Where the Heart Is (Oprah's Book Club)

Customer Reviews

• Joy in Sequoiah, Oklahoma  Mar 4, 2001 (29 of 30 found this helpful)

  You know that you like to laugh, as well as feel sober and near tears. This is a book that should please. The well-thumbed trade paperback in our library continues to be checked out and praised. Even since the movie was released, folks still want to read the words of Billie Letts, a comic, heart-felt word crafter.

  Such great names as Novalee and Americus Nation, Willy Jack Pickens, Sister Husband, Moses Whitecotton, make the reader want to see what this is all about. And Novalee's superstition over the number 7 adds to the folksie manner in which Letts develops her story. As to plot, a baby born in a Wal-Mart, why not?

  In one episode, you find yourself laughing out loud, and in another there is suspense, sorrow, and a teary eye. Letts gives you the full experience in a book that can't be put down. Add these characters to your friends in print. And read The Honk And Holler Opening Soon, too. While not a sequel, exactly, it does depict another set of Sequoiah, Oklahomans who are a part of another good story.

  Letts is a talented story teller. For a relaxing good read, try her books.

• Letts Really Hits Home With This One!  Dec 8, 1999 (36 of 40 found this helpful)

  A Walker Percy Award Winner, this believable down-home tale will melt over your senses like warm butter over thick grits! Letts tells the story of a young pregnant girl who is left stranded by her boyfriend in a small town at Wal-Mart. She lives in the store until the night she gives birth to her baby in the middle of the Wal-Mart floor. When the secret of her living, sleeping, eating, and having a baby in Wal-Mart gets out, Novalee Nation becomes an instant headliner! The people in the town fall in love with this seventeen-year old girl and her miracle baby. What she finds in this town full of strangers who open up their hearts to her is a place she can call home. Novalee is full of life and positive spirit. She is determined and overcomes each obstacle thrown her way by never giving up. Through losing her boyfriend, losing her baby, losing her best friend, and losing her job, Novalee still marches on. This book can be read easily in one sitting, no complex words or lengthy paragraphs, just an unpredictable plot full of wonderfully descriptive narative and infectiously endearing characters. Where the Heart Is can be read, understood, and loved by the whole family!

• She's Blindingly Sweet  Aug 3, 2000 (21 of 22 found this helpful)

  Billie Letts has created a novel unlike I have ever read. From start to finish, this book is surprising, unexpected and very creative. She never takes the easy way out, NOR does she do what you think she's going too. Her characters are one of a kind, and unlike any you've ever read about. Sister Husband is worth the price of the book alone.

  "Where The Heart Is" is a wonderful book that digs deep into your heart and tells a wonderful story. I found it very enjoyable, a nice and easy read. Certainly one for anybody looking for a good story with interesting characters. Very enjoyable!

• A good summer read  Jun 8, 2000 (30 of 34 found this helpful)

  Some of the previous reviews said that this book was"sugary" and "cheesy." Yes, I agree, it can becheesy, sugary, and all those other food-description words. But it has very good character development and I think it's a cute book. I'm fourteen and can relate to the main character, Novalee, who is seventeen (and by the end of the book twenty-five). When she is seven months pregnant she is abandoned by the father of her baby at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma. She finds her place in a small community where she raises her daughter, Americus. Forney, Sister Husband, Moses Whitecotton, Benny Goodluck, Lexie Coop, and many others quickly become Novalee's friend. All these characters have different and colorful personalities. It's a fairly long book, but a quick read, and I recommend it to anyone aged twelve and over just for a nice, fun read. It's fast-paced and a lot happens. Also it follows Willy Jack's story as he tries to make it as a musician, and it's almost like a separate book.

• A great weekend read  Dec 9, 1999 (12 of 12 found this helpful)

  I started reading this book on Thanksgiving Day and finished it by the following Monday. The book is engaging with its eccentric characters, its lighthearted way of dealing with the pitfalls and tragedies of life, and its overall message of love and redemption. I'll be looking for more Billie Letts books in the future.