White Oleander (Oprah's Book Club)
by Janet Fitch

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Book Reviews of White Oleander (Oprah's Book Club)

Book Review: beautifully written bk w/ well-developed plot & characters
Summary: 5 Stars

Ingrid, the mother, is a character I liked in some ways because she possesses all the qualities I love in a female: strength, independance, intelligence, and fun. Astrid is the daughter who struggles to find her own identity, first by imitating her mother (which is exactly what Ingrid desires the most from her daughter: a carbon-copy of herself), and later doing whatever she can to prove to herself that is *not* like her mother. In the beginning, the Imitating-Ingrid stage, everything is great. Ingrid and young Astrid live a care-free and envious life, traveling all over the world and doing, it seems, whatever they feel like doing at the moment. Astrid begins the role of her mother's sidekick early in life, constantly attending her mother's poetry readings and handling the stands where people buy her mother's books. Ingrid is open and honest with Astrid, sharing her secrets- good and bad. At the same time, however, she is depriving her daughter of things she needs the most at this precarious time: one definate place to live, one definate set of beliefs, one father figure. (As Ingrid and Astrid study mythological gods together, Ingrid tells her daughter to report to anyone who inquires about her religious believes that "we hang our gods from trees." When Astrid requests information about her father's whereabouts or why she does not know him, Ingrid tells her that girls do not need fathers and it is better off the Astrid does not have one, testifying "I had one, so I would know."

This idealistic world spins smoothly until Ingrid crashes their universe by breaking all her rules. Formerly, Ingrid had used her beauty only to intimidate and manipulate men; she never went further than that. She would give advice to Astrid about men, listing rules such as Do not let men stay the night, Do not let them get cozy in your life by going to dinners and other such domestic outings with them all the time, Do not change your taste to suit theirs or to impress them, Do not give any of emotional self to them because you won't be able to get anything back. (During the book I somewhat liked these theories of Ingrid's because they sound so much like those typical of males for unnoticed generations and generations). Ingrid did not believe in love and did not want committment. However, she let her guard down with a despicable character named Barry, and when he stopped loving her, she couldn't handle it. She had always thought that a woman's self-respect was the most imporatant thing to hang on to, and she felt like she had thrown it all away in a trash can named "Barry". Unable to end her rage, frustration, and bitterness, Ingrid kills Barry (the weapon is the poisonous flower Oleander- hence the title), and is sentenced to life in prison. At first, Astrid feels guilty because her mother always shared everything with her and she had a few glimpes of the future, but did nothing to warn Barry about her mother's plans. And so begins Astrid's struggle without her mother, the only person she had ever really had.

In the midst of becoming a woman herself, Astrid starts to see the side of her mother she had always missed before because of her glossed-over visions of perfection and goddess-ness. Now, she feels betrayed by her mother, and thinks that Ingrid is only a selfish person who will not be happy unless Astrid becomes exactly what she is. As Astrid moves from foster home to foster home, she meets so many different people- people she has never before been able to come in close contact with, because that would entail leaving her mother's side- and she realizes that maybe her mother's way isn't flawless. Throughout the book, Astrid must deal with her feelings of rejection, imperfection, guilt, and lonliness, and getting past all these barriers utlimately leads her to hold a satisfying self-concept of herself. ALthough the story's ending was surprisingly unrealistic, I was still able to share in Astrid's triumphs as well as her failures. By realizing that her mother loves her for who she is, and finding out exactly what that is, Astrid forms her own identity and individuality. Learning to forgive all the pains which so many people have inflicted her with and getting past the tendency to want to be like whoever she is closest to at the moment make her a stronger person. Three cheers for Fitch's first novel, and I hope to be seeing more titles by her soon! Her book rocks by forging a mixture of the female perspective on life (it somehow manages to "subtly glow" with the girl-power message), and humanity-in-general's view. It is filled with triumph and failure, despair and hope, humor and sorrow, and- the book's most powerful message of all- insecurity and self-respect. Fitch successfully weaves these paradoxical traits into one story which will make you want to read it fast and savor it slowly. Yummy... this was one delicious summer read.

Summary of White Oleander (Oprah's Book Club)

As Astrid bumps from trailer park to tract house to Hollywood bungalow, White Oleander uncoils her existential anxieties. "Who was I, really?" she asks. "I was the sole occupant of my mother's totalitarian state, my own personal history rewritten to fit the story she was telling that day. There were so many missing pieces." Fitch adroitly leads Astrid down a path of sorting out her past and identity. In the process, this girl develops a wire-tight inner strength, gains her mother's white-blonde beauty, and achieves some measure of control over their relationship. Even from prison, Ingrid tries to mold her daughter. Foiling her, Astrid learns about tenderness from one foster mother and how to stand up for herself from another. Like the weather in Los Angeles--the winds of the Santa Anas, the scorching heat--Astrid's teenage life is intense. Fitch's novel deftly displays that, and also makes Astrid's life meaningful. --Katherine Anderson

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