Rating: 
Summary: Deserves six stars!
Review: This gifted author's use of language transports the reader through a difficult journey. The pacing keeps the reader transfixed through the subplots. I was one of the fortunate ones who received an autographed copy at a book signing. This will be treasured because this is an author who will someday be considered an icon.
Rating:
Summary: A real treasure...
Review: White Oleander is one of those rare books that made me say "wow" after I finished it. It was superbly written and full of emotion. I will miss Astrid and wonder what became of her....
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed reader
Review: I was so excited to read the White Oleander. I took it out of the local library for 5 days. I crammed every day to complete more and more of the novel each day. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Chapter 29 the novel went down hill quickly. The author seemed to get bored with her writing and left the reader with many options for an ending. The author took the easy way out and left us at a dead end. I wished more from this author but as I returned the book to library the librarian commented "this author did this in the first book too."
Rating: 
Summary: A captivating first novel!
Review: Astrid longs to be loved and nurtured, a seemingly unattainable goal. Her mother, the beautiful poetess Ingrid, is obsessed with reclaiming the adoration of a short-term lover, Barry Kolker, and has no time for her daughter. Astrid is told she has no father. When a desperate act takes Astrid's mother from her, she is placed in a series of foster homes, each one in turn creating more loneliness and uncertainty.WHITE OLEANDER is a profoundly sad story of a young teenager experiencing the pain and vulnerability of an ambivalent mother-child relationship and the lack of a nurturing home environment. It brings alive the many cruelties people impart on others, sometimes unknowingly. Astrid's thoughts are expressed so clearly and mirror the needs of any young girl. Beautiful imagery using flowers and fragrances abound. The people in this story are not only varied but so fully alive that it's hard to leave one behind and move on to the next. The most haunting part of the story, though, is the character of Ingrid whose esoteric view of life is strikingly similar to white oleander, so very beautiful yet poisonous.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting Lyrics, Unabridged Audio is PERFECT
Review: White Oleander, Janet Fitch, read by Alyssa Bresnahan. Beautifully read, pronunciations and pace perfect - seldom do you find a reader so well suited to the words she reads. 10 stars would be more appropriate. How can I find words worthy of review of this austere, symbolic tale, that is definitely not for Pollyanna. Poetic and thoughtful, the reader delivers the author's artistic and eloquent words with just the right timbre. The childhood of Astrid Magnussen is sobering. Born to an absorbed, dramatic, beautiful and poetic mother, a mother who is also murderous and manipulative and completely devoid of a soul, Astrid is plunged into the darkness and hopelessness of California foster care. Desperately seeking beauty and wholeness, only to have it snatched away time after time. Shot at, attacked by dogs, molested, pampered, spoiled, or abused - each home leaves deep scars, both emotional or physical. The author combines this poetic mother and artistic daughter into a slide show of images, some beautifully welcome, some dire and grim to the point of horror. The poisonous blossom of a beautiful flower, the searing, troubling heat of the Santa Ana winds, the descriptions are richly sketched. The fires can almost be seen and smelled, the acid trip is completely disorienting. Listening to this book was a rich experience, perhaps more so than seeking the words on a page. The lyrics glide across the waters at a stately pace, and though you might wish to disembark, you are captivated and compelled to finish the journey.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing and engrossing
Review: I enjoyed this book and also could not put it down but I ultimately felt a little dissatisfied. First of all, once again we have a story about a teenage girl written in the first person. Listen up authors out there! This is getting old! "Bastard out of Carolina" and "Ellen Foster" are just a couple I have read that do the same. At least "White Oleander" told the story of a California girl. As a southerner I have to say I am getting a bit weary of reading all these depictions of practically illiterate and shoeless southern girls. Secondly, I was disturbed that the promiscuous behavior of Astrid seemed to impact her about as much as having a cup of cold coffee in the morning. In particular, I was disappointed that the author did not re-examine Astrid's affair with the 50ish foster father figure. Here you have a 13 year old getting it on big time with her grandpa and she barely reflects on it later in the book. I would have liked to have seen Astrid realizing that even though she went after the guy, he as a man in his 50s did not have to jump into the sack with her. She was a 13 year old child after all! The book peaked in the extremely well-written and cohesive section about Claire. The segment about the Russian foster mother really dragged. As a final note, the character of the mother was really hard hitting and accurate. I have met a few women exactly like her, very bright but mean as a snake and manipulative.
Rating:
Summary: A true and chilling portrayal of the foster care system
Review: My neice wants to buy a copy for every member of her family. Fitch captures her characters with brutal honesty. The chapter when Astrid wakes up for the first time in her first foster family sent chills up my spine. I raced to the back of the book to read the author's biography. I couldn't believe she didn't grow up in the system. Her descriptions were right on the money. I was a little disappointed in the ending. But, all-in-all a compelling book. I read it in two days. I could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, like one long poem!
Review: I picked out 'White Oleander' on a whim, it was in my book club catalog and I decided why not. It looked pretty interesting to me. I finished it in at least two sittings. Janet Fitch is a wonderful, poetic writer. She writes brilliantly about young Astrid, a girl whose mother is a poet and has recently killed her boyfriend. When her mother is put in jail, Astrid is shuffled through many foster homes. And most of them are pretty bad. But every one makes her grow stronger. It really makes your think about your experiences, and you realize how good you've got it, compared to this 13 year old girl who's growing up in many horrible situations. Though some of the book is rather sexually graphic, and not for young teens, it is definately one you're going to want to pick up. Don't pay any attention to the 4 star average, make your own decision about this book and read it!
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical, but haunting and powerful
Review: I waited several weeks after completing this book before reviewing it. I wanted to know if the emotional power of the characters lingered on. I can say unequivocaly that it does. This is a brutal, at times, even vicious tale woven with the most delicate and fragile of thoughts, feelings and emotions. Ms. Fitch has the extraordinary gift of revealing the slightest shadings of the human experience while framing them in the most squalid, even terrifying circumstances imaginable. The contrast raises the depth and power of this novel to extraordinary heights. Rarely does a story have such power, or such lasting emotive strength. I am a bit puzzled by what I can only regard as a prudish reaction among some readers to the framing of the book. Reality must be exactly drawn if it is to effectively create the crucible for hopes and dreams. A "nicer" reality, a more "palatable" experience for the central character would appreciably diminsh the experience for the reader. Rarely do I complete a book and wonder days, even weeks later what became of the central character. I will always wonder where Astrid is; and if she still knows what time it is in California.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: I don't normally seek out the Oprah book club selections, but this one was voted in as my book discussion group's latest pick -- and looked good from my skimming at that week's meeting -- so I went with it. I thought most of it was excellent! The writing was very evocative, very lush -- without being overdone. I liked the author's point (one I've thought of before myself) about each household being a different world.... She certainly proceeds to examine just that concept. I thought the idea of Astrid being shuttled from one foster home to another was very believable and true-to-life -- while at the same time giving the author a chance to show her "chops" by creating a whole new set of characters and personalities again and again -- and adding a lot of variety to the book, as well as a lot of poignancy and drama. The edition that I bought has an interview with Fitch at the end...and in it she mentions that she at one point had a writing teacher who was very blunt with everyone and who wanted each and every sentence and image to count for something; I would say Fitch took that teacher's point to heart -- and then some! P.S. I'd also recommend the book that was one of Fitch's inspirations: Sei Shonagon's diary of the Japanese court, "The Pillow Book" (which I read some years ago). Fitch mentions that Shonagon was one of the bases on which she created her mother character, who seemed to value esthetics over personal feeling and responsibility.
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