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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
The ONLY book I both loved and finished all the way through on my vacation to Florida. The eccentric but not TOO eccentric characters were so compelling I felt sad when the first story ended.
challenging
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Ballad is amazing. The other short stories vary, but even the less great ones have great moments. McCullers is amazing. The writing was humbling but inspirational.
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
nobody does americana like mccullers. every story in this collection hits harder than the entirety of grapes of wrath
1. de aquí sale el Stumpy McPhail de la señora Potter!!!!
2. a tree. a rock. a cloud.
2. a tree. a rock. a cloud.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pointless. Way too pointless for my taste.
This was a good story (The Ballad), but then it was pretty much the same story again and again. Themes were repetitive- music, strangers, stylistically. Would've been best if read in a collection alongside other authors or expanded into a longer story.
Primer libro que leo de la autora y debo decir que no me sorprendió que me gustara tanto. Recibí tan buenas referencias de ella, en especial de este volumen, que solo hacía falta que me animara a comenzarlo para enamorarme.
This was my introduction to Carson McCullers. The title story is an enigmatic masterpiece about a love triangle of sorts, set in a small southern town of almost nightmarish bleakness. There are some absolutely unforgettable passages in the story, like the meditation on lovers vs. the beloved, and the chain gang coda. McCullers writes in careful prose that sometimes seems unencumbered by time and place – change a few names, and it could be a century-old story by some Eastern European writer translated into English.
"The Ballad Of The Sad Café" and its accompanying stories do not neatly fall into Southern Gothic sterotypes. Those other stories are more of a mixed bag, though. "Wunderkind" was her very first published work; that and "The Haunted Boy" are a little heavy-handed. Much more impressive are "A Domestic Dilemma", "The Jockey", and especially "A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud" (which shares some spirit with the title story). These stories do so much with seemingly so little, and will haunt me for days. This is an uneven but ultimately worthwhile entry point into the work of a truly distinct 20th-century American writer – one that could write with piercing clarity about the variety of ways that people need other people.
"The Ballad Of The Sad Café" and its accompanying stories do not neatly fall into Southern Gothic sterotypes. Those other stories are more of a mixed bag, though. "Wunderkind" was her very first published work; that and "The Haunted Boy" are a little heavy-handed. Much more impressive are "A Domestic Dilemma", "The Jockey", and especially "A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud" (which shares some spirit with the title story). These stories do so much with seemingly so little, and will haunt me for days. This is an uneven but ultimately worthwhile entry point into the work of a truly distinct 20th-century American writer – one that could write with piercing clarity about the variety of ways that people need other people.
A series of Southern Gothic tales in which the characters are haunted by their own worst or weakest natures.
I thought these stories were okay but not great--I wasn't all that enamored of the voice, which felt as though it were putting on melodrama rather than exploring actual emotions. Wunderkind would be the exception. It felt quite suited. The stories are all very readable; they just seemed artificed. This may be one of those "the problems in your own writing are what bother you in other people's fiction" situations, though. Hard to say.
I thought these stories were okay but not great--I wasn't all that enamored of the voice, which felt as though it were putting on melodrama rather than exploring actual emotions. Wunderkind would be the exception. It felt quite suited. The stories are all very readable; they just seemed artificed. This may be one of those "the problems in your own writing are what bother you in other people's fiction" situations, though. Hard to say.