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.
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.
From the Author:
As Hating Heidi Foster begins, Mae McBride stands by on a riverbed watching as her mother offers up the ashes of her father to the river's fast moving current. She thinks of the great loss in her life and the cause of that loss. She thinks of Heidi Foster, her best friend since second grade.
Heidi Foster is home alone listening to music through her ear buds when fire sneaks into her bedroom and she has nowhere to run but her closet. There she waits for the painful end she knows is about to happen, but she is saved by Eddie, the father of her best friend. Heidi makes it out of the burning house, but Eddie does not. When Mae finds out, she blames Heidi for not being smart enough to get out of the house. 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. She is wasting away physically and emotionally while waiting for Mae to let her back into the friendship that 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 teenagers back to each other? A miracle?
My Thoughts:
Hating Heidi Foster is a bittersweet novel about teenager Mae McBride who has lost her father when he died trying to save her best friend Heidi Foster in a fire. Mae is consumed with grief and hatred for Heidi. Not understanding why her father would put himself in danger like he did is so overwhelming to Mae that she shuns all her friends and is consumed with her hatred for Heidi. Heidi on the other hand is also grieving, grieving the loss of a man who was like a father to her and also for the loss of her friendship with Mae. Her grief takes a different direction in that she doesn't eat, doesn't see her friends and withdraws from everything including school.
This story brought tears to my eyes, for all the characters in the story, for the grief that they all shared and for the ultimate love and forgiveness that these two girls finally gave into. A young adult story but one that can be read by anyone. It is a fast read and very enjoyable.
I received a copy of this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.
No comments:
Post a Comment