Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To all the future readers of this book. You might find it "horrifying", "messed up", "overwritten", "unrealistic". Those are not my words. These are: One thing that we share with animals is the need to survive. And that is what the book is about, albeit indulging the chick-flick/feminist audience for marketing reasons.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of the best books I've ever read and one that I immediately recommend when asked. White Oleander is gorgeous prose that takes us through extremely heavy subjects in a dark and complex coming of age story. The series of events is absolutely insane in that it's hard to image these dark corners of the world, but they are described in such detail and ease that it is absolutely captivating. Every single time I read this book, it punches me in the stomach in a brand new way
Astrid is a great protagonist in that she's a regular girl with a hard life. She's not overly moralistic or driven in the cookie cutter way young female main characters can become. She's a morally complicated survivalist with very raw and real emotions, and it is interesting to see how they skew in relation to her experiences. The other characters, including her mother, her mother's boyfriend, and the people she meets through her foster houses are so vivid and unique that they really become fully formed characters regardless of how much of the book they take up. And the ending was not necessarily happy or wrapped everything up, it just brought the story to a close with Astrid's visit to her mom, her feelings towards her and relationships in general, and her adult life beginning. It fit well with the rest of the novel, and it left me feeling very unsettled (in the best way -in a way I want art to do).
What I love most about this book is that it kept me engaged and compelled, even through all the darkness, and the way that Fitch writes is brilliant because she doesn't say almost as much as she does say with her words. I give credit where credit is due, and Janet Fitch is an artist, this book a complete work of art.
Astrid is a great protagonist in that she's a regular girl with a hard life. She's not overly moralistic or driven in the cookie cutter way young female main characters can become. She's a morally complicated survivalist with very raw and real emotions, and it is interesting to see how they skew in relation to her experiences. The other characters, including her mother, her mother's boyfriend, and the people she meets through her foster houses are so vivid and unique that they really become fully formed characters regardless of how much of the book they take up. And the ending was not necessarily happy or wrapped everything up, it just brought the story to a close with Astrid's visit to her mom, her feelings towards her and relationships in general, and her adult life beginning. It fit well with the rest of the novel, and it left me feeling very unsettled (in the best way -in a way I want art to do).
What I love most about this book is that it kept me engaged and compelled, even through all the darkness, and the way that Fitch writes is brilliant because she doesn't say almost as much as she does say with her words. I give credit where credit is due, and Janet Fitch is an artist, this book a complete work of art.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
This book is poetry, characters are complex and intriguing. My only qualm was one or two of her foster families could have bern left out (they didn’t add to the plot and just added uninteresting characters).
This book is really beautifully written but my main complaint is one that I have with many contemporary classics: please, stop with the sex scenes. Also I hadn’t quite realized it but the book is basically 300 pages of Astrid suffering. Not necessarily a bad subject, just something to know going into it.
I enjoyed this book a lot! I found it engaging. I love coming of age books and found Astrid very believable and likable. I love how female-driven the book is especially and her transformation from a naive girl to this superhero character. I know that it was problematic with her relationship with Ray, but from a literary viewpoint I liked that as a reader I was trapped in her head and had to wait for her to evolve as a character, rather than having the narrator have an adult voice looking back on everything and adding an adult perspective. I understand the reviews that say some of the writing is too eye-rolling and did tend to skip Ingrid's more annoying paragraphs. However, even this just made Ingrid's character that just more annoying and unlikable, the way Astrid sees her. I didn't find it "too depressing" at all--I think books happy go lucky books about the foster care system (Counting by Sevens . . . ) are boring to read at best and offensive at worst.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Some of the prettiest writing I've ever read. Listened to the audiobook version, and Oprah is a wonderful reader, though I wish it hadn't been abridged. Honestly, I thought it was such beautiful writing that I'm considering reading it just so I can get the bits I missed. But I'm gonna give myself a while before I do that, since it's such a huge bummer of a story.