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Audible (2013), MP3 Unabridged 5h28
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A classic work that has charmed generations of readers, this collection assembles Carson McCullers's best stories, including her beloved novella "The Ballad of the Sad Caf�." A haunting tale of a human triangle that culminates in an astonishing brawl, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable southern woman whose caf� serves as the town's gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also includes "Wunderkind," McCullers's first published story written when she was only seventeen about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist. The Ballad of the Sad Caf� is a brilliant study of love and longing from one of the South's finest writers.
User reviews
LibraryThing member EBT1002
Composed of the eponymous novella and a handful of accompanying short stories, this collection provides the expected pleasure of reading. Her descriptive style is beautiful.
The novella is set in the "dreary" town of Cheehaw where Miss Amelia, a tough independent woman with an interesting past,
"It is clean and sharp on the tongue but once down a man it glows inside him for a long time afterward. And that is not all. It is known that if a message is written with lemon juice on a clean sheet of paper there will be no sign of it. But if the paper is held for a moment to the fire then the letters turn brown and the meaning becomes clear. Imagine that the whiskey is the fire and that the message is that which is known only in the soul of a man -- then the worth of Miss Amelia's liquor can be understood."
As far as anyone knows, Miss Amelia doesn't have much in the way of kin and everyone in town is flabbergasted with Cousin Lymon comes along, claims to be a distant relation, and immediately moves in with Miss Amelia. The two of them build a regular café around the thriving liquor business and for a few years it's the best place to be on a Friday night. The mood changes, however, when Miss Amelia's husband of several years ago shows up. Marvin Macy has been released from the penitentiary, where he landed after several armed robberies. His marriage to Miss Amelia hadn't lasted but ten days, and those weren't happy ones, but he comes back to see what's happening at the old place. The way things shift is surprising and eccentric. I'm still not sure I understand the ending but it is, again, most beautifully descriptive.
"Wunderkind" is the story of a teenage girl coming to terms with the end of her dream of being a concert pianist. What's especially tender about this story is McCullers' way of presenting the problem. We've all heard of musicians who are technically talented but can't effectively inject emotion into their performance; McCullers weaves this tragedy into Frances' interactions with her teacher in a way that is both touching and terrible. One wonders how heavily she drew on her own experiences as a talented teenaged pianist.
"The Jockey" takes place in the space of an hour or so in the upscale dining room of a racing venue and is really just an illustration of a jockey's frustration and grief. It includes one of my favorite descriptions: "As he watched, the jockey raised his chin and tilted his head back to one side, his dwarfed body grew rigid, and his hands stiffened so that his fingers curled inward like gray days" (emphasis added). That is classic Carson McCullers.
"Madam Zilensky and the Kind of Finland" is a delightful short story. Mr. Brook, a professor of music, is certain that something is "wrong" as he gets to know the new instructor, Madame Zilensky. Still, her teaching is so effective that Ryder College is lucky to have her. What, it turns out, is "wrong" is so subtle that the reader can't help but laugh. The nature of truth and the permeability of reality are questioned so charmingly in less than ten pages!
The final three stories in the collection follow suit. I particularly liked "A Domestic Dilemma," with its compassionate exploration of the nature of marital commitment, and the intricately intertwined rage, disappointment, compassion, and love.
If you enjoy a finely wrought descriptive passage and beautiful similes and metaphors, this collection is highly recommended.
The novella is set in the "dreary" town of Cheehaw where Miss Amelia, a tough independent woman with an interesting past,
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provides the region's best moonshine liquor to local residents. Her liquor is described thus: "It is clean and sharp on the tongue but once down a man it glows inside him for a long time afterward. And that is not all. It is known that if a message is written with lemon juice on a clean sheet of paper there will be no sign of it. But if the paper is held for a moment to the fire then the letters turn brown and the meaning becomes clear. Imagine that the whiskey is the fire and that the message is that which is known only in the soul of a man -- then the worth of Miss Amelia's liquor can be understood."
