Our book for April was White Oleander by Janet Fitch. This story had a great degree of sadness and manipulation around it. It is the story of a mother and daughter and the complexity of this relationship. A movie has been made and this information on the movie is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Oleander_(film)
The narrator, Astrid Magnussen (Alison Lohman), is the fifteen-year-old daughter of a free-spirited artist, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer). Her father having left before she was old enough to remember him, Astrid depends heavily upon the maternal care of her passionate, but largely self-centered mother. Ingrid's current relationship, with a vulgar man named Barry (Billy Connolly), comes to an end when he is discovered to be a womanizer, and her emotional response leads her to murder him using poison (white oleander). Ingrid is arrested and sentenced to life in prison, leaving Astrid without parents and in need of foster care.
Astrid is sent to live with foster mother Starr Thomas (Robin Wright Penn), a former stripper and recovering addict. The unhealthy environment leads Starr to suspect that Astrid is having an affair with her live-in boyfriend, and she turns violent towards the girl. Astrid is then given into the care of former actress Claire Richards (Renée Zellweger), a sweet and affectionate woman who initially provides stability for Astrid. Upon accompanying Astrid to see her mother in prison, however, Claire's weaknesses are seized upon by the jealous Ingrid, and she ultimately commits suicide, suspecting that her husband is having an affair. Astrid then chooses to live with a Russian immigrant, Rena (Svetlana Efremova), who treats her foster children as cheap labourers.
As Ingrid's appeal for release approaches, she tries to bribe Astrid to testify that she did not murder Barry. In a newfound position of power, Astrid demands answers from her mother as to their past, leading to the revelation that Ingrid left Astrid with a babysitter for over a year when she was younger, a move that clearly gave rise to feelings of abandonment in Astrid's childhood. Eventually, having reluctantly agreed to testify, Astrid learns from her mother's lawyer that the appeal has been denied, because Ingrid refused to let Astrid's testimony be heard, a final act of love from a difficult but ultimately loving mother. Astrid forges a new adult life in New York with Paul: another young man she met while in foster care. (Patrick Fugit).
This book has been on Oprah Winfrey's book club also.
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