Read More: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

I remember that I read this book in high school and thought it was very good. But if you had asked me about the plot last week, I would have said a lonely little girl and a lonely deaf-mute make friends in a small Southern town. That is ALL I remembered.

It turns out that there were lots of other characters, all of their stories intertwined. There IS Mick, the lonely little girl with a love for music, and Mr. Singer, the kindly deaf-mute who boards in her house. But then there are Blount, who is determined to preach a fiery brand of socialism in what is possibly the least receptive time and place ever, Dr. Copeland, the town's erudite black physician who works tirelessly both to heal his people and try to raise them up, and Biff Brannon, the soft-hearted café owner. All of these characters (with the exception of Biff) are compulsively searching their town for one kindred spirit, one person on whom they can unload all of the passion in their hearts. And they find that in Mr. Singer. Because he is mute and can't talk back, they can project onto his silence a total understanding, and for the first time they find an oasis of comraderie. But who does Mr. Singer have to confide in? And what happens if Mr. Singer, the delicate center holding together the fragile web of their lives, disappears?

In rereading this book as an adult, I found it both beautiful and very cynical. Carson McCullers seems to believe that we all walk through life as lonely hunters, and that to find someone who truly understands us is just an illusion, though maybe a necessary one. She really brings to life this little Southern town in the 1930's, and it seems as though this book (written in the 1940s) was very modern for its time... the lack of a real plot in lieu of a series of intertwining character studies would be at home with all sorts of novels that came out this year. A must read!

-Kristin