As far as anyone knows, Miss Amelia doesn't have much in the way of kin and everyone in town is flabbergasted with Cousin Lymon comes along, claims to be a distant relation, and immediately moves in with Miss Amelia. The two of them build a regular café around the thriving liquor business and for a few years it's the best place to be on a Friday night. The mood changes, however, when Miss Amelia's husband of several years ago shows up. Marvin Macy has been released from the penitentiary, where he landed after several armed robberies. His marriage to Miss Amelia hadn't lasted but ten days, and those weren't happy ones, but he comes back to see what's happening at the old place. The way things shift is surprising and eccentric. I'm still not sure I understand the ending but it is, again, most beautifully descriptive.
"Wunderkind" is the story of a teenage girl coming to terms with the end of her dream of being a concert pianist. What's especially tender about this story is McCullers' way of presenting the problem. We've all heard of musicians who are technically talented but can't effectively inject emotion into their performance; McCullers weaves this tragedy into Frances' interactions with her teacher in a way that is both touching and terrible. One wonders how heavily she drew on her own experiences as a talented teenaged pianist.
"The Jockey" takes place in the space of an hour or so in the upscale dining room of a racing venue and is really just an illustration of a jockey's frustration and grief. It includes one of my favorite descriptions: "As he watched, the jockey raised his chin and tilted his head back to one side, his dwarfed body grew rigid, and his hands stiffened so that his fingers curled inward like gray days" (emphasis added). That is classic Carson McCullers.
"Madam Zilensky and the Kind of Finland" is a delightful short story. Mr. Brook, a professor of music, is certain that something is "wrong" as he gets to know the new instructor, Madame Zilensky. Still, her teaching is so effective that Ryder College is lucky to have her. What, it turns out, is "wrong" is so subtle that the reader can't help but laugh. The nature of truth and the permeability of reality are questioned so charmingly in less than ten pages!
The final three stories in the collection follow suit. I particularly liked "A Domestic Dilemma," with its compassionate exploration of the nature of marital commitment, and the intricately intertwined rage, disappointment, compassion, and love.
If you enjoy a finely wrought descriptive passage and beautiful similes and metaphors, this collection is highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member clfisha
Deep, abiding loneliness in the search for love connect this 1 novella and a series of shorts. Un-requited or fickle, changed or lost; from the fierce love for a person, to an act, to simply the feeling itself. McCullers beautifully and hauntingly describes the dramas and oddities that her rich
“‘Son, do you know how love should be begun?’
The boy sat small and listening and still. Slowly he shook his head. The old man leaned closer and whispered”
Without what’s gone before this short just wouldn’t shine but with it is a beautiful, uneasy, yet hopeful ending to a book I found very sad.
Recommended. McCullers characters and language are rich and full of oddity and anyone in the mood should find much to enjoy here.
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characters are inflicted with in the pursuit of love. Opening with her strongest (and longest tale): a story of a strange love triangle in small town America, centred around the rise and fall of its only meeting place: the café. Her wry oddballs and small town gossip buoy the fatalistic tone and weld the wry humour to the tragic. Yet before you can catch breath we are moved seamlessly into a tragic vignette of a girl who finds out she is not the genius she most desperately wants to be. These careful placing of the stories sell this book, horror takes on a more urgent, lighter tone before plunging back. We visit a man lost in a marriage with an alcoholic wife, captured and displayed by the author perfectly in his trap. We meet a women who needs to lie and a jockey driven by love for justice that’s unfound at the tables of the rich. As a whole it is magical and made more so by the end in which a destitute man accosts a bemused youth to explain how he is learning to love again. “‘Son, do you know how love should be begun?’
The boy sat small and listening and still. Slowly he shook his head. The old man leaned closer and whispered”
Without what’s gone before this short just wouldn’t shine but with it is a beautiful, uneasy, yet hopeful ending to a book I found very sad.
Recommended. McCullers characters and language are rich and full of oddity and anyone in the mood should find much to enjoy here.
