Be Specific About About Books Heidi (Heidi #1-2)
| Title | : | Heidi (Heidi #1-2) |
| Author | : | Johanna Spyri |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Kingfisher Classics |
| Pages | : | Pages: 352 pages |
| Published | : | November 15th 2002 by Kingfisher (first published 1880) |
| Categories | : | Young Adult. Fantasy. Paranormal. Vampires. Romance |
Johanna Spyri
Paperback | Pages: 352 pages Rating: 3.99 | 167462 Users | 3508 Reviews
Ilustration Toward Books Heidi (Heidi #1-2)
Heidi, a Swiss book originally published in German in 1881, was one of those books I grew up with: my mother had a simplified, abridged version of it that I read many times and loved as a child. When I realized the GR group "Catching up on the Classics" was doing it as a group read, I jumped in, excited for the chance to revisit Heidi and her simple, joyous life in the Swiss alps with her grandfather.
Heidi, a 5 year old orphan, has been raised by her mother's sister Dete, who resents the imposition. When Dete gets a good job offer, she marches Heidi up to the Swiss village where she was raised, the (fictional) village of Dörfli ("little village") and then even further up the mountain, to dump little Heidi on her unsuspecting grandfather, an embittered recluse. Despite being taken aback, the grandfather quickly takes to Heidi, admiring her intelligence and enthusiasm. She thrives in the lovely Swiss alps and country life, immediately shedding her more citified clothing and ways, and helping the local goatherd Peter.
The Falknis mountain, with its two "towers," near where Heidi and Peter tend the goats
Everyone around Heidi grows to love her: her grandfather, Peter, Peter's grandmother. The only problem is that "Alm-Uncle," her grandfather, has such a deep distrust of people and town life that he refuses to even send her to the village school. Heidi is growing up happy and uncivilized when her aunt Dete suddenly reappears after three years, determined to take Heidi to Frankfurt to be the companion of Clara, a rich but sickly and invalid girl. Our bouncy, enthusiastic girl starts to feel desperately unhappy, cooped up in the big city. But Heidi has lessons to learn, and God has a plan.
I loved the detailed descriptions of the lovely Alps and life there in olden times. I suppose Heidi is a bit of a Mary Sue character, but her exuberant nature, jumping around all the time like a young goat, was charming. And -- continuing the animal metaphors -- I really felt for her when she felt like a trapped bird in Frankfurt, though the wasting away thing was a bit over the top.
The Alm-Uncle's character, bitter toward mankind generally but loving toward his bright granddaughter, seemed entirely believable to me, and honestly I got a bit teary as he began, like the prodigal son in Christ's parable, to find his way back to harmony with God and with his fellow men. Clara's devout grandmamma is a paragon of saintliness but has a little humor to leaven her spiritual lessons to Heidi; Peter's ailing, blind grandmother is equally devout but would fit in well with other Victorian-era sickly but wise characters.
The preachiness got a little too heavy-handed toward the end, although I did appreciate the message of continuing to trust God even when your prayers aren't answered immediately, and at the same time needing to take action to improve your own circumstances, as much as you can. I also can't help but be charmed with the notion that country living, with lots of fresh goat milk and toasted goat cheese on bread, brisk mountain air and the beauty of nature, heals pretty much everything.
Mmmmm! ... okay, actually I don't like goat cheese, toasted or otherwise, but I have to say Heidi tempts me to give it another shot.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Heidi and her friends again, after many years apart. I recommend Heidi to readers who like old-fashioned children's classics, like Anne of Green Gables, and don't mind a healthy dose of religious content in their reading.
A note on English translations: Since this book is over 100 years old, it's out of copyright and there are several free English versions available. I read parts of Heidi in German and did some comparisons between the three English versions I found on Project Gutenberg. None of them completely satisfied me, but I thought this one was the best, closest to the original German text without being unbearably awkward: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1448. I'm sure there are better translations out there, but I was working with what I could find free online. Whatever version you pick up, make sure you get both halves of the story, which was originally published in two parts (the second half has Clara visiting Switzerland).
Present Books Supposing Heidi (Heidi #1-2)
| Original Title: | Heidi |
| ISBN: | 0753454947 (ISBN13: 9780753454947) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Heidi #1-2 |
| Characters: | Heidi, Clara, Peter, Uncle Alm |
| Setting: | Switzerland |
Rating About Books Heidi (Heidi #1-2)
Ratings: 3.99 From 167462 Users | 3508 ReviewsEvaluate About Books Heidi (Heidi #1-2)
FREE good-quality audio recording of Heidi, narrated by Kara Shallenberg: http://librivox.org/heidi-by-johanna-...Heidi is a childhood favorite. All the evils of the world might be cured by mountain air, kindness, and goat's milk. Vividly descriptive. Just whisk me to the Swiss Alps, bright with myriad blossoms, fragrant with fir and pine, alive with birdsong. The blessings of nature surround, the sun shines down all around, and never an unkind sound. Heidi is five pale and small when sheMy two favorite aunts gave me Heidi when I was eight years old. I don't know if it was Christmas or birthday; all I know is I have them to thank not only for this but for Anne of Green Gables (and my very favorite stuffed bear Snowball), bless their names forever. As with Anne, I read Heidi over and over (and over), and followed up with some of the sequels from the library, and loved it dearly; unlike with Anne, though, I haven't read Heidi in many years. The Goodreads Kindred Spirits group
We stopped reading after the first 100 pages. We have listened to an audio book that I think must have been an unabridged reading of the book, as we feel that we know the story completely and reading the book isn't bringing anything new for us. As we have many books on our to read shelf at the moment we are going to put this on hold and perhaps return later.
I don't know what it is about this book, but I just...didn't like it that much?And I really like classics. And I really like children's books. And I REALLY like children's classics.I also really, REALLY liked the other three books (A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables) in this collection.But I...did not care for this.It was just very boring, I didn't think the writing was that pretty, and I didn't care for the characters that much.Being a 22 year old writing a semi-negative
This was one of those rare books which instilled in me the gift of imagination, and taught me how to dream...I believe it requires great skill to weave magic for generations, armed with nothing but a simple, heart touching plot and oodles of feel-good-factor! And Johanna Sypri is one such skilled author.The story flows thus: Heidi, an orphaned little girl, goes to live in the Alps with her grandfather. She is the personification of innocence and gaiety. Living on goat milk, and grazing the herds
A beautiful and heart touching story of Heidi and her early life on the Alm.Her Aunt leaves her with Alm-Uncle her Grandfather in a small hut of little means. She is so attached to the Alp life that when she is taken away by her Aunt to Frankfort, even her best efforts to be with Klara does not stop her from longing for her life back home. Eventually she makes it back and is visited by the Doctor, with his own life difficulties, is healed by the Alps and Heidi's care. Finally Klara comes and
Very similar theme to The Secret Garden - fresh air & country kid causes incredible cure in rich invalid kid. The parenting is slightly better, but still quite distant. Overall, the story read more like an outline most of the time. The characters weren't very deep, although there was an air of mystery about several which attempted to make them more interesting. Worked a bit for some. Most were just caricatures, though. The ending was predictable. The main character was a cheerful chatterbox
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