Labai liūdna, nuostabiai parašyta istorija. Tokia, kur net ne tiek svarbus siužetas, labiau mėgaujiesi pačiu tekstu, jo tėkme, netikėtais palyginimais. Viena tų retų knygų, kur skaitai ir nori, kad niekada nesibaigtų.
❤️Tie lagaminai. Wow. Vertimas. Paskutinis sakinys.

Labai rekomenduoju!

Wow. This knocked my socks off. It's incredibly well written and easy to follow. I was pulled in from the start. Fantastic book and very touching story.

4.5/5 Stars

This is the type of book that will stay with you for a long time, long after you finished it. The reviews are all true. Once you start, you'll never stop reading, unless of course you have work/school. The setting is very atmospheric and the characters are fleshed out. They have substance. They're the type that you'll love to hate but still end up loving/rooting for. It's a mess, but it's really good. I can't really even tell you how good it is. I tried though.

If you are a fan of literary fiction and books focusing on character development, you will probably like this.

After hearing so much about this Oprah-acclaimed book, I finally sat down to read it. The plot had some major potential and I was getting really interested, right when the protagonist landed in a horrible foster home where she began an illicit affair with her foster mom's 40-year-old boyfriend (did i mention the main character is about 14?). The author vividly describes the sexual details of this relationship, as well as the mom and boyfriend's bedroom behaviors. If that wasn't enough, the day that the mom finds out about the undercover affair there is more profanity and violence than your usual episode of Jerry Springer...and without all the editing of daytime television networks. Suffice it to say, I stopped reading after the 5th or 6th F-bomb and a lot of R-rated sexual slang. Stuff one might read in a high school bathroom stall.
Anyway, I'm sure it's a really good plot but I couldn't tell ya.
(I gave it one star for profanity and lewd material)

I really enjoyed the language and psychology of this book. There were so many interesting women to discuss and examine. The only reason this didn't get five stars is the atmosphere was at times claustrophobic for me - intentionally done, I think, but still uncomfortable. I look forward to reading this again!

This is the type of book I absolutely rave about. Bold, honest, eye-opening and without compromise, topped off with enagaging characters and a compelling storyline. One of my faves.

начну с того, что у меня долгое время был пунктик на то чтобы найти свою самую любимую единственную книгу, но я все никак не могла на нее наткнуться.
с первых страниц белый олеандр настолько сильно зацепил меня, что я просто не могла оторваться

5 Stars for White Oleander (audiobook) by Janet Fitch read by Oprah Winfrey.

This is one of the best books I’ve listened to this year. Oprah did an amazing job with the narration. She really brought this young girl’s troubles to life as she bounces from home to home on her way through the foster system. This is such a tragic story watching as she has to toughen up as one adult after another lets her down.

So, I will review this, but first I want to talk a bit about the Oprah books thing. There are these people who won't read books with the Oprah label, to the point where they admit they will like a book less for earning the Oprah seal. I've never paid much attention to Oprah, but I hate to be that elitist about it. And she's legitimately picked some good books, like The Poisonwood Bible, East of Eden (one of my favorite books by my favorite writer), Anna Karenina, and she did famously try to pick The Corrections until the author had a hissy fit. I have a few thoughts on the matter:

1.) I'm not ready to say a book is bad just because it bears the Mark of the Golden O. That's, what's the word, dumb.

2.) I am more inclined to research an Oprah book before I read it and let's face it, there are some bad ones.

3.) Oprah does tend to gravitate towards "women's fiction." I'm not saying everyone who shuns the Mark of O is sexist, but it bears considering that books about women and directed at women are ipso facto perceived to be of less literary value (yes, that means YOU Jonathan Franzen, although I still like you.)

4.) Reviewers who snark on an Oprah book on here often get trolled by a group of Oprah acolytes who are doing their mentor no favors with their behavior. Who gives a shit if someone doesn't like Oprah? Not Oprah.

Ok, reviewing times.

I probably would never have picked this up had I not caught the movie. I really liked this book. Teenaged Astrid lives with her beautiful, mercurial mother Ingrid. Ingrid had this boyfriend who she thought was beneath her, so it really burned when he unceremoniously broke up with her. So naturally she poisons him with white oleander sap. Ingrid's kind of like the flower, you see--beautiful, but she's poisonous when mixed with DMSO (I hate making obvious similes.)

As they have no other relatives, when Ingrid is arrested Astrid is thrown into the foster care system and it's kind of a nightmare. The book really got me thinking about the fate of children who don't have families. Astrid is a smart kid, but she makes some stupid choices which she pays heavily for (like getting shot, for example.) It's a good book, with an interesting topic that isn't often dealt with in fiction. I was also really invested in Astrid, despite her flaws. Ingrid was a much tougher sell.

One of the most beautiful writing styles I have come across. White Oleander is truthful. It does not hold back nor censor the events of young Astrid's life. A broken mother, a poet, an aesthete who cannot overcome her passions. A child pushed into an adult life, a man's world. Feminism, survivalism, religion. Family. A plethora of captivating themes and allusions. I felt as if I'd become Astrid herself. Janet Fitch has written a work of art.

---

Re-read this for a writing project. Still brilliant, still my favorite.

Edit--re-read March 2013

One of the best books I've ever read...still. In fact...

n  n

The writing is very descriptive, lyrical and poetic. The metaphors (and there are a lot) are spot on-perfect. I highlighted s-o-o-o many passages, and they hit me every time I re-read them.
The story itself is dark and often depressing in the examination of a young girl's relationship with her disturbed mother, and her subsequent journey through the foster care system. And though her mother is cruel, I swear she has some of the best lines (dialogue and in her letters)in the novel.
White Oleander is not fluffy and light, it's not an easy read, but it's well worth checking out when you're in the mood for an emotional journey that is told beautifully.

Unfortunately, this book was just not for me.

n  n    Here's a rundown of what exactly I struggled with whilst reading this book:n  n
1) I didn't like a single character in White Oleander. I didn't sympathize with them, I didn't root for them, I did not feel anything for any of them. Astrid felt so detached and cold to me. You were in her head for most of the book, and yet I still feel like her narrative was devoid of all emotion. Her mother was pretentious and just outright detestable. She didn't feel like a person, she felt like a caricature. Every other character in this book was temporary and incidental. Looking back on this book, I can't think of a single character that piqued my interest in any way, shape, or form.

2) This book was too long. Or at least it felt too long because when you read 446 pages of characters you couldn't care less about, it gets tedious. Astrid just gets moved from shitty foster home to shitty foster home, and...that's about it. That's the plot. Let me put it this way: my favourite books have narratives that are sinuous, plots with dimension, stories that take you through the highs and the lows of characters. White Oleander's plot was a single, unceasing line, going on and on and on with no discernible end in sight. There were no highs, there were no lows. Everything was always at the same morose level. When the entire book is just sadness and sulking and melancholy, the sadness eventually just loses its effect. Sad moments only work when you a) care about the characters and b) have some happy or at least semi-lighthearted moments to contrast them with. In this book, Astrid never got a break from the shitty situations she was put in. When anything even slightly resembling happiness came her way, it was swiftly wiped out. In short, I could not give less of a shit about Astrid and her struggles.

The only thing I liked about this book was its writing style. It was ethereal without being too flowery, and quite striking at times. Fitch knows exactly how to create the specific mood and tone she wants with her writing, which led to some very carefully calculated blows in this book.

Every book is composed of three elements: plot, characters, and writing. When two of the most integral elements, characters and plot, fall short, then there's really not much to be redeemed by the writing.