I cried in this book. I literally broke down crying. I did have a bad day that day, but I am generally not prone to great emotional outbursts in a book.
It is the story of a 12 year old girl named Heidi whose mother is mentally disabled. She and her mother are taken care of by their neighbor, who has agoraphobia (she is afraid to go out of her apartment). They live in a peculiar little family network.
Her mother can only say 23 words, all simple things like 'blue,' 'done' and 'tea.' But there is one word that is not in the dictionary. 'Soof.' What is 'soof?'
Heidi wants to know what this means. She and her mother 'dropped out of the sky.' She wants to know where she came from. So she sets out on a bus journey across the country to find out what 'soof' means.
This was such a beautiful read. It starts very simply and the whole book is written in short prose. It reads like a child's book almost, but it is not your classic 'once upon a time' bedtime story. It contains some slightly mature themes (an illegitimate birth) and the ending is a little confusing (at least for me) but it is an awesome book. I fell in love with it.
I highly recommend this book. Absolutely wonderful read.
~GryphonFledgling
