Love, hate, truth, deception, manipulation, self discovery and murder. Janet Fitch covered all of this and more. White Oleander is an epic tale about a young girl, Astrid, who was ripped away from her mother, Ingrid, at a very young age and forced onto the path of self discovery all by herself. White Oleander has made it into "Oprah's Book Club" and has had a major motion picture created based on the novel. White Oleander received and rightfully deserves a high literary status solely based on Astrid's characterization character development and the ingenious incorporation and selection of impacting characters throughout the novel that ultimately shape who Astrid becomes.
             The two main characters in the story are the protagonist heroin, Astrid, and the antagonist, her mother Ingrid. Astrid is more so the main character, although Ingrid remains crucial until the very last page. It's clear to anyone who reads this novel that Fitch put an obvious emphasis on these two characters and their developments throughout the story, and left the other characters that come into play somewhat less significant and vague at times. Fitch created Astrid's character exceptionally well, as she was like a story herself, with a beginning, development and an end, while Ingrid was more so the same character throughout, with occasional minor developments.
             In the first 3 chapters of the novel, we're introduced to Astrid, as a young, naive and somewhat distant little girl that idolizes her mother, Ingrid. Ingrid is a crazy, yet passionate poet that lives her life from day to day without a worry in the world, or a real thought to her daughter. Fitch created Ingrid to be a woman with icy blues eyes that could have any man she wanted, who abused her beauty incessantly by using men in the night. Ingrid's golden rule had always been; never let a man spend the night. At this point, Astrid has no life, except f...