White Oleander (Oprah's Book Club) by Janet Fitch
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Book Reviews of White Oleander (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Poetic Justice?
Summary: 5 Stars
How can you describe imagery so beautiful and unique that you keep a pen in hand to underline phrases to remember as you read the book? White Oleander is filled with such imagery, so poetic it sweeps you along until you are as caught up in its spell as are the characters it describes. There are shades of Tom Robbins lurking between the lines as the images leap off the pages regaling the readier with a sensory overload. And the picaresque nature of Astrid's youthful search is reminiscent of Robbins's characters. However, the comparison stops there, because in White Oleander the characters are heartbreakingly real and their struggles are almost beyond imagination. On the surface this is a story about a mother and daughter, but not the usual relationship we have come to expect in a novel. Ingrid Magnussen--poet, beauty, free spirit, evil encarnate--and her daughter, Astrid--brilliant artist, deep thinker, lover of beauty, hungry for home--have a unique relationship. Ingrid, who spurns all conventional thought and propriety shapes Astrid as she would a lump of clay, and it takes Astrid years before she realizes the heartless manipulation and control her mother has used on her. When Ingrid is sent to prison for murder, Astrid embarks on a quest for the real home and family she never had, not to mention the unconditional love one expects from their mother. Despite horrific circumstances in foster homes, Astrid also finds love as she learns, often the hard way, what love really is and that ultimately, she is a giver of love. She learns to take the best from all the places she has been and to learn from them; she also knows what kind of life she wants for herself. This is truly a lovely book, one I hated to finish and one I will read again. Here we have beauty and inconceivable tragedy, but ultimately, there is triumph for Astrid who takes the beauty where she can find it and transforms it into something she can love--a lesson well-taken.Book Review: A Poetic Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
The raw brilliance of this novel is overpowering. From behind the rough exterior of the story's plot comes a true "coming of age" tale, told with the most beautiful and articulate language of words. I never believed that a book could truly take hold of your emotions and exhilerate your senses, but this story drew me into the folds of surprise, heartbreak, and amazing prose.The story is told from Astrid Magnussen's point of view. She is a young girl (story goes from age 12-18), who lives with her mother, Ingrid, who is a smooth, freeminded poet. They live in an apartment in Hollywood, California. They go to museums, read books by Dmitry and Dostoyevsky, and do poetry readings. Ingrid uses her charm to lure in men and have carefree relationships, but she gets too serious in one of these relationships. After the man breaks it off with Ingrid, she kills him. She is then put into prison and sentenced for life.
So begins Astrid's life of foster care and life altering changes. Throughout the story, Astrid is at 6 different homes, including a children's center. Each home is filled with people and experiences that all take their toll on Astrid and her upbringing. These include: getting involved with a MUCH older man, gun shot wounds, starvation, and a death, to name a few. During her time at these homes, she corresponds with her mother with letters, in which Ingrid is still trying to shape her daughter...even through prison. Astrid soon realizes that her mother wants her to remain unhappy in these homes, so she will still be "needed" by her daughter, and so that she can still influence Astrid into becoming like her.
This is a book where you hope and plead for a good ending, but you're never sure if it will happen or not. This books is remarkable. You'll be mesmorized by Astrid Magnussen adventures (or perhaps this is the repeated story of many fostered children throughout the world).
Book Review: What doesn't kill us.....
Summary: 5 Stars
makes us strong, and young Astrid Magnussen has survived enough to achieve almost superhuman strength. As the story opens she is a twelve year old, already wise beyond her years as she parents her free spirit, poet mother, Ingrid. The two had already drifted from California, where Astrid was born, through Mexico to Europe and back to California. Astrid longs for a more conventional life, a stable home, a father, a chance to have her own life rather than a secondary role in the drama of Ingrid's. But even that chaotic existence is taken from Astrid when Ingrid completely loses control and murders a former boyfriend and is sentenced to life in prison. Soon Astrid finds herself plunged into the foster care system, going from one horrific situation to another, being used as unpaid labor, a source of help or income to be discarded when no longer convenient. Through it all Ingrid manages to continue to manipulate Astrid even from behind bars, not willing to see Astrid find any sort of safe haven for herself, even to the point of not allowing Astrid or the state to locate Astrid's long absent father.
