unique, and so human. Her statement on the human condition -- ultimate lonliness -- is strong, yet doesn't leave you as much sad as thoughtful
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: this was the greatist yet saddest book i have ever read. i am almost in eighth grade and was assigned this book to read and i am very glad i was assigned this book. the heart is a lonley hunter is about four very different yet very alike people strugling through life. this is definentley a life changing book. this book i recomend to teens and adults only because young childeren between the ages of 1-11 may not be able to understand the true meaning of the story. if i could give this book ten stars i would.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and unusual story
Review: I've read all of Carson McCuller's novels, and this one is easily her best. I liked "The Member of the Wedding." "Reflections in a Golden Eye" was O.K. I didn't like "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe," and furthermore, I have no idea why critics love it as much as they do. "A Clock Without Hands" is completely forgettable and not worth your time. But this is McCullers' great work. It's truly a great, unique and universal story, a timeless story about isolation, one which makes you care about what happens to the characters, one in which the characters and the events depicted are true to life. These are people you could meet, three-dimensional characters you can like, love, admire, some of whom you might also want to avoid. It's a tragic story, and reading it one experiences real emotions, particularly feelings of alienation from the rest of humanity -- a feeling which all the major characters experience in one form or another. Enjoy it and don't ruin it for anyone by revealing the sudden surprise near the end.
Rating:
Summary: Oprah should have left this book alone
Review: This is not the kind of book that the average Oprah-watcher likes to read and understand. That's why so many complains. Oprah-readers like fast and shallow books, and she has disappointed them picking profound and complex novels -- like this one and Anna Karenina. I think it is great that this lady want people to read, but she must realize that most of her audience is not able to read complex novels -- let alone classics.
And regarding the 'comunism' in this novel... please, the 50s are over. It is really narrow mind of a person to say such a thing a of book in the XXI century. Whitch hunting is over!
Rating:
Summary: The Heart of the matter
Review: Not many writers are able to at his/her early twenties to have such a exquisite view of the world and complex subjects as Carson McCullers displays in her beautiful "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". Maybe the fact that she was a sort of precocious genius she wrote the book helped her to sharp her senses to create a world apart inhabited by ordinary people, just trying to live their ordinary lives.
Her condition of being young also influenced her in the novel. As most young people, she didn't have many life experiences yet; therefore much of her inspiration comes from her own life and the people she knew. Her father was a jeweler, like Mick's father. She also studied piano -- and this is one of Mick's dreams. Moreover, Mick's coming of age has a lot in common with Carson's. She started working on this book when she was at the university and her idea was to make a novel about five isolated people, in which the narrative's structure would be inspired by a fugue (a musical composition featuring several repeating themes).
In the first part, she introduces the characters, the settings and the main thematic, which deals with of "man's revolt against his own inner isolation and his urge to express himself as fully as possible". Her main man in this case is the deaf-mute John Singer. The second part is the failure of each character, due to his options (and lack of them) and free will. The third part shows the faith of each character, and what they made of their lives after they met Singer.
Unquestionably the main theme is the isolation and the alienation of the human being. Each character -- even the supporting ones -- tries to break out their condition. The isolation is the result of the combination of personal and environmental factors. In this process, Singer -- who has the most difficult to communicate -- plays a key role to help each of the four main characters to find their own voice. He represents the hope throughout the whole narrative.
Carson has a hand to deal with the lost dream. Everyone in this novel cannot fulfill his/her dreams. The girl Mick, for instance, is too smart for her family, for her town; therefore she has to suffocate her talents and become an ordinary person. But, in her mind, she can keep the flame of her dream of becoming a musician alive.
Carson deals beautiful with language and character development. From the beginning one can notice that this is a writers who dominates her tool -- and not the other way round. Every character has his/her own motivations and these people change throughout the narrative. Because of it, "The heart is a lonely hunter" is a complex slice of life. More than a book, this novel X-rays ordinary lives and expose them, bringing us a little bit of hope to diminish our own sadness.
|
