Paint it Black by Janet Fitch

Set in her native Los Angeles, like White Oleander, Janet Fitch's first novel, Paint It Black tells a story of love and betrayal occurring within the confines of Echo Park, an artist's enclave, during the heyday of the punk scene of the 80s.

The book opens up in an artist's studio where Josie Tyrell is discussing the death of John Lennon and the suicide of Darby Crash with a friend. This discussion of death foreshadows her boyfriend Michael's suicide and introduces one of the themes of the novel-death and how we cope with it. She returns to her and Michael's home, a modest guest house set on a hill, and starts to worry about Michael's prolonged absence. He had told her he was going to visit his mother but had not yet returned. Here, Janet Fitch describes in detail the feeling of emptiness in the house without him in addition to all her doubts surrounding his disappearance. Ms. Fitch builds tension by getting into Josie's state of mind until Josie receives a phone call from the coroner's office, and must identify the body.

The next part of the book deals with her grief. Through an italicized inner dialog we experience the sense of anger and betrayal that Josie feels. This technique, along with the posing of rhetorical questions, enables us to enter the mind of Josie who takes us with her as she attempts to reconcile with Michael's mother, a divorced, upper-crust, internationally renowned pianist.

In the aftermath of his death, the confrontations between Meredith, Michael's mother, and Josie are ugly. At the funeral, Meredith tries to choke Josie, blaming her for his death. Later, Meredith tries to run over Josie, as she leaves her art school. Here, the twisted emotions of jealousy, possessiveness and hatred surface.