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Summary: White Oleander
Review: I bought this book, then it sat on my shelf for over a year. I couldn't even remember what the jacket said it was about. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Although other reviewers found it to be farfetched in some instances, I found it believable. The foster care system in this country is quite lacking. Although this book was fiction, I've heard worse stories that were true.I really tend to enjoy books where girls grow up in these less than ideal situations, but instead of losing their sanity, they somehow survive and thrive. They become very self-sufficient and strong women. The mother in this story is also incredibly complex. At some points I found myself liking her, then in others I couldn't stand her for the poor choices she made and the manipulation of her daughter. I'll be excited to hear from this author again!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing ending and too many similies
Review: This book was recommended to me by a bookstore owner. I couldn't put the book down - true. I really wanted to see how it would end and felt that it was building to this big surprise ending. For instance, all of a sudden Astrid remembers this girl Annie but can't remember much about her. And then there's the loose ends with her father. I didn't feel satisfied with how those issues were resolved. I felt cheated. And, Fitch uses too many similies. After reading this book and Memoirs of a Geisha (which I truly did like) I wonder if authors think they aren't good writers unless they fill their books with loads of similies. It gets tiring and distracting! As one other reader critized "After a while I just rolled my eyes."
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Summary: A book to read with 5 senses
Review: A bittersweet tale as told by a very perceptive and intelligent young woman. I cannot remember the last time I read a book slowly, as though tasting the sentences, because of how brilliantly the words were strung together. After putting the book down this morning for the last time, I could look up and see my world in a new way. Astrid never took a passing glance at anything. She saw beauty, ugliness, things most of us don't have time or reason to stop and see. The book has filled me with a renewed appreciation for art on paper- Astrid's- and in the pages of a book- the author's. Not only are they beautiful, but can also be tools of survival, and methods of preserving time. Janet Fitch has told a story that I will never forget. I plan on buying this book as a hardcover so that years later I can reread and enjoy her story and prose once again!
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Summary: Totally Engaging
Review: This is a fantastic book! I was totally involved in what would happen next in Astrid's life. It is a testament to the human spirit--all we are capable of and can also endure. The hardest part was finishing the book and saying goodbye to a great story with great writing and interesting characters. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing and Original
Review: "White Oleader" is the story of a young woman, Astrid, the daughter of a beautiful, self-centered poet, Ingrid. When Ingrid goes to jail for poisoning a lover, Astrid is left to fend for herself while in foster care. First, Janet Fitch is a gifted writer. Although I agree with many other reviewers that there are places that are obviously overwritten and sometimes Astrid's voice is simply not authentic. In addition, in some of the metaphors, you can "hear" the author writing. Fitch has a strange quirk of repeatedly using similar terms in her descriptions that is unsettling. For example, she uses the term "fish juice" in more than one simile or metaphor. This bizarre, repeated use of a strange description fails to be literary and is simply distracting because the reader is not clear as to whether this repetition is one purpose or simply the result of careless editing. Even with those criticisms, I cannot deny Fitch's ability to get it right at times. At times the writing is poetic and powerful in the way it perfectly captures a moment. Second, this story is fascinating. What is great about this book is that the readers go through the horrors of Astrid's life with her. Just when you think life is going a certain way, things can drastically change. For example, the complete surprise of Astrid's mauling by dogs simply blew me away. Here Astrid had just dicovered that she could live her life as a beautiful woman -- whether that meant being distant, judgmental and superior like her mother, or simply trading on her beauty like currency so that she could be in control like Olivia. Then, she faced what it was like to possibly be completely stripped of her beauty. Astrid learned the hard lesson, "nothing gold can stay." As for readers who thought this book was boring, or that the emotions were flat, I don't what else to recommend to you. This girl's pain was honest, and her human frailties were real. She ruined her own life by pursuing Ray, just so that she could be loved. She was always seeking security under the cloak of someone else's personality. This made her selfish at times, and also vulnerable. To sum up, Fitch's first novel is an engrossing and original story about survival. I look forward to her next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Fascinating and sad by turns--enlightening about the world of foster children and foster care programs. Modern slavery cloaked as charity. The characters are so real, however, and the glimpses of lives I will never live (I hope)so engrossing, this will be a book I will remember for a long time. How sad that children are produced as carelessly as rabbits and cared for with less concern. Thank you, Janet Fitch, for this book.
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Summary: Beautiful but poisonous flowers
Review: Not a pleasant book, not a pleasant story, but i am sure this is a very good portrayal of how harsh it must be for some kids to go through the foster care system. Reality is stranger than fiction, and i am convinced that there are kids with experiences far worse than Astrid's. Astrid and her mother, Ingrid, have a very dysfunctional relationship, and Astrid, who is a very perceptive child, picks up on things from very early on. It's not till the end of the novel that the reader figures out what happened to create this dysfunction between mother and daughter ("Make tinkle for Annie"). I can understand how Astrid, who is so mad at her mom for getting into trouble and leaving her to the mercy of the State, feels so happy to see her for the first time after her imprisonment, and then how her anger comes back as a tornado after Claire, peaking after the visit from the journalism students. The cast of characters is bizarre, from ...Starr and her boyfriend, to ... Marvel and her family, to Olivia, to Claire, to Rena... Astrid's final take on their contributions to her life is enlightening, and the positive spin that she places on these experiences is something we all should strive for. The most objectionable part of the book, to me, is Ingrid's falling in love with Barry. It just doesn't make sense, based on the depictions of Ingrid as a strong, self-sufficient woman. Other than that, this is a very good novel, the pace is just right, and Astrid (who by the way is narrating all this as an adult, not as a girl) has a very sincere voice and even in the worst moments does not feel sorry for herself.
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Summary: Not Even Finished Reading Yet !
Review: I've never done this before -- written a review before even finishing the book. But, in this case, I wanted to say....not only can I not put this book down, but I'm reading slowly so as not to finish it too quickly. I could almost use Janet Fich's own words in my review of her book...."I wanted to freeze this moment forever.." I loll in her words from which I catch a whiff of perfume or old spice or shaded porches or white linen flowing on a breeze.... I feel her main character, Astrid's, pain and happiness, simultaneously....it's scary - relating to her that is....so much there for her to grasp, or maybe nothing at all...just fleeting possibilities having been provided then taken away from such a young and colorful and happy/sad girl. I am a 54-yr. single young woman, still in bloom, but waiting for some of those flowers to be gently, by force, blown away - to stir in the breeze..... Enjoy reading this book. You will if you can "just imagine."
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Summary: Whit Orleander: by Janet Fitch
Review: Wow! This book was intense! A little depressing but so engrossing and well written that I was willing to suffer the blues for this great find!
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: I bought this book to read during a trip and couldn't put it down! Janet Fitch is an amazing writer, with a poigniant story and a poetic manner. A must read book even for those who don't read for pleasure that often.
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