“We strive for beauty and balance, the sensual over the sentimental” is the motto that both Astrid and her mother Ingrid lived by in the novel White Oleander; little did they know that this would be their down fall. Ingrid who was a known writer in California had an extraordinary beauty. She had the power to make people stop and stare, in other hand Astrid tried to make herself invisible so that the world could stop and admire her mother.

Ingrid had such beauty that she never felt the need to have a companion. The climax of the novel comes in when Barry Kolker comes into the picture, he brings out the beast in the beauty. Ingrid broke her own rule of bringing men home and it resulted in rejection in Barry’s part. Janet Fitch the writer of the novel made and excellent choices on giving Ingrid such beauty but at the same time the power to vanish her lover Barry Kolker because of his denunciation. Never caring for her daughter’s wellbeing she takes drastic measures and decides to reject Barry from the world. This causes her to be in prison for life, and Astrid is place in foster homes.

The intensity of the story continues to grow as Astrid makes her way from one foster home to another. She is placed with Star an ex drug addict who lives with her lover Uncle Ray, she obligates Astrid into believing in Christianity, but Astrid finds the easy way out of falling into sin by having an affair with Uncle Ray, who is around 35 years older than her. She never had the nurture of a father so she finds that love and care in Uncle Ray. Janet turned the spotlight from Ingrid to her daughter Astrid, as she name every very feeling that she felt and the reader tags along with the same feeling.

The novel becomes one of my favorite novels because of the memorable events and characters; giving a 12 year old the power that her mother once had. She is remembered by the mortality of her action going from foster home to foster home. Astrid’s journeys through different universe make the reader think about the differences in society. Janet has the audacity to question why the need of a God at one point of the story. Her daringness makes her number one on my must read books. This novel had me at the first sentence, and it kept my attention until I sat it down. The controversy between man vs. man, and man vs. self was the icing on the cake.