White Oleander

By: Janet Fitch

Narrated by: Oprah Winfrey

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

• 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)

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.

Not listen to our reviews LISTEN FOR YOURSELF

This book was a good listen despite the few bad reviews telling me not to buy it. I recommend

Oprah Winfrey magnificent read

What did you love best about White Oleander?

The story was fabulous but Oprah reading it added so much to it for me, sometimes I didn't even recognize her voice, I loved it so much. Great, great read.

What other book might you compare White Oleander to and why?

no comparison

What does Oprah Winfrey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her own take on the characters, bringing them to life. It was truely fabulous

If you could take any character from White Oleander out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I'll come back to this one. It wouldn't be so much any of the characters but Oprah and then to talk about the book and the parts we liked/disliked etc.

Any additional comments?

I have yet to have a bad read from any of the audible books regardless of author or reader.

A favorite

I have always adored this book. At first I was not crazy about Oprah reading it, but ultimately she did a great job.

My fav book

White oleander (Janet fitch in general) has always been my favorite. I was so pleasantly surprised at Oprah’s performance! She was absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to listen to another book performed by her!!!

Not the Right Audio Voice for this Story

I would have appreciated a note in the description that this is an abridged version - was disappointed when I got a few chapters in and realized that huge chunks of the story were being skipped. The story would also have been better served with a different narrator. Oprah's deep voice, while nice in itself, was not a great fit for a teenage Astrid.

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.