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LibraryThing member baswood
Only the Lonely
Published in 1951, the title story is of novella length with six other shorter stories. It is the The Ballad of the Sad Cafe that dominates this reading experience and it was the first thing that I have read by this author. It is set in the deep South of the U. S. A. in a run down
The novella has similar themes to some of the short stories. The unlikely love stories of strong, self sufficient characters, the mystery of unequal power in a relationship: why should Amelia choose Marvin for a husband and why should she entertain Cousin Lymon. These are mysteries that get everybody in town thinking and talking, but nobody can predict the outcomes. The reader is left in suspense, sees how the story pans out, but can offer no explanation for the events, which stay as secret as the characters McCullers presents. As the story is told in a third person narrative it is for the reader to imagine the passions that drive the characters in this story. The setting of the story, the daily life in the small town, the sharp changes in climate, will all have their effect. It is a fascinating story, told superbly well.
The second story Wunderkind shows how a female musical child prodigy finally realises that she has not got that extra something that will make her a star. Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland is another story that has a musical theme. Madame Zilensky is a conductor seeking employment as a teacher, she is a pathological liar, but her male employers are willing to accept this side of her character. The Sojourner tells of a man meeting his ex wife by chance and being invited home to meet her new family and A Domestic Dilemma tells how a husband will forgive and protect his wife who he knows has become an alcoholic and a danger to their children. A Tree, a Rock and a Cloud has a 12 year old paper boy listening to a story told to him by a man in a cafe; of his impossible love for a woman who will not entertain him.
Apart from stories of unrequited, impossible, or overwhelming love, music features strongly in some of them. At the end of The Ballad of the Sad cafe as a sort of postscript; a chain gang of seven black and 5 white convicts usually start songs or a chant while they work, which well up from out of them and swell up to a climax before petering out. It follows the graphical line of the story. I enjoyed and was impressed by my first delving into the work of Carson McCullers - 4 stars.
Published in 1951, the title story is of novella length with six other shorter stories. It is the The Ballad of the Sad Cafe that dominates this reading experience and it was the first thing that I have read by this author. It is set in the deep South of the U. S. A. in a run down
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town with 100 yards of high street. Miss Amelia Evans a tall strong Amazon of a woman owns the biggest store in town which she has built up and financed by her own hard work and guile. She has a still and some land out in the swamps and makes the best liquor in town. Some years ago she married a local no good, but charismatic man (Marvin Macy) who only lasted 10 days before she kicked him out. She has had no truck with any other man since and so when a hunchbacked man arrives in town claiming to be a cousin everybody is surprised when she takes him in. Cousin Lymon's presence in the house causes Amelia to open the downstairs as a bar and restaurant which soon becomes a place where most of the social men come to drink. Marvin Macy is released from the penitentiary and comes back to find Amelia.................The novella has similar themes to some of the short stories. The unlikely love stories of strong, self sufficient characters, the mystery of unequal power in a relationship: why should Amelia choose Marvin for a husband and why should she entertain Cousin Lymon. These are mysteries that get everybody in town thinking and talking, but nobody can predict the outcomes. The reader is left in suspense, sees how the story pans out, but can offer no explanation for the events, which stay as secret as the characters McCullers presents. As the story is told in a third person narrative it is for the reader to imagine the passions that drive the characters in this story. The setting of the story, the daily life in the small town, the sharp changes in climate, will all have their effect. It is a fascinating story, told superbly well.
The second story Wunderkind shows how a female musical child prodigy finally realises that she has not got that extra something that will make her a star. Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland is another story that has a musical theme. Madame Zilensky is a conductor seeking employment as a teacher, she is a pathological liar, but her male employers are willing to accept this side of her character. The Sojourner tells of a man meeting his ex wife by chance and being invited home to meet her new family and A Domestic Dilemma tells how a husband will forgive and protect his wife who he knows has become an alcoholic and a danger to their children. A Tree, a Rock and a Cloud has a 12 year old paper boy listening to a story told to him by a man in a cafe; of his impossible love for a woman who will not entertain him.
Apart from stories of unrequited, impossible, or overwhelming love, music features strongly in some of them. At the end of The Ballad of the Sad cafe as a sort of postscript; a chain gang of seven black and 5 white convicts usually start songs or a chant while they work, which well up from out of them and swell up to a climax before petering out. It follows the graphical line of the story. I enjoyed and was impressed by my first delving into the work of Carson McCullers - 4 stars.
