Want to learn the ideas in White Oleander better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of White Oleander by Janet Fitch here.
Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.
Video Summaries of White Oleander
We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on White Oleander, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Janet Fitch.
1-Page Summary of White Oleander
Overall Summary
The novel White Oleander by Janet Fitch explores the coming-of-age theme in a young girl who spends time in a series of foster homes after being separated from her mother. Poet Ingrid Magnussen has been raising her daughter, Astrid, as a single parent in Los Angeles, California. She’s an attractive and free spirit like her mother. Together, they live somewhat isolated from others. Their lives take a dramatic turn when Barry Kolker becomes Ingrid’s lover. Barry gets arrested for murder because he accidentally absorbed oleander sap into his skin while handling objects that were poisoned with it to kill him by Ingrid (the author).
Ingrid is imprisoned when Astrid is fourteen. She then moves in with a recovering drug addict who also used to be a stripper and has four kids of her own, including two foster children. Her incentive for taking in more foster children stems from the fact that she was unable to take care of her own kids because of her addiction issues. By the time Astrid is 14, she’s involved in an affair with Ray (the boyfriend) while he pays less attention to Starr (the mother). This leads Starr into drinking again and during an argument about Astrid, pulls out a gun and shoots at her but misses. During this incident, Astrid gets addicted to Demerol which causes painkillers after being hospitalized for bone injuries sustained by the gunshot wound.
Astrid is placed with a couple named Ed and Marvel Turlock. They have two young children, but Astrid becomes the family’s live-in babysitter. She does form a friendship with one of her neighbors, Olivia Johnstone. Olivia is an African American woman who has money and power in the world because she uses her femininity to her benefit. She teaches Astrid about how men are powerful and women can use their sexuality as a commodity if they need to do so at some point in time. Later on, Astrid realizes that Olivia only told her this information because it was what she thought would help Astrid survive in life better than she had been doing up until that point.
Amelia Ramos is the next host for Astrid. She lives in Hollywood and has a son who’s dying of AIDS. Her foster children have to go without food, so Astrid steals food from school during lunchtime because she’s always hungry. Shortly after that, she gets placed with Claire Richards and her husband Ron instead. In their home, Astrid does well at school and takes an interest in art. She still writes letters to her mother even though Ingrid doesn’t reply anymore because she’s in jail for robbery. However, tensions escalate between Claire and Ron when Claire thinks he’s having an affair with his assistant Katie. Eventually, Claire kills herself by overdosing on pills because she can’t handle her problems anymore.
Astrid is placed in a foster home, the MacLarens. She becomes friends with another girl named Paul who had been through bad times as well. Ingrid, Astrid’s mother who was in jail for drug dealing, wants to get out and have her daughter lie about it to help her case. However, Astrid tells her mom that she won’t do it because of all the damage she has done to Astrid over the years.
By the time Astrid is twenty, she and Paul have moved to Berlin, Germany. She’s created works of art and thinks about her mother sometimes but embraces her new life with Paul in Europe.
