~~~Heidi: A Cutie Pie~~~. Review on Heidi - Johanna Spyri

A quick look at the ''Reviews wanted'' section and I was surprised to see the request for ''Heidi''. Probably I didn't delve the mouthshut website and was ignorant of the fact that there was a topic for Heidi. I read books but I don't like writing on books because I read for pleasure and unless and until the characters perfectly etch in my memory, I forget them easily (Bad Memory..Huh). But one character which I can never forget in my life is that of ''Heidi''. It was a terrific book which I had studied while I was a kid and even today when I read the book, I have the same enthusiasm and verve that I had when I read it 10 years back.

''Heidi'' written by Johanna Spyri is a classic story of an orphaned little girl who comes to live with her grandfather on the mountains (Alps). Her Aunt Dete gets a decent job and hence shoulders the responsibility of bringing up Heidi on Uncle Alm, Heidi's grandfather. Uncle Alm is more like an enigma to the people of Dorfli, a village down the mountains and the villagers doesn't have any contact with him who lives in a cottage uphill. Dete leaves Heidi with Uncle Alm. Heidi initially being neglected by her grandfather slowly starts winning his heart and eventually both of them become best friends. She befriends a boy called Peter and even becomes close with his Grandma and together they study in the evening with grandmother. Now Dete comes back again and takes Heidi with her to the city of Frankfurt where she has made some arrangements for her to study as well as be a child-companion to a crippled girl, Clara. Heidi misses Grandfather and vice versa and in the twist of events, Heidi even sleep-walks making her condition still worser. Whether there is a reunion between Heidi and her grandfather and what happens to Clara who considers Heidi as her best companion forms the rest of the story.

Imagination is God's gift and whenever I read books, I always imagine as to the description given in the book. In ''Heidi'',the description of the village of Dorfli, the church where Uncle Alm never went for years, the mountain where Uncle Alm lived, the grazing of the sheeps along with Peter and Heidi, the house of Clara and the wicked care-taker of Clara, the doctor and Clara's dad everyone looks so real and the visual imagination of the characters and the scene is what makes the story a must-read.

The main protagonist is a little girl but it still explores the world that Heidi lived in. It is a drama of emotions of a small cute girl and her love for her grandfather and her dream to return to the small village which she had considered Heaven and to the bed made from straw by her grandfather which gave her more peaceful sleep than the comforts of the Frankfurt comfortable cushion beds.

Heidi - Movie (20th Century Fox, 1937)

The famous Adaptation of Heidi was done in 1937 by 20th Century Fox in which the character of Heidi was played by Shirley Temple. The movie was such a joyride for me because I saw this movie on DVD 1 year back in 2004 and seeing the on-screen adaptation of a popular book of your childhood is pure ecstasy. Shirley Temple as Heidi simply rocks and I just loved the young girl in her who was definitely convincing and more than perfect in the character of Heidi. I was taken back by the way she portrayed the character of Heidi and it was a very authentic and a natural flawless performance.

Some Memorable Scenes (Both from the Book and Film)

• The cute Heidi asking ''Where am I to sleep, grandfather?'' and then exploring the ladder near grandfather's bed against the wall and planning to sleep in the hayloft on a bed made out of straws.

  
  




• Heidi and Peter hangouts with the goats and then with grandma.

  
  




• Heidi meeting Clara

  
  




• Heidi creating a tamasha with the tortoise

  
  




• Heidi sleep-walks

  
  




• Winter in Dorfli and the sledge made for snow-skating downhill

  
  




• Grandfather meeting Peter's house

  
  




• Clara coming to Dorfli and the unexpected miracle

  
  

There are so many scenes which I like but it was long since I read and saw the movie, Iam not able to analyze all the scenes and the characters except Heidi, Clara and Uncle Alm.I really thank the person (Umakanth) who asked for the review which made me dig my imagination into writing a review on this famous classic.

A Must-Read and if you like the story then it is a MUST-WATCH especially for Shirley Temple and her extraordinary performance.

Sequels to Heidi (Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi)

Two sequels, Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children, were not written by Spyri but were written by her English translator, Charles Tritten. I haven't read the sequels and didn't know about its existence until I found in the Wikipedia link given above. So no comments.

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