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LibraryThing member IonaS
This is a collection of short stories, The Ballad of the Sad Café being the longest and most memorable of them.
I bought and read this book when I was 15, and at that time didn’t fully appreciate, as I do now, the excellence of the writing.
The title story is about a store/café owned by an
Miss Amelia is the richest woman for miles around: her only use for other people is to make money out of them. But, contrary to her inhospitable nature, Miss Amelia takes in her little relative, cleans him up, feeds and clothes him; and soon everything has changed. Cousin Lymon has a peculiar control over Miss Amelia – she is fascinated by him – in fact it is clear that she loves him. The store turns into a café which attracts lots of customers, particularly on a Saturday night.
Miss Amelia had once for ten days been married to a man called Marvin Macy. He loved Amelia but was physically mistreated by her. After leaving Amelia, Macy became a criminal and was sent to the penitentiary.
Now Macy is released and comes back to the town. Miss Amelia loves Cousin Lymon, but Cousin Lymon takes a shine to Marvin Macy and follows him everywhere he goes. Marvin Macy apparently cares nothing for either Miss Amelia or Cousin Lymon.
The story first and foremost pertains to the peculiar relationship between the three and the big fight between Amelia and Macy it all ends with.
Carson McCullers brilliantly portrays life in a small town, where everyone knows everyone, and everyone has his or her own special personality.
The author has a sublime talent for telling enthralling stories and delineating singular people. Now I’m going to read or reread her other works of art.
I bought and read this book when I was 15, and at that time didn’t fully appreciate, as I do now, the excellence of the writing.
The title story is about a store/café owned by an
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eccentric woman called Miss Amelia. One day a little, dirty hunchback turns up out of nowhere claiming to be a long-lost relative of Miss Amelia: he goes by the name of Cousin Lymon.Miss Amelia is the richest woman for miles around: her only use for other people is to make money out of them. But, contrary to her inhospitable nature, Miss Amelia takes in her little relative, cleans him up, feeds and clothes him; and soon everything has changed. Cousin Lymon has a peculiar control over Miss Amelia – she is fascinated by him – in fact it is clear that she loves him. The store turns into a café which attracts lots of customers, particularly on a Saturday night.
Miss Amelia had once for ten days been married to a man called Marvin Macy. He loved Amelia but was physically mistreated by her. After leaving Amelia, Macy became a criminal and was sent to the penitentiary.
Now Macy is released and comes back to the town. Miss Amelia loves Cousin Lymon, but Cousin Lymon takes a shine to Marvin Macy and follows him everywhere he goes. Marvin Macy apparently cares nothing for either Miss Amelia or Cousin Lymon.
The story first and foremost pertains to the peculiar relationship between the three and the big fight between Amelia and Macy it all ends with.
Carson McCullers brilliantly portrays life in a small town, where everyone knows everyone, and everyone has his or her own special personality.
The author has a sublime talent for telling enthralling stories and delineating singular people. Now I’m going to read or reread her other works of art.
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LibraryThing member SigmundFraud
I love southern stories and nobody tells them better than Carson McCullers. I have read THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER several times with great joy. I now reread THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFE and continue to be touched by it. A southern woman caught in a triangle. One of the men was a dwarf or at least
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sadly deformed and was her cousin. She became his protector until he betrayed her. The cafe is where the action takes place. While it started as a cafe it attracted many locals such that she turned it into a nightclub of sorts. Against this background the drama takes place and drama it is. I highly recommend this novella to all. Show Less
LibraryThing member VioletBramble
This is a collection of one novella (Ballad of the Sad Cafe) and 6 short stories. McCuller's prose is beautiful. Events unfold slowly. This is southern gothic literature, but of the lonely outcast/misfit variety, not the depressing bleakness of the stories of Flannery O'Connor.
LibraryThing member KLmesoftly
Typical Carson McCullers - a lovely little collection of vignettes and character sketches around the weirdest bunch of misfits and outcasts.
LibraryThing member Clurb
A handful of short stories about love, loss and despair; all very saddening.
