The carnival at Bray vs Where the heart is: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Teenage Girls, Bildungsromans, Fiction
The carnival at Bray
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his promising debut, set in the heyday of grunge, tells the story of Maggie Lynch, a displaced Chicagoan and grunge music fan, living in a quiet town (Bray) on the Irish Sea. Maggie was uprooted from her friends, her…
Where the heart is
“NOVALEE NATION, seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight-and superstitious about sevens-shifted uncomfortably in the seat of the old Ply-mouth and ran her hands down the curve of her belly.”
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Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Where the heart is has the widest readership — 254025 ratings behind its score.
- The carnival at Bray runs the darker storyline; Where the heart is stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| The carnival at Bray | Where the heart is | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (3080) | 4.0 (254025) |
| Hardcover | 4.8 (6) | 3.8 (94) |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (4) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.5 (287) |
Reception
| The carnival at Bray | Where the heart is | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 3080 | 254025 |
| Editions | 9 | 27 |
| Citations | — | 20 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 6114 | 6 |
| Reading it now | 74 | — |
| Written reviews | 574 | 4 |
| Wikipedia attention | 72 | 1437 |
| Pages | 254 | 358 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: The carnival at Bray or Where the heart is?
Where the heart is has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Where the heart is 4.0/5, The carnival at Bray 3.9/5).
Which is shorter to read: The carnival at Bray or Where the heart is?
The carnival at Bray is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The carnival at Bray (254 pages, ≈ 4 h 42 m); Where the heart is (358 pages, ≈ 6 h 38 m).
Which is harder to read: The carnival at Bray or Where the heart is?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — The carnival at Bray: Light; Where the heart is: Moderate.
Have both books been made into films?
The carnival at Bray: no film adaptation on record; Where the heart is: 3 film adaptations.