Books with title The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

This 1940 novel by Carson McCullers is set in a small southern town. It's about five different people and their relationships to each other. There is surface structure inasmuch as the chapters move back and forth, focusing on one character and then another and moving the action forward. But there's an appealing off-center feeling to it all, as this study in what it means to be a human being reflects the human condition without having to tie it all up in a neat little package.

“Like all writers of original genius, Miss McCullers convinces us that we have missed something which was plainly to be seen in the real world . . . She is a master of peculiar perception and an incomparable storyteller.” —V. S. PritchettUpon publication of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its compassionate glimpses into its characters’ inner lives, her story gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated. In The Member of the Wedding, McCullers tells the story of the inimitable twelve-year-old Frankie, who is utterly, hopelessly bored with life until she hears about her older brother’s upcoming marriage. It is a coming-of-age story that showcases McCullers at her most sensitive and enduring best.