Just recently re-read this after maybe 25-30 years (LOL I am OLD). It still holds up. In fact I'll bump the rating up 1/2 of a star to 4 1/2 stars. When I think that Carson McCullers was only 22-23 (?) when she wrote this...just wow. She understood human longing for connection, to make a difference in the world. She understood how we can feel cheated when we realize we will just have an ordinary life, that most of our dreams and wishes will not be fulfilled. She understood a young girl's emotional pain as she matured, the obsessive thoughts, and unfortunately, the post traumatic stress she, all too often, chooses to hide from the world.

This author created great, believable characters whose pain you felt because you understood them fully, as horrible and hateful as they could sometimes be. Unlike the relationships the characters have with Singer... they might have all been deaf AND blind as much as they saw into each others' hearts, as much as they understood each others' dreams and desires. Perhaps Singer was the most guilty of this, refusing to make a real connection to any of them. He just pined away for that crappiest friend of all Antonapolous. He silently looked at them as they spoke, just half comprehending what they were saying. They poured their hearts' desire out to him as he silently watched. It's hard to blame the others for being so selfish because friendship take real effort of both people. There has to be a give and take for it to be real. Singer would not try for whatever reason. We never really find out why. He remains silent even to the reader. And he was perhaps the loneliest hunter of all and had many people with whom he could have made a real connection, but perversely he would not.

This is a book worthy of anyone's reading time. It will not disappoint. It's kind of depressing in a way, but then again life is like that sometimes. Sometimes.