Miss Lonelyhearts

Miss Lonelyhearts is the Dear Abby of her day during America's Great Depression. But Miss Lonelyhearts is a he, not a she, and that's only the beginning of the ways Miss Lonelyhearts deceives her readers. Though he feels pity for his readers and their terrible lives, Miss Lonelyhearts has little to offer to help them.

Oddly, the most disturbed character in the book is Miss Lonelyhearts himself. He obsesses over the troubles of his readers but no one is able to help him. His editor doesn't even try, regarding the whole Miss Lonelyhearts column as a joke, a publicity stunt. His fiancé suggests he quit the job, something he can't bring himself to do. Miss Lonelyhearts tries several ways to help himself but all fail.

This is a very short novel, a novella really, but it is very thoughtful and darkly comedic. I read it twice, the second time after reading some commentary about the novel, and the second reading was a rich reading for me. The commentary says that Miss Lonelyhearts is a Christ-like figure who, in the end, sacrifices himself for his people, but to no end. The author, the commentary goes on to write, saw there was no place for the innocent, the sacrificial, in the evil modern world.