Reviews

Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews

readingwithlex's review against another edition

5.0

I am absolutely destroyed

kolbilane's review against another edition

4.0

I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It made me hate men and scream internally every time I read it.

pineconek's review against another edition

2.0

In true VC Andrews fashion, this book was ridiculous. Somehow it was less ridiculous than earlier books/other VCA which meant it dragged on somewhat and wasn't as fun of a ride as I was hoping for. In other words, the balance of melodrama to "absurd gothic tropes" was skewed in a direction that was almost...dull? It definitely didn't carry the steam that FITA had.

While I'm glad I read it for completionism, I only recommend it if you're familiar with the Dollanganger story/saga and want to see how it all ends (but frankly, the wikipedia plot summary may be enough).

luanndie's review against another edition

3.0

Volver a tener a Cathy como narradora después del horror que supuso tener a Bart en el tercer libro es una liberación. Esta última entrega recupera lo mejor de la saga, intrigas, familiares malvados, accidentes sospechosos, mujeres infieles pero al final no consigue ofrecer todo lo que promete. La mayor parte del libro parece una gran construcción in crescendo para un apoteósico final que nunca llega. Es más, el final es totalmente aleatorio y sin sentido. Andrews intenta solucionarlo todo pero lo hace una forma tan chapucera que mejor nos hubiéramos quedado con la duda. Si no fuera por el final tan decepcionante, estoy segura que hubiera disfrutado de este libro mucho más.

http://gutenbergylumiere.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/resena-semillas-del-ayer-de-v-c-andrews.html

hisghoulfriday's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

 This was the last of the Dollanganger books that was actually written by V.C. Andrews and it's been my least favourite so far. The Seeds of Yesterday felt like a big waste of time for me, just because there wasn't actually a plot, it was just a bunch of mini plots that didn't really lead anywhere. It's also moving away from the gothic horror that was the first book, into more of a domestic thriller (but even that's a reach).

This one was written in Cathy's POV again. Bart's grown into a spoiled man child and has rebuilt Foxworth Hall and has invited the fam to hang out for his 25th birthday. Jory has become a ballet dancer and is married and his wife is expecting. Jory does a dance at the birthday bash and suffers a terrible accident, which causes him to be confined to a wheelchair and the whole family decides to stay at the house. His wife ends up leaving him because Jory hasn't just lost the the use of his legs 👀. But before she leaves she sleeps with Bart and she gives birth to twins who unremarkably look like Carrie and Cory. Cindy is 16 and is just as narcissistic as book 2 Cathy, but I feel a bit bad for her as she is constantly shamed for the way she dresses, and we get get an abstinence lesson preached at us whenever the family catches her in the act with one of her boyfriends. And that's basically it for the book, except for the twist ending and we get surprise mystery guest Uncle Joel! It was believed he was unalived during a ski trip but it turns out he's just been hanging out with some monks the whole time! He's been "mentoring" Bart, but his only purpose in the book is to spy on the family and talk about how sinful everyone is.

I'm so happy to be done this book as it was unnecessarily wordy, and the characters are constantly whiny which got on my nerves real quick. 

jiajones's review against another edition

Couldn’t get into it. 

patty_creatively_bookish's review against another edition

2.0

Seeds of Yesterday;

Who is this for? Still not sure.
story 2/5
characters 2/5 Awful.
writing 3/5 Old.
audio/paper Paper.
reread? No.
Recommend it? Uhm..


Voor wie? Nog steeds geen idee.
Verhaal: 2/5
Karakters: 2/5 Verschrikkelijk.
Schrijfstijl: 3/5 Oud.
Papier/audio? Gelezen.
Herlezen: Nee.
Aanrader? Uhm..

jacqui_des's review against another edition

3.0

2023 Re-Read: Downgraded to 3 stars
This was by far the most absurd book of the series, which is saying a lot. Why would you move into an exact replica of the house that caused you so much pain? And why would you continue to endure two of the characters that cause so much grief?

Memorable Quotes

"I told myself that not all blue eyes were cruel and heartless. Certainly I should know that better than anyone."

"Bart drove with reckless, daredevil speed, as if challenging death to take him."

"God knows he should have better sense," Chris grumbled. "He's always been accident prone—and look at the way he drives, as if he's got a hold on immortality."

"The world no longer tolerates great houses and great wealth, or respects those who gain it by inheritance."

"To be in love is like turning on a light in a dark room. All of a sudden everything becomes bright and visible. You're never alone because she loves you, and you love her."

"I wondered if ever again they'd transform an ordinary little girl into someone full of fanciful dreams she had to make come true. And I had made a few come true, even if I'd failed more than once to keep husbands alive."

"Blame the wind or stars of fate—but I still blamed my mother."

"In the middle of the bedroom we shared, Chris and I reached for each other. There we stood, wrapped in each other's arms, holding fast to the only security we ever had that lasted: each other."

"Like father, like son, like father like son beat the unhappy tattoo of the drums of fear in my head."

"Who ever counted the flowers that died when we pulled up the weeds?"

"We recreate ourselves through love."

"Only weak-chinned men should hide behind beards."

"We float on wings of sensuality so powerful nobody can realize as we do the pain of all that's so insensitive and cruel and brutal in reality."

"I've been in medicine too long not to know justice isn't doled out equally. The good often die before the bad. Children die before grandparents, and who is to say that's right? But what can we do about it? Life is a gift, and perhaps death is another kind of gift."

"How adaptable we humans were, how willing to suffer through any horror, any adjustment, any deprivations, just to gain those few minutes of priceless joy."

"I surrendered to the only love in my life that had lasted long enough to let me know I had a firm grip on happiness . . . despite everything that could have ruined what we had cultivated and grown in the shade."

"On a night like this the drunks were out, deadlier than arsenic."

"You established his brain patterns long before he was born. Out of hatred came the child. And out of need comes the angel of salvation. Think of that before you condemn me."

"I'd look up and admire the wonder of the trees that never seemed depressed or lonely. Nature—how much we could learn if only we would."

"It's an evil house, and now I hate its spirit just as much as once I loved its beauty."

"And with that we surrendered to each other, forgetting our problems in the ecstasy we knew so well how to create."

"If he keeps it up I think I may well end up hating him, and I don't want that to happen. We had something so beautiful between us in the beginning. I want to keep that special time like a flower I can press between the pages of my memory."

"Turn around, and the boy you knew so well was a man."

"Someday you are going to understand about love, Bart. You are going to find out it doesn't come because you want it, or need it. It's yours only when you earn it. It comes to you when you least expect it, walks in the door and closes it quietly and when it's right, it stays. You don't plot to find it. Or seduce to try and make it happen. You have to deserve it, or you'll never have anyone who will stay long enough."

"For my father had been a wonderful man, and that hadn't mattered. Fate didn't choose the unloved, the derelicts, the unneeded or unwanted. Fate was a bodiless form with a cruel hand that reached out randomly, carelessly, and seized up with ruthlessness."

kitfacey's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

angh's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25