White Oleander: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Good Read but I am not really pleased with itl
Review: I am currently reading this book and I am toward the end. It seems to go down, down, down. How far must this girl go? The trauma and the degradation are getting to be just too much. Fitch has made her point and seems to be overdoing..I will finish the book but I am not really looking forward to the rest of it. I think if she pared it the story would be more powerful.

Rating:
Summary: Average, 3 stars is generous
Review: This book was mediocre. I found "The Triumph and the Glory", "Cryptonomicon", "Memoirs of a Geisha", and half a dozen others I've read in recent weeks to be far more deserving of acclaim. "White Oleander" is weak in many areas and excruciatingly painful at times--there is only so much suffering a character should endure before it becomes pointless stupidity. This book could have been SO good, but unfortunately it was sent to the printer only half-developed.

Rating:
Summary: Well read and captivating.
Review: Oprah did a great job telling this story. I could really feel myself in each place the young girl lived, and I could almost cry each time there was a change in her life. It really captured me. The writer is very descriptive and precise. But I must say I was somewhat disappointed at the ending, not because it wasn't good, but because I wanted for more.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not what I expected. Strong Language.
Review: I stayed with the book even though I felt some of the language to be more than was needed. I have 5 adopted children, have met good, bad & indifferent foster families. I have a hard time believing a lot of what is depicted here as approved foster homes. I was also very dissappointed in the ending.

Rating:
Summary: haven't read the book.
Review: I have not read this book but plan to very soon. I have started reading Oprah's recommendations this summer and can not put any of them down! I do not know anything about her book club (show or whatever) but I do know I like her taste in books. I have read both of Wally Lamb's books, The Reader, and several others. Keep up the good work Oprah, it keeps a normal hyper person reading!

Rating:
Summary: VERY realistic to life as a young girl in the system.
Review: I give White Oleander 5 stars. I can't get over the feeling that Janet Fitch capures in Astrid and how she saw and lived life in the foster system. I am from CA and also grew up in foster homes since the age of 10, and like Astrid, was plummeted there due to a death, and even experienced the murder of another at the hand of a family member. I had no real idea of my families history, except for a few remembered stories from the past that may or maynot be true. It was disturbing at times to read the book due to the realistic nature and the old feeling of darkness and dankness that it brought to life once again, and yet the exhaultation of watching Astrid keep her head above water and make it to the shore. I understood the ending, to me it was illustrating how she went through all of the experiences without her mother and actually survived, and yet those years and scars shaped the very being of Astrid. Who really was the victim of murder?

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written...
Review: The author's language is beautiful and impressive. Although the story is slightly depressing and cynical, the underlying messages are incredible and well worth the read. The language is a little hard to wade through for less seasoned readers, however I felt that it added a dimension to the story that enhanced the overall impact. Don't read this one with Oprah in mind, read it for yourself! It is an incredible novel!

Rating:
Summary: cliche, depressing and not that great.....
Review: I was surprised....after Oprah's rave review, I wanted to read the book. Once I did, I was disappointed. I loved two of Oprah's previous picks "Paradise" by Tony Morrison, and "As I Lay Dying" by Ernest Gaines. I am currently reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" another example of beautiful writing. I applaud Oprah's support of first time novelists, however, I wish she would find a new genre to mine.....we have read so much of the abused woman/child narrator that whatever real truth they may be trying to convey is lost because we've read the same plight repeatedly over the last 12 months. I had little sympathy for Astrid, she seemed as manipulative as her mother....not victim, not triumphant, simply surviving the system.

Rating:
Summary: This book is true to life!
Review: This book is about Astrid, and what happens to her when she is placed into foster care after her mother, Ingrid, is imprisoned for murder. I was in foster care for three years, and what happens to Astrid is very true to life. It's all about her learning to be her own person, and not just the shadow of her mother, especially since her mother is no longer able to be there for her.

Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTLY OUTSTANDING!!!! HARD TO PUT DOWN!
Review: White Oleander by Janet Fitch is one of the greatest books I have read in a long time. It is about a remarkable young girl and her quest for independence and her own identity. It opened my eyes to a whole new world that I never really thought of; the foster care system. This book is well writen and definately worth the time to read!!!