White Oleander, Janet Fitch
White Oleander, Janet Fitch
1 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

White Oleander

Author: Janet Fitch

Narrator: Oprah Winfrey

Abridged: 6 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/18/2006


Synopsis

The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption.
Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery - but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison. 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. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become. Oprah Winfrey enjoyed this gripping first novel so much that she not only made it her book club pick, she asked if she could narrate the audio release.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Janet on January 05, 2023

Well, what was I supposed to rate it? I did work awfully hard on W.O.... still like it. Sad to think Oprah's book club is all over, it was quite an experience. {n.b.--Oprah Book Club 2.0 is alive and well!]......more

Goodreads review by Faith-Anne on January 16, 2008

If nothing else, read this book for the language. White Oleander reads like a poem. It's so beautifully crafted.......more

Goodreads review by Christina on February 09, 2015

Dark, depressing, disturbing, and so beautiful! When the author described the August summer heat I felt it, like hot breath on my neck. I fell in love with Ingrid and her beauty and ideas of the world. Then I became Astrid, and I felt how much she loved her and how bad it hurt to also hate her, but......more

Magnificent. Yes. Yes, I am about to pull a basic reader b move by starting off a book review with self-centered commentary on the movie version, but what can I say? I'm a basic b. But anyway. I saw this movie when it came out it 2002. And I loved it. I was 19 or 20 years old at the time and I just a......more

Goodreads review by Arah-Lynda on October 07, 2017

This is Astrid’s story. We meet her first when she is twelve and in Ingrid’s (her mother) care. Ingrid is a woman of such rare, unearthly beauty as to be most likely found in dreams. Fitch describes her through Astrid’s eyes, gradually, poetically, using very sparse language, as the story unfolds, wit......more