Book-Turned-Movie: White Oleander

**IGotsMeOne** · 09-20-2002, 07:22 AM

Hi all, I'm new to this forum.

Nonetheless, I wanted to know if anyone here has read the novel by Janet Fitch, White Oleander? I've read about half of it a quite a while ago and never got around to finishing it due to irritating circumstances, but now I'll need to finish it ASAP. This book has been turned into a movie and will be opening the 11th of Oct.!

Personally, I'm just thrilled to see that Michelle Pfeiffer is playing the role of Ingrid! Leave it to me to take a liking to dark, tragic characters, lol. Anyway, I read in this interview with Janet Fitch (back in '99), that the initial story shaped around Ingrid was a black comedy. (Isn't that befitting?) But it wasn't until people came to truly loathe her character (Ingrid) that Janet included the daughter, Astrid, in the storyline; thus "...the tone changed, and the perspective changed, and I got something very different, which was much better." That speaks volumes about Ingrid's personality, does it not? Think about it though, who else can pull off the verisimiltude of being glamourous and mentally unstable other than Michelle?

**bamamomto4** · 09-20-2002, 09:03 AM

I haven't read the book,but I'll watch the movie

**AmyBoz** · 09-22-2002, 09:36 AM

I thought this was one of the worst books I have ever read. It was one that I finished because I felt like I had to because I had already made a time investment into it. I will NOT be seeing the movie.

**IGotsMeOne** · 09-24-2002, 06:07 PM

What was so appalling about the novel?

**blueknitter** · 09-24-2002, 07:04 PM

Other than it was an Oprah book, what was wrong with the book?

I gave O 3 chances to pick books for me, two were horrid, one was tolerable but still left me unsettled. Could someone give a short synopsis of the story, please?

**heaven** · 09-24-2002, 08:37 PM

i don't like books turned movies i read so much that when the movie comes out i have read the book and the movie ALWAYS sucks. the one exception is Message in a bottle and proabably because it was taped where we use to fish on the beach. anyway i probably will not read the book or see the movie. Oprah's book club was good when it came out but now i don't even follow it. Since Deep end of the ocean i hated that book and that was defantly one that the movie was better even if it was a bad movie.

**IGotsMeOne** · 09-25-2002, 05:38 PM

Hey, I can understand that. I usually dislike/loathe Oprah's picks approximately 97% of the time anyway. Hell, I refuse to pay heed to the majority of the movies and lit she raves about ad nauseum--for just THAT reason. But I checked out "Slingblade" years later after the Oprah ep only because the movie rental was free, and as it turned out, I was a bit surprised that I liked it. Nonetheless, I'm deviating from the point...

You say that books turned movies "ALWAYS suck"? I, personally, don't believe in using absolutes unless I can BE absolutely sure that it encapsulates everything (glaring or minute). What about recent book turned movies like A.S. Byatt's "Possession"? I thought that the movie was incredible (9.0/10.0) considering the fact that Neil LaBute directed it! What about Tolkien's "Lord of the Ring: FotR"?! Going further back... what about Jane Austen's "Emma" (again with Gwyneth Paltrow)? Austen's 5-hour BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice"? Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth"? Bret Easton Ellis's "American Psycho"? Michael Chabon’s “Wonder Boys”? "High Fidelity"? Should I go on?

Understandably, there will always been the "Hannibal"s, "Minority Report"s, and cloying/inane pieces o' [your choice of scatological wording here] that are out there. But you can't discount all of them just because you were exposed to unappealing things in the past… I like to give things a chance even if I’m somewhat jaded--a paradoxically jaded at that.

**IGotsMeOne** · 09-25-2002, 05:43 PM

Book/Movie Synopsis:

'White Oleander' chronicles the life of Astrid, a young teenager who journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion. Set adrift in the world, Astrid struggles to become her own person while coming to terms with the challenges of living life on her own."

**heaven** · 09-25-2002, 05:50 PM

i have to revise my earlier post i saw the preview for that last night it does look good and now our local theater just reopened (that is exciting by it self) at 4$ per person i might have to go see that. and i was thinking of flowers in the attic, a beautiful mind, there are so many harry potter, reading the book alway is so much better. they go more indepth i beleive than a movie can or does. JMHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**sixfreds** · 09-25-2002, 07:40 PM

I read the book and will rent the movie when it comes to video.. I think that the book is always better but I will usually watch the movie too...

Eileen

**IGotsMeOne** · 09-27-2002, 04:03 PM

Hrm, take the movie "Great Expectations" with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, and Robert Deniro... I don't know about you, but I love that movie and will take it over the original Dickens's novel ANYDAY.

**AmyBoz** · 09-27-2002, 08:53 PM

Okay, after saying what I said about the book, WHICH I STILL STAND BY, I have to say that I saw the commercial for the movie and it looked kinda good! Dillemma!