"An outstanding YA novel about loss, love, and friendship!"
Reviewed by Lyn Nicholas
Posted February 9, 2013
Young Adult
HATING HEIDI FOSTER is a stunning young adult novel is an
intense and emotional tear-jerker. It
is the story of two friends torn apart by circumstance and
their struggle
through grief and adolescence.
Mae and Heidi were the epitome of the phrase Best Friends
Forever. Or so
everyone thought. It all comes crashing down when Mae's
father loses his
life by saving Heidi's. Heidi is ravaged with guilt, but Mae
turns on her,
placing all the blame on Heidi and resenting her own father
for what he did.
Can anything bring things two heartbroken girls back
together again?
HATING HEIDI FOSTER is truly a character driven story. The
two main girls are exquisitely
layered and their personalities expertly crafted. They
really do jump right off
the page. I felt so deeply connected to them and their
issues that I couldn't
stand to see the book end. But when it did end - wow, what
an amazing
and gripping story.
I really feel like that the voice was so true to the teen
experience. Dealing with
grief such as this can be a terrifying and awkward
experience for young
people who often don't know how to handle it. HATING HEIDI
FOSTER
really illustrates this and gives a voice to so many of the
issues that arise
as a result of these kinds of harrowing circumstances.
This coming-of-age story about young people and how they
deal with their
pain really hit home. The pain on the pages of this book is
raw and real, so
much so that you can almost touch it. You'll definitely feel
it pulling at your
heart strings.
I think that many people will really enjoy it as much as I
did. Jeffery
Blount has created an authentic and gorgeously realized
story that's so full
of emotion. I certainly recommend picking this one up and
can't wait to see
more from this outstanding author.
SUMMARY
Mae McBride and Heidi Foster were the very best of friends.
Tied at the hip from early elementary school, their
relationship was the stuff of storybooks, legendary even, in
the minds of their high school classmates. Unshakable. That is, until Mae's father died while saving
Heidi s life. When Mae finds out, she blames Heidi. She
blames her father for putting Heidi ahead of her. She blames
her friends for taking Heidi s side. She begins to unravel
amid that blame and her uncontrollable and atypical anger. At the same time Heidi is beset by guilt, falls into
depression and stops eating properly; wasting away
physically and emotionally while waiting for Mae to let her
back into the friendship she misses so dearly. Mae, consumed by her hatred of Heidi, the confusion
regarding her father's motives, the perceived desertion of
her friends and her mother's grief, loses more and more of
herself. What could possibly bring these two old friends
back to each other? A miracle? Hating Heidi Foster, is a young adult novel about the place
of honor true friendships hold in our lives. It is about
suffering and loss and the ethics of grief. It is about a
deep and painful conflict, the bright light of selflessness
and sacrifice and the love that rights the ship and carries
us safely to port.
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