Unforgettable Story of Mothers and Daughters

Dear Babyboomers
Just finished "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch. The reviews were polarised - despite the relentless difficulties encountered, I found it to be a good read and will be looking out for other books by the same author - "A Room of One's Own, "Black Warrior Review", and "Rain City Riview".

FROM - the story of the incredibly complex relationship between a self-absorbed "free spirit" and the daughter who wants nothing more than to be loved unconditionally as a child should be. When Ingrid is jailed for murder, so starts the long and rocky journey of Astrid as she moves from foster home to foster home."

AND - "An unforgettable story of mothers and daughters, burgeoning sexuality, the redemptive powers of art, and the unstoppable force of the emergent self.

TO - "Astrid must learn how to survive in this new environment, according to the laws set in each home. During this time, she latches on to the few people who bother to care about her, but with each heartbreak and each physical trauma, Astrid learns to become more and more independent. Her mother keeps a constant presence throughout the novel, as Ingrid’s frequent letters continue to work at shaping her daughter.

Through all this, Astrid attempts to figure out who she is and where she came from. Actually, she learns a lesson or two in each of the many foster homes she lives in. No need to worry if the lessons are a bit elusive: Fitch spells them out in the end of the novel in her neat and ultimately dissatisfying conclusion. The problem is that Fitch attempts to pen an ending that will please all, while seemingly ignoring the theme of survival in a cruel world that was prevalent in the rest of the novel."

I always feel a sense of loss when I finish a book which engages me, as though a friend has walked out of my life, but the good part is that now I can now immerse myself in the almost unbearably suspenseful "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova'.
Click link  for film review.www.youtube.com/watch?v=An6T_66uHLI
Clara
ps - be careful of those Oleanders!