17 year old Novalee Nation, who is 7 months pregnant, is abandoned at a Walmart in small town in Oklahoma by her boyfriend, who is also the baby's father. But within hours, she finds three people who will change her life, the kindly eccentric Thelma Husband, Benny Goodluck, a young Native American boy, and Moses Whitecotton, an elderly African American photographer. For the next two months, Novalee, who is almost penniless, makes her home in Walmart, sleeping there at night and exploring the town during the day. But when she goes into labor and delivers her baby in the store, she learns that sometimes, it's not so bad to depend upon the kindness of strangers.

I really liked the movie based on this book, but the book is even better. I like the author's style of writing too, it reminds me a lot of Fanny Flagg and Joyce Magnin, who both excel at quirky stories with quirky characters that have heart.

Where the Heart Is was a very different read. The author grabbed your attention right at the beginning of the book by telling us about a young teenager who is pregnant and left stranded at a Walmart in a small town. Although the story had sounded very interesting, throughout the novel I felt very lost and at times I had to re-read sections of the book to really understand what the author was trying to say.

The characters in the book were very enlightening and they all had great qualities to them. They each made the story better but other than that, the author was trying to hard to make it seem as if the main character, Novalee, was naive. The readers are very easily able to infer what is really happening. Novalee knew exactly what was happening but she just pretended as if everything was alright.

Overall, the book was not awful but it was very dragged on. It was hard at times to read because it was so boring. I would not recommend this novel because it was not a very interesting read and it was very dragged on.

I found this book in a Little Free Library and decided to give it a try. I typically steer clear of any book in the Oprah Club designation. This book was clearly written in the oddly Southern combination of saccharine sweet and violence for violence's sake (why so many examples of rape/sodomy--seriously?)

I thought I read this when first published, but turns out I did not. Not disappointed I took the time now to enjoy these rich, lovable characters. A feel good, satisfying story.

This book is so great to read if you like action. I would recommend this book to men and women and also young adults. This book is about a girl who is 17, 7 months pregnant and has hardly any money. One day her and her boyfriend are going somewhere. She realizes that she has lost her shoes and she has had to pee for a long time. He takes her to Walmart and he leaves her. She has to stay at Walmart for a while because she has no where else to go. she meets this man named Forney and he works at the library. She ended up having the baby in Walmart but Forney was there to help her deliver. She has a girl and she names her Americus. she moves in with this woman and they take care of each other. Everytime the month, year or even day started with seven she knew something bad was going to happen to her. By the end she told Forney that she loved him and that she wanted him to come back. She takes Ricky (her babies daddy) home. I did not like that the book ends with her talking ricky home. i wanted to see if Forney was coming back for her. i liked how Forney loved her even if she didn't love him at that moment.

What a colassal waste of time...i'm giving this book the finger as we speak.

Skip the sucky movie and read the book - much more detailed, much more heart-felt and deeply moving. This one brings home the spirit of the "small-town" which I recently discovered after moving. Yes, there are people that are really this nice in the USA at this very moment. Someone who would meet you at a Walmart and take you home and let you live there.. those people DO exist. This is a wonderful tale of forgiveness and love and a coming-of-age type of story that blends all races, generations and viewpoints together. I think it's a great American novel.

Another really good effort by Billie Letts. Enjoyed this book a lot, but not as much as Honk and Holler Opening Soon. Characters and story are quirky as usual, and there is a familiar theme of friends who provide unconditional love. Not a fan of the ending, as I was not sure of exactly what Novelle Nation was going to do. I guess the obvious answer to that is provided a few pages earlier, but to me the entire last few pages made little common sense and left me a bit perplexed. I guess I am a black and white sort of reader, and sometimes endings that do not satisfy that part of me just leave me a bit cold. Nonetheless it is a good book, maybe a tad bit unrealistic but who are we to judge the folks living out there in Oklahoma.

