North Yorkshire Library Service Book Group discussion

A few links/reviews to get us started. They’re a little spoiler-ish so maybe finish the book first before taking a look.

The Introverted Reader – not a fan:
http://www.theintrovertedreader.com/2...

Dave likes it though:
http://daveareadingjournal.blogspot.c...

And ReadingGroupGuides.com helpfully provides a reading group guide:
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/rev...

Carson McCullers’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was published on this day in 1940. In his 1940 review, Richard Wright praised the book for capturing “the bleak landscape of the American consciousness below the Mason-Dixon line” in a way that was “more natural and authentic than that of Faulkner.” This is from poet and novelist May Sarton’s 1940 review:



This book is literature. Because it is literature, when one puts it down it is not with a feeling of emptiness and despair (which an outline of the plot might suggest), but with a feeling of having been nourished by the truth. For one knows at the end, that it is these cheated people, these with burning intense needs and purposes, who must inherit the earth. They are the reason for the existence of a democracy which is still to be created. This is the way it is, one says to oneself — but not forever.

About the "Heart" title:

Green wind from the green-gold branches,
what is the song you bring?
What are all songs for me, now,
who no more care to sing?
Deep in the heart of Summer,
sweet is life to me still,
But my heart is a lonely hunter
that hunts on a lonely hill.




—from “The Lonely Hunter,” by Fiona MacLeod (William Sharp); the poem gave Carson McCullers her title for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, published on this day in 1940

Interesting comments Ann, particularly the review from 1940. From what I've read of other people's reviews there seems to be a line between those who have ultimately been "nourished by the truth" and those who can't get past the "emptiness and despair" of the book. I need to hurry up and finish my re-read to see where I land this time!

Matthew, I thought the comment in the review about 'cheated people' was especially pertinent. Towards the end of the novel, Mick actually thinks of herself by that term, if I remember correctly. Life certainly doesn't turn out as planned for any of the characters, but some manage to retain a sense of hope in spite of sorrows, disappointments, and isolation.