Reviews tagging 'Death'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

19 reviews

nclausel25's review

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion

octobah's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, and Murder

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A beautifully heartbreaking story. The writing was just exquisite, i could easily picture every scene and character with how poetically they were written. I really enjoyed this and can’t wait to watch the movie and compare them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

quinn24's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Told from the POV of Astrid Magnussen, daughter of a manipulative poet who is imprisoned early in the story for the murder of an ex-lover. The story follows Astrid through her various foster homes for the next 6 years as she grows and tries to escape her mother’s grip. 
This book was written in such a beautiful way there were so so many quotes I underlined. There wasn’t really anything that I could  personally relate to but it almost felt like I understood at times. There were moments where it was kinda boring but that’s almost always how it is when a book follows someone’s life. The N-slur is used a couple times and while every time it is used it’s clear that it’s not a good thing to call someone (it’s used by a terrible, racist character) it’s obviously still not great for a white women to be writing it. Overall though it was really a fascinating meditation on a very complex mother-daughter relationship

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Antisemitism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism

dizzzybrook's review

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think this is one of my absolute favorite books I have ever read. I found both Astrid's character and her complicated relationship with her mother deeply relatable. I really enjoy this style of writing even though it understandably may come off as pretentious or overdramatic to some. My only gripe is that I personally found the ending to be a little lackluster, but that's genuinely just a personal preference. This will definitely be a book I reread in the future as there is so much to dissect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

coleanne's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, and Racism

amelody's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Murder

sizzlesteaks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying

softghoul_jpeg's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this novel was an introduction into the style of writing i wanted my work to be like. this book changed so many things for me. and i will forever love it after every read. the writing is superb. the characters are so complex, storyline intriguing. you get such a raw look into how the foster care system can chew and spit it's kids out, and how obsession can be the death of you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Abandonment

jmschnepp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

White Oleander was a difficult book to get through. I'm so glad that I chose to listen to it as an audiobook. I borrowed it from a library and it took the entire two weeks to finish it.

White Oleander is the story of Ingrid Magnussen and her daughter, Astrid. The story is told from Astrid's perspective and extends from about her 12th birthday until she turns 20. 

Ingrid is approached repeatedly by a man named Barry. Originally, Ingrid is dismissive of Barry and Astrid is awed by her mother's strength ignore him. Then her mother give in and begins a relationship with Barry, which ends when he starts dating a younger woman.

Ingrid allows hatred to grow within her leading her to poison Barry. She goes to jail, and Astrid goes into the foster care system. The story follows her placements until she ages out of the system. The main focus on the book is Astrid's relationship with her mother and becoming an adult on her own terms without her mother's influence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, and Domestic abuse