Paint it Black

I adore Janet Fitch and her writing style, but had mixed feelings while reading this book. I would give it a 4.5, but think Fitch's talent warrants rounding up. I don't generally subscribe to trigger warnings, but I will say that this book has the capacity to drag you down into places you might not want to go.The story revolves around Josie, a young woman who's dealing with the death of her boyfriend Michael. Josie comes from a troubled background and had never felt loved or valuable until she met Michael who she sees as having been perfect. He was highly educated, intelligent, cultured, a talented artist, and from a wealthy family - everything she feels she isn't. His death spirals her into a morass of depression, self-doubt, and questions about whether he had ever really loved her.Josie is a punk-rock girl in 1980's LA. She's filled with self-loathing, anger, and defiance even before her boyfriend's death. Despite being a 3rd person narrative, we spend the entire book inside her head, experiencing her depression, feeling her insecurities. If you've ever been depressed or dealt with a depressive, this book will probably make you see how tedious and exhausting the illness can be. Josie can be annoying and her self-flagellation becomes a bit tiresome at times (as it does for the one who suffers from it). On this point I am conflicted as to whether I should applaud Fitch for captivating the experience so well or to criticize the book for being unenjoyable in this regard. I didn't enjoy Josie's journey, but at the same time, I shouldn't given the circumstances.Where I did find more enjoyment is with the relationship between Josie and Michael's mother Meredith. Fitch writes strong, unlikable female antagonists quite well and she shines at cultivating combative mother-daughter type relationships. Meredith is Josie's challenge and catalyst for change.Fitch writes character driven narratives and in this regard she succeeded. Josie is a three-dimensional character with many warts who changes throughout the novel. What I struggle with is whether or not I liked Josie enough as a character to hold my interest. I certainly found myself more sympathetic to her as the book went on, but I struggled at the beginning to stay focused and feel for her despite her predicament. Perhaps this was my mood and personal preferences, but I did not connect with her easily. As I came to understand her background I found myself more invested in her, but it was tough getting there.One thing that has been noted by other reviewers that I will concur with is that I didn't find the metaphors in this novel to be as compelling as White Oleander. The imagery was more beautiful in that book and much more mundane and ugly in this one. In a way, that makes more sense for the character of Josie and what she was going through. She's in a dark place and to borrow a cliche, everything she's experiences tastes like ash. I kept thinking about the Southpark episode where Stan sees and hears everything as excrement. That is Josie's entire being throughout this novel and that can be very weighing on the reader yet also incredibly honest for the character.I will read anything Fitch writes because I enjoy her prose, but I'm uncertain I would want to read this book again. It's very emotionally taxing, made me feel icky, and there was less payoff for me overall. However, I'm still glad I read it and there are things I really like about it. I would still recommend it to people who don't mind being dragged into dark places, but it's understandable that some people will not want to be taken on that particular ride.

Paint it Black was a much-anticipated book after my love affair with White Oleander. I still believe in Janet Fitch's ability to weave a tale that is mesmerizing and her endings are perhaps, in my mind, her greatest strength. Although I was at least a 1/3 of the way through the novel before it really captured my soul; when it finally took root, I was a captive until the end.There was a lot in this book including the language, the sexual escapades, the drugs and the squalor of the lifestyles that did not immediately appeal to me. There were even times I felt some of the language or sexual descriptions went over the top. But, on reflection, that's what this entire novel does. It goes over the top and allows us, the reader, to peer into the dark underbelly of a lifestyle we may never otherwise encounter or wish to encounter. It's dysfunctional characters ring with authenticity, the abrasive language is all too real, and the plot goes down like poison.Again, Fitch has managed to construct a startlingly original tale with fresh characters that crackle with their own dysfunctions and humanity. Fitch has a very good handle on writing about young women and the mother figures in their lives, as well as the love interests who permeate her stories. This novel again touches on the unequal power struggle between two women. Meredith is older. rich and famous, while Josie is young and barely making it in the squalor of the punked-out underbelly of the 80s of LA. Both are in love with one man--Meredith's son Michael; both feel they alone know him, yet ultimately neither of them can save nor possess him. The more Josie learns about Michael after his death, the more she feels betrayed and confused. But instead of burying her confusion in something beautiful as Meredith does with her concert tour, (Beauty said there was something more than just one f____ thing after another." ) Josie allows time to rest for a moment and stop all that senseless motion and as she retraces Michael's last days she takes on his mantle, uncovers her own truth at Twentynine Palms and begins to live again.Fitch proves herself a master manipulator as she gracefully twists the plot and characters in versatile ways that will keep you wondering what the ending will bring. It ultimately had me cheering as Josie chose the right path for herself, instead of taking the easy way out that may have tempted a lesser soul.Fitch paints the tragedy of loss with such pain and sadness that you can literally feel what the characters must have endured, even if you can't picture yourself in the setting. How does Josie keep Michael alive--well she attempts to keep Michael alive by believing and rescuing someone else who is in a great deal of pain and she becomes for Wilma what Michael has been for her--a muse?? Perhaps.It was hard for me not to compare this book to White Oleander, which remains one of my favorites, but this work definitely stands on its own and is worth the read. It is a finely structured story of madness and love, darkness and eccentricity, love and friendship, in an atypical LA setting that I've not seen much written about in quite this way. This book is dark, but it brings light. It's sad but it brings hope. It was definitely thought provoking and I would highly recommend it to readers.

