So I found a real life friend as crazy about books as I am. Almost. We definitely agree that the best thing to do with your coffee break is read. The second best thing is looking over at what the other is reading. One day she passes this book on to me. She says that she didn’t like it, a total dud. “But read it,” she says, “I want to know what you think of it.”

It was Carson McCuller’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

What kind of recommendation is that?! More enigma than anything, her words spurred me to look further, if only for the sake of our tenuous bookie friendship. Turns out that it was an Oprah’s Book Club Selection in 2004. Many reviews on amazon were on the positive side, while reviews on Goodreads were fewer but no less glowing. Only one friend on GR had read it, but because Carson is southern and it was set there as well, the scales were tipped in its favour. Still can’t resist reading about home.

It is a simple story, following five individuals through an important moment of their personal life quest.

You may be thinking, “Quest? Quest! I thought this was a modern novel, not medieval?” (Suddenly my brain is all Monty-Python-ish, but I”ll try hard to abstain.)

I mean quest in the “We each have a mission in life” way, something inseparable from our identity that seems bigger than life and most important of all – to us. Its current moves through the big and small decisions we make, each event and coincidence of our lives, a great big neon sign giving meaning to our daily seemingly commonplace lives. It is part of what defines us as well as what separates us from others. This is the quest for our characters.

“I want – I want – I want – was all that she could think about – but just what this real want was she did not know.”

Hunter is a touching story of five misfits trying to make their way in a small southern town. Surprisingly raw, it is at once sad then jubilant, despairing and incredibly real.

The introduction to the characters takes longer than a fast paced bestseller, so you have to wait until you’ve met and know the situations of Mick, Jake, Biff and Dr. Copeland before you decide this isn’t the book for you. I’m so glad I did for shortly after that, my enthusiasm grew with every page and it became a page-turner, one I ached for and counted the minutes until break for.

When I did finish, I returned to my chargrined friend a veritable overflowing well of information, desperate to talk over the themes, characters, plot – less they engulf me whole..

As I started to gush, she nodded. She responded with acknowledgments and affirmations to my every word. All my hopes of winning her over with my intellectual observations were dashed. I wanted to beg her to talk, but she couldn’t and didn’t want to. She just nodded. It was infuriating how much she kept nodding! Her heart had heard everything that mine did, but the message had failed to relay to her brain. It was not the message for her. Or maybe not the right time.

How ironic, a book about loneliness and those that feel they are alone in the world, leaves me feeling alone with my thoughts and inspirations after reading it.

I identified most with Dr. Copeland, adored the metaphor associated with Mick – so perfect for the daughter of an innkeeper, a wise association on the author’s part for any other child might have been too young for it to be believable – and greatly appreciated hearing a deaf person as narrator and the beautiful descriptions of two deaf “speaking” to one another. (I work with and care for Deaf people every day.)

“Singer raised his hands timidly and began to speak. His strong, skilled fingers shaped the signs with loving precision. He spoke of… old memories, the cat that had died, the store, the place where he lived.The designs of his hands shaped faster and faster.”

Is your imagination teased? I’ll give you more. Mick is now amongst my favourite literary characters. I was so worried for her, but she took a deep breathe. I wished so badly that I could have been her own personal cheerleader, in the room, at the cafe, someone that she could actually hear.

“She wished there was some place where she could go to hum it out loud. Some kind of music was too private to sing in a house cram fall of people. It was funny, too, how lonesome a person could be in a crowded house.”

I’d say more but fear to give too much away. The light of heart need not apply. This is not easy reading or quick, but it is deep and strong and true. A profound meditation for anyone who feels like they are all alone.

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