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Jan 15, 2008

Sara rated it:

I don't care how un-rock n' roll it is to like something Oprah endorsed, White Oleander is one of my favorite books of all time. since I first read it several years ago I'd been waiting and waiting for Janet Fitch to come out with another novel. the concept for Paint It Black excited me, but in the end I wish it was way better.

Fitch clearly saw what worked for her with White Oleander and chose to repeat it. Los Angeles is a character in itself in her novels, and her lyrical, descr More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

John rated it:

Many students of great literature will never touch Paint It Black, largely due to the lazy assumption that the work of any author singled out by Oprah’s Book Club best belongs in the hands of mawkish stay-at-home mothers. Fitch’s second novel is not sentimental. An artist’s suicide marks the start of the narrative, and it is refreshing how skillfully Fitch handles the tragedy. It is never treated romantically as so much art obfuscates the plain fact that death is a cold period, not an excl More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jean rated it:

I really just wanted to throw this book against the wall, repeatedly, or rip the pages out and shred them. Is that harsh? I loved White Oleander and pre-ordered this book, which was horribly edited. Or maybe NOT edited. Also, the character evoked no sympathy, whatsoever, which is what your investment in this novel hinged upon. I kept waiting for *something* to happen. Hey, I like a spacious, low action read; I get that technique. This was not about technique. The characters do not change, nothin More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Nov 25, 2007

Toni rated it:

At times the writing was lyrical. Fitch showed every aspect I admire in an author, but then it just all went to hell. Josie is worse than an ordinary narrator, she is the very definition of counter-culture. Cheap references to punk rock and substances will get you nowhere, when it comes to keeping the attention of a readers. I hate it when authors mention things casually to try and make themselves and the character seem cold, or in some way used to the ways of the world. The use of the word " More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2010

Khaya rated it:

I give up. I can't finish this book. I struggled for 175 pages, but I just can't do it any more. I expected much more from the author of "White Oleander," especially with reviewers calling it a "page-turner" (Elle Magazine, did we read the same book?) and positive quotes from The Atlantic Monthly, of all things. This reminded me of "Intuition" but much worse, in the sense that the sporadic dialogue and action are interspersed with lengthy descriptive paragraphs More...

9 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Amy rated it:

I guess that, in light of so many boo's and hissses, I must somehow make an apology for my 5 stars. I don't care about the story. Janet Fitch could write the evening news and I would read it. Maybe the story fell somewhat flat, maybe Josie was a little predictable, but most stories are this way & as I said before, I could care less. The use of language is so very poignant. I would read a paragraph, a chapter if I could, and stop...letting the words saturate, find their mark and, time and ag More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Emily rated it:

After "White Oleander" I fear I expected too much. This book is excellent- well written, interesting, wonderfully structured and well timed- but it reads more like a first novel than "White Oleander" did. The story of a a young art model and indie actress (think Edie Sedgwick minus The Factory and the big budget from home...and minus Andy, too) who loses her lover in a moment of tragedy, "Paint It Black" is elegant and raw, just like Fitch's debut, but it doesn't More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kim rated it:

This book is incredibly powerful...but also incredibly painful to read. It follows the story of Josie Tyrell, a young woman growing up in the late 70s/early 80s and a punk model who falls in love with the intelligent, brooding (you know the type) Michael Faraday, who ends up committing suicide. The book details Josie's process of grief, and how it interacts with Meredith's, Michael's mother's process as well. The detail is incredible and takes you through everything; love, the shame and darkne More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2009

Jac rated it:

I am somewhere between 'abosultely hated it' and 'liked parts of it'. Of the many characters in this book, the already dead boyfriend and his mother are the only strong characters although they are still slightly cartoonish.
The things that made this book awful are the the constant similies - Fitch couldn't describe anything without comparing it to something else. It distracted me from the story and actually made me angry. Also, I felt the language used to show how Josie was low-class and More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Mar 10, 2008

Kristine rated it:

uggh. i loved janet fitch's WHITE OLEANDER, and now i am doubting whether my memory actually serves me right. this book is so poorly-written: 400 pages of little more than melodrama, unrealistic scenes, lame dialogue, and unresolved problems. and the sentences themselves infuriate me. here is an example of what i think fitch meant to be a powerful ending to chapter 20, to demonstrate how the main character misses her dead boyfriend:

"She lay on the couch for the rest of the m More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2008

Katelyn rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2009

Tracie rated it:

I hated this book. It was such a huge disappointment. I loved White Oleander and this book was such a far car from White Oleander. The main reason I didn't like it was due to the main character, Josie. She wasn't likable, she wasn't all that interesting and if she gets interesting...I wouldn't know because half way through the book, I quit. If you can't get to the point by the half-point, then I'm abandoning ship. Extremely disappointing novel.

Another thing, I couldn't figure More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2007

David Jay rated it:

This book was such a huge disappointment to me. I adored "White Oleander" and was thrilled when Fitch wrote a second novel. It has similiar themes (teen girl in Los Angeles, major life changes after a murder/suicide at the beginning of the book, intense, mentally ill mother who is beautiful, powerful, famous) but "White Oleander" was so beautifully written and really transfixing. This book was just boring. I had trouble believing that it was written by the same person. T More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2007

liz rated it:

Not much of any developement in this story. Its about a punk chick whose artist boyfriend commits suicide. It was sad and depressing and never got better or worse. I was expecting so much more from this book but I felt like I just read the same thing over and over again. It was long and could have been summed up in about a quarter of its length. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen between the boyfriend's mother and the girl, but I got nothing. Both the mother and the girlfri More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 22, 2007

Jeni rated it:

