Paint It Black

A Novel

By: Janet Fitch

Narrated by: Jennifer Jason Leigh

Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Josie Tyrell, art model, teen runaway, and denizen of L.A.'s 1980s punk-rock scene, finds a chance at real love with art student Michael Faraday. A Harvard dropout and son of a renowned pianist, Michael introduces her to his spiritual quest and a world of sophistication she had never dreamed existed. But when she receives a call from the Los Angeles County coroner, asking her to identify her lover's dead body, her bright dreams all fade to black.

"What happens to a dream when the dreamer is gone?" is the central question of Paint it Black, the story of the aftermath of Michael's suicide and Josie's struggle to hold on to the true world he shared with her. As Josie searches for the key to understanding his death, she finds herself both repelled and attracted to Michael's pianist mother, Meredith, who holds Josie responsible for her son's torment. Soon, the two women find themselves drawn into a twisted relationship reflecting equal parts distrust and blind need.

Passionate, wounded, fiercely alive, Josie Tyrell walks on the brink of her own destruction as she fights to discover the meaning of Michael's death. With the luxurious prose and emotional intensity that are her hallmarks, Janet Fitch has written a spellbinding new novel about love, betrayal, and the possibility of transcendence.

©2006 Janet Fitch. All rights reserved (P)2006 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, Abridged, 2007

"Masterful....A page-turning psychodrama." (Publishers Weekly)
"A second lushly written, dramatically plotted novel by the author of White Oleander. Once again, the relationship between a powerful older woman and a less-sure younger one drives the story, and Fitch's Los Angeles is so real it breathes." (Atlantic Monthly)

This is Abridged and That's Annoying

I love to read, but I have a short attention span. I tend to drift and miss a lot when I listen to audiobooks on their own and, too often, I get distracted by shiny things when reading books on their own. So, if it's a story that i'm really interested in, I will listen to the audio book and follow along on the audio book. This is particularly the case when I am very interested in the writing style, not just the story. So, imagine my surprise when I'm following along for this book and I keep getting lost, can't figure out where the narrator is. That's when I looked a little closer and realized that the reading is abridged. My fault, I guess, for not reading closer, but Audible doesn't go out of their way to make this obvious. IMO, it should say this next to the title. You're missing a good third of the book when you listen to this. Easily a paragraph on every page and in some instances, entire chapters are missing. Not cool. I'd never have purchased the audiobook if I'd realized. Do better, Audible!

As for the narrator, I was fine with Jennifer Jason Leigh. Her voice matched the way I pictured the protagonist in my head, so I didn't have a problem with her, and I'm super picky about narrators.

All in all, this was ok. I just wish the description was more transparent so I knew what I was getting upfront.

Read the book, there’s a lot missing in the audio.

I read this book years ago and loved it. I really wasn’t expecting so much of the book to be cut out. Had I not known there were large parts missing, I’d think the book stopped making sense towards the end. There is a lot more of the Josie/Meredith storyline and without it, the audio version just isn’t very good.

Abridged

This is my favorite book and I love it. I got it on audio book to listen to when I'm working and it's missing quite a bit of the content. The overall message is there, but I'm disappointed this isn't marked (abridged) because it isn't the full book.

In love with this book.

Second time reading. well the first time I read and this time I listened and I loved it so much it is narrated wonderfully. (:

Audible review

I saw something in the reviews that I just wanted to clear up. Someone said that the actress reading the book sounded flat and monotonous. If you understood the character, Josie, you would know that this voice was perfect for her. Grieving the suicide of her lover, total disinterest for life, punk girl. It makes sense. The book is amazing, one of my favorite of all time. Please take the time to read it if you haven’t. For some odd reason, they only recorded for way less than half of the book, and it has me really agitated. I don’t know why you would want to shorten this book by only reading 6 hours of it. Have no clue what they were thinking but I’m disappointed. That is my only thought on this audible book.

Best book ever

I love the book. It was intense, sad and amazing. I couldn’t put it down.

This is Janet Fitch’s best work

Jeanette Fitch is the writer who made me want to be a writer before I realize that I’m more of a philosopher unfortunately. I loved Oleander and tragically modeled my life after Astrid, which was not a good idea, but I think paint it black somehow captures something so much more ephemeral and ineffable about life and love, which it is that it ends in separation and death, and yet one must go on and survive. The main characters confrontation with death and grief is so heartbreaking it makes me weep. This is the first time I’ve listened to the book rather than read it because I know longer have time to read to work and what not but this book broke me in a way it not break me when I was younger. Maybe it is because my current significant other reminds me so much of the suicided Boyfriend or maybe it is because I’m older, and now that I too will die or perhaps it is because I have experience so much losses here but I feel like this book describes what it feels like to confront the end and then the born again it is truly enlightenment and it is beautiful, and it is tragic, and it hurts.
I also really appreciate that the main character lacks any significant talent she just is. She does not produce she is used yet she is and she is her own and she is poor and she’s survived and in the end all she has is the love true love—Agape—not Eros. It is all agape in the end.

Loved every line!

The novel tells a sad and intriguing tale... but what really gets you is the prose... the beautiful language, the words that read more like poetry. Pure and real. Tragic story, beautifully told.

Not Like Her Last Book

I enjoyed this book, but if you liked White Oleander, don't expect this to be anything like that one. It's a dark and kinky little book.

Couldn't stop listening

I miss the old days when I had time to sit and read and ponder. Every so often I would find a book that would keep me up for days, hiding from the world. Paint it black is that book. I was absorbed into this world Ms. Fitch created. It was particularly interesting as an Angelino to hear about the city at the time and the characters in it. I live her writing and pace. This is the second book I have read of hers, the first being White Oleander that I actually read on paper and have kept for over a decade.