Rating: 
Summary: A Strong Soul
Review: This heart warming story is the tale of a young girl struggling through life with nothing, yet facing every defeat possible. She is left without any belongings or money by her boyfriend at a wal-mart. She was pregnant and had no place to turn in this small town. The citizens of this town took Novelee Nation in to their hearts and helped her get on to her feet. Through the years, she faced many challenges and triumphed to succeed in life. This story will touch your heart and leave you loving Novelee Nation and her successes. You will enjoy every minute of it and pass it on to your friends and family.
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Summary: Where the Heart is
Review: The 358 pages in this book went by so quickly when I read this story. Where the Heart is was a classic story about a young, abandoned, pregnant girl. Her name was Novalee Nation. She was 17 years old, seven months pregnant, left alone at a Wal-Mart with $7.77 left in change, and very unlucky about sevens. She has no where to go and no one was familiar. She meets a group of caring people that will change her life forever. She begins to realize what life is all about and meets the man of her dreams. When the story ends, she is not the same person as when it began. This was such a great book for me to read and I have no regrets about reading it. I recommend this book to all!
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Summary: Southern Charm to Disarm
Review: Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts is the funny and touching story of Novalee Nation left pregnant and alone in a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma and her struggles to pull herself together and upwards. She works at this through the help of many of the colourful characters of the town, particulary some fiesty women such as Sister Thelma Husband (my favourite) and Lexie Coop (with her large brood each named after candy). There are many setbacks on her upward trajectory but the author and Novalee handle each with heart, which this book is stuffed to the brim with. A delightful read on a summer's day.
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Summary: Where the Heart Is, Where your History Begins, Home...
Review: We all have superstitions, some more than others do. Novalee Nation, the main character in the book has had her fair share of bad luck with sevens. Seventeen years old Novalee is driving to California with her deadbeat boyfriend Willy Jack, when she loses her sandals through the car floor. After much pleading, Willy Jack agrees to stop at a local Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma so that Novalee can buy herself some new shoes. As soon as Novalee is given the change for her sandals ($7.77) you know that Willy Jack has left his pregnant girlfriend and won't return. It was just something about those sevens. As sad as this scene in the book is, I was overjoyed to get rid of Willy Jack. He was unappreciative of her, and discarded her and the baby without a second glance. On that day, she meets her future best friend, Sister Thelma Husband. Sister proves that guardian angels do exist, because whenever Novalee hits a dark spot, there is Sister to make things better and make you laugh. She also is given a buckeye tree from Benny Goodluck, a ten-year-old Native American boy. When the tree begins to die, she goes to the library where she meets the mysterious Forney Hull. After Americus (Novalee's baby) is born things start to go her way. She visits Sister Husband's house a short time after becoming comfortable in her new 'home' (Wal-Mart). She plants the buckeye tree in Sister's yard and as soon as Americus is born, the two move into Sister's trailer. I really love Sister in this book. She just gives and gives; it seems like she never expects anything in return. She is a genuinely good person, which seems harder and harder to find these days. I had hoped Willy Jack would leave the story line after he ditched Novalee at Wal-Mart, but to my dismay, he just kept reappearing. As awful as I thought he was, it became interesting to hear of his life. He and Novalee lead completely opposite lives and it helps show how much Novalee matures. I was very surprised that this was Billie Letts' first book. She seemed to write with ease and an experienced flow. The words seemed to dance on the page. She makes the characters real; you really feel the character's joys and pains. I loved this book and I can't wait to read others written by Letts.
Rating:
Summary: HEARTWARMING
Review: This is a fast-reading book that captures your heart right from the beginning. I had seen the movie (and they really did a good job of basing it on the book), but the book is better. Only through the written word can we get "inside" the characters. This book illustrates the importance of community in a way that's believable. A book worth reading!Also recommended: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Through a Glass Darkly
Rating: 
Summary: Where the Heart Is
Review: When I chose to read Where the Heart Is, I did it because of everyone else's great comments about the novel. I will join them in saying that this book is wonderful and should be read immediately. Seven-months pregnant and seventeen years old, young Novalee Nation steps out of her boyfriend, Willy Jack Picken's beat-up truck. He gives her ten dollars for a pair of house-shoes and sends her on her way. When she comes out of the Wal-mart, she is abandoned, and alone in a small town in Oklahoma. Through her struggles as a teenage mother, Novalee discovers things about herself and that you can succeed, even when everything seems to be against you. This book is for leisure reading, and is the type that will keep you up at all hours of the night, wanting to see what happens next. The plot of this novel keeps the reader interested and the twists and turns the author, Billy Letts puts in his novel encourages the reader to want more.
