Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Sandra F.

I read this book when I was sick and I could not put it down. Astrid Magnussen is a teen whose mother, Ingrid, kills her boyfriend by poison from the white oleander flower. Ingrid goes to prison and Astrid get passed around from one foster home to the next.

Ingrid is sure the mother from hell - everything is about her and she is not the least bit concerned about Astrid.

The part of the book I liked the best was when Astrid lived with Rena and spent her time making art from junk and selling it a flea markets. So much of the book was really bleak - like the descriptions of the homes she lived in surrounded by concrete, garbage and wrecked cars.

A movie was made from the book, but the book was a lot better.