The Night is a Lonely Hunter

by Carson McCulllers

This was an amazing book. I know, I know, most people read this in high school but somehow I skipped that teacher.

Over the years I've tried to go back and read those classics I missed: Hemingway, Steinbeck, Twain and others.

I'm nearly speechless to think that this book was written by a girl barely out of college...22, how is that possible? The characters are deft, complex and subtle. That's so rare.

The book reminds me of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in some ways, although it was written decades earlier (Hunter, not Mockingbird). Dark, haunted characters living in a small Southern town, a story told through the eyes of a child. Mockingbird was Scout, Hunter was Mick, both tomboy girls.

It's a remarkable spare book, lean in its flowery descriptions, heavy on character and plot.

I loved it. LOVED. IT.