The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers

[rodanho]

have anyone here read a book called the heart is a lonely hunter? i just came across the book in a bookstore yesterday and found the title and the introduction of it fairly interesting. so i decided to buy it and gave it a try, which is rather rare of me because until then in respect to novels i had only read those classic ones written by writers in the 19th and 18th century.i just want to know if anyone have read or even only heard of the book. if so, how do you like it?

[Basil]

I've been meaning to read that for a while now; I even bought a used copy a while back. I've heard good things about it, and other things I've read by Carson McCullers have been excellent, most notably The Ballad of the Sad Cafe. Let me know how you like it.

[lallison]

One of my favorite books is The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers about the various lives of various people in a small southern town who don’t seem to fit in with the rest. I’ve always found those characters fascinating along with their attempts to connect with others, and one of the characters who’s remains close to my heart all the years since I’ve read it is the protagonist, John Singer, a deaf mute who wonders around town with a smile on his face and a business card that says, “I read Lips.” Singer’s smile grows on the people of the town, and as he smiles, nods, and “reads lips,” before long he is considered the wisest among them and all the people begin divulging their deepest feelings to his nodding grin.

What fascinates me is how can it be so simple. Is that what people really want, a smiling deaf mute to nod and listen to them talk? And the truth is, more or less, yes. Oh, they would prefer a few, “Oh, that’s so interesting,”s thrown in there, but listening and nodding works just fine. I tried it on a thirty hour plane trip back to the US last summer, Jakarta to Birmingham. Four different airplanes, over a solid day of travel, and all I did was put on my biggest grin and hold it until my mouth hurt. And before long, on every plane, every person sitting next to me, or even some a seat away, were telling me their life stories. By the end of the trip I knew about their families, their backgrounds, where they were going and what they were doing. I stayed as quiet as I politely could, although I threw in a bit of positive feedback from time to time. I’m sure an, “I read lips,” card would have sufficed just as well.

So there it is, smile, nod and don’t have much of an opinion of your own, and you will be able to get on with anyone. It’s the easiest thing in the world, the problem is when all the people want someone to smile and nod, it turns out that everyone is doing the talking, and nobody’s listening. So why can’t we just listen more? Here’s a clue, at the end of the book, John Singer shoots himself in the head. That’s about what I felt like doing after smiling and nodding for thirty hours on airplanes. That’s what I love about classic literature, you can learn so much from it.

[Voivod30]

I'm 2/3rd's of the way through but yeah I definitely agreee with you. The novel can be very uplifting but I'm at an area that is shaping up to be very sad. Any way, Singer is an amazing character no doubt and the main female that we meet (although I can't remeber her name at the moment) is also outstanding.

[country doctor]

classified as a top hundred book in some poll for 20th century literature so the doc read it...okay book, but the doc thought it somewhat over-rated...didn't stop him from picking up another of her novels this summer at a book sale though...

[Scheherazade]

I love the title of this book even though I am yet to read it (I don't even know what it is about).

I will read it before the year is out.

[laymonite]

I have read McCullers's The Member of the Wedding and her short story "The Jockey," but I have yet to read this one. Your post, on the other hand, has just moved Lonely Hunter up in my to-read queue!

[hazelk]

I have just started to read the novel, and so far it seems to be just what I have been searching for. I hope that it continues.

[Delta40]

This is the meat of a neat little short story if you cared to work it up. Beautiful image and so delicately drawn and colored in for us. How much of a present moment is packed into these lines! That last verse is brave and the most affecting of the whole.

[lallison]

That's right, and I've just spent the last month observing and demonstrating it. Glad you enjoy Carson McCullers.

[ginamarie]

Hello fellow literary enthusiasts!

I am independently reading The Heart is A Lonely Hunter by southern author Carson McCullers. Though I am halfway through there are many things I would like to discuss. If anyone is reading this book as well, or is interested in starting I would love to swap ideas and pose questions back and forth.

ONWARD (hopefully),
GinaMarie

[kinesj]

It's been a while since I read it, but I have read it several times. If there's anything you'd like to discuss or just get a second perspective on, I'd be happy to what I can.

[Heteronym]

I read the book at the University years ago. I liked it very much. It is a very ruthless novel. John Singer - what an ironic surname - is simultaneously underestimated and overestimated by the people who cling to him like worshippers praying to their idol, who think he's a sensitive person because he knows how to listen, and yet they don't care at all about discovering his inner life.

It's not a very flattering portrayal of people, is it? It shows them as vampires, needy people who feed on the energy and sympathy of others. I can't stand the people who orbited Singer's life, the people who suck you into their problems as if the world were only about them. The novel is a biting attack on narcissism and the inability for people to communicate or relate.