Thank you for finding this book and welcome to bookcrossing! Bookcrossing is a wonderful place to share your love of reading with people all over the world.

Please journal this book, describing where you found it, and then what you thought of it. You can remain anonymous if you want to, but if you do you won't be able to get notification each time someone else journals this book.

When you have finished please release the book and let it continue its journey. Following this books travels can be very fun.

This particular book was registered in response to The Rescue those Books Challenge 2009 set by katrinat. By the end of 2009 I aim to read and release 30 books that have been sat on my shelf ignored for at least two years.

White Oleander is a 1999 novel. It is a coming-of-age story about a child (Astrid) who is separated from her mother (Ingrid) and placed in a series of foster homes.

The novel was adapted into a major motion picture released by Warner Bros. Studios in 2002. The film, directed by English director Peter Kosminsky, co-starred actresses Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Renée Zellweger. With Patrick Fugit & Charles Constant.

When the book opens, Astrid Magnussen is a 12-year-old (in the movie Astrid is 15 years old) girl living in Los Angeles, California. She and her mother, Ingrid Magnussen, a famous artist, live a solitary life with little outside influence. Astrid's father, Klaus Anders, left before Astrid was old enough to remember him. Astrid relies solely on Ingrid and has trouble fitting in at school. However, Ingrid is self-centered, cold-hearted and eccentric. She lives by a set of her own rules and shows little interest in Astrid, sometimes seeming to forget she has a daughter at all. As a result, Astrid fears abandonment above all else.

Ingrid begins dating a man named Barry Kolker. At first, Ingrid is disgusted by his vulgarity and finds him repulsive. Barry continues to woo her and Astrid watches her mother break every self-imposed rule as she becomes more involved with him. Eventually he's revealed as a womanizer, leaving Ingrid shattered and enraged. Ingrid kills Barry and is sentenced to life in prison. She promises her daughter that she will come back, but Astrid is sent to a series of foster homes.

I am all packed, and will be heading off to Thailand in a couple of days time, taking this book with me. I have joined the 15th Set It Yourself Challenge: January to March 2011 , as the timing fits perfectly with my trip.

I began reading this book while working in Bangkok, and took it with me to finish while spending the weekend in Malaysia.

It is very well written and keeps you captivated. Astrid leads a solitary existence, where her mother is her world, then having to deal with betrayal and abandonment by her. Her predictable world is taken away and she is forced to face up to the realities of life. The innocence she once had disappears forever. Astrid survives some horrific experiences, and while she sometimes hits rock bottom, she does does to allow those experiences to envelope her; she learns from her experiences, adapts and changes over time, becoming stronger.

The story is hardhitting, much more so than the fim where they left out some of Astrids more gritty experiences, and can be a bit depressing in places. In the film she was portrayed as much more of an innocent victim that things just happened to.

I would highly recommend this read to anyone.

Left in the departures lounge.

If you were lucky enough to find this book please journal it to say where you found it, and then what you thought of it.

When you have finished please release it. Keep its journey alive!