Rating: 
Summary: A great book though I have mixed emotions
Review: Yes, this is a wonderfully, poetic book written by a woman whose next book I will pick up gladly. It got me through a rather bad day and a half in which I became so immersed in the story I literally got lost in it and forgot my problems. Ingrid is the most compelling character being that she had been a woman who lived life on her terms, a sort of feminist poet, who loses her mind after falling in love with a man and later being dumped by him...This is where the story begins and my mixed feelings begin. I understand Astrid's need to be loved but not the way she seduces her caretaker's boyfriends. That's where she lost me. And from that point on, I didn't sympathize with her at all. Though I still loved reading it. So its a strange feeling. I understand loneliness and loss but not a conniving need to sleep with older men who have girlfriends. That lost me. Two things annoyed me that were repeated throughout the bookl "Its a man's world" - ok yes but that doesn't mean giving up and doing whatever a guy wants you to. That feels like a cop-out. "Laying with the father" - no matter how bad yourlife is there is no excuse for seducing another woman's boyfriend. I don't care if you've got a father or not. These messages irked me yet here I am giving it five stars! Why? Because this book made me laugh, cry, toss it down in anger and in the end, it compelled me to keep reading. Its frustrating, it annoyed me but in the end, this book is what being human is about. Making mistakes is what we all do. White Oleander is the book that gets under your skin, angers you and makes you realize that it made you actually feel something. So in the end, its a truly amazing book. I'd recommend it to anyone and give it more stars if I could.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest books i've read - and i've read A LOT
Review: This book is wonderful, the language and imagery is beautiful, the characters & descriptions are vivid, the plot addictive & emotional. A must-read in my view, definitely for daughters and mothers. Like another reviewer i would suggest reading it before the film, i agree it will make a GREAT film but i'm CERTAIN they won't be able to catch the pure beauty of the language and essence of the book. "A stunning debut novel... startlingly original.... The reader enters an imaginative world as deep as a forest..... Ingrid and Astrid are two of the freshest, most engrossing characters to appear in recent memory."
-John Perry, San Francisco Chronicle "White oleander, a beautiful but poisonous plant, is a metaphor for motherhood in this impressive first novel.... Fitch's startlingly apt language relates a story that is both intelligent and gripping."
-Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, New York Times Book Review "A truly gifted writer.... Astrid's journey is much, much more than the gripping, page-turning adventure of a young hero tripping through life. It is life."
-Warwick Downing, Denver Post "Emotionally gripping... eerily seductive."
-Gail Caldwell, Boston Globe
Rating:
Summary: read it before the movie comes out next year
Review: I urge you to read this book before the movie with Michelle Pfeiffer and Renee Zellweger comes out. They are great actresses, but this is a story you need to read without any previous images clouding your mind. This book focuses on Astrid's life in myriad foster homes as her mother Ingrid serves time for murdering her boyfriend. Astrid has foster mothers whom she adores and ones she hates. Among the many issues Astrid faces, she befriends a controversial neighbor accused of being a local prostitute and sleeps with a foster mother's boyfriend, with intermittent visits to her imprisoned mother. Astrid's physical and mental journey is realistic and precarious enough that you root for her to make it while fearing she won't.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotionally taxing but smart and engaging.
Review: I respect Oprah's attempts at choosing books that focus on women in all facets of life and agree that this is a good book for her list. However, I found the tale incredibly taxing. The story follows Astrid, a young girl forced into the foster care system after her mother poisons her lover with oleander. Astrid is bounced from home to home, finds love in some families and resentment in others. She learns how to survive both physically from a gunshot and emotionally from watching the only foster mother she loved die. While I enjoyed watching Astrid struggle and endure, I was saddened by the fact that this is probably not far from reality for many kids today. Although Astrid had a lot of scars from the system, she probably turned out better than many, if not most, kids faced with similar plights.
