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Summary: Where the Heart Is - Friends
Review: This book is full of laughter and tears, determination and love. It is a story about a young girl, Novalee Nation, who finds herself living in Wal-Mart after being abandoned by her boyfriend. While there she makes several lasting friendships that become a foundation for her and her child. During Novalee's life she has experienced her share of heartache. She find the strength and determination to push foward through the hard times with the help and support of her new found friends. This book makes you realize the importance of friendship, and everything gained from it. Friendship provides a person with love and support that may not be found anywhere else. Novalee finds these things - love and support - through her friends.
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Summary: A wonderful Novel!
Review: This is a wondeful novel about a young pregnent girl, Novelee who is dumped at a WalMart SuperCenter by her hillbilly scumbag boyfriend Willy Jack. Novelle then in a little town in Oklohoma lives in the WalMart while she tries to get her life together.
In this town she meets Froney who wants nothing more but to love her, and Lexi who becomes the sister she never had, and Sister Husband who becomes her serigant mother.
This an extraordinary tail about family, and helping strangers who then become friends.
Novelee eventually becomes a photographer influenced by Moses Whitecotton, a man who is the regular baby photographer at the WalMart.
This novel is much about the trials and tribulations of life, some including: Lexi is raped and beaten by her boyfriend, who also rapes her little boy Brownie. Another is that Novelee's mother visits her mother in the hospital when she gives birth to her daughter, Americus. Yet another is when Sister Husband is killed in a tornado, and she leaves all she has to Novelee, allowing her to build a home for herself.
This is a wonderful book, if you haven't read it, do so! You won't regreat it!
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Summary: Unselfishness Prize
Review: Put yourself in a place where all you have is a pair of flip-flops, $7.77, and a heart full of determination, pride, and unselfishness. You are Novalee Nation, a pregnant seventeen year-old girl. Abandoned at a Wal-Mart by her boyfriend Willie Jack, she meets many important and influential people who will carry her to find her dreams. If you are looking for a book full of laughter and tears, you are looking for the Oprah Book Club selection entitled, Where the Heart Is by B. Letts.
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Summary: Where the Heart Is
Review: Where the Heart Is, is a truly moving novel. It starts out so hopeless and transforms both the reader and it's characters. Novalee Nation is typically someone you wouldn't look up to, but instead someone you would wisper about in passing. While traveling through the pages of this wonderful story, Novalee becomes someone you would like to model yourself after. Her character truly defines the words "strength" and "love."
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Summary: Rural Diversity
Review: "Where The Heart IS" is a refreshingly lighthearted tale that allows the reader to witness one girls journey both across the country from her childhood home, and through life. The author, Billie Letts, develops characters in a way that is uncommon in most of todays "pie in the sky" fictional literature. In the example of Novalee Nations, the main character, she unlikely developes as the books heroine, while simultaneously developing as a more well rounded and wise young woman.
Other characters developed in a similar manner. Each seems to have their own burden to bare,including recovering from alcoholism, laboring to live above racisim, caring for a alcohoic sibling, the restlessness and seeking of adolescence, or just struggling with the consequences of making bad decisions. They all benefit from knowing each other.
The storyline weaves with as many idiosyncrasies as the characters whose lives it intertwines. Within it the heroine is taken from a life of chaos and squalor to a more predictable life of stability and security. Novalee sees the dreams of her life at the beginning of the book get shattered in one road trip rest stop, only to be replaced with a reality that brings her even more satisfaction. This story proves one woman's ability and determination to rise above circumstances that were not the norm.
This book is a true Horatio Alger tale for today that will appeal to many.
