Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Oprah’s Book Club

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Diety, hell, damn are used often.  Bitch, shit and ass are also used  in various forms throughout the book.

(*Violence, Sexual Content and Adult Themes all overlap in this book.  Nearly every incident may be categorized in any of the three areas.)

Violence: Sodomization of a young boy, Brummett, and the violent beating of his mother, Lexie. Willy Jack is raped in prison.  His nose is broken, his chest is bruised, and his buttock is chewed.  The prison doctor salves his wounds with Drano. Willy Jack purposefully stumbles onto train tracks in an attempt to cut off a finger in order to have Union Pacific settle monetarily with him.  He drunkenly loses his legs instead.

Sexual Content:  Willy Jack gropes an underage girl’s nipple.  Willy Jack hires prostitutes, and when his money runs out he preys on tired women in bars.  Novalee takes the pill to avoid pregnancy.  After a one night stand with Troy, she realizes that three days of taking the pill will not protect her from pregnancy.  Novalee contemplates abortion if she were to become pregnant.  Novalee gives birth in Wal-Mart.  Lexie Coop, a nurse, hand massages Novalee’s breasts until she produces milk for her baby, Americus.  Sister Husband prays, ” We ask forgiveness, Lord, for the fornication that Mr. Sprock and me have committed again.”  Benny, a young Indian boy, runs naked over Rattlesnake Ridge at sunrise.  Benny, at age eighteen, seven years younger than Novalee, begs her for a kiss and she complies.

Adult Themes:  Willy Jack drinks and is cited for public intoxication.  Forney’s alcoholic sister soils herself.

Synopsis

Novalee Nation bounces from foster homes as a child.  As a pregnant seventeen year old girl, she is left at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma, by her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickens, as they drive to California to begin a new life.  Novalee, pregnant and homeless, lives for a few months in Wal-Mart and then gives birth to her baby there.  She is befriended by Moses and Certain Whitecotton.  Her mother, Momma Nell, comes to the hospital after she sees her daughter and grandbaby, Americus Nation, on TV.  There is an outpouring of support as strangers send money to Novalee.  Momma Nell takes Novalee’s money and runs.  Sister Husband rescues Novalee and Americus and provides them with a home, “Where the Heart Is”.  Forney, the town librarian befriends Novalee and feeds her voracious appetite for literature.  Americus is kidnapped by a couple from Mississippi, and found in the manger of the church’s nativity.  Novalee is mentored by Moses Whitecotton, a photographer.  She excels at photography and wins an award.  Sister Husband is killed in a tornado.  Novalee becomes a strong, resilient character as she faces and ultimately forgives those who have wronged her.

I had no intention of posting this book on The Literate Mother, due to its more”adult material”.  However, “Where the Heart Is” has been posted as an optional book for high school English classes.  (Violence, Sexual Content and Adult Themes all overlap in this book.)  I find Billie Letts, the author, inspiring.  Billie’s first book was published while in her mid-fifties – after years of focusing on nurturing her children and supporting her husband’s career.  This book is very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed the premise of the story.  Due to the inclusion of child sodomy and prison rape I do not recommend this book as youth literature.

©2009 The Literate Mother