What a beautifully written book. McCullers writes with this undertow of gentle sadness that feels embodied in lived experience. I find there is almost a warmth to the sadness conveyed by the narrator's voice (contrasted with the coldness and brutality of a Houellebecq, for example).
I think the book perfectly describes what it's like to be stuck in loneliness. The feeling of being trapped and unable to will yourself out of a choking reality. The protagonist, 12 year old Frankie Adams invents a delusion, a fantastical world in which her life will suddenly change after The Wedding. This is the internal refuge she creates to tolerate the stagnant monotony of life around a grimey kitchen table with her nanny Berenice and younger cousin John Henry.
Lovely review. I agree with the bit about the ending. It feels like the book never really leaves that interminable setting.