Books Briefly Noted

White Oleander by Janet Finch is a novel about a sickly intimate relationship between a mother and a daughter. Ingrid, a single mother, was a beautiful, poet and wanted an artist lifestyle for herself and her daughter, Astrid. Ingrid's eccentric personality and life rules caused them to live isolated from the rest of society. Suprising Astrid, Ingrid fell in love with a man, Barry, breaking all of her own rules. Barry did not love Ingrid, he was the first man to ever reject her and this made Ingrid snap. She poisioned barry with White Oleander sap leaving her dependent daughter alone with no warning. Astrid is constantly moved from one sick foster home to another. with each move Astrid cchanges herself to fit the new lifestyle of the homes. Each visit with her imprisoned mother, Ingrid poisoned daughter with her words by telling Astrid that she is forgetting who she really is and is becoming someone she is not. Ingrid wanted Astrid to become her. In the final confrontation between Astrid and her mother, Ingrid finally surrenders and lets her daughter go in a way that finally frees Astrid forever.