LibraryThing member shivaz
McCullers has a wonderfully poetic yet understated way of writing. This short story should be read in one sitting, without disturbance. It's a sharp observation of how life's odd situations alter relationships which results in the unjust and abrupt dissolution of the heroin's spirit. A beautifully
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written read, definately one for reflection. Show Less
LibraryThing member lyzadanger
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe is, in fact, sad. So sad it resonates with the sadness behind it: Carson McCullers must have been sad herself. It feels too personally acquainted with sad to have been fabricated; McCullers might have been a genius but I still think she didn’t entirely make this up.
McCullers tells a story of a doomed and miserable southern town, its misfits, and unrequited love. She has a tenderness for freaks--our protagonist, Miss Amelia, is a six-foot-two giantess who becomes hopeless obsessed with a warped hunchback. Miss Amelia is flint-spined, a bootlegging businesswoman with a ferocious streak, but, like the other characters in the story struck by love, is hopeless and floppy in the face of her beloved.
While the plot weaves its love triangle ways, the thrumming feeling of “there is no hope, there is no hope” runs beneath it. McCullers captures the stifling dullness of a southern small town but pins her characters to it like bugs under glass. Poor things.
This collection included several other short stories, most of which were riffs on love. Some were sensitive and lyrical: one touches on a wife’s alcoholism in suburbia, another the end of prodigy for a young girl. Others: slightly more forgettable.
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McCullers tells a story of a doomed and miserable southern town, its misfits, and unrequited love. She has a tenderness for freaks--our protagonist, Miss Amelia, is a six-foot-two giantess who becomes hopeless obsessed with a warped hunchback. Miss Amelia is flint-spined, a bootlegging businesswoman with a ferocious streak, but, like the other characters in the story struck by love, is hopeless and floppy in the face of her beloved.
While the plot weaves its love triangle ways, the thrumming feeling of “there is no hope, there is no hope” runs beneath it. McCullers captures the stifling dullness of a southern small town but pins her characters to it like bugs under glass. Poor things.
This collection included several other short stories, most of which were riffs on love. Some were sensitive and lyrical: one touches on a wife’s alcoholism in suburbia, another the end of prodigy for a young girl. Others: slightly more forgettable.
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LibraryThing member comradesara
this book will break your frozen heart and drop the shards into a glass of moonshine for you to enjoy.
LibraryThing member andyray
I chill to the precise usage of prose and the word sketching of the masters. it takes a lot to get five stars from me these days, but Ms. McCullers has done it with the title piece alone. Sitting at the head of the table of Southern Gothics, she can pass the plate to William Faulkner on her right
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side and Harry Cres at her left. Am I saying her prose exceeds Faulkner. Yes. It does as she works for every word, while Bill just sits there and rambles on over his whiskey. Show Less
LibraryThing member tzelman
"The Haunted Boy" is far and away the best of the collection; sensitive stories, strong music theme
LibraryThing member arouse77
collection of short stories by Carson McCullers with a strong southern tang. the title story is a strange but nonetheless engrossing tale about a confrontation that rocks the entire social structure of a town.
an easy read worth picking up. lovely somehow in its slightly melancholic view of life.
an easy read worth picking up. lovely somehow in its slightly melancholic view of life.
LibraryThing member dalzan
When Miss Amelia takes a stranger into her home, rumors begin to circulate that Miss Amelia has only done so to take what the hunchback had in his suitcase. When the rumors hit their peak, a group of eight men come to her store, sitting outside on the steps for the day and waiting to see if
Finally, they enter the store all at once and are stunned to see that the hunchback is actually alive and well. With everyone gathered inside, Miss Amelia brings out some liquor and crackers in hospitality. This is essentially the beginning of the café. Miss Amelia and the hunchback, Cousin Lymon, unintentionally create a new tradition for the town, and the people gather inside at the café on Sunday evenings often until midnight.
Miss Amelia had been married to a man named Marvin Macy, who was a vicious and cruel character before meeting and falling in love with her. He changed his ways and became good-natured, but reverted back to his old self when his love was rejected after a failed ten-day marriage in which he gave up everything he possessed in hopes of having her return his affections. He broke out into a rage, committing a string of felonies before being caught and locked up in the state penitentiary.
