Letts, Billie. Where the Heart Is. New York: Warner, 1995. 358 pages.



Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts has inspired me to write more. Why? Because of
Letts’ beautiful book and all the lovable characters in it. I need to write like this, I think while
I’m reading. From this book alone, I have written two short stories right after I have read,
which is when I get most of my brain waves.
Where the Heart Is’ characters includes Novalee Nation, a pregnant woman at sixteen
with an unfortunate superstition of sevens. She is traveling with her boyfriend, Willy Jack
Pickens. All seems well until Willy Jack dumps her at a Wal-Mart halfway to California.
Novalee goes through a life-changing journey of love and loss, joy and tears with the loving
characters Benny Goodluck, Moses Whitecotton, Forney Hull and Sister Husband. Each
character has a great personality and the plot is interestion and kept me begging for more.
Where the Heart Is is a wonderful novel. All of Letts’ figurative language and pictures
he paints in the reader’s mind are brilliant. I loved that after Willy Jack leaves Novalee, the
reader still follows his story, and how the two tales eventually become entwined again. Also,
even though the narrator is third-person, it can still seem like you went to wherever Novalee
went and felt all her emotions. One of my favorite parts in the book goes as follows:
“And she reached out and brushed the cheek of her daughter and she smiled at the
touch...at the way it made her feel...the way she had felt when Sister Husband hugged her,
when Moses Whitecotton had taken her hand, when Benny Goodluck had touched her
scar...when Forney Hull had held her in his arms” (90).
This is my favorite part of the book because this is when Novalee has her first touch on
her newborn baby and you can tell that is a life-changing part for both of them. I would be
recommending this book to my mother, but she’s already read it twice, so I will say that
anyone who is not afraid of love will absolutely love this book. This book is one of my top ten
favorites of all time because it made me want to get a story going. The great words,
wonderful plot and lovable characters have inspired me to no end. Thank you, Billie!