This book was recommended by my room mate, and she has very good taste, however this one I would not suggest to anyone.
The story does have its high points, Meredith's character is fantastically drawn out, and Michael's demise told through interactions with the women in his life is very engaging. However, Josie the protagonist, is a predictable 20 year old outcast. Put into an atypical situation she and handles it exactly how a "wounded" teen would. She washes down pills with a l More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Kate rated it:

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5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 22, 2007

Chelsea rated it:

HORRIBLE---- =(
Don't waste your time!!!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2009

Kellie rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 20, 2008

Rosie rated it:

I finally finished Paint It Black by Janet Fitch. I feel like it took me FOREVER to finish reading this because it was such a snoozer. I really liked her first novel, White Oleander, so when I saw this book on the bargain table at Barnes & Noble I thought I would like it just as much. Nope. My final verdict is slow moving and just ok. At the beginning of the story, Josie Tyrell (the main character), needs to go ID the body of her boyfriend, Micheal, after he kills himself. The story goes o More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2008

Ciara rated it:

this book seriously, seriously depressed me. the protaganist is a cool, sub-cultural, punk girl who lives in the canyons in los angeles. i think she is also a model. she has a cool, mysterious, sweet, moody painter boyfriend who comes from an incredibly wealthy family full of musical geniuses. one day the boyfriend says he has to house-sit at his mom's place because she's off to europe to do a few piano concerts. but he actually drives to a motel in the desert & kills himself. the girl's punk fr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2009

Sandy rated it:

Having really enjoyed White Oleander, I had high hopes for Paint it Black. I was disappointed. It's not that it is a bad book, I liked it well enough, but it's very drawn out and slow. A lot of Josie's thoughts were redundant and I really felt like a lot of what was written was padding that could have been taken out.

There was just too much that didn't affect the storyline that, if it was removed, would have made the book far more readable. I found that certain sections would ha More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2008

Deanna rated it:

I tried and I tired but I just could not continue to read this book. I'm not sure what the problem was. I did catch a nasty virus after starting this book, and had to take a few days off from reading it due to the fact that I could barely sit up for more than 5 minutes at a time, let alone keep my eyes open long enough to read a page! So maybe that had something to do with it? I don't know.

I do know that I became very bored with the boo-hooing over the lost boyfriend. I was nearl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2008

Bonnie rated it:

At times, especially at the beginning of the book, the simile-heavy writing is surprisingly clunky ("... the hills and shacks of Echo Park tumbled toward Sunset Boulevard like a child's bedspread scattered with toys"). Fitch's editor was out to lunch. But I was drawn into the book anyway, and, I'll admit it, I cried at the end. I liked the contrasting portraits of two Los Angeles enclaves, the bungalow-shacks of Echo Park (where I live) and the genteel manses of Los Feliz. I liked that More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2008

Kelly rated it:

I was nervous reading Paint it Black because I didn't want to be let down, as Fitch's previous novel, White Oleander, remains one of my favorite books. Although I don't think Paint it Black is as good as White Oleander, I definitely wasn't let down.

The book is a dual portrait of a young couple in LA in the early 1980s, where Josie is the narrator and Michael has just committed suicide. Josie tells her story while she reminisces about him. Of course she struggles with his death and tri More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 23, 2007

amanda rated it:

I think my first mistake with this book was that I had incredibly high hopes for it. Of course I would, though. Seeing as how Fitch's previous book, White Oleander is one of my favorites. It took Fitch seven years to release Paint it Black, and I almost feel like she should have kept this book to herself.

Josie Tyrell loses her boyfriend, Michael, to suicide within the first ten pages of the book. Obviously not to best note to start off on, but I was still optimistic. I just felt that More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 03, 2007

Aaron rated it:

ahhh, where to start with this one. It's long, first off. Josie is tormented by the suicide of her boyfriend, but to my dismay it turned out they weren't that happy to begin with. Sure, they lived together, but his sudden death consumes his aspiring actress girlfriend and becomes the focus of her life (and the novel). We don't really get to know the boyfriend, and are left with mysterious bits and pieces of his life as pieced together by Josie as she struggles with grief and tries to get to know More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 05, 2007

Louise rated it:

I'm surprised that so many people hated this book. True, it took me AGES to get into it, and at first it does seem quite slow and I was a bit disappointed, but then I read it all in one go (literally - I read it around xmas and I had to do a lot of travelling), and I ended up by actually liking it. Not loving it, but I didn't hate it. I thought the characters were interesting. Well, not the main one, really, and I thought Michael was bit of a pissant - but Meredith was a pretty good character. I More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2007

Bethany rated it:

Because of my love for White Oleander I automatically went for this title. It is a much grittier story than Oleander, but equally powerful.

It follows the life of the main character, Josie, who is a struggling to make a life as an actress in LA. Hailing from the trailer parks of Bakersfield, CA, Josie never really received much support to make something of herself, so when she became the object of affection of the rich, spoiled Michael Faraday - son of a renowned concert pianist and More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2008

Lauren rated it:

I was disappointed by this book at first, probably because I made the mistake of comparing it to White Oleander, which I don't think anybody should do. The book took me forever to get through because I was getting so bored. Josie annoyed me throughout most of the book, especially in the beginning. I kept reading it, however, and it did get more interesting in some parts, but then it would go back to being so dull for such a long time. I felt like I was reading the same things over and over. I th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2008

Andrea rated it:

I give this book 2.5 stars. To be honest, if it wasn't a book club pick I may not have finished it. I just found it too slow with little action. There was a lot of descriptive text, which after a while just got a little old. I wonder if that was the author's intent. The premise of the book was about a girl whose boyfriend commited suicide, and her struggle with that. Perhaps the author was trying to portray that sense of frustration and unease with the way she wrote it. In that way, I wou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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