When he was released, he returned to the town with the full intention of ruining Miss Amelia's life the way she ruined his. Upon his return, he takes advantage of Cousin Lymon's admiration for him, as he views Macy as a true man, and uses him to crush Miss Amelia's heart, ransack the café, steal her curios and money, and leave Miss Amelia alone by taking Cousin Lymon along with him as he disappears from town.
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something would happen.Finally, they enter the store all at once and are stunned to see that the hunchback is actually alive and well. With everyone gathered inside, Miss Amelia brings out some liquor and crackers in hospitality. This is essentially the beginning of the café. Miss Amelia and the hunchback, Cousin Lymon, unintentionally create a new tradition for the town, and the people gather inside at the café on Sunday evenings often until midnight.
Miss Amelia had been married to a man named Marvin Macy, who was a vicious and cruel character before meeting and falling in love with her. He changed his ways and became good-natured, but reverted back to his old self when his love was rejected after a failed ten-day marriage in which he gave up everything he possessed in hopes of having her return his affections. He broke out into a rage, committing a string of felonies before being caught and locked up in the state penitentiary.
When he was released, he returned to the town with the full intention of ruining Miss Amelia's life the way she ruined his. Upon his return, he takes advantage of Cousin Lymon's admiration for him, as he views Macy as a true man, and uses him to crush Miss Amelia's heart, ransack the café, steal her curios and money, and leave Miss Amelia alone by taking Cousin Lymon along with him as he disappears from town.
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LibraryThing member the_terrible_trivium
I didn't have fun reading this at all, but it's grown on me in retrospect. Grey and bleak and, well, sad. McCullers accomplishes this maybe too well.
LibraryThing member cinnyi1
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe is a masterpiece. It's a story I read in snippets, whenever I could for a couple of days. I read it waiting in the car, or whenever I had a moment or two to walk into the small southern town and visit with Miss Amelia and Cousin Lymon. I also read it out loud to whomever
This story is Southern Gothic at it's finest. I have lived in the south and have seen the dark swamps and endless rainy days. I can imagine it back in the day when a still was a source of liveliness in a boring, dying town. Well, to see a hunchback dwarf wander into town would have almost been too much as it was, but to see him claim kin to the richest, ornriest, most reclusive woman in town would have been downright exciting. And what's even more bizarre, is that she welcomes him into her home and allows him to stay with her - why, the ugly rumors run rampant!
Miss Amelia couldn't have been happier to accomodate Cousin Lymon, since she'd lived alone since the day long ago that her daddy died. She had someone to care for and that is something she did well being the town doctor too! My, how she loved Cousin Lymon and tenderly cared for him over the years.
The cafe that is created around Cousin Lymon and Miss Amelia's still, draws everyone in the town together for evenings of chatter and company and swills of excellent whisky and the boastering story telling of the lively, Cousin Lymon. The cafe becomes a great place to escape and to enjoy some hours in the evening especially since Cousin Lymon hates to be alone in the fearful night.
Everything changes when the ex-husband of Miss Amelia, from a whopping ten day marriage, wanders back after a stint in the pentitiary down in Atlanta, and he is a nasty.
If you like a good Southern Gothic tale, this is a must read. You will love the lyrical writing. The atmosphere is so drawn that you can live there a spell in that small town and hear the chain gang singing, off working in the distance and feel the sweat trickle down your back cooled, maybe, by a slight sudden breeze.
You'll want to read this story out loud to whom ever will listen.
Carson McCullers writes so well. With The Sad Cafe's cast of characters, this story has the chance to be campy or humourous, but it's told with such command of language that is is heartbreakingly understood. It is a tale that shows great depths of human emotion packed into a short jaunt into the deep south back in the day when a dirty, hunchbacked dwarf comes wandering into town at midnight.
