The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

368 pages

English language

Published July 9, 2004 by Mariner.

ISBN:: 9780618526413

(2 reviews)

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) is the debut novel by the American author Carson McCullers; she was 23 at the time of publication. It is about a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the US state of Georgia.

A. S. Knowles, Jr., author of "Six Bronze Petals and Two Red: Carson McCullers in the Forties," wrote that the book "still seems to capture [the author's total sensibility more completely than her other works." Frederic I. Carpenter wrote in The English Journal that the novel "essentially [...] described the struggle of all these lonely people to come to terms with their world, to become members of their society, to find human love—in short, to become mature."

5 editions

Jim Brown reviewed The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Striking depiction of queerness in the early 20th Century South

No rating

I think I added this book to my list when I saw @toddrobbins mark it was "to read," and I'm glad I did. After reading this, Mick and Mr. Singer became two of my favorite characters of all time. The depiction of queerness is really interesting and seems way ahead of its time for 1940, and the depiction of childhood is striking too (not to mention how the novel addresses both of these through the character of Mick).

sarah reviewed The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

So lonely, so good

5 stars

Obviously had to read this after I read Jenn Shapland’s memoir, since I’d never read any McCullers, and holy hell is it good. Took me forever because it was so intense that I could only read it in bits.