How Astrid manages to triumph in the face of such overwhelming odds makes for compelling reading, in many ways reminisent of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. Bit by bit she figures out a way to survive and even grown in each new environment she finds herself in and gradually begins to puzzle out her own life, particularly her relationship with her mother. At the end of the novel Astrid is at a crossroads, and while we are not certain as to which road she will ultimately take, we know that somehow she will survive.
This is a thoroughly engaging book, one that will leave the reader with much to think about long after the last page. It is a book that is worthy being read several times, one that should be shared and discussed.
Book Review: Wonderful book, wonderful buy
Summary: 5 Stars
White Oleander is the first and only book I have read from Oprah's celebrated book club. While many have panned the book, I found a strange sort of desolate beauty and comfort in it. This is exactly what a good book should do. Draw you into it's story, weave you into the plot, and turn you out on the other end, questioning that which motivates you and makes you exist.
For me, the combination of Astrid (the main character), her tormented life, and the other-worldy beauty of Janet Fitch's writing style left me wanting more. More White Oleander and more out of life.
Books such as this draw the introspective spirit out of us and make us take long, hard looks at our lives. Astrid's misfortunes made me appreciate my health and success even more. Fitch's detailed and almost surreal prose made me stop and smell the roses.
This story is a painful one about the horrible circumstances of a child's life. Yes, it is extremely graphic in areas, and includes many scenarios which many of us would rather not read. That is where it's controversey lies.
But with these things aside, it is an excellent story. One in which you can't seem to put the book down, reading long into all hours of the night. Wishing that Astrid would find good fortune, but knowing that she will only find heartache.
My copy of White Oleander is beginning to show wear from the numerous friends I have lent it to. Some have liked it more than others. One couldn't read it at all.
Regardless, I give Janet Fitch and White Oleander 5 stars, and congratulate Fitch on an excellent debut novel. I purchased this book through Amazon.com right after another great purchase, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, about an unlucky writer addicted to the personals. Both are intense, recommended books. Enjoy!
Book Review: Wickedly Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
Janet Fitch paints with words, creating an unforgettable work of art revealing a delightfully seductive story of the relationship between mother and daughter as well as the everlasting search for love and self discovery. Ingrid Magnussen becomes imprisoned for murdering a past lover by means of the white oleander's milky, fatal poison, leaving her daughter, Astrid, following a labyrinth-like path to discover her self through a chain of foster homes in Los Angeles. Astrid's journey, as created by Fitch, defines the reality of a lost soul searching for who they are.
Fitch's debut novel, White Oleander, is stunningly original with its lyrical prose, it is a poem disguised as a novel. The amazingly poetic diction pulls the reader into the life of Astrid, allowing them to connect with the protagonist on a personal level. Fitch's poetic writing style creates an atmosphere for the plot that is eerie and exciting, seductive yet caring, wicked yet beautiful.
Janet Fitch's characters are wildly imaginative, embodying several different stereotypes. Ingrid is dangerously beautiful with an amazing ability to toy with her daughter's emotions from a distance, shaping Astrid into Ingrid's own sculpture. Fitch develops Ingrid's character through the letters she writes her daughter from jail; letters that illustrate the character's complexity in a creative manner. Ingrid despises weakness, self-pity, and love. Yet, Astrid's strength helps her to break away from her mother's control, forcing Astrid to learn the art of survival. As the protagonist, Astrid is appealing in a way her mother is not, she is smart and vulnerable.
There is only one thing to say about this novel and everything it embodies: it is wickedly beautiful.