White Oleander

De: Janet Fitch

Narrado por: Oprah Winfrey

The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption.

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.

Check out more selections from Oprah's Book Club.©1999 by Janet Fitch (P)16 9; 1999 Time Warner AudioBooks (Packaging Elements Only), A Division of Time Warner Trade Publishing

Reseñas de la Crítica

• An Oprah Book Club selection

"...[an] impressive first novel.... her startlingly apt language relates a story that is both intelligent and gripping." (The New York Times Book Review)

This is an abridged version of the book

White Oleander is the best poetic, magical and enthralling book I've ever read. I've owned a copy of this for about twenty or so years now, not because it was one of the novels on Oprah's Book Club but because of the movie my mother had dragged me to as a child.

The movie is based on the abridged reading here, which is fine and dandy to someone who knows only about the movie. However, there are large sections that are missing to someone who has the unabridged/complete version, and cutting these areas out were unexpected for me. I didn't enjoy it any less but I do have to dock this one star for incompleteness.

Enjoyed listening - but not a favorite

The story was interesting and has the classic love/hate partental relationship. The abridgement made the story a bit scattered but I liked it. Characters are realistic, no super human fiction here.

one of my all time favs!

Janet Fitch captures and describes like no other author! Astrid and Ingrid are a mother/daughter duo that will pull at your heart strings!!

Captivating

every year I read this book. I dimply love it!!
A story of loss and the twisted versions of love some people have.

Excellent!

Love the book.Love the movie.Now? I love the recording.Well done and the reader keeps it alive!

Missing parts of the story

I’ve loved this book for years. Read it many times. I didn’t realize it was the “abridged” version. What’s the point of cutting out a large section of the book? Not impressed

Chapters are missing

I read this book when it originally came out. The Audible version is missing entire chapters!!

Beautifully written, wonderful performance!

I read this book some years ago when it first came out, then read it again. It is poetically written and a complex and interesting storey about a daughter's relationship with her insane and controlling mother. I feel I know these characters. I was born in LA and lived West Hollywood until I was twelve...the author is right on target. Oprah's reading of this book is absolutely the best. Her beautiful voice and the way she rounds out the words make this experience like a 6 hour poetry reading. I have hundreds of audible books in my library and this is now in my top 3 favs. Rum Diarys read by Campbell Scott and Raveling read by Eric Stoltz are the other two.

Glad I read it.

I had seen the movie several years ago and decided to read the book. Excellent story.

I was disappointed.

I had picked up this book because someone had said that it was twisted. And disturbing oh, there were parts that were disturbing but I have read much more disturbing and twisted books than this it was believable, but I felt like I was left wanting so much more from this story.