White Oleander (Oprah's Book Club)
The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption. "Liquid poetry." --Oprah Winfrey Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her beauty to intimidate and manipulate. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world of ritual and mystery. But their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother murders a lover, and is sentenced to prison for life. Hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander follows Astrid through a a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in the world. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons. Astrid's journey investigates the nature of the mother-daughter bond, burgeoning sexuality, the redemptive powers of art, and the unstoppable force of self-discovery. An Oprah's Book Club pick - A 2002 feature film starring Michelle Pfeiffer
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Community Reviews
Absolutely exquisite!
Each sentence is so well-crafted and the structure of this novel, ebbing and flowing with lyrical poeticisms renders Astrid's traumas more palatable (if not digestible)...her Mother Ingrid ofc is an insufferable narcissist - but one cannot help but admire the bohemian bubble she created for the two of them - worshipping diverse artists and art forms, bathing in moonlight, drinking in aesthetic comforts of beauty and fragility and shielding away from harsh realities under thin veils of well-curated and dream like fantasies...
This is a tale of one disturbed, isolated, forgotten, unseen, questioned, exploited, abused, surrendering, overcoming and coming of age; of teenage angst and grappling with tender rawness and sadness, and regret...
It is beauty turned inside out - seeking something that may have never been there at all...
A beautifully written, emotional coming-of-age story. I really loved Janet Fitch’s writing style. She has a way of making you feel the weight of the adversity, the complicated emotions, and the experiences that shape a young girl growing up in such difficult circumstances. This is exactly the kind of story I gravitate towards. It’s a slow burn, but one that is absolutely worth the time.