White Oleander: Summary and book reviews of White Oleander by Janet Fitch, plus links to an excerpt from White Oleander and a biography of Janet Fitch.
White Oleander
by Janet Fitch
Hardcover: May 1999,
390 pages.
Paperback: May 2000,
400 pages.
Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery-but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison.
White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become.
Tough, irrepressible, funny, and warm, Astrid is one of the most indelible characters in recent fiction. White Oleander is an unforgettable story of mothers and daughters, burgeoning sexuality, the redemptive powers of art, and the unstoppable force of the emergent self. Written with exquisite beauty and grace, this is a compelling debut by an author poised to join the ranks of today's most gifted novelists.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Thirteen-year-old Astrid Magnussen, the sensitive and heart-wrenching narrator of this impressive debut, is burdened with an impossible mother in Ingrid, a beautiful gifted poet whose scattered life is governed by an enormous ego.
The New York Times Book Review - Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
[An] impressive first novel.... her startlingly apt language relates a story that is both intelligent and gripping.
JRobert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Janet Fitch writes with breathtaking beauty about the central theme of our age the search for self. White Oleander is a remarkable debut novel.
Elizabeth Berg, author of Durable Goods and Range of Motion
This is what you're after when you're browsing the shelves for something good to read. White Oleander is a siren song of a novel, seducing the reader with its story, its language, and, perhaps most of all, with its utterly believable (and remarkably diverse!) characters. The narrator is particularly memorable-there were times she made me want to cheer and weep simultaneously. Finishing this book made me feel gratefully bereft, and I look forward to Janet Fitch's next work.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Annie Janet Fitch's unique style of writing The book White Oleander was very interesting but at times was very hard to read. The beginning of the book was the most challenging because it didn’t get off to a good start. It was very boring and I had to force myself to keep reading but after a... Read More
Rated of 5
by Lauren McCoy A Poisonous Romance White Oleander portrays a beautiful story of a mother-daughter relationship,and the search for feminine identity. Ingrid, the selfish, irresponsible mother of Astrid, is a famous poetry writer in California. She drags her thirteen year old daughter... Read More
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JRobert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
of 5
by Annie
of 5
by Lauren McCoy
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