Where the Heart Is is a story about a 17-year old pregnant girl called Novallee on a road trip to California from her home in Tennessee with her boyfriend, hoping to find a happy home with her boyfriend working on the railroads. Never has Novallee ever lived in a house and she wants to make sure that her baby grows up in the best environment that she can create. Novallee keeps a journal full of magazine pictures of houses and she looks through them, imagining her dream house in her head. But getting to California and building/finding her dream house becomes impossible when her boyfriend ditches her in a Wal-Mart. But just because she left alone in a city that seems to be in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean that her adventures have come to an end.
tNovallee meets several people, including Sister Husband, a kind generous old lady who seems to provide everything Novallee needs, Moses Whitecotton, a photographer that lectures Novallee on how she has to give her a baby a good, strong name, and Fornley, a librarian who cares about her more than she thinks.
tThis book is about people’s lives, the hard-ships they encounter, the sadness that happens at unexpected times, and how they, with their friends, managed to pull through, together. This book is about how Novallee found where her heart is.
tI have no doubts that this is a five star book. It shows you that other people’s lives are bad, but that they didn’t give up. And even though this isn’t a true story, the fact that they don’t give up can help you when you think you’re about to stop and give up.

I really enjoyed this book! I love Novalee and her strength to persevere through difficult times. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters. At one point I wanted this book to end, but now that it is, I’m sad I can’t continue to know more about their futures.

I really liked the premise of this. The whole idea of Novalee getting dropped at a Wallmart in a small town, middle of nowhere. In fact, my favourite part of the book was definitely the beginning when she's first having to figure everything out. The introduction of all the other characters was great and really intriguing. Her exploration of the town made for a great setting and general feel of the book.

That being said, I got kind of bored in the middle. It was interesting getting to know Willy Jack as well but it felt a little disconnected and the whole book didn't necessarily feel cohesive. While all the characters were introduced well I also felt a little unsatisfied with them, I'm not quite sure why. I loved the friendship between Novalee and Lexie, and what happens to Lexie's family was devastating. I also really liked the scene with Benny at the end since it really put into perspective how young Novalee is and how she's gone through so much.

Some parts of the plot felt a little random and not necessary such as her going to college. That felt like it was just thrown in there to show the stereotypical character growth of how she went from uneducated and knowing nothing to putting herself through college and all. I also thought that the whole 7s thing was maybe a little weird since it was introduced as a pretty big thing at the start and then kind of disappeared. I also really felt as though Americus was never a real character since there's nothing about her personality or anything really.

Overall, while I did get quite bored in the middle I was pretty invested at the start and I think that because of its memorable setting it's probably a book I'll remember for a while.

First, let me start off by saying this book was made into a movie (starring Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd) in 2000. It is one of those feel good flicks (you know the type, the kind that plays on Lifetime) and I saw it a few years ago. I'm one of those people who prefers to read a book prior to watching the movie adaptation, because I like to visualize the characters and scenes myself. There is a certain thrill of a story unfolding on a page vs. a movie screen (and the book is almost always more rewarding). Since I already knew the basic plot, I found myself comparing the book to the movie. That being said:

This book was an Oprah book club selection and alternate selection of the Literary Guild. As such, I had high hopes and was greatly disappointed. I did not dislike this book-it was "okay." A poor, uneducated, pregnant teenager is abandoned by her boyfriend. She is taken in by a woman who becomes her surrogate mother, gets a job, finds a best friend, goes to school and eventually falls in love. Of course-she is beautiful, has a heart of gold and everyone loves her and her baby. Overall, it is a story of love, hope and survival. I appreciate 'feel good' stories like the next person but parts of this book were so unbelievable it was infuriating. For instance:
-After Novalee (the main character) is abandoned by her boyfriend, she becomes homeless and secretly moves into Wal-Mart. She does not look for a job or suitable housing. Although it is never explicitly explained, I don't think she ever had any prenatal care throughout the entire pregnancy either. However, once the baby is born, she immediately becomes a super responsible mother, it just didn't jive.
- Novalee was abandoned by her mother at age 7. She sees her again TEN years later and believes her mother when she says she wants to help Novalee get an apartment and help with the baby. Even if you didn't see the movie beforehand, anyone could see that her mother would disappear after Novalee handed over her entire savings. Novalee is someone who (after her mother left) was raised in foster homes-she should have more street smarts. I understand Letts was showing how naive she was, but come on!
-Novalee goes on birth control after the birth of her daughter (good decision) but fails to read the instruction booklet or listen to the doctor about how it works. This seems completely unrealistic to me. She is portrayed as someone who loves to read and is a responsible mother, it just doesn't fit with the character.

Additionaly-the book contains chapters discussing Willy Jack (the boyfriend who abandoned Novalee). Although Letts tied their stories together at the conclusion of the book, I felt she could have wrapped up the book differently (while maintaining the happy ending) and eliminated his story completely. There was also a section involving child rape that could have been left out.

Overall, this book was 'eh.'