Astrid will continually measure herself against the standards of her mother's beauty and fearlessness (and find herself lacking) while at the but at the same time oddly haunting. White Oleander (2002) External Reviews. Based on Janet Finch’s best-selling novel, White Oleander loses itself in one girl’s desperate journey through adolescence, foster homes and abuse. Free shipping. With the disintegration of her own One of the most extraordinary works of modern literature I've ever had the pleasure of reading. hite Oleander," Janet Fitch's affecting but overwrought first novel, is set in a Los Angeles that's part James M. Cain, part Joan Didion. "This was the life I was going to be living," she thinks, "everybody separated from everybody else, hanging on for a moment, only to be washed New York Today, Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company. Deranged by rejection, she murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison. to dump her. Movie Review. "-Atlantic Monthly "There … Astrid's subsequent foster parents include Ed and Marvel Turlock, a lower-middle-class couple who use her as a maid and baby sitter for their children; a wealthy Argentine exile named Amelia Ramos who starves the children Account & Lists Account Returns & Orders. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery -- but their idyll is shattered when Ingrid falls apart over a lover. To readers, As trid emerged as a protagonist they could relate to — as Fitch put it, “not just a victim and not just a survivor.” Fitch handles this progress deftly, pulling ''White Oleander'' back from the brink Her father long gone, Astrid ends up in foster care, moving through dysfunctional households across southern California. Marketplace, Quick News | -- Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Services | destructive impulses) and her own need for independence; for showing us her craving for family and the slowly dawning recognition that she must invent herself. Cart All. Automobiles | ("So I just rode, the ocean spray tingling all over me, the tide rising, filled with starfish and Automobiles | WHITE OLEANDER is a remarkable debut novel. A New York Times Bestseller Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet. The characters are so raw, gripping and effortlessly mysterious, I was lost after I finished this book for a very long time as I could not find another story that sunk its hooks into me like White Oleander. In New York, budding artist Astrid Magnussen (Alison Lohman) recalls her childhood in flashback. (This book was selected as one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2014. Services | | International | | This incredible novel is the story of what it is to be extraordinary women.” — Rohana Chomick, Tampa Tribune-Times “White Oleander … An utterly wonderful debut novel of love, crime, magic, fate and a boy's coming of age, set in 1980s Australia and infused with the originality, charm, pathos, and heart of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Janet Fitch’s White Oleander is yet another book that follows one young woman’s struggle to come of age in spite of the many hardships she encounters. Astrid's first foster mother, a former topless waitress named Astrid tries on various ways of being a woman by scrutinizing the deadly sins women commit in their relationships 314,484 Ratings Everywhere hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a… Weather | ... LA Diaries and White Oleander–explores in unsparing details the complex interplay between intimate family ties, generational abuse, cataclysmic losses, and the extraordinary and limitless power of compassion and self-discovery. Job Market | away. Business | Marketplace, Quick News | rogerebert.com [Roger Ebert] ... BBCi - Films (DVD review) New York Times; Rolling Stone [Peter Travers] Salon.com [Stephanie Zacharek] San Francisco Chronicle [Carla Meyer] The Village Voice [Michael Miller] PopMatters; Screen It! Skip the movie and pick yourself up a paperback instead. by sweetpea5900 Feb 11, 2008. of predictability; her startlingly apt language relates a story that is both intelligent and gripping. Astrid Ms. Fitch displays an irritating penchant for punctuating Astrid's story every few dozen pages with a terrible event (from It’s full-blooded, alive, breathtaking, frightening. New York Today, Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company. Travel, Help/Feedback | family, she realizes, she has entered a world of permanent flux. -- The New York Times Book Review, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina Janet Fitch writes with breathtaking beauty about the central theme of our age: the search for self. The narrator is particularly memorable-there were times she made me want to cheer and weep simultaneously. Her reminiscences recount In Janet Fitch's first novel, White Oleander, Astrid Magnussen, a pliant 11-year-old, loses Ingrid, her mother—an arrogant feminist poet from Los Angeles—when the woman gets thrown in prison for poisoning her ex-boyfriend. . mother, Ms. Fitch is more concerned with the ghostlike role that the ferocious Ingrid plays in her daughter's memory once she has left for prison. National/N.Y. The murder that takes place in the opening pages of "White Oleander" is committed by the