false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168415013m/33144.jpg 33144 17 Following the huge success of <i>White Oleander</i>, where Janet Fitch portrayed the coming-of-age of Astrid, a young girl placed in foster care after her mother murders a former lover and goes to prison for life, she has once again created an indelible portrait of a young woman in <i>Paint it Black.</i> Josie Tyrell is a teenage runaway, an artist's model, and an habitué of the '80s LA punk rock scene. She is a white trash escapee from Bakersfield, having left a going nowhere life there. Now, sex, drugs and rock n' roll inform her days and nights. <i>Paint it Black</i> is the perfect title choice because Josie's lover is never coming back, as the song says. <p> Josie meets Michael Faraday, son of concert pianist Meredith Loewy and writer Calvin Faraday, long divorced. He is everything that she is not: refined, wealthy, well-traveled, brilliant by fits and starts. He is also a Harvard dropout, leaving school so he can paint; his new obsession. He refuses help from his mother, who is furious about his decision to leave school, but it doesn't bother him to have Josie working three jobs to support them. He is given to black moods, frozen in amber by his perfectionism, contemptuous of those who do not agree with him about art and life. Josie adores him. One day much like any other, he leaves their house, saying that he is going to his mother's so that he can paint in solitude. Instead, he goes to a motel in 29 Palms and shoots himself in the head. <p> What follows is days of watching Josie in a near fugue state from grief, drugs, booze, and going over and over her love for Michael, trying to grasp how he could do what he did. After all, didn't they share the "true world," Michael's characterization of their cocoon of love and exclusivity? <p> Meredith calls her and says, "Why are you alive? What is the excuse for Josie Tyrell? I ask you." Ultimately, they form a tenuous relationship, because all that is left of Michael lives in the two women. Josie even lives with Meredith for a while. When Meredith is ready to go on tour again, she asks Josie to go to Europe with her. Before she can do that, she must go to 29 Palms and try to understand, finally, why Michael's depression pushed him over the edge. That puzzle is not solved, nor can it be, but the end of the story is a hopeful, upbeat, new beginning. Janet Fitch has beaten the curse of the sophomore slump with this dynamite second novel. <I>--Valerie Ryan</I> 1881683 18 9 2006 Paint It Black total:2295|5:371|4:619|3:685|2:408|1:212| 2295 7414 3390 511 3 8 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jan 14 10:59:56 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 15 10:40:57 -0800 2008 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 th...more...]]> 2 6 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 08 13:20:10 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 25 20:48:36 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 6 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Jun 08 21:02:11 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 08 21:05:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 7 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jun 05 08:49:46 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 07:09:28 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 12 14:19:11 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 19 10:53:31 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 3 false false Wed Dec 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Sep 22 17:38:09 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 03 10:52:10 -0800 2009 The things that made this book awful are the the constant similies - ...more...]]> 1 3 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 09:37:31 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 10 20:32:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 3 true true Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 26 08:57:16 -0800 2007 Sat Jan 12 22:29:10 -0800 2008
First, let me start by saying that I got this book for Chr...more...]]> 1 3 false false Sun Jun 10 22:45:36 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 11 21:14:14 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 3 false false Tue Jul 03 22:46:19 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 03 22:51:46 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Sep 22 07:39:33 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 03 09:24:15 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 3 false false Tue Sep 11 12:26:31 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 19 07:17:35 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 12:26:19 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 18 06:07:32 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 09 05:50:39 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 19:33:01 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 19:44:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue May 22 11:21:31 -0700 2007 Tue May 22 11:47:39 -0700 2007 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 engagi...more...]]> 3 3 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 19 08:43:22 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 09:16:09 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 false true Wed Mar 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 11:45:26 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 06:33:05 -0800 2009 once is enough White Oleander. I've read it 3 or 4 times. I couldn't wait for Fitch's next book. Yes, I know. Authors aren't supposed to write the "same" book over and over again, just like bands aren't supposed to write the same album again and again. But I wasn't aski...more...]]> 1 2 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Aug 22 20:14:33 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 20:15:03 -0700 2007 Don't waste your time!!!]]> 2 1 false true Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 05:03:32 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 10:22:20 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Sep 20 14:53:39 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 09:35:13 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 14:53:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=33144