Search - Where the Heart Is

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book. It was a very sweet love story about a pregnant young girl who is abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart, where she meets many people who change her life, touching, heartwarming. It was interesting reading this book after having already seen the movie because I had all of the actors' faces in my head and didn't have to imagine what the characters looked like. Some of the actors in the movie didn't quite fit their character's descriptions in the book, and the movie's ending was changed slightly, but that is to be expected with any movie adaptation and it didn't bother me at all. I am glad I read this book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a nice feel good book!

If you've only watched the movie, you've got to read the book - too good to miss!

A funny thing happens to Novalee Nation on her way to Bakersfield, California. Her ne'er-do-well boyfriend, Willie Jack Pickens, abandons her in an Oklahoma Wal-Mart and takes off on his own, leaving her with just 10 dollars and the clothes on her back. Not that hard luck is anything new to Novalee, who is "seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight--and superstitious about sevens.... For most people, sevens were lucky. But not for her," Billie Letts writes. "She'd had a bad history with them, starting with her seventh birthday, the day Momma Nell ran away with a baseball umpire named Fred..."

Still, finding herself alone and penniless in Sequoyah, Oklahoma is enough to make even someone as inured to ill fortune as Novalee want to give up and die. Fortunately, the Wal-Mart parking lot is the Sequoyah equivalent of a town square, and within hours Novalee has met three people who will change her life: Sister Thelma Husband, a kindly eccentric; Benny Goodluck, a young Native American boy; and Moses Whitecotton, an elderly African American photographer. For the next two months, Novalee surreptitiously makes her home in the Wal-Mart, sleeping there at night, exploring the town by day. When she goes into labor and delivers her baby there, however, Novalee learns that sometimes it's not so bad to depend on the kindness of strangers--especially if one of them happens to be Sam Walton, the superchain's founder.

Where the Heart Is oddly mixes heart-warming vignettes and surprising, brutal violence. Novalee's story is juxtaposed with occasional chapters chronicling Willy Jack's downward spiral into prison, disappointment, and degradation. And even in Sequoyah, sudden storms, domestic violence, kidnapping, and deadly fires punctuate Novalee's progress from homeless, unwed teen mom to successful, happy member of the community. This is not a subtle book; there's never any doubt that our heroine will make a home for herself and her baby or that Willy Jack will get what he deserves for abandoning them. Still, Billie Letts has created several memorable characters, and there's always room for another novel that celebrates the life-affirming qualities of reading, the importance of education, and the power of love to change lives.

One of the few Oprah Book Club books that I have actually enjoyed.
heartwarming, clever and captivating. The lives of a small town in nowhereland Oklahoma jump alive in this wonderful book. Characters you wont forget, heartbreaking stories and stories of triumph. Despite hard times Novalee Nation is a standout and never lets the crap in life get her down.

I am sort of split in my thinking about this book. I enjoyed the community that welcomed Novalee into their lives. I thought that was really sweet. There were alot of hard parts to the book though too. There was some language and some creepy sexual stuff. I did not like any of the Willy Jack storyline. I was also thinking that some of the things that happened to Lexie were because of her bad choices. I wanted her to learn before it got so bad that it hurt her little family.

My favorite book of all time. The characters seem so real, it's almost like you really know them. Everything seems so realistic. It's a very touching, quick read. The movie is also excellent.

I don't always enjoy "Oprah books," but I certainly did this one. It reads easily and the conversations sound natural. The fact that I forgot most of the plot rather quickly tells me that it is not 'memorable literature,' but it is a very, very good read--uplifting, as another reviewer called it--and leaves you feeling good.

The older I become, the more I favor books that do not (1) leave you up in the air or peter out at the end, or (2) act as if, just because terrible things can happen in life, you need your nose rubbed in them, and (3) under the guise of being realistic, have a bitter--or in some other way very unpleasant--ending. Some classics, like Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina HAVE to end sadly or they would miss their point, but I deplore the way nowadays even some children's books pretend to be upbeat while actually ending quite unpleasantly (A Day No Pigs Would Die being my special hate in that respect). Where the Heart Is escapes all those pitfalls and has a lot to offer.

If you liked The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven (but not necesssarily The Poisonwood Bible), by Barbara Kingsolver, you should like this one, too.