“The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone.” 5 ‘lonely hearts’ for a book that portrays the heavy theme of loneliness, much of which stems from prejudice, intolerance in some form, and the inability to communicate effectively. So, what better way to depict the sobering effects of this strong message than to create a voiceless mute at the centre of the story. Singer is a man who struggles to cope with his own loneliness, and whilst at hand to listen to the troubled lives of the othe...

إلى الفتاة التي كانت تنزل من تروللي 44 مع بداية أغنية حاول تفتكرني في بلكونة الكيت كات مع رضا كنت أتحدث، سألتني: "هل تجد نفسك داخل الروايات في صورة شخصية محددة؟ أو موزع بين الشخصيات؟ أو لديك قناعة مسبقة أن هذا العالم بمعزل عنك وأنه وحده في كماله الذي تنقصه القراءة وفي جماله الذي ينتظر ذاكرة تنصب فيها أنهاره؟ سألتني فسرحت في كلامها بمعنى الكلمة ليس في الصور المختلفة التي طرحتها إنما في حضورها وصوتها ورواية بداخلها تتمنى أن تكتبها يوما قلت لها: أعايش المؤلف، يصعب عليّ ذاك الإنسان الذي شغل نفسه...

What a terribly sad book, and yet, so insightful about loneliness, despair and alienation that it’s impossible not to love it, somehow.In a small town in Georgia during WWII, four very different people find solace in talking to Mr. Singer, a deaf and mute man who eats at the New York Café every day. The café’s owner, a young tomboyish girl, an alcoholic communist and a black doctor desperate to affect change, are, each in their own way, all alone in the world. They operate at a slightly differen...

The heart is a lonely hunter and it can break in many different ways. Mine broke several times while reading this stunning document of American life. What a rich and multifaceted story, and what a perfect complement to other giants of American storytelling of that era. Just in the beginning, I saw traces of Steinbeck, most notably of his Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, in the small town talk and the slightly comical marital scenes. But the tone quickly grew darker, and when African American li...

I simply cannot get this book out of my head.    Like most everyone else I am astounded that Carson McCullers was only 23 years old when she wrote this.  Such wisdom and insight from someone so young is truly remarkable.  And there are so many great reviews out there, I just could not stop reading them.  A great many of them, as one might expect discuss the greater themes of this book and there can be no doubt that I too fell to pondering these many  things as I thought about the world today.I m...

She went there, didn't she.As I read this novel, I could tell McCullers was setting the stage for something truly horrible to happen. And horrible things did happen. But they were never as bad as I thought they would be. Until...Oh yes, she waited until the very end to rip my heart from my chest, throw it on the floor, stomp on it with her pumps and then throw it into the ocean to be eaten by sharks. How does someone write a book this rich and wise and honest at 23? How does a young woman write ...

2013 Review! “The way I need you is a loneliness I cannot bear” (217)This is my favorite book. I cannot think of my own literary experience without it. The first time I read it, I felt all the feels: my body and my heart despondent with rage and sorrow for the book’s despairing setting, and for its lovelorn characters all hungry for love. With each reread, I am always astonished of McCullers' prodigious talent, with a sensitive and keen eye for compassion and a real love for her setting and char...

I may come back and give this four stars, but for now I can't.I first started this book maybe two years ago. I got about 100 pages into it and stopped. I didn't stop because I disliked it. Rather, it seemed at the time a natural result from the inertia and momentum of the book itself. Basically, I wasn't quite sure whether I had stopped or whether the book itself had simply stopped and I was just going along with it.I picked it up again because I've always had a nagging feeling about it, and bec...

ROCK AND ROLLIt turns out that Miss McCullers did most of her great writing - most of her entire writing - before she was 30. Rock and roll! After 30 she was too busy having ghastly illnesses and marrying the same guy three or four times, and dodging invitations to a suicide pact from the guy she married all those times. So when she was 22 - I ask you! - she wrote this first novel which is a stone American classic. I had heretofore thought that absorbing a ton of influences and developing a uniq...

I knew nothing about this book at all. Well, except for the title, I’d definitely heard the title before – but I would have bet money the book was written by a man and that it was bad romance novel, at least, that would have been my best guess. Instead, this is now perhaps one of my all-time favourite American novels. It can be compared without the least blush of embarrassment with Steinbeck at his best and Harper Lee out killing mocking birds – and there are many, many points of comparison betw...