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caitiesorbs's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked this book. BUT it was a bit depressing and if you are not willing to get into the character's shoes and try to understand what she is going through then it's not really worth your time.
The interaction between her and her boyfriend's mother is a little weird but then again her life in general is a little weird compared to what people think a normal life should consist of. So who's to judge.
The interaction between her and her boyfriend's mother is a little weird but then again her life in general is a little weird compared to what people think a normal life should consist of. So who's to judge.
curiouserrr's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
kaylagossett13's review against another edition
5.0
I don't even know where to begin with this one other than mentioning that this is one of the best novels that I have read in a very long time.
Janet Fitch definitely has a way with character development. Without going into the plot (because I don't want to spoil anything) too much, all I can really say is that this is a beautiful story about self discovery. This book is very rich with description and is a great narrative told from the perspective of Josie.
Janet Fitch definitely has a way with character development. Without going into the plot (because I don't want to spoil anything) too much, all I can really say is that this is a beautiful story about self discovery. This book is very rich with description and is a great narrative told from the perspective of Josie.
gertrude314's review against another edition
1.0
This book just lacked something to make me feel. From the beginning, I wasn't able to connect with anyone in the book. The main character was super whiny, which I guess was her thing, but it was so redundant. I could understand the mother's actions but they didn't hold any emotion for me.
mgilhart's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ammbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Not quite as gripping as White Oleander but the dynamics between the characters was good.
karenleagermain's review against another edition
4.0
First, I have been very excited to read Janet Fitch's second novel and have very high expectations.
This book hit me hard on a personal level and I was not anticipating it. The book is about the aftermath of Michael's suicide and how his girlfriend, Josie and mother, Meredith come to terms with the situation. I didn't really know my father, but the character of Michael seems a lot like everything that I do know about him- depression problems, suicide by gun shot, demanding rich/artistic parents, et...it felt somewhat unnerving to read this book. I actually had to put it down at times.
Other things...the book is set in Los Angeles in the 80's. I loved Fitch's descriptions of LA, which are very detailed. I love Fitch's style of writing, but certain parts of the book dragged a little.
This book hit me hard on a personal level and I was not anticipating it. The book is about the aftermath of Michael's suicide and how his girlfriend, Josie and mother, Meredith come to terms with the situation. I didn't really know my father, but the character of Michael seems a lot like everything that I do know about him- depression problems, suicide by gun shot, demanding rich/artistic parents, et...it felt somewhat unnerving to read this book. I actually had to put it down at times.
Other things...the book is set in Los Angeles in the 80's. I loved Fitch's descriptions of LA, which are very detailed. I love Fitch's style of writing, but certain parts of the book dragged a little.
booksaremyfavorite's review against another edition
4.0
wow. i appreciated the little points of hope that filled this bleak, bleak book. the characters are so loathsome and so fascinating. I loved Lola Lola. It was a rough read though. Took me a few months to get through.
mysticalmachole's review against another edition
5.0
Fitch’s first novel, White Oleander, is quite possibly my most favorite novel, of all the novels I’ve read in my life. (I’ve read it at least five times.) So even as I was lifting Paint it Black from a shelf in Borders, I knew that, though I love Fitch’s writing style, there is little she could do to outshine White Oleander in my eyes. Which is not to say that Paint it Black isn’t as well formed, poetically written, or a lesser book in any way.
Reading Paint it Black is akin to feeling your skin scrapped away with a cheese grater—the reader is able to feel the weight and horror of Josie’s grief so intensely. I often sat the book aside after a couple chapters because her pain was too intense, too real. By the time I reached the end, I felt as though I had taken a long car trip. A car trip in which I had been so dissociated, and lost in thought, that I had to wonder how I got from the start to the end. Maybe it was all those passages in which Josie had had too much vodka and too many barbiturates. Fitch brings the reader into these hazes with Josie, brings you so close to the character, you wonder if you’re not sitting in the girl’s thoughts just as she has them.
Josie’s relationship with Meredith Loewy is almost cliché. A self-called white trash girl making friends with her dead boyfriend’s famous pianist mother as they attempt to understand the death of someone they loved—using each other to keep him alive as long as possible. However, Meredith is such an eccentric, manic character, the near cliché of the relationship can be set aside in the curiosity to see how the almost-friendship between she and Josie plays out.
Throughout the book, Fitch makes use of two words, voddy and ciggie, interchangeably with vodka and cigarette. As I read these words, they always pulled me out of the story for a brief moment. The words seemed too silly and were used in moments of great intensity of grief, made more irritating by the switch back and forth. Personally, I would have preferred Fitch to use “voddy” and “ciggie” in Josie’s speech and internal dialogue and the actual words at all other times.
Though Fitch’s sophomore effort isn’t my beloved White Oleander, to say it was worth the read is an understatement. Fitch renders Josie’s grief so utterly well, the reader may want to cry for the loss of Michael along with her. Her descriptions of both punk music as well as classical, makes music a visual experience; and, though you can’t hear the songs playing, you can feel them and understand their place in lives of these characters. Paint it Black is more than a story—it is an experience.
Reading Paint it Black is akin to feeling your skin scrapped away with a cheese grater—the reader is able to feel the weight and horror of Josie’s grief so intensely. I often sat the book aside after a couple chapters because her pain was too intense, too real. By the time I reached the end, I felt as though I had taken a long car trip. A car trip in which I had been so dissociated, and lost in thought, that I had to wonder how I got from the start to the end. Maybe it was all those passages in which Josie had had too much vodka and too many barbiturates. Fitch brings the reader into these hazes with Josie, brings you so close to the character, you wonder if you’re not sitting in the girl’s thoughts just as she has them.
Josie’s relationship with Meredith Loewy is almost cliché. A self-called white trash girl making friends with her dead boyfriend’s famous pianist mother as they attempt to understand the death of someone they loved—using each other to keep him alive as long as possible. However, Meredith is such an eccentric, manic character, the near cliché of the relationship can be set aside in the curiosity to see how the almost-friendship between she and Josie plays out.
Throughout the book, Fitch makes use of two words, voddy and ciggie, interchangeably with vodka and cigarette. As I read these words, they always pulled me out of the story for a brief moment. The words seemed too silly and were used in moments of great intensity of grief, made more irritating by the switch back and forth. Personally, I would have preferred Fitch to use “voddy” and “ciggie” in Josie’s speech and internal dialogue and the actual words at all other times.
Though Fitch’s sophomore effort isn’t my beloved White Oleander, to say it was worth the read is an understatement. Fitch renders Josie’s grief so utterly well, the reader may want to cry for the loss of Michael along with her. Her descriptions of both punk music as well as classical, makes music a visual experience; and, though you can’t hear the songs playing, you can feel them and understand their place in lives of these characters. Paint it Black is more than a story—it is an experience.