Review: White Oleander by Janet Fitch

And we're finally to the Final 10 Books!  I'm starting to despair of finishing, with only 24 days left to the end of the year and still 10 (or 9.5) books to go.  But I'm getting there.  And at least if I fail, I won't fail miserably.  Book #90 for the year is Janet Fitch's White Oleander.

Twelve-year-old Astrid has lived her entire life in the shadow of her mother, the beautiful, talented, and mysterious poet Ingrid Magnussen.  She lives in a sheltered world where her mother rules with an iron fist, raising Astrid according to her own rules and standards.  But when Ingrid is found guilty of a terrible crime and imprisoned for life, Astrid is swept away into the California foster care system, moving from one home and family to another, each with its own fear and pain, joy and tragedy.  As the years pass, Astrid struggles to find her true identity, understand who she is and what she believes in, as the voices of her foster parents and her mother, who writes her from prison, resonate in her head.

This is a book I did not fully appreciate the first time I read it, during the summer of 2002.  It requires second, third, maybe even fourth reads (I've probably gone through it a dozen times), to really sort through the nuances and symbolism.  Fitch's writing is awash with similes (which critics on Goodreads seem to intermittently love and hate), and while this makes complete sense in the letters written by Ingrid, the poetess, it makes less sense when it comes from Astrid, who claims she has zero writing ability (her talent is in art).  It is beautifully done, but it comes across as a bit heavy-handed at times.

Years ago, my best friend said that the film American Beauty, while very well-written and gorgeously filmed, is completely unbelievable, because "families have some of those problems, but not all of them."  White Oleander is the same way.  Thrown unceremoniously into the foster care system at age 12, Astrid runs the whole gamut of extreme situations, from starvation to physical abuse to statutory rape to racism to suicidal depression to theft, and that's just the beginning.  While the foster care system is bleak, it is highly improbable that Astrid would be forced to suffer so much from so many different foster families.

Nevertheless, I do enjoy this book, and the writing style, for all its unbelievability.  

Rating: ****