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Summary: Left Alone
Review: Left Alone in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. Novalee Nation had no money and no one to turn to. Her boyfriend, Billy Letts went on to California without her. Novalee is carrying Billy's child but Billy could care less. Novalee is left with only seven dollars left from the ten he gave her. The thought of seven made Novalee shiver. From the time she was little she always feared the number seven. As you can tell she had a bad history of sevens. Now she was seventeen, seven months pregnat and twenty- seven pounds over weight. The book was very good and I enjoyed reading it. I own the book and I would offer it to anyone.
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Summary: Where Is the Heart?
Review: The novel Where the Heart Is, written by Billie Letts is one of exceptional content. The author does a fantastic job of capturing ones attention, and allowing the readers to advance to a personal level with the characters. As the novel opens, readers are immediately introduced to young Novalee Nation. She is in a sticky situation as a young pregnant 17-year-old girl, on the road with her abusive boyfriend named Willy Jack. The readers are soon informed of Novalee's belief in her unlucky number seven. Her mother ran away from home on Novalee's seventh birthday, and her only friend was sent away while Novalee was in the seventh grade. As the story progresses Willy Jack makes an unwanted stop at Wal-Mart for Novalee to purchase a needed item. Novalee checks out and receives change in the amount of $7.77. Immediately she has a disturbing feeling thinking that Willy Jack left her. She is right. Novalee is stranded at Wal-Mart. Seven months pregnant, Novalee has nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. She meets many people over the course of her next two months spent inside the store. After delivering the baby on her own inside of Wal-Mart, Novalee gains much publicity and popularity after having the Wal-Mart baby whom she names Americus. She soon moves in to a home with a lady named Sister and a man named Mr. Sprock. They establish a family relationship in no time. From then on Novalee's life is moving in a positive direction. She is well established with a job and a roof over her head. She meets a guy named Forney who soon develops feelings for Novalee and Americus. From then on readers continue to develop deeper feelings for Novalee and her lifestyle. She has been through so much and is only a teenager. I loved the book. Very easy feel good reading and hard to put down once you get started. As a reader you cannot help but to put yourself in Novalee's position and endure the struggles Novalee has to endure. I strongly recommend the book to anyone looking for a positive, feel good, easy reading novel.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: When Novalee Nation gets pregnet at the age of 17, many new and bad things start happening to her. Starting off with being left at a walmart in a small town with only seven dollars and seventy seven cents, and seven months pregnet. This is only the start of the rest of her journey through life. Throughout the book Novalee meets many new people, most of who are really nice and willing to help her in any way needed. She manages to find a job to take care of her baby and herself, makes many new friends, falls in love, and starts a family of her own. Only after a long time of recovery. She begins to get her life back on track and everything back to normal, except for the 7th day, month, and year of her babys birth. Ever since Novalees seventh birthday when her mother left her, sevens have been a bad number for Novalee. This was an extremely good book. I really liked how they made Novalee keep going on with life and try to make the best of everything she does. She doesn't mope around and cry about the hard times she has had, she just looks at the good times she has had. Even though she is only 18 when she has her kid, everyone treated her like an adult, and she acted like one, which really made the book better. I would reccommend this book to anyone and everyone, even if they don't like to read because I am one of those people, and there were times when I would not put it down. The story also proved that age does not really matter if you are in love. These days parents make age to be such a big thing but this book gives you a completely different perspective on things. If I were to compare the book to the movie, I would diffenetly pick the book because it was more descriptive. This was a great book and I would diffanetly reccommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!!
Review: Courtney W. Mrs. Johnson Lang. and Lit Where the Heart Is By Billie Letts I personally really enjoyed this book. I liked how it was easy to read and always interesting. It's a really cool book because its just about everyday life in Oklahoma, but people really enjoy reading about other peoples lives. I would definitely give this book a ten out of ten. This is because for one, it's very descriptive on how people think and or feel. I always liked seeing movies about books or books about movies just to see if they really go hand in hand. Lots of times, they make small changes when a book is made into a movie. I personally prefer to read the book and then see the movie to see just what they changed. This was posted on amazon.com on Sunday May 13, 2001.
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