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would listen because it's a book that deserves to be read aloud. This story is Southern Gothic at it's finest. I have lived in the south and have seen the dark swamps and endless rainy days. I can imagine it back in the day when a still was a source of liveliness in a boring, dying town. Well, to see a hunchback dwarf wander into town would have almost been too much as it was, but to see him claim kin to the richest, ornriest, most reclusive woman in town would have been downright exciting. And what's even more bizarre, is that she welcomes him into her home and allows him to stay with her - why, the ugly rumors run rampant!
Miss Amelia couldn't have been happier to accomodate Cousin Lymon, since she'd lived alone since the day long ago that her daddy died. She had someone to care for and that is something she did well being the town doctor too! My, how she loved Cousin Lymon and tenderly cared for him over the years.
The cafe that is created around Cousin Lymon and Miss Amelia's still, draws everyone in the town together for evenings of chatter and company and swills of excellent whisky and the boastering story telling of the lively, Cousin Lymon. The cafe becomes a great place to escape and to enjoy some hours in the evening especially since Cousin Lymon hates to be alone in the fearful night.
Everything changes when the ex-husband of Miss Amelia, from a whopping ten day marriage, wanders back after a stint in the pentitiary down in Atlanta, and he is a nasty.
If you like a good Southern Gothic tale, this is a must read. You will love the lyrical writing. The atmosphere is so drawn that you can live there a spell in that small town and hear the chain gang singing, off working in the distance and feel the sweat trickle down your back cooled, maybe, by a slight sudden breeze.
You'll want to read this story out loud to whom ever will listen.
Carson McCullers writes so well. With The Sad Cafe's cast of characters, this story has the chance to be campy or humourous, but it's told with such command of language that is is heartbreakingly understood. It is a tale that shows great depths of human emotion packed into a short jaunt into the deep south back in the day when a dirty, hunchbacked dwarf comes wandering into town at midnight.
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LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
Southern Gothic, and great short stories overall. The title story is probably the best from a literary perspective, and unfortunately the others don't live up to it, but they're all worthwhile reads, though somewhat repetitive characterwise by the time you've read them all. The problem is, you
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can't help comparing them to Capote, who's better at making characters come alive in the brief space allowed in a short story. Also, if you've read McCullers' novels, the stories and novella don't stand up to the same level. Show Less
LibraryThing member pajarita
Although I live today in the rural Southwestern US, I was born and bred in the american South. I left in 1975 at the age of 25. There was/is much to become alienated with about the South; the racism, the right-wing idealogies, the chauvanism, the narrow-minded parochialism. But there is much to
This novella "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" reads like it is a relic of the Southern oral tradition. It is easy to imagine oneself on a porch in the summer evening listening to a storyteller with a rich melodious voice going on and on..., pointing down the road, moving the arms, looking up at the stars, wistfully sighing....
Every word seems to come out of Carson McCuller's mouth personally, carefully, wickedly, lovingly, despairingly,
wryly,....like a ballad.
Indeed this tragic ballad ends with a short, two-paragraph prose/poem called "The Twelve Mortal Men" that recalls a prison road gang seen distantly down the road singing a call/response as they work the county road.
But much much earlier, you hear a ballad as the plot slowly weaves itself into a pattern, and holds you in its trance...for a while... and later it begins, inevitably, to unravel before you. There's nothing you can do to hold the pattern together; it unravels of its own energy, spinning across the tale...until there it is, only loose threads and memories.
You are invited to listen to this tale, ... and this ballad.
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love also: The vast and complex flora--springtime lasts five months; and each week there seem to be at least four different varieties of flowers in bloom! The lay of the small towns and farms. The food! And, of course the language with its own vocabulary, pronunciations,... and its own rhythms.This novella "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" reads like it is a relic of the Southern oral tradition. It is easy to imagine oneself on a porch in the summer evening listening to a storyteller with a rich melodious voice going on and on..., pointing down the road, moving the arms, looking up at the stars, wistfully sighing....
Every word seems to come out of Carson McCuller's mouth personally, carefully, wickedly, lovingly, despairingly,
wryly,....like a ballad.
Indeed this tragic ballad ends with a short, two-paragraph prose/poem called "The Twelve Mortal Men" that recalls a prison road gang seen distantly down the road singing a call/response as they work the county road.
