Reviews - Heidi - A Little Swiss Girl's City and Mountain Life

1.62k reviews for:

Heidi - A Little Swiss Girl's City and Mountain Life

Johanna Spyri

3.87 AVERAGE

b00kdragon's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

babsbelovedbooks's review against another edition

5.0

Now I remember why I love this book so much! This is my third time reading Heidi and it was even more heartwarming and touching this time around. Oh, how I love everything about this story! I think that my favorite character besides sweet little Heidi is Mrs. Sesemann. Her loving care, practical nature and spiritual guidance help poor Heidi immensely when she is ill. We all need someone like Mrs. Sesemann in our lives. Reading this book makes me want to move to Switzerland and live in a small cottage surrounded by flowers, mountains and frolicking goats. The story of Heidi is timeless and I feel like I learn something new each time I read it. A definite hug-worthy book and one of my top 10 favorites!

gauriraut's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

seraphjewel's review against another edition

3.0

Here I am reading another classic for the first time, and I have to say I can see why this would be a great classic for a younger reader. It's a very simple story with an energetic main character and some great side characters and cute animals to help it along. There was also no "villain" or anything like that. Just the life of this girl and the people she impacted. Which in itself is a great story to tell children, letting them know that they can make a difference in people's lives despite their young age.

Something for the older readers to enjoy is the themes in this book. There is a huge emphasis on nature and how a simple life on the mountains compares with living in the city. Overall the book shows that Heidi's life is much better while she lives on the mountains with her grandfather, even though she is given every comfort while in the city. In the last third we see that the mountain air actually has a healing affect on Clara, allowing her to walk for the first time.

I was also pleasantly surprised with how religion was portrayed in this book. Focusing on the story of the prodigal son in particular was a nice touch and how it was later reflected in the grandfather. I even like how the book addressed something that is still a problem today: people believing God doesn't listen to them simply because He hasn't done whatever it was they prayed for. The explanation was done very well and in the end, it's clear that God is seen as good to all the characters.

Though speaking of the grandfather, one thing that puzzled me from the beginning was how other characters perceived him and how he actually behaved. He was built up as this bitter, solitary man who could have even posed a danger to Heidi. Yet from their very first encounter he shows to be nothing but kind to her, going out of his way to make her feel at home and comfortable with him. He lets her spend her time as she pleases and tries to raise her in the way he thinks is best. Of course the inaccurate perception could've been another reflection on country life versus city life, but it still boggled me how every character assumed the worst from this man when he only ever showed himself to be good.

Overall this was a nice book to read. It's just the life of this girl and what happens to the people around her, and there's really nothing wrong with that.