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A review by sumatra_squall
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
3.0
I put this on my "to read" list after coming across it on N's Goodreads list. I found the title irresistable. I was inclined to give "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" four stars when I was midway through the book. I loved the vividness of the descriptions, the way the slow, lazy rhythm of the small Southern town and its inhabitants came through, the revelation of the secret inner lives and frustrations of each of the characters - Mick Kelly's passion for music and her burning desire to become a musician; Dr Benedict Mady Copeland's lifelong struggle to get his people to rise above their circumstances; Jake Blount's crusade against capitalism. The set up of the book was an intriguing one: the deaf mute John Singer feels isolated after his friend Antonapoulous is sent away to an asylum. But he is swiftly adopted by the inhabitants of the town, who see in Singer's silence, a silent acquiescence and embodiment of everything they want to make of the man. Mick, Dr Copeland and Blount in particular and Biff Brannon, to a lesser extent, see Singer as the only individual who truly understands their secret inner life. Singer himself is prey to the same failing, seeing the selfish, greedy and feeble-minded Antonapoulous only as he wants to see him - as a wise friend who is the only one who can understand his thoughts and signing.
But midway through the book, I revised my rating to three, maybe three and a half stars. Perhaps it was the sense that the novel was getting cluttered with too many sub-plots (the incident between Bubber and Baby for instance, or the incident between Mick and Harry), or that some of the characters like Blount and Copeland started getting tiresome and overly extreme. But it felt less like the novel was drawing me in and more like I was dutifully turning the pages and plugging my way through the book.
But midway through the book, I revised my rating to three, maybe three and a half stars. Perhaps it was the sense that the novel was getting cluttered with too many sub-plots (the incident between Bubber and Baby for instance, or the incident between Mick and Harry), or that some of the characters like Blount and Copeland started getting tiresome and overly extreme. But it felt less like the novel was drawing me in and more like I was dutifully turning the pages and plugging my way through the book.