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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.… (more)
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Narrated by Astrid, who we meet when she is twelve-years-old and living with her poetic single mother, Ingrid, we learn that her's is not a typical American childhood. She has lived all over the world, and her mother is her flawed luminary. All goes terribly wrong when Ingrid is imprisoned for murdering her ex-boyfriend. In the next five years, Astrid is shuffled from one foster home to the next where she slowly learns about herself through her surroundings and the people who care for her or at least are supposed to care. She constantly grapples with her own malleability and the ease with which she takes on the roles others assign her. She becomes a Christian, a semi-incestuous nymph, a fatherless child, a contentious daughter, an artist, a failure, a hard-ass. Each successive home brings with it a new Astrid and another internal struggle. The harder she tries to find herself, the more she realizes the fantastically devastating pull her mother has.
This novel was superb, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I liked the beginning and ending, but the parts in the middle depict relentless misery. The character of the narcissistic mother is well-developed, as is one of the foster mothers, but others seem more like stereotypes of foster care nightmares. Astrid’s character did not ring true to her age. The amount of mistreatment Astrid suffers would certainly have resulted in psychological trauma, but this topic is never explored. This book is definitely not for everyone due to the amount of disturbing content involving a child (e.g., drug and alcohol consumption, graphic sex, physical abuse, and emotional abuse). I found it uneven, but worth the time invested.
Austere and tragic?
No; nor shocking nor
Merely obnoxious.
In prose:
White Oleander reads as a melodramatic persecution fantasy plotted out by contrivance and penned by an id-suppressed teenager.
Some people who have read this may not get the book as a whole but when you really put your attention into it, you can related to it every step of the way. I myself don't know what it feels like to grow up in different homes, to be with different people, to watch out for yourself at a young age but I feel her pain of being independent. I commend Astrid for being the brave soul in spite everything she went through. I had mixed emotions with this book, you can love them or hate every person, you'll learn to praise them or condemn them. Either way, it's a beautifully crafted book, designed to captivate your heart and touch your soul.
"Always learn poems by heart. They have to become the marrow in your bones. Like fluoride in the water, they'll make your soul impervious to the world's soft decay."
As she matures, she recognizes the effect of her longing for safety and love as she stumbles through various mis-adventures. A stunning girl, she must learn to navigate the longing of men. She develops her own discerning eye and becomes able to judge each person/environment for what it can and cannot give to her. In doing so, she does not become either overly giving or needy, but instead matures into an independent artist.
Astrid is also forced into making emotionally difficult choices regarding her murderer of a mother, Ingrid. Will she testify? Will her testimony help put her away? Help her go free? Each choice has lifelong ramifications for her, her mother, and possible victims of her mother.
As she negotiates new situations, Astrid constantly compares her response to what she imagines her mother would do. At times episodic, by the end of the book, the stories/scenes hang together very well and all serve to make Astrid the woman she becomes. In this way, the book is similar to Ordinary People by Janet Fitch or Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
If you're looking for exquisitely lyrical prose, this book will disappoint. However, readers who enjoy bare-to-the-bones, tell-it-like-it-is psychological stories full of emotional imagery about survival and overcoming extreme trauma will greatly enjoy this book.
Ever seen the movie? You should
On a personal note, this is one of the few books that I actually enjoyed the movie more. I think because the