Customer Reviews

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe: and Other Stories

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The brilliance of The Ballad of the Sad Cafe lies in the fact that it teaches us how to identify ourselves. The crux of the story seems to rest on what may be called an explicit explanation of the lover and the beloved. It's a critical distinction that most do not make; and may well explain why so many human relationships fail. McCullers writes:

"First of all, love is a joint experience between two persons--but the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved. There are the lover and the beloved, but these two come from different countries."

The author asserts that the beloved is only a stimulus for the stored-up love of the lover. She then goes on to say that the beloved can be of any description. "The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love." The preacher and the fallen woman. The greasy-headed person with evil habits. "In fact, the most mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild, extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lilies of the swamp." McCullers concludes this passage by saying: "Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself." This is a significant point worthy of a lifetime of memory.

As The Ballad of the Sad Cafe unfolds the reader watches the characters' roles transfer from the lover to the beloved. Marvin Macy (the lover) seeks the affections of Amelia Evans (the beloved). But Amelia rejects Macy. Then Amelia (the lover) becomes enamored with Cousin Lymon (the beloved); and then Cousin Lymon, the lover with the hunchback) seeks the attention of Marvin Macy (the beloved).

In the end, Marvin and Cousin Lymon destroy Amelia--physically, mentally, and spiritually. For her, lost love has been a terribly destructive force. She is never the same.

What is clear is that as humans we are often out of character in our relationships. Who are we: the lover or the beloved? Without this understanding our relationships are doomed to fail. This may not have been McCullers' deliberate intent in the work, but it certainly is a distinction well worth making and remembering.

This is a limpid, beautiful story, wonderfully told. The whole setting exemplifies Southern Gothic from the word go: "The town itself is dreary; not much is there except the cotton-mill, the two-room houses where the workers live, a few peach trees, a church with two coloured windows, and a miserable main street only a hundred yards long."

I was hooked by the beginning, evoking dilapidation, isolation, heat, distress and latent fear/weirdness. Much has been written on McCullough's "lover and beloved" theme, well explored here. The characters are an unforgettable collection of weirdos, still, somehow, typically American; the descriptions are poetic. In general the writing rings true, is economic yet lyrical - nothing is wasted.

Great as "The Great Gatsby", in its way. Much better than "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". It lives up to its title, truly a "ballad" - a songlike story. And the ballad of the mixed-race chain gang that ends it ties the story to the South.

I was sorry to finish it! Utterly compelling.

I realize that saying "Truly odd" about a McCullers book is like saying, "There's a tall building in New York," but this is by far her most unusual work. It felt more like an experimentation piece to me than a finished work, but even with that I thought it was brilliant. Her best work is THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, and nothing she ever did after that could compare, but BALLAD should be read, along with REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE, McCrae's THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, and Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING.

The "lover and the beloved" are described quite well in "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe". I enjoyed reading the story because the concept of the "lover and the beloved" is written in a way that I can understand and relate to. The rest of the story was not understandable to me. Why did Miss Amelia marry her husband? Why did she hate him? What's with the hunchback? Chain gang? What chain gang? Anyway-read this for the definition of love. For the meaning of love try "The Little Prince".

I first read this novella in college. Those immortal words about love haunt me still..."Now comes the time to speak about love, for Miss Amelia loved Cousin Lyman, that much was clear to everyone.", but "'Tis better to be the lover than the beloved." Those passages set out the whole premise for the book about love that proves love can be found where you least expect it. Carson McCullers told my favorite tale about the quirky Miss Amelia and Cousin Lyman. Great read.

Carson Mccullers was a writer who had a confused, dramatic personal life, from a psychological as well as physical perspective. The feelings of alienation and suffering were prevalent in her life and had a direct influence on her writing. "The Ballad of the Sad Café" is a direct reflection of her personal suffering.
The story could be categorized as simple and to a certain extent grotesque, centred around three main characters: Amelia Evans, her cousing Lymon, and ill-natured Marvin Macy, all of them eccentric individuals. The setting is a small town alienated in time and space. McCullers writings should be interpreted in an allegorical way. In this particular story she deals with her pessimistic outlook on the nature of love, which according to her is bound to bring tragedy (as much as her own love life was involved in failure).
The story abounds on symbolisms and metaphors. Many of her stories are set in the American South and she addresses, in a beautiful allegorical way, the reality of racial bias (in the case of "The Ballad of the Sad Café" she uses the song of the chain-gang men).
Despite this expressionistic stage, the reader cannot help feeling empathy for the characters and their drama, which is exactly what McCulleres is willing to achieve through her writings. Highly criticized as well as praised by her contemporaries, McCullers has been somehow forgotten. Many certainly have watched the film "The Heart is a lonely Hunter" but few remember her as the creator of such a beautiful and touching story.

Carson McCullers has a fine collection of stories here. The main story about the Cafe' I found to be brilliant, very thought-provoking and somewhat enchanting. The characters are very unusual, but the author makes them believable and makes you become emotionally part of the story. The stories that followed in this collection are all very well written, but a few lacked substance and I found some of them to be dry and disappointing as a reader in comparison to the first one in the book. The final one in the collection was very creative and inspiring, however, and demonstrates the incredible power of this author. A worthwhile read if you are exploring the writing of great American authors. I enjoyed it.

This is a gem of a story - stark, painful, and beautiful. She took what she started with the food-obsessed deaf Greek friend of John Singer in "Heart...", and created a complete human love story out of three inhuman figures. We don't recognize these characters, but oh, do we recognize their love, their hatred, their strength, their weakness, and their pain. I think this is why Picasso painted abstractly, so he could say what he wanted without anything getting in the way. Most highly recommended.

I was surprised when I read Ballad of the Sad Cafe to found out that it was a short story and not theater play, which was my first contact with this work. However, upon finishing it became evident why the adaptation was not something difficult. Each character is extremely rich in human complexity and the author dedicates most of its effort to unveil their soul.

The same happens with all the stories. However in each one of them its end is somehow bewildering because they lack a conclusion. Is like going to the movies and having the film ending with a "to be continued". I guess McCullens want to convey the idea that at the end of the day nothing finishes because life keeps on going on.

Carson McCullers, Ballad of the Sad Cafe was an extremely amazing tail. I read this book for an english class and I came to the conclusion that this story was not about love, but deception. Look closely at the way Lymon grew so attached to Marvin so quickly, and how at the end of the fight Lymon ruined the action. All signs point toward a definte duo of trash when it comes to Lymon and Marvin. The biggest kicker of them all is the end of the story with the prison men on the side of the road.