White Oleander: A Novel

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Summary: Lyrical prose
Review: This is one of the most beautiful books I have read. The story that Janet Fitch tells is a good one, but I love this book for the beauty of its words... Fitch's prose is seamless and poetic.

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Summary: Excellent book
Review: I really loved this book. I read every night before going to bed.....this book had me up into the wee hours of night, and I'd still be thinking about it when I woke up in the morning!
The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it ended. I think I especially loved this book because I could relate to Astrid's complicated relationship with her mother, as well as the tough, impressionable, teenage years that she endured.
The author's writing is inspiring and her characters are unforgettable. Don't read this book if you're not prepared for introspection!

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Summary: Strange magic with words
Review: A rare sad story that magically pulls us under it's spell...waiting for the magic that must be lying beneath. Fitch's use of the language, even when describing the most mundane, makes you smile, makes you nod in agreement, makes you mad! How can you not fall in love with the words, even if they were not the words of a young girl, as the heroine was? My favorite..."So I just rode, the ocean spray tingling all over me, the tide rising, filled with starfish and phosphoresence, into the dawn".

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Summary: Very interesting, but the language got in the way at times!
Review: I enjoyed this book however, I found myself skipping lines because there were times when I felt the author was trying too hard to be poetic. I was intrigued by the girl's experience but her bad luck was so emotionally draining at times thatI had to skip reading the book on somedays.

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Summary: Acid Realism
Review: I have just finished reading White Oleander, and what a book it is! Its stark realism strips the facade of outward appearances! It lays bare before us the raw reality of life as it is, the painful claw of truth, the extent of families so dysfunctional that it leaves scars forever! It is not a happy book, but a look into lives that do exist - the ones we don't see or prefer not to see as we sit in the comfort of our warmth. It is a modern tragedy comparable to anything written by Mary Karr, Pete Dexter, and Anne Quindlen. It was a harsh dose of reality thrown like acid into my face!

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Summary: Waiting for Fitch's next book!
Review: I have vivid memories of my childhood spent in California. The smell of orange blossoms permeate my memories of my mother and I driving home just as the sun was setting singing to the Eagles on the radio. I have long since moved from there but Janet Fitch's book brought it all back to me. Her eloquence in describing the longing for those special places while also paying homage to the absolute need to leave them behind. The story was sad but it gave me solace. The story was a perfect balance between plot and wonderful character observations. Anyway, my words don't give it justice. A definite must read! Thanks to J. Fitch for her words. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm looking for your next book.

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Summary: Tough Love for A Girl and Her Mom
Review: We must have heard Oprah, et. al, discuss how difficult relationships can be between mothers and daughters. "White Oleander" is another, more magnified and in-your-face account of such a relationship. But the twists and turns taken by this book creates characters so three-dimensional and so painfully real, you hope, you want to believe you know them, can help them and, perhaps make a difference in the mess they've made of their lives.
However, more tenderly, you can be invisible in this mother-daughter relationship and state your opinions out loud, still unable to grasp how they came to the place where they are. Astrid, the books beautiful, but reluctant heroine, developes from chapter to chapter with such dignified strength and conviction, you must applaud her every effort and triumph no matter how big or small. I've read many books after "White Oleander," amd many before it. It remains as my favorite.

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Summary: SOOOOOOOOO Good!!!!
Review: I loved this book---I would have to call it my favorite. Her writing style is so beautiful, her prose sounds like poetry. I couldn't put it down,I had to read it while I ate dinner. I think that "White Oleander" is a work of genius & everyone should read it. I don't think anyone will ever be able to write another thing that compares to this,as many books as there are that I love.

Rating:
Summary: a very good read
Review: I started reading this book with not much expectations and the more I read the more captured I became. This book is written like a memoir and it seems very realistic. I loved the way Astrid moved thru pain like it was her job to do so (one can learn from her a lot). I also loved the fact that the book emphesized on the surrounding's nature and showed people's lives and the nature that surrounds them as one unit. Ingrid is a white Oleander, hardy and poisonous yet beautiful with very light blond hair. It is so very nice to be able to see people as a part of nature instead of creatures that only live on a land unaffected by it. As a person who lived in San Diego for sometimes, I agree that Santa Ana's condition is a very distinguished part of living in the Southern California.

Another good point of this book that was an eye openner for me was the situation of kids in foster care. After reading this book I was able to persuade one of my friends who was trying too hard to adopt to look into foster care instead. At the end I'd like to recommend this book to all good novel lovers of the world.

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Summary: Reality Check
Review: I rate this book with 5 stars. I really enjoyed her detail in characters and her lucious imagination. I know that it is a hard story and alot of sexually explict things are in it but from my point of view it explains life. Things can be taken away so quickly that before you know it your learning to deal with these situations that arise. I love the author's way of putting things. The story portrays a confused girl that after time grows into a woman with a head on her shoulders and I enjoy reading it as she goes through that transition.