But much much earlier, you hear a ballad as the plot slowly weaves itself into a pattern, and holds you in its trance...for a while... and later it begins, inevitably, to unravel before you. There's nothing you can do to hold the pattern together; it unravels of its own energy, spinning across the tale...until there it is, only loose threads and memories.
You are invited to listen to this tale, ... and this ballad.
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LibraryThing member etxgardener
I've read other books by McCullers and really liked them, so maybe my problem wiith this one was that I just wasn't in the mood for Southern Gothic run amok. But whatever it was, I just hated this book.
LibraryThing member SusanOleksiw
The title story in this collection is a truly sad tale of an isolated woman who finds love late in life. She lives in a small southern town, successful business woman selling home-brewed liquor along with household goods and farm equipment and tools. Into this world comes a peculiar little man whom
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she accepts. The little man changes her life, and the life of the town. But it can't last. The story is haunting and one of McCullers's best. Show Less
LibraryThing member invisibleinkling
I fell in love with McCullers in high school, and this is one of my favourites. She really paints a portrait in each one of the characters that makes you want to learn more. I wish there were spin-offs (they'd sure be better than "Joey"). I really closed the book sad there wasn't more to learn
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LibraryThing member AliceAnna
What a wonderful story yet so sad and disturbing. The loss of self through love is the theme that most attracted me. A very warped triangle of love, hate, adulation and need drove the characters to fulfill their awful destinies.
LibraryThing member Crazymamie
I just finished listening to this collection that contains the novella The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and several other short stories by Carson McCullers, and while I was not disappointed with the stories, I was disappointed with the narration of this particular audiobook. The stories themselves are
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quirky and poignant and filled with heartbreak and humor. I like how McCuller's characters get under your skin. They are flawed and fully fleshed and often disturbing. Where I went wrong was in choosing the audiobook over the print version. McCuller's writing is all about language and her incredible grasp of using just the right phrasing to capture the action of the story and to describe the characters - it's language you want to immerse yourself in by rereading passages and sentences and letting the perfection of her similes and metaphors roll over you. One of my favorite examples is when she describes Mr. Brooks (from the Madam Zilensky story) as "pastel". Hard if not impossible to do that with an audiobook. And then there were the multiple narrators - the reader for the title novella was very good, but some of the others were inadequate to the task. I know that I will eventually revisit this, and when I do it will be with the physical book. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Set in a small Georgia mill town, The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers is a novella that lives up to the word ballad in the title by delivering a poetic narrative that tells a tale of heartbreak, retribution and woe. The reader feels both pity and aversion during the unfolding of this
Carson McCullers work is often referred to as Southern Gothic, and I think this intense, somewhat dark story populated by bitter, disturbed characters does speak of southern values even in how it appears to be clinging to the past and giving off a slight hint of decay.
Personally, I didn’t seem to connect with this author but it cannot be denied that with The Ballad of the Sad Café and the other stories in this collection, she writes beautifully and paints a vivid, compelling picture of the American south. I am sure that the title story will linger in my mind for some time to come due to her lyrical writing and strange, eccentric plot. The other short stories in this collection also had interesting, complex characters, were written in her distinctive style and reflect her southern roots.
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story. Peopled with damaged but realistic characters that explore the themes of loneliness, isolation and the effects of unrequited love.Carson McCullers work is often referred to as Southern Gothic, and I think this intense, somewhat dark story populated by bitter, disturbed characters does speak of southern values even in how it appears to be clinging to the past and giving off a slight hint of decay.
Personally, I didn’t seem to connect with this author but it cannot be denied that with The Ballad of the Sad Café and the other stories in this collection, she writes beautifully and paints a vivid, compelling picture of the American south. I am sure that the title story will linger in my mind for some time to come due to her lyrical writing and strange, eccentric plot. The other short stories in this collection also had interesting, complex characters, were written in her distinctive style and reflect her southern roots.
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Awards
Language
Original publication date
1951
ISBN
0745127118 / 9780745127118
Other editions
The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories by Carson McCullers (Paperback)