Summer is almost here, and for me that means reading really strange, macabre, depressing Southern Gothic literature, and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe really delivers on that premise. Carson McCullers is a very reliable writer in that way-- everyone in this novella is lonely and odd and (spoiler alert, but not really) everyone ends pretty much as sad as they began. In keeping with my reading habits lately, this has been another very satisfying, very short book.