White Oleander: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: White Oleander
Review: A strange but intriguing novel about a young girl named Astrid. Her mother, Ingrid, is a free spirit artist and a published poet. She attracts odd boyfriends due to her wild good looks and spunky personality. One night she gets into a fight and kills her latest. She is taken away to prison. Astrid then floats from foster home to foster home. At one of the homes, her new foster mother, Claire, recognizes her hidden talent and encourages her to grow as an artist. She takes Astrid to art lessons and fusses over her like a spoiled child. Astrid soaks up the attention but also recognizes that Claire is weak and dependent on her husband for happiness. After a tragic ending, Astrid learns how to cope and is able to move on ...

Rating:
Summary: Like a Made-for-TV movie...
Review: ...Janet Fitch's White Oleander appears forced, mediocre, and pretentious. I could barely get through the first few chapters without balking at the countless similes and metaphors, for which Fitch should be praised for quantity, not quality.

I planned on only reading the book to pass time until I could get my hands on something better. However, like those Saturday evening TV melodramatic movies, the storyline soon hooked me. I felt indulgent, wanting to see what perversions happen next! (If there is one thing for which the author should be lauded, it is the success with which the reader bonds with the protagonist.) While hating myself for doing so, I could not put the book down.

What it boils down to: if you want a transparent book that doesn't require effort of the reader, enjoy this bring-to-the-beach book; on the other hand, if you're easily put off chapters that could be summarized in paragraphs, pass this one up.