The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers
Set in a small, desolate Southern town, the book tells the story of Miss Amelia, a lonesome and eccentric woman who operates a café. Her life takes a turn when her estranged husband, Marvin Macy, a brutal man, and Cousin Lymon, a hunchbacked dwarf who she falls in love with, come to town. The book explores themes of love, loneliness, and isolation, as Miss Amelia's love for Cousin Lymon leads to her downfall and the café's closure.
The 1458th greatest book of all time
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Total Points: 280
This book was first published in 1951
7 Lists
- score: 190 -- 'The perfect library': the 196 books selected by 133 personalities - 2020 (Weight: 190)
- score: 56 -- Harold Bloom's The Western Canon - 1994 (Weight: 60)
- score: 30 -- In Which These Are the 100 Greatest Novels - 2011 (Weight: 30)
- score: 1 -- A Response to David Handlin’s “One Hundred Best American Novels” - 2014 (Weight: 1)
- score: 1 -- The Modern Library: The Two Hundred Best Novels in English Since 1950 - 2011 (Weight: 1)
- score: 1 -- Our Users' Honorable Mention Favorite Books of All Time - 2024 (Weight: 1)
- score: 1 -- 100 Great 20th Century English-language Works of Fiction by Women - 1998 (Weight: 1)