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bradfordh's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
lenny9987's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
wishfulfillment's review against another edition
1.0
Why I Recommend Bumping This Down On Your TBR: It takes away from the skill that seemed to occur in White Oleander. This lacked cohesion and was unclear in moments when, I believe, the reader needed the most clarity. The relationship between the two most important characters was strange and almost creepy, but it didn't seem as though their dynamic was supposed to be creepy. The writing that fit White Oleander and appeared intelligent, clever, and emotionally-stirring, now just seemed pretentious. Also, the audiobook skips chapters or reads some of them in a different order, which made it more difficult to consider those chapters important to the overall plot.
casspro's review against another edition
5.0
Another great work by Fitch. It's still second in my heart next to White Oleander. The characters have more of an edge to them, which makes them more heartbreaking and distancing. Lovely words. A must for fans of Oleander
sylviat96's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
tiarala's review against another edition
5.0
This seems to be a solid love-it-or-hate-it book. The depiction of post-suicide survivor's guilt and raw, ugly grief is gut-wrenchingly intense. Not an easy book, but extremely well-done.
kacelaface's review against another edition
Long. Boring. Some pretty terrible similes. DNF at 43%.
adequate_squatch's review against another edition
2.0
This book was not on my agenda; it was lent to me by a young friend of mine, and therefore I was expecting a young adult book. I found that, while this is probably still the type of thing I would have read at fifteen, I was pretty off the mark on the young adult assumption. This book was filled with the sex, drugs, and other such debauchery of LA’s 1980s punk scene. We’ll say I wouldn’t recommend it to my grandma. However, it wasn’t untastefully done. I’m actually a little torn about what kind of review to give this book, since I loved its poetic prose and was drawn in by my love/hate for the main character, but on the other hand didn’t feel that I really gained anything from reading it, once all was said and done.
Janet Fitch introduces us to Josie Tyrell, a girl about whom the reader doesn’t learn much in the first chapter, except that she’s a smoker, and her boyfriend has just offed himself. Devastated by the loss of Michael, Josie’s grief isn’t made any less by the blame and threats brought down on her by his rich and famous mother, Meredith Loewy. As the novel reveals more about Josie’s character (her troubled past, her dreams, and her lack of inhibitions) and her relationship with Michael, Josie moves tentatively into a closer relationship with Meredith in hopes of tasting the life that Michael once lived and to which he refused to expose her. Through this, Josie begins to discover that perhaps she never really knew Michael at all.
I appreciated this novel for its clever use of metaphor, and its poetic imagery. Fitch paints a vivid picture of 80’s Los Angeles, down to the dingy concert venues, the pompousness of its aspiring young citizens, and the sharp divide between the wealthy and the working class. Overtly graphic while managing not to be overly so, one gets a good feeling for the difficulty of trying to make it in a town of such big dreams with such huge obstacles.
The character of Josie herself really came alive for me. One thing that stuck out from the book, for me, was how I would forget that it was written in third person, just because everything was squarely from Josie’s viewpoint and it really got you inside her head. We’ll be clear about one thing: I didn’t find her to be a likable character. She was too much of a contradiction, wanting so badly to be a pure, true person, while doing so little to keep herself out of the drugs and glamour of LA life. However, I felt for her, and I think that that really speaks to Fitch’s ability to effectively develop a character.
Now, while I’ve already confessed to enjoying the metaphor and simile use in Paint It Black, I can still say that I thought it was a bit overdone. Not everything needs to be personified or compared to another thing or phenomenon. It drew out the novel a lot, so that where I was waiting for some actual advancement of the plot, all I received was twenty pages of flowery prose.
While we’re on the subject of plot…well, there wasn’t much of one. Boyfriend dies. Girl struggles to get over it. And that’s pretty much the whole book. By the end, there is no evident change in Josie besides her grief, and you never find out if she moves on, finds a new life, or improves the one she has. It begs the question: what is the purpose of telling this story if it ultimately leaves you in the same place you were at the end of the first chapter? I could have saved myself a lot of reading.
I think that Janet Fitch definitely has talent as a writer. I hear that her previous novel, White Oleander, was better, so I might give that a shot. Ultimately, I have to say that Paint It Black is like a merry-go-round: the ride was fun, but it didn’t take me anywhere. If you’re into that kind of thing, then I recommend it.
Janet Fitch introduces us to Josie Tyrell, a girl about whom the reader doesn’t learn much in the first chapter, except that she’s a smoker, and her boyfriend has just offed himself. Devastated by the loss of Michael, Josie’s grief isn’t made any less by the blame and threats brought down on her by his rich and famous mother, Meredith Loewy. As the novel reveals more about Josie’s character (her troubled past, her dreams, and her lack of inhibitions) and her relationship with Michael, Josie moves tentatively into a closer relationship with Meredith in hopes of tasting the life that Michael once lived and to which he refused to expose her. Through this, Josie begins to discover that perhaps she never really knew Michael at all.
I appreciated this novel for its clever use of metaphor, and its poetic imagery. Fitch paints a vivid picture of 80’s Los Angeles, down to the dingy concert venues, the pompousness of its aspiring young citizens, and the sharp divide between the wealthy and the working class. Overtly graphic while managing not to be overly so, one gets a good feeling for the difficulty of trying to make it in a town of such big dreams with such huge obstacles.
The character of Josie herself really came alive for me. One thing that stuck out from the book, for me, was how I would forget that it was written in third person, just because everything was squarely from Josie’s viewpoint and it really got you inside her head. We’ll be clear about one thing: I didn’t find her to be a likable character. She was too much of a contradiction, wanting so badly to be a pure, true person, while doing so little to keep herself out of the drugs and glamour of LA life. However, I felt for her, and I think that that really speaks to Fitch’s ability to effectively develop a character.
Now, while I’ve already confessed to enjoying the metaphor and simile use in Paint It Black, I can still say that I thought it was a bit overdone. Not everything needs to be personified or compared to another thing or phenomenon. It drew out the novel a lot, so that where I was waiting for some actual advancement of the plot, all I received was twenty pages of flowery prose.
While we’re on the subject of plot…well, there wasn’t much of one. Boyfriend dies. Girl struggles to get over it. And that’s pretty much the whole book. By the end, there is no evident change in Josie besides her grief, and you never find out if she moves on, finds a new life, or improves the one she has. It begs the question: what is the purpose of telling this story if it ultimately leaves you in the same place you were at the end of the first chapter? I could have saved myself a lot of reading.
I think that Janet Fitch definitely has talent as a writer. I hear that her previous novel, White Oleander, was better, so I might give that a shot. Ultimately, I have to say that Paint It Black is like a merry-go-round: the ride was fun, but it didn’t take me anywhere. If you’re into that kind of thing, then I recommend it.