Rating: 
Summary: Haunting and Hopeless
Review: While I found the imagery beautiful, I found the story to be hopeless, as one mortifying thing after another happens to Astrid. Just when you think there may be some light at the end of the tunnel in this story, the writer informs you that this is a train tunnel and you're about to be smashed flat! I finished this book like a dose of medicine...because I felt I should. However, I would not recommend it to anyone because it is not an enjoyable read. I felt despair and tension when reading it. My primary goal after the dog incident was just to be finished. Fitch went too far in ruining this girls life! With her eloquence, she could have written a beautiful novel but instead settled for something that Ingrid Magnussen herself would have written!
Rating: 
Summary: Such beautiful images!
Review: I felt that Fitch's use of language in this book was mesmerizing! I found myself reading passages aloud just to feel the words on my tongue. Beautiful!
Rating:
Summary: Feelings of a young immature woman
Review: This is a story about mothering. Real mothers, foster mothers, kids mothering each other, mothering yourself. While it is written in beautiful, lyrical language, full of sensuous images, the plot is a bit weak. Astrid, the narrator,sees herself as the product of her many mother figures. Indeed, she is molded by their many influences. Yet, as a young adult, she sees herself as a victim of them all and takes little responsibility for her own development. She masters her own fate more than she realizes. The saga of her various foster homes gets old after awhile, and sometimes the only thing that kept me reading was wondering what happens to Astrid. Ultimately, the book has an emotionally satisfying and realistic ending. The author has captured and poetically expressed typical feelings of a young immature woman. I enjoyed reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: My Adamant Two Cents
Review: For all of you who perceived this book to be focused on the bruised and abused children of this society, you must not have read the book at all- and if you think that Astrid Magnussen is a character that was meant to be pitied, i believe that she'd throw that pity up your wazoo. The characters are incredibly well-developed and enchanting, the subject material stark and identifiable; i appreciated the little inflections of great literature throughout the book, as well.. her thoughts are impressively portrayed, mature, sarcastic and sadistically funny at times. as embarrassing as it is to favor a choice of a book club, White Oleander has nevertheless come to be one of my favorite pieces.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful and poetic
Review: White Oleander is beautifully written book on a stark subject... there were a few things that bugged me about it though. I didn't like the author's romantic portrayal of promiscuous behavior, and the association of sleeping with and being used and discarded by men with images like perfume and high heels. The sadness of a daughter adoring a mother that didn't deserve her love or respect was emotionally wearing. Another dangling detail is that after a child was shot there was never any mention of her having to appear in court or at least submit testimony, leading one to think that maybe one of the characters got away with attempted murder and another got away with statutory rape. Child molestation is hard to stomach, it didn't need to be described in such graphic detail. When reading voyeuristic descriptions like that I always feel a little insulted; like the author feels I'm not intelligent enough to read a book that is well-written on it's own merits.Even so White Oleander did open my eyes to the plight of some children that get lost in foster care. I had no idea that a single woman living with her boyfriend in a trailer could qualify to provide foster care; and that thought is depressing. It's obvious that the author did a lot of research in preparation for writing this book.
Rating:
Summary: At times dazzling, at times too close to soap opera
Review: I enjoyed "White Oleander" and was fascinated by the hold Ingrid had on Astrid. Ingrid's a witch, but a smart one, a real "modern." Astrid is inspiring, brave, adaptable and, still, almost pathetic in her yearning for her jailed mother. Fitch is talented as hell, if overwrought, and comes dangerously close to having Fabio on the cover of the book at times. But her descriptions of the LA landscape were real and her next book should be something very good. One reviewer here wrote he didn't like the "triumph of the spirit" type books that Oprah recommends. But Fitch's book is more triumph of the will.
Rating:
Summary: What happend to the ending?
Review: I just finished reading White Oleander and after seeing all the hype and glory it received on the Oprah show I was very much looking forward to this novel. I read a lot of novels and while I do not perceive myself as a critic in any way I did find myself very disappointed in the ending of the book. There was so much development of all characters in this novel besides the lead, Astrid, that I was looking forward to knowing more about Paul, and how they really hooked up. After going into so much detail throughout the book (even a bit too much concerning Ingrid and all her letters from Prison which I found some confusing and boring)I found the ending leaving me without much information or backround to Astrid's choices. It was such a full book and the ending left me feeling like the author was out of words and energy and so much more could have been said. On a positive note a very good book for any one like my husband and myself looking into becoming Foster Parents, a very good insight into Children of the Systems lives indeed.
Rating:
Summary: mesmerizing story, timeless characters
Review: The novel is very well written and very enjoyable. However, the underlying themes about feminine identity and being a woman in what all too often seems like a "man's world" are what linger in the reader's mind long after the plot has concluded. In the book, some women choose to see themselves as above the fray of the world, not bound to society's rules or expectations, in fact, free to take a life if her judgment requires it. Still another woman fulfills all of society's expectations, struggling to live the perfect life; only to find herself essentially empty in the end. The narrator tells the story of the women/"mothers" in her life, and the vastly different choices and philosophies these women live, providing not just an absorbing story, but also giving great insight into any woman's struggle to define herself.
Rating: 
Summary: Well crafted Pulp Fiction
Review: We see it on television, the movies, the newsmedia, and the tabloids...now we have another forced feeding account of the Bad parent/Bruised child in the form of a novel. Fitch writes well and draws characters realistically. It is a shame such talent is squandered on a soap opera story. How many more of these "down and out deserted kids" tales will be written? A depressing read without redemption, BUT this author has the skills down well.
Rating:
Summary: Could not put it down.
Review: I consider myself an avid reader. I am not a critic and don't want to be one. All I want to say is this was a page turner. You felt like you were there with Astrid. The words were poetic and lyrical. It is a great book! Now I'm depressed I'm done. It's hard to find such a good read.
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