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Summary: This is life
Review: White Oleander is one of the best books I have ever read and probably will ever read in my life. The prose is poetic and amazing. The characters are vivid, and believable. After you close these pages you will know Astrid like you know yourself. It's heart-renching to have to stop, to know that it's over. Upon reading a summary the story might seem a little boring, ignore that! No matter what the general storyline is, it's the writer's ability to carry it out that matters. Janet Fitch is amazing. This book is life, the ups and downs, the unfairness, the heartbreak and the happiness. Astrid is never positive of her self-image or what she believes in, she changes, she argues with herself the way people do in their head. The details and imagery are fabulous. Fitch is extremely talented. This book is an oddyssey, a journey. You cannot expect to come out of it unchanged. Read! Grrr...
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Summary: A very touching story
Review: At first, I had trouble getting into the story that is White Oleander, but after the first couple of chapters, I was hooked. The way that this book pulled on my emotions was amazing. There were times when I would laugh out loud and there were times that I cried. I came to this site, before I started this book, to see what people thought and I ended up finding out things that should be left for the reader to find out on his or her own. Not cool. I'll say, instead of giving an elementary school book report, that if you're in the mood for a beautifully written dramatic novel, give this a try. Even if you feel as though the first chapters are dreadfully boring, just wait it out. You'll soon be dragged out into the sea of your own emotions as you read Astrid's story.
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Summary: B-e-a-utiful!
Review: I cannot begin to describe how good this book is. it has such power and grace, and if you've been in a foster home or two, you know this can be absolutely realistic. why some people rated it horribly or even below a 5, i'll never know quite honestly.
it's about a mother's power and daughter's choice of whether or not to follow her heart. Ingrid, a famous poet, goes to jail for killing her ex-boyfriend as her daughter, Astrid, goes from foster home to foster home. she overcomes obstacles and has the choice of whether or not to deceive her mother. Astrid begins to learn that the world is not what it seems, and that pretty much nothing is what it seems.
though this description is pretty bad, it's the basics and i highly recommend this for those who choose not to forget pain.
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Summary: a book everyone should own
Review: I stumbled upon this book while roaming the library. This was before the movie came out, and before anyone cared that it was on Oprah's Book Club list.White Oleander is now my favorite book. As a 15 year old girl, it is a strange and unfamiliar world I enter. Astrid's life as a wandering foster child fighting to escape the shadow of her manipulative mother is narrated with heart-wrenching emotion. It is almost in a diary form as Astrid discovers herself and her mother's almost cruel ways. Janet Fitch's writing is haunting. I can't stop thinking about Astrid and Ingrid hours after I have finished the book. Fitch brings the characters vividly to life. This novel will affect you unlike any other book. I own a copy that is highlighted and falling apart from being read constantly!
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Summary: Dashed hopes
Review: I really would like to write a great review for this book, but walked away feeling let down everytime I read it. I loved Astrid, but felt her character inconsistent, even for a teenager. I loved Ingrid, but didn't get enough of her to improve this read. Everyone else was just a flash in the pan of dark decaying life. There is so little beauty in this book. Astrid becomes so scarred, both emotionally and physically, that the puny ending hardly could be interpreted as a triumph. I had hoped the movie would redeem the book, and aside from a stellar cast, it too was a great disappointment in unfulfilled potential. To Janet Fitch: this had all the makings of a legendary Mother-Daughter journey, but lacked sincerity and true depth of character. I'm very glad that others had a better interpretation, but as much as I tried to love this book, I just could not.
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Summary: Aryan Motherhood
Review: Well, this book will hold your interest. There's much about Los Angeles, my "beloved" hometown, and all of that is authentic. What's not authentic is the little girl, Astrid, who thinks like a polyglot graduate student with great writing skills. Reminds me of the author a little bit. I just can't believe she's such a genius, Astrid, I mean. But if you are willing to suspend belief (and who isn't, reading a novel, after all, not a biography), then you just imagine what would happen if: You have an abandoned 13 year old cycling through various foster homes, which 13 year old happens to have the mind of a 27 year old writer. Wheeee...it's fun....but I guess I just hoped that it was more autobiographical....the good, the bad, and the real, you know.....Diximus.
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Summary: Word Artistry Balances Bleak and Despicable Storyline
Review: If you love word artistry, this book will intrigue you and invite you to read deeply through all 446 pages. On the front on back covers I have written many of the exceptionally thought provoking word art sections which include: A description of a summer desert heat on page 165: "Full on summer fell like a hammer" And words describing teen aged Astrid's painting on page 379: "streaks that became Blakean figures at sunrise." There are many, many more and if you are a writer or anyone who loves words, I could recommend the book based on that aspect of it alone. The story emphasizes survival amidst an overwhelmingly despicable backdrop while managing not to not make the daughter, Astrid, into a said and the mother, Ingrid look like demon spawn at best. Instead both women are human, both flawed and also both filled with divine inspiration at times throughout the book. Both seek love and unconditional acceptance from the other. I found the ending highly satisfying, which I was not sure would happen considering some parts of the book which were so disturbing my stomach would get upset!
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Summary: Absolutely Stunning
Review: When people say that a book is "lyrical" I was never certain what they meant by that. Then I read White Oleander and was immediately struck my author Janet Fitch's exquisite, poetic and, yes, lyrical writing style. She masterfully matches her writing to the characters in the novel - especially Astrid's poet mother Ingrid. I finished White Oleander in one sitting and immediately told my reading compadres that they had to read this book because the writing was absolutely stunning. You will see from all the reviews that the subject matter maybe somewhat harsh. Yet Astrid's survival of the foster care process is hauntingly beautiful and powerful. From page one to page last White Oleander will keep you mesmerized.
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Summary: Normally I avoid Oprah's Book Club picks but....
Review: Like my title said, I avoided these books as if I was avoiding the plague but after a recommendation from a friend at the time, I was hooked from page one and read it in one sitting. The descriptions were amazing and Fitch had created one of my favorite fiction characters of all time when she created Astrid's mother, Ingrid. I loved how she was this ice queen and how she cared nothing but what she thought. I know she is a b**** but she still made me want to turn the page. I also felt quite a deal for Astrid and her struggle was deep and intense. This book is just beautiful
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Summary: I Immediately Hugged My Daughter After Reading This Book
Review: I was completely unprepared for what this book did to my mood and mind for the next few days after I read it. I knew going in that it was going to be an enveloping, deep read, but . . . wow. To those reviewers who have said that some of the situations in the book were a bit unbelieveable and fanciful, let me just assure you that they are not. Trust me on that one. To those reviewers who have said they grew tired of Astrid's "teenage whining and self-pity," let's not forget that for a kid in the foster system, having gone through what she did, I think she handled herself quite well. She grew to recognize bad situations and did her best to keep herself out of them, while relying on a woefully inadequate adult support system. When I finished this book, my present-day problems seemed pretty small in comparison. Before we judge others, let's look around at our comfortable homes and look back on our (while not perfect) childhoods and consider who might have the RIGHT to a little self-pity now and then.
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