Rating:
Summary: Not Your Average Feel-Good Best-Seller
Review: Truth be told, I don't think much of Oprah's Book Club, but having read an excerpt from Janet Finch's novel, I took the plunge. I wasn't sorry. It's a surprisingly quick read, despite the depth Finch's main character, the adolescent Astrid Magnussen, displays in her forced quest for survival and self-awareness. The synopsis of this novel deals with Astrid's coming of age in one foster home after another, having become a ward of the state after her brilliant poet mother, the fascinating and repulsive Ingrid, murders her boyfriend after he rejects her. As Astrid grows, so does her awareness, about her place in the world, her maternal upbringing, and her future, all the while occuring in homes and situations that are altogether funny, bizarre, rageful and bittersweet. I fell in love with the novel because it dares to be uncompromising, messy and ultimately unsentimental. Don't expect any syrupy feel-good endings, or messages of triumph over tragedy. Do expect a sharp, well-written novel about the trials and tribulations of a young teenage girl coming to terms with the choices thrust upon her. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: If I could, I'd give it more than 5 stars. This has definitely got to be my favorite book. I've already read it about 3 times! A must-read for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for all readers
Review: If anyone is looking for a book to bring to the beach or on a vacation, White Oleander is the perfect buy. It is the amazing story of a girl's life as she passes through several foster homes. Each home teaches her new lessons and values. This is a book that teaches all of us to love what we have in life and to look for the beauty in everything. The metaphorical imagery is absolutels enchanting and unbelievable.
Rating:
Summary: Are we destined to become our mothers?
Review: I adored this book. I encountered every emotion I owned as I flipped faster and faster through the pages. I am reading it for the second time now. The book is a little gritty. The perfect tone to capture the feelings of the main characters and their journeys.
Ingrid Magnussen is a poet. She is also an unusual beauty with very white-blonde hair down her back and an extremely sensual quality about her. Men flock to her incessantly, but Ingrid is usually not interested. She raises her beautiful daughter, Astrid with the knowledge that they are descendents from the great roaming Vikings. They do not need men. Ingrid is so self-absorbed, Astrid must constantly listen to her mother's lectures on how she loathes weak , pitiful, lesser people than herself.
How odd is it then, when Ingrid herself finds the "man of her dreams"? Not only does Ingrid love him, but she soon becomes obsessed with everything and every place he goes. A while into the relationship, Ingrid follows him home and finds him with another woman.
Astrid senses the turmoil. Her mother, the superb being let her guard down and was trampled.
Ingrid "cooks" up a plan to get revenge using the most beautiful of poisonous flowers, the White Oleander. Part 2 of the book now begins. Ingrid is in jail and the rest of the tale belongs to Astrid...who spends her life drifting from foster home to foster home in search of something greater and better than becoming her mother. Will she find it or is she pre-destined to the end? This is one of the ONLY Oprah books I could absolutely absorb and relate to. I would give it five stars, but I still feel the ending deserved a little more punch. If Ingrid is the White Oleander..what kind of flower are you?
Rating:
Summary: absolutely spellbinding
Review: When my aunt handed me this book she said,"Don't even tell me if you don't like it because it will break my heart."
But she had nothing to worry about. The writing and characters were so beautiful that I couldn't put the book down. I found myself reading it constantly, through classes, before I went to sleep and when I woke up. You fall in love with the main character, Astrid and love and hate the other characters along with her. Janet Fitch has done an amazing job and this is a must have for people who love and appreciate great writing.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerising!! Achingly Beautiful!
Review: I started reading this book a long time ago but then for reasons only known to time, I stopped in-between. I'm so glad I picked it up again and read it cover to cover as of now. This book holds a lot of meanings in it for me. While on one hand there was the free-spirited, individualistic passion of Ingrid, there is also the underlined yearning for a family of Astrid. While there is the seeker, there is the leader as well. While there is passion, there is sadness. And so much more screams from this book. Ingrid's madness and strive to be what she is over clouds Astrid's need to be and believe in what she wants to. Sometimes a mother-daughter relationship needs more than higher ground to survive on. It needs a bitter-sweet understanding of what transpires between a mother and daughter..when a daughter grows into a woman and needs her mother the most - when at times the mother is not around, seeking solace in things unknown and life just springs it self on you... When Astrid needs her mother so desparately till there comes a stage when it becomes so difficult for her to accept her mother, the way she is. This is one book which goes deeper than touching the heart - it touches the inner recesses of the soul...
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