Review

Where the Heart IS Review

Written By Billie Letts

 Novalee Nations was left at a Wal-Mart by her boyfriend when she was seven months pregnant. She had only $7.77. Seven had always been her unlucky number. Even with this tiny bit of information on this story the reader can already relate to it in many possible ways. Everyone has been to Wal-Mart. Everyone has an opinion rather 7 is lucky or unlucky. From the very first pages of the book it is interesting enough and easy to relate to that it pulls you right in and you feel the need to continue. It’s almost spell binding.

With no money and no friends in a strange town she stayed at the Wal-Mart. She hid in closets during closing time and slept in sleeping bags. She even ate their food until one night she woke up in labor. This part of the story was very intriguing. You wonder every time she hides, is she going to get caught? Maybe she will wake up and an employee or police officer will be standing over her. This book has suspense hidden in every corner.

When Wal-Mart found out her story they didn’t punish her. Instead they reached out to her and gave her a job. They never asked to be paid back for all that she had used. This book almost seemed to be a publicity tool for Wal-Mart. I often wondered if they had paid the writer a fee to make them look so good and noble. It was almost as if they wanted to say, “Homeless? Live in Wal-Mart and then we will give you the world.”

During this story she had met some local people who have heartfelt stories of their own and who reached out to her with kindness, love and religion. These characters were made specifically to be able to relate to them in the readers life? I know that I have friends who seem to have never found the love of their life and get heartbroken time after time. Or what about those friends that seem to have nothing go right and tragedy hits their lives constantly. Then there is always your crazy over religious friend or relative that wants you to believe as strongly as they do and if you don’t it is surely a sin. The strong community values that this book expresses makes this story another have another great aspect.

This story is an intriguing tale of someone who is left in a desperate situation and finds support, encouragement and love from local people who are far from selfish. The characters and the situations are humorous, mysterious, sometimes heartbreaking and very easy to relate to because it seems so real. I connected to the book because of feelings from abandonment from a long term boyfriend who just all the sudden decided to move to Florida. It grabbed my heart because of the strength she had which I feel that I have lacked. I am sure that this book could grab the heart or the mind of any reader.

This is one of those novels that you can read over and over again and never get sick of it.  Your mind begins seeking new visions as you read along their life’s hardships and triumphs. This book is written so well that you really can visualize it. So they even made a movie about it which was an amazing addition to a fabulous book!