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A review by fayetree
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
5.0
*spoilers*
mother-daughter relationships make me so sick. i actually can’t read about them because i will cry.
the way i despise ingrid so much yet feel such sympathy for her at times— how she perfectly encapsulates so many women who weren’t meant/didn’t want to be mothers but who had to be, how they feel like their personhood is taken from them, and sometimes they try with all they can to give their children a good life, but that’s not always enough. the idea that you’ll meet someone and fall in love and have children and live happily ever after and then that doesn’t happen, but still you’re stuck taking care of a child alone because that’s a woman’s job and the men just get to go on with their lives like nothing happened. and then there’s the children who are stuck living their lives feeling like a burden, everyday waiting to be abandoned, trying with all they have to be perfect so that they’ll feel the unconditional love they so desire and deserve.
astrid deserves the world, so many times in this book my heart broke for her. she was taken advantage of in so many ways by so many different people and it’s so sad. i really love that no matter what she went through, and despite what she sometimes thought, she remained a kind hearted person. the way she always took the role of a caregiver, when no one ever took care of her. my heart truly aches for her.
on another note, the writing in the book is so beautiful. not only for the fact that it read like poetry, but because it didn’t feel pretentious in the slightest. it was beautiful and meaningful, yet easy to understand, which i think is very important and rare.
this is the kind of book that makes me want to become a writer yet never write again because i know i could never create something quite as beautiful.
that’s all. it’s 3am, i love this book, and could talk about it for hours, but again, 3am.
paul trout <3
yvonne <3
mother-daughter relationships make me so sick. i actually can’t read about them because i will cry.
the way i despise ingrid so much yet feel such sympathy for her at times— how she perfectly encapsulates so many women who weren’t meant/didn’t want to be mothers but who had to be, how they feel like their personhood is taken from them, and sometimes they try with all they can to give their children a good life, but that’s not always enough. the idea that you’ll meet someone and fall in love and have children and live happily ever after and then that doesn’t happen, but still you’re stuck taking care of a child alone because that’s a woman’s job and the men just get to go on with their lives like nothing happened. and then there’s the children who are stuck living their lives feeling like a burden, everyday waiting to be abandoned, trying with all they have to be perfect so that they’ll feel the unconditional love they so desire and deserve.
astrid deserves the world, so many times in this book my heart broke for her. she was taken advantage of in so many ways by so many different people and it’s so sad. i really love that no matter what she went through, and despite what she sometimes thought, she remained a kind hearted person. the way she always took the role of a caregiver, when no one ever took care of her. my heart truly aches for her.
on another note, the writing in the book is so beautiful. not only for the fact that it read like poetry, but because it didn’t feel pretentious in the slightest. it was beautiful and meaningful, yet easy to understand, which i think is very important and rare.
this is the kind of book that makes me want to become a writer yet never write again because i know i could never create something quite as beautiful.
that’s all. it’s 3am, i love this book, and could talk about it for hours, but again, 3am.
paul trout <3
yvonne <3