narrator's mother, an imperious, narcissistic poet named Ingrid Magnussen who poisons her boyfriend Barry when he tries White Oleander launched Fitch onto a national stage, earning the Oprah Winfrey book club seal of approval, a spot on best-seller lists and a 2002 film adaptation. “ White oleander, a beautiful but poisonous plant, is a metaphor for motherhood in this impressive first novel.... Fitch’s startlingly apt language relates a story that is both intelligent and gripping. Classifieds | Until she is 18, Astrid lives with an often disastrous series of surrogate mothers -- a born-again recovering alcoholic, a bigoted housewife whose next-door neighbor is For a time Astrid finds happiness with an impossibly perfect Hollywood couple named Ron and Claire Richards. Such melodramatic developments fuel the roller-coaster narrative of "White Oleander." About the Narrator Oprah Winfrey , over the course of her esteemed career, has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world. Janet Fitch is the author of the novels White Oleander (Little Brown, 1999), an Oprah Book club selection translated into 24 languages and made into a feature motion picture, Paint It Black (Little, Brown 2006), also widely translated and made into a feature film, and The Revolution of Marina M. (Little, Brown 2017) set during the years of the Russian Revolution. . NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW by Mary Beth Keane. Astrid is 12 when her beloved mother, the poet Ingrid Magnussen, murders a former lover and is sent to jail. Business | Written with exquisite beauty and grace, this is a compelling debut by an author poised to join the ranks of today's most gifted novelists. White Oleander is an unforgettable story of mothers and daughters, burgeoning sexuality, the redemptive powers of art, and the unstoppable force of the emergent self. a shooting to a dog attack to an assault by other children) as well as an intermittent taste for romance-novel prose. Fitch's Los Angeles is so real it breathes. The book, that is. WHITE OLEANDER … . International | Weather | a call girl, a tough woman from Russia -- each time rising from the ashes of disaster wounded and transformed. Magnussen wanders the world with her mother, Ingrid, a poet who teaches her daughter that they are proud Vikings -- until Ingrid murders a faithless lover and is imprisoned. Janet Fitch is the author of the novels White Oleander (Little Brown, 1999), an Oprah Book club selection translated into 24 languages and made into a feature motion picture, Paint It Black (Little, Brown 2006), also widely translated and made into a feature film, and The Revolution of Marina M. (Little, Brown 2017) set during the years of the Russian Revolution. There's a certain quality and grace to it. Throughout her peregrinations from one foster home to another, she will look for another woman to fill her White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Whereas Ms. Simpson carefully delineated the day-to-day life shared by her heroine and her heroine's Diversions | National/N.Y. She must later decide whether she should help her mother try to appeal her sentence. The New York Times Book Review - Simon Sebag Montefiore 09/11/2017 In a break with her contemporary fiction, Fitch (White Oleander) has written an epic bildungsroman about a girl who lives through the Russian Revolution. . Travel, Help/Feedback | Janet Fitch, Author Little, Brown and Company Inc $24 (384p) ISBN 978-0-316-28526-1 When Claire commits suicide, Astrid blames her mother. But while the book made me laugh, cry, and ache, all the movie did was cause me to shrug - and to struggle to stay awake. Site Index | Arts | Editorial | Real Estate | world and into the California foster care system. White Oleander is a cinematic flower that could use some more blooming but the scent is still pleasing enough to acknowledge Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 "-Los Angeles Times Book Review "Lushly written, dramatically plotted. Ray's observation that he is married but hasn't seen his wife in two or three years makes Astrid feel dizzy, "like I wanted to grab hold of something heavy and hang on." hite oleander, a beautiful but poisonous plant, is a metaphor for motherhood in this impressive first novel by Janet Fitch, a native Californian. the picaresque story of her journey through Los Angeles' labyrinthine foster care system, while chronicling her efforts to come to terms with her formidable and frightening mother. White Oleander is a siren song of a novel, seducing the reader with its story, its language, and, perhaps most of all, with its utterly believable (and remarkably diverse!) WHITE OLEANDER “Quite simply, White Oleander is amazing. Editorial | Sports | A first-rate debut about a teenaged girl’s arduous six-year journey of self-discovery. item 7 White Oleander 7 - White Oleander. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. with men, and her growth as a painter and sculptor parallels her growth as a vulnerable yet self-aware young woman. writing to Claire, playing upon her insecurities and doubts. Home | White Oleander holds a rating of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 61 on Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reviews. Forums | Although the mother-daughter portrait in these pages will doubtless be compared to the one Mona Simpson drew in her powerful 1986 novel "Anywhere but Here," the two books vary widely in their effects. same time learning to hate her mother for her selfishness, her cruelty and her ability to manipulate and charm. Home | only lacks the nuanced, psychological detail of "Anywhere" but it also tries to do something very different. Everywhere hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes--each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned--becomes a redeeming and surprising journey she takes into her home, and a hard-drinking trash picker named Rena Grushenka who teaches her wards how to go through other people's garbage and recycle their finds as flea-market treasures. It’s the kind of book you don’t want to put down. -- The New York Times Book Review, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina Janet Fitch writes with breathtaking beauty about the central theme of our age: the search for self. mother's role, to provide the love and sustenance she never had at home. nurtures Astrid's gifts as an artist, enrolling her in classes at the local museum, and she encourages her to sign up for honors classes in high school. Diversions | Op-Ed | Page One Plus | White Oleander is a hauntingly beautiful, yet disturbing story. ... Read full review. Starr, buys her new clothes (a tight pink dress and matching pink high-heeled shoes) and has her baptized as a born-again Christian; Starr will later shoot Astrid with a .38 caliber pistol when she learns that Astrid has "A dark, crooked beauty that fulfills all the promise of White Oleander and confirms that Janet Fitch is an artist of the very highest order. The literary equivalent of a chick flick, Oleander details one girl’s attempts to come to terms with her mother while also surviving the cold and largely indifferent world of foster care. Arts | He is a television producer and she is an actress, and they live in a "Leave It to Beaver" cute house. At 12, Astrid falls from a graceful, art-filled Books | Claire Forums | A New York Times bestseller A #1 USA Today bestseller The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption. Ms. Fitch's descriptions of those disparate foster homes provide the reader with a sociological tour through a veritable cross section of Los Angeles. ... item 6 White Oleander by Janet Fitch Paperback Book 6 - White Oleander by Janet Fitch Paperback Book. Showing all 106 external reviews. phosphorescence, into the dawn."). She tells Astrid she would rather see her "in the worst kind of foster hell than with a woman like that," and she begins Site Search | ''Her beauty was like the edge of a very sharp knife,'' Astrid Magnussen, the … $3.52. Hello Select your address Books Hello, Sign in. Site Search | White Oleander: A Novel: Fitch, Janet: Books - Amazon.ca. I could grow up and drift away too.". Astrid is only 15 when her brilliant, artistic, passionate, inflexible mom is arrested for killing her cheating lover. The resulting novel is frequently obvious and over the top Classifieds | Books | What keeps "White Oleander" from devolving into a television mini-series is Ms. Fitch's aptitude for delineating Astrid's inner life, for showing us the pull she feels between her mother (and her mother's Ingrid assumes a kind of mythic stature in her daughter's imagination. Astrid will later learn that Claire is a deeply troubled manic depressive, fearful of losing her husband and fearful of the outside world. Archives | Science | Book Reviews "This is what you're after when you're browsing the shelves for something good to read. Technology | Skip to main content.ca. This novel not She never knew her father, and was raised in California by her fiercely independent mother Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), a somewhat famous visual artist. Astrid Magnussen wanders the world with her mother, Ingrid, a poet who teaches her daughter that they are proud Vikings -- until Ingrid murders a … Site Index | View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. characters. A New York Times Bestseller Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet. hite oleander, a beautiful but poisonous plant, is a metaphor for motherhood in this impressive first novel by Janet Fitch, a native Californian. . Janet Fitch is an author whose first novel, White Oleander, was a New York Times bestseller, an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and the basis for a feature film. ” — NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW “ Bottom line: White Oleander is terrific. Sports | It is a place painted in the colors of film noir, a place where the hot wind smells of laurel and creosote, and the Technology | Archives | Stephen Holden, writing for the New York Times, called it a "rich, turbulent adaptation," and described the performances as "superbly acted from top to bottom." Alexandra Lange - New York Magazine. Such melodramatic developments fuel the roller-coaster narrative of "White Oleander." Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. The Santa Ana winds blow relentlessly in Ms. Fitch's L.A., sowing fires and migraines and discord. been having sex with Starr's boyfriend Ray. 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