Paint it Black

Like other previous reviewers, I was hoping this would be as good as [b:White Oleander 32234 White Oleander Janet Fitch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501159524l/32234.SY75.jpg 1223333] but, unfortunately it was not the case. Paint it Black was a depressing, and at times tedious story, about a young woman grieving over her boyfriend who committed suicide. She spends the entire book feeling sorry for herself, making it really difficult for me to feel sorry for her. It's not as deep and rich as White Oleander. It felt like the writer was trying to pretend it was more meaningful than it was. Still, it's far from unreadable. I enjoyed the “punk” setting, the bits where she was acting in the independent film (an interest of mine), and her slowly unraveling the mystery of all the things she didn't know about her boyfriend and his mother. It shares a theme with WO of getting out from under overbearing parents. If I'd read this when I was a teenager, my younger self would have related to Josie and been all caught up in the emotion and the drama.