Rating:
Summary: Rural Diversity
Review: "Where The Heart Is" is a refreshingly lighthearted tale that allows the reader to witness one girl's journeys, both across the country from her childhood home, and through life. The author, Billie Letts, develops characters in a manner that is uncommon in most of today's "pie in the sky" fictional literature. In the example of Novalee Nations, the main character, she unlikely develops as the books heroine, while simultaneously developing as a more well rounded and wise young woman.Other characters develop in similar fashions. Each seems to have their own burden to bear, including recovering from alcoholism, laboring to live above racism, caring for an alcoholic sibling, the restlesness and seeking of adolesence or just struggling with the consequences of making bad decisions. They all benefit from knowing each other. The storyline weaves with as many idiosyncracies as the characters whose lives it intertwines. Within it the heroine is taken from a life of chaos and squalor to a more predicitable life of stability and security. Novalee sees the dreams for her life at the beginning of the book get shattered in one road trip rest stop, only to be replaced with a reality that brings her even more satisfaction. This book is a true Horatio Alger tale for today, that will appeal to many.
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Summary: Wal.Mart Security
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Where the Heart Is, a very good read, although one question bothered me. It was the issue of security at Wal-Mart. I find it hard to believe that someone could live in the store undetected for that long a period. Surely, Wal-Mart security personnel, or someone, would have discovered her hiding there at night and eating food and wearing clothes off the rack. And Willy Jack's punishmentfor leaving Novalee abandoned in a small Oklahoma town was too severe. The parts about him actually detracted from the beautiful pace of the novel. Also what happened to Novalee's Momma. She comes in quickly and exits just as quick. Nevertheless, I recommend it to you.
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Summary: An exceptional love story
Review: Where the Heart is, is one if not the best love story ever. At the start of the book, the plot is kind of hazy to what is really going to happen to Novalee, but soon after the wonder she is left at Wal-mart to live. I like the way the author really takes along the reader as they read. She is good at intimately describing each and every feeling and place the book seems to hold. The "love" story begins when Novalee meets, Sister Husband. The love that Sister shows Novalee, is a sincere Christian love that is clearly shown throughout the book. Then there is Moses who shares with Novalee, one is his loves, photography. His love for photography makes Novalee love taking pictures even more. Then Forney, who I think falls in love with Novalee at first sight. He becomes friends with her and makes the most intimate love story at the end. Americus comes along, whom everybody in the town loves. Novalee never fathomed the love that she was going to have for her daughter, Americus. The love shown throughout this book was felt in every chapter. This is a book that you can laugh and cry with, because when you are finished you are wanting more, because the charachters have become a part of your life.
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Summary: Just a delightful novel!!!
Review: This should say it all: I read this novel in one day. I had seen the movie about a year ago when I bought the book. It sat on the shelf for a long time until a friend & I were talking about books & she recommended it & said it was 10 times better than the movie. Now that I read it I have to agree. It is just one of those novels that touches that sentimental part of you. I think it was a charming novel & now I look at Ms. Letts as a literary genius.Where the Heart Is is a beautiful novel that anyone could read & not help but love & I absolutely say you need to read it!!!
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Summary: Happiness and Heartache
Review: Where the Heart Is, by Billie Letts, is a well-written novel that captures the reader's attention by revealing the joys and sorrows that the main character, Novalee Nation, experiences in her life. From the birth of her daughter, Americus, and the controversy surrounding the birth, to the lasting friendships that Novalee develops in the small town of Sequoyah, Oklahoma, this book outlines Novalee's search for the true meanings of life, love, and family.
When left stranded at Wal-Mart by her boyfriend, Novalee is seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight, and holding $7.77 in change. Shortly after, she tops the headlines when she lives in the store for months before giving birth to Americus there. Novalee quickly learns to live a simple life in surrounded by the people who would change her life forever. Sister Husband's quirky attitudes, Forney's love for books, and Moses Whitecotton's passion for photography influence Novalee and shape her into the person she becomes. Tragedy strikes Novalee in many forms, yet because of her strength she can always recover from these situations. Overcoming every type of obstacle, Novalee never gives up or breaks down. This dedicated heroine never wallows in her own self-pity. By the end of the book, Novalee realizes that life never turns out just how you would expect it to. Rather, it may surpass all your wildest dreams and expectations. This book is one that almost anyone can enjoy. However, it is mainly targeted towards females. One girl's journey to where the heart is demonstrates what is truly important in life. The combination of drama, comedy, and tragedy makes Where the Heart Is a novel that will change lives for many years to come.
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