White Oleander: A Novel

Review by Jane
Susan from the book club recommended this book. This is a first novel by Janet Fitch. She writes about a mother and daughter who are alone in the world. Somehow, through her own selfishness no doubt, the mother forgot her daughter had no one else, and allowed herself to be caught up with a greed-infested man. This led to her murdering the man; once again, forgetting about her daughter. The murder was contrived in a very sick and creative way. Her mother then reveals just how sadistic she is through her letters and poems to her daughter, who at that time was battling life as a teenage foster child in a cruel world. The mother was so sadistic, in fact, that the rare times the child did find friendship, the mother spewed her jealousy towards her in her poems and letters—apparently trying to grab any type of potency available to her in the confines of her prison.

Her mother’s antics should not minimize the cruelty Astrid suffered at the hands of her various foster parents; but the blame lies with her, predominantly. Although she evades this, as she is a suffering artist. She thought of herself as very intelligent, but her actions of putting herself in situations where she could not contend in the world really told how limited she already knew she was and what she was truly all about. Anyway, as you can see, my dislike for this woman increased at every turn. I liked Astrid, but without guidance, her life led down some treacherous paths. I felt it was unfair for her to be left with the choices she had. But, she is a survivor, and the real backbone and brains of the family, as she shines in spite of her mother and the places she spent her teenage years.

There is a lot of sex and drug use in this story, which tries to make it more realistic for this kind of situation. However, I imagine that truthfully, foster parents can be and are shut down for the type of problems highlighted here. I believe a more accountable and accurate depiction of foster care can be found in Dave Peltzer’s sequel book, The Lost Boy, A Foster Child’s Search for the Love of a Family. But, White Oleander: A Novel was a story, and not based on fact. It did make me feel like defending Astrid from all she was going through. I appreciated seeing where Astrid ended up at, which the novel allows.

Jane.