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The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

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About this listen

The beloved classic that turned Carson McCullers into an overnight literary sensation and one of the Modern Library's top 20 novels of the 20th century.

“A remarkable book…From the opening page, brilliant in its establishment of mood, character, and suspense, the book takes hold of the reader.”

In a Georgia Mill town during the 1930s, an enigmatic John Singer, draws out the haunted confessions of an itinerant worker, a doctor, a widowed café owner, and a young girl. Each yearns for escape from small town life, but the young girl, Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music.

Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated—and, through Mick, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.

 African American Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Parenting & Families Relationships Hunting
All stars
Most relevant
A wonderful examination of the problems and politics of the Southern USA before the second World war. Each character clearly defined and the day to day issues and problems of their lives together with broader issues described in realistic detail.

Ideology and minutii

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I first read this book over thirty years ago and fell in love with it. It is good to listen to it being read so well by Cherry Jones. The themes of race, injustice, disadvantage, social and economic inequality, are as relevant now as they were then. Her characters are entrancing. The events of the novel are sometimes humorous, sometimes sad and sometimes angering. Seventy years later, we still have racial intolerance and the gap between rich and poor is enormous.

Nothing Much Has Changed

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Set in a small town in Southern USA in 1938, the book is centred on John Singer, a kind, patient deaf mute and on 4 very different local people who find that when they talk to Singer he listens. The book leads us to think about our needs to be listened to, how we listen and how much we understand of what we hear. A lovely and interesting book.

A gentle exploration of the way ordinary people interact with one another

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A beautiful book that will stay with me for a long time. The narrator did a wonderful job!!

Great performance!

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I read this because it's one of those books that is on so many 'all time great classics' lists and I wasn't disappointed.
A fascinating look at race and how it plays out in everyday life in the life of one young girl.

A classic

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