I loved `White Oleander' but this sophisticated book is just better. I simply can't understand the mixed reviews here - maybe people were expecting `White Oleander' part two. I wonder if some readers got only so far - perplexed at (the main protagonist) Josie's devotion to her dead boyfriend, Michael, after he'd left her so cruelly. The struggling artist with no thought for the mess his suicide would leave behind. But read on - nobody is that one dimensional here. There are no stereotypes in this book. Every character is fully realised, the childhood road to dysfunction or evil, mapped out, chapter by chapter - so you'll be able to engage with all the characters (even the `villains'). I've rarely encountered landscapes, soundscapes depicted so well. This book has such heart and soul. I'm not giving much away by writing about the suicide (as it happens right at the start of the book), but I will say that if you think: This is going to be such a downer, I don't think I'll bother, you'll miss one hell of a novel.It's not an exploitative, `glamorous' suicide book for morbid teenagers - the ending (as someone else pointed out) will make you smile. There is redemption. This woman was born to write - an intelligent and sensitive human being. If Bret Easton Ellis had written it they'd call it a work of genius. I wonder if the Jonathan Franzen /`Oprah' association snobbery has done Fitch no favours. One of the best books I've ever read. If you want to write fiction, this is your blueprint.

I absolutely loved White Oleander - not so much for the plot as for the fascinating characters, character development and relationships throughout the book - so I was really looking forward to reading Paint it Black, although I try not to judge a new book by the author's previous ones. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped - it's a fairly well written book, but I didn't find any of the characters particularly appealing and by halfway through it felt like I was having to drag myself through it. It's just doom and misery from start to finish, which is understandable given the subject matter, but makes for very heavy going. The fact that I didn't really like any of the characters meant that after a while I sort of didn't really care what happened to them or how they felt, and although I did read it right to the end, I was glad to finish it! It's a shame as I do think Janet Fitch is a very good writer, but this book really wasn't for me.

Janet Fitch is a writing god. Just finished Paint it Black after devouring White Oleander and now meeting the characters in The Revolution of Marina M.. One does not read her books so much as inhabit them. Initially I had ever so slight concerns that Paint it Black would be too dark for my taste. How wrong. It is every colour and every shade of light and dark but ultimately it is the like looking at the sky as the clouds part after a storm. Read it. Feel it. Wonder at her imagery and enjoy the hills and dales, peaks and troughs.

A tough read this one. Meredith, the mother, is an intriguing character. Couldn’t warm to Josie. Would have liked to have seen more of her back story.

So gorgeous in fact, I forced it upon my family and friends. I shied away from this book at first, as someone who suffers from extreme psychotic depression among other things, I didn't really want to read a book about suicide. Let me tell you, although suicide occurs, this is a book about growth, courage, taking the leap and truly living your life. There is no excuse to not read this, you simply must. Nothing has kicked me more than tuning the last page, I wanted to fly, soar. Get away from my life and start anew, rather than ending it completely. Go. Buy. Read.