Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre
Review: I agree with the reviewer who was disappointed in this book and suggested reading THE LAST DAY or THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY, or TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD I loved those books very much as well. White Oleander just seemed so contrived, with wooden characters and a very biased approach.
Rating: 
Summary: wonderful
Review: This is the most beautiful book I have ever read. It is more than a novel, it is poetry. Oprah is right...after reading this book, you will never look at the world in the same way . Janet Fitch's descriptive narrative is so rich, it makes you want to highlight the passages and go back for more.
Rating:
Summary: Be prepared to feel what you read !!!
Review: No matter the conditions.....life can be tolerable. And "White Oleander", with it's prose to fit the emotion proves it ! When life is sweet so are the words but when life is cruel so is the language. Be prepared to feel what you read !!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: ***ACID ASTRID***
Review: This book was better than I expected. I am a 25 year old English teacher and this is the best book I've ever read in my life. This tragic and profound novel is based on Astrid Mgnussen's life from the age of 12 and up; she is a strong girl. Astrid's mother tells her tales of their ancestors the Vikings, how they were strong enough to run into battle unarmed and be oblivious to their wounds. She proves she is a Viking by killing her ex-lover with the poison of white oleander flowers. Astrid's life twists and turns as she goes through foster care; her mother is in prison. Astrid lives with Starr and Ray in their trailor, where she loses her virginity and gets shot. She lives with Marvell in her turquoise house and falls in (friendly) love with the beautiful black Olivia who lives next door. Astrid lives with Amelia and her other Latina loca girls that are also living their and experiences unwanted anorexia. She then moves to live with sensitive 30s glamour Claire and her husband Ron. Astrid's life is torn and scarred until she is reborn: she finds how to love herself for who she is not want to be someone else. A beautifully written novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Can you say 'Letdown'?
Review: Hmmmmm. I'm still scratching my head over this one...I feel so disappointed and cheated, and I'm trying to understand what everyone else saw in this book. My disgust for Astrid's mother was so strong, that I immediately disliked the story, but continued on, hoping that something good would happen to Astrid, but low and behold, something good happens to her mother instead??!! Go figure!
Rating: 
Summary: It goes into the trash.
Review: Pelple may have to live this way but I feel dirty reading it. I should have stopped sooner but keep thinking there is some redeeming qualities to find. I am almost finished and have found none so far. I wonder if I am alone in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical
Review: A captivating read...it was impossible for me to put this book down. The prose was incredible, beautiful...made me want to climb inside it's pages and wrap those lovely words around me.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most moving books I've read in a long time.
Review: I was somewhat disturbed at the plight of our heroine, my heart went out to her. I ended up being profoundly moved, and amazed once again at the strength and survival skills we humans have.
Rating:
Summary: No, don't. Please don't....
Review: My advise is not read this novel. And now I am suspect of any who would recommend doing so. There are plenty of excellent novels that fill the same category as this one and should be read first: Mona Simpson's Anywhere But Here, even Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, or Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. All the men in this novel are lechers, abusers, and losers. All the dialogue is disingenuous. All the descriptive narration is contrived and hardly credible; who would believe that a teenager would have such eloquence (--but it does sound like her mother could speak thus, which makes me think that Ms. Fitch confused the voices of her characters). The plot, when observable, is incredible (you know, the ending--I mean, really, do you think she could track down her father like that?). And the characters are all written for shock/thrill value. We scream and bewail our society today because of rampant creeps, random hate crimes and verbal trash talkers, yet we pruriently await the next gutter novel--but printed in hardback!--hoping that it will tickle and satisfy our fascination for that which is base. And how much better we are, now, for reading a tickler like this because we know that we are not, no, impossible, we are not like any of the weirdoes found herein. This is pathos, 90's style. And somewhere, definitely not in the green room, Aristotle is (tragically) weeping.
Rating:
Summary: Moving, poignant.
Review: If you enjoy a quality book you can curl up with, this is it. I'll suggest another book no woman should miss--THE LAST DAY, by Glenn Kleier. Very different from ORLEANDER, for sure, but it tells a very unusual and important tale that should be widely read and discussed. Most astounding of all, LAST DAY was written by a man--a hugely enlightened man (and it doesn't hurt that he's good looking, too!). I highly recommend THE LAST DAY as a book you should definitely read.
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