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Summary: Pleasant Summer Read.....
Review: White Oleander is a pleasant summer read with a host of characters to identify with. I found that while reading this book I actually cared about the main character, Astrid. This has been a problem for me in the past. How interesting to write a novel where the main character's thorn is her mother!!!
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Summary: White Oleander is as rich as chocolate decadence!
Review: This novel captures the reader like no other. It is the exploration of the American family. Rich with adventure and fate, our narrator Astrid takes us on a breath taking tour of life as seen through a child, a lost teenager, a young woman. Truth is at every corner. Heartbreaking and exciting, our heroine is a survivor. Janet Finch may be one of the most talented writers of the '90s.
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Summary: Adjective abuse in an interesting but unfulfilling story
Review: I must have missed my calling in life if this and Anita Shreve's ,The Pilot's Wife, are examples of publishable writing in the 90s. Both have huge gaps in story and character development. I approached reading each book with anticipation based on Oprah's high praise however I found them to be lacking the in basic requirements of Composition 101. Anyone with a thesaurus could have penned White Oleander. The superfluous use of descriptive phrases and the lack of any caring humanity in this book was annoying and disturbing. Astrid ultimately was as cold and disconnected as her mother but at least we know why,--no mother, father or family--. And in Pilot's Wife that daughter was really cold and unlikable. What's the message here. And where is REALLY good writing?
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Summary: GREAT FIRST EFFORT
Review: Ms. Fitch paints Los Angeles and the many disjointed lives that reside in it as well as James Ellroy. I was particularly taken with the narators search for her identity through those who surrounded her. a good read that left me wanting to know more about Astrid.
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Summary: Beautiful Book!
Review: This book was beautifully written. I was amazed at the talent of this author. She takes you on a journey of a girl who has a broken and sad life and lets us understand the pain associated with her mother. I have yet to read such a beautifully written book. It reminded me a lot of Alice Hoffman's style writing but much more gifted I will look forwrd to her next novel!!
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Summary: Poignant Novel About Lessons Learned
Review: This beautifully written novel is both sad and uplifting. It is well worth reading. The first one-hundred pages or so are steeped with richly atmospheric poetic language, reflecting the influence of Astrid's poet mother, Ingrid. The following sections deal with the different foster care home environments Astrid endures, and learns from. Because of these painful tests of her character, Astrid progresses from a survivalist mentality, and discovers her inner core of steel, adaptibility, and her own voice. Despite being abused and then abandoned by the families she had grown attached to, she is able to salvage at least one sliver of wisdom from each family to synthesize for self-knowledge. At the end of the book, instead of mourning the losses, Astrid emerges stronger, and wiser than her own mother, thus enabling her to confront her mother. Her mother finally admits regret for the murder. She seemed to realize that her selfish act of murder was also a simultaneous abandonment of Astrid to the fates of the foster care system. I had a hard time believing that the government allows foster care to be that horrible; yet truth is stranger than fiction, which means that foster care is probably worse than depicted in "White Oleander." A few other things in the book I was uncomfortable with was 13-year old Astrid's "laying down with the 'father'" (Betty Boop's boyfriend). In most areas this would be statutory rape, even if Astrid blatantly pursued the old guy. I know she was looking for love, but this scenario was treated too reverentially in the novel. I also got tired of all the descriptions of the different female characters breast sizes, and the lascivious looks they attracted from men. And, I thought Ingrid's regret of the murder was much too sudden a turnaround. It was as though this was the "happy" ending demanded by Janet Fitch's editor and publisher. This "regret" and attack of conscience seemed out of character for Ingrid. I did like the sense at the end that Astrid, at her young age, was already a more talented, stronger, and better person than her mother would ever be. Another excellent coming-of-age novel featuring a young girl is Margaret Atwood's, "Cat's Eye". Margaret Atwood is a far better poet than Janet Fitch's "Ingrid" (and she's for real, too). Margaret Atwood's novels are steeped with exquisitely, beautiful poetic prose. If you liked the "liquid poetry" of "White Oleander", you'll love Margaret Atwood's works.
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Summary: Excellent for those who understand a rough life!
Review: After reading White Oleander it opened up my childhood again and made me realize events that i didn't understand until now. How could you not think that this book was excellent?
Rating: 
Summary: Offensively bad
Review: This book makes me ashamed to be female. It is a perfect example of character-as-accumulated trauma. Like, the part where Astrid gets attacked by dogs? Come ON. Someone send Oprah a copy of the Crying of Lot 49 already. That has a tortured female heroine too; maybe she'll dig it. Know that I would never have read this book unless forced.
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Summary: First she recommends it, then she reads it aloud.
Review: I've loved a lot of Oprah's choices (Stones from the River, etc.) and was ready for a good listen on this audiobook. But Oprah's voice was just too deep and mature to be convincing as the voice of a twelve year old no matter how sophisticated. I didn't get past the first side of this audiobook.Will try the book version.
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Summary: An adventure through the eyes of a girl lost in the system.
Review: Whtie Oleander is a fabulous novel about a young girls struggle to be her own person through all her foster care placements. She is always at war with her identity and trying to seperate her true self from what her mother has tried to shape. It is an inspiring novel that will lend a whole new perspective to the foster care system.
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