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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
For years I've wanted to read this book and in year 10 a friend read it and said it's such a good book but so so sad
I get by many peoples standards this book hasn't aged well but it was written 1979! So much has changed over the years
Still I find that I couldn't put this book down and I wanted to keep reading and finding out what happened to the children
I get by many peoples standards this book hasn't aged well but it was written 1979! So much has changed over the years
Still I find that I couldn't put this book down and I wanted to keep reading and finding out what happened to the children
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
WOW.
Me habían recomendado este libro por activa, por pasiva, con pasión con coacción e incluso amenazas. Y eso me hacía tener en parte muchas ganas pero también muchas expectativas con el mismo.
Tengo que confesar que no me ha enganchado tanto como esperaba. Ojo, me ha enganchado, pero no lo he terminado en una noche. El principio se me ha hecho un poco lento pero rápidamente gana ritmo y me interesó demasiado. En algunas partes, tenía muchas ganas de darle una bofetada a los protagonistas porque parecía que eran los únicos que no se daban cuenta de las cosas y no hacían más que alargarlo todo de forma cruel...
Porque esa es otra. También iba avisada de que el libro era intenso, y dramático. Me advirtieron que iba a sufrir, y llorar, y amar y odiar a los personajes a la vez. Pues en este caso, pleno total. El libro tiene escenarios y acciones muy reducidas, por lo que todo el punto fuerte se encuentra en sus personajes y lo que estos consiguen emocionarnos y hacernos sentir. Lo que nos los creemos y lo que logran hacernos meternos en la historia.
Solo deciros que, como os encariñéis con ellos, y comencéis a vivir la historia intensamente... Preparaos.
Me habían recomendado este libro por activa, por pasiva, con pasión con coacción e incluso amenazas. Y eso me hacía tener en parte muchas ganas pero también muchas expectativas con el mismo.
Tengo que confesar que no me ha enganchado tanto como esperaba. Ojo, me ha enganchado, pero no lo he terminado en una noche. El principio se me ha hecho un poco lento pero rápidamente gana ritmo y me interesó demasiado. En algunas partes, tenía muchas ganas de darle una bofetada a los protagonistas porque parecía que eran los únicos que no se daban cuenta de las cosas y no hacían más que alargarlo todo de forma cruel...
Porque esa es otra. También iba avisada de que el libro era intenso, y dramático. Me advirtieron que iba a sufrir, y llorar, y amar y odiar a los personajes a la vez. Pues en este caso, pleno total. El libro tiene escenarios y acciones muy reducidas, por lo que todo el punto fuerte se encuentra en sus personajes y lo que estos consiguen emocionarnos y hacernos sentir. Lo que nos los creemos y lo que logran hacernos meternos en la historia.
Solo deciros que, como os encariñéis con ellos, y comencéis a vivir la historia intensamente... Preparaos.
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A well known Morden gothic classic for a reason, beautifully written and tragic. It gets regularly classed as shock value melodrama but I felt it explores and uses the classic themes of the gothic very well. A beautiful ancestor of Shelley and Brontë.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Violence
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4/5 … I find I am the world’s most hopeful person. Despite the many red herrings, the shadowy dark cracks, that present themselves to me time and time again, though I take note and caution, I still proceed. Mostly, I think I am an optimist to a fault. Most times, I’m able to convince myself that it’s good that I am this way. So, as I passed through chapter after of this book, I managed to still hold out hope that the way the Dollanganger children were treated was, in some twisted way, justifiable. I just kept hoping that at some point, things would make sense. I would understand the mother and grandmother. The kids would have a happy ending. Something, anything. I’ve always loved reading about morally grey characters- villains that are conniving and capricious and captivating, but still so human in their thoughts and desires. I think that’s also why I felt so engrossed by the mother and grandmother, I wanted to understand… And then, I did understand. Money is the driving force behind inexplicable actions.
“People make the rules of society, not God.” V.C. Andrews, Flowers in the Attic
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I read this when I was about 12 and I remember being riveted and it came up in a discussion about banned books with a colleague. I said "I read Flowers in the Attic when I was 12 and am fine". So I decided to reread it and see if it is as scandalous as I remember. Wow, there was a lot I forgot 😳. Book was still riveting but holy moly what a ride. And that ending, good gracious. V.C. Andrews, who hurt you? Like seriously, are you ok? My goodness.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
I have no idea why this book is seen as trashy incest porn when it’s neither trashy nor pornographic. I love how it discusses religion as a tool for abuse, how incest develops as a result of generational failing within the family, how terrible it is to see yourself turn into the same monster your mother is. The protagonist Cathy will haunt me forever as another character who made me feel seen. Her sexual trauma, her survivor’s guilt, her protectiveness over her younger siblings, the codependency she had to embrace in order to survive. Every needless suffering these children faced hurts more when you find out that V.C. Andrews was drawing from her own lifetime of abuse under her mother.
V.C Andrews’ mother was ashamed of her disability and would keep her confined in the house to avoid having anyone see her “damaged” daughter. (And if V.C Andrews was allowed out on the front porch, the mother would have her hidden behind bushes, away from the eyes of their neighbors.) Her mother would lock her in her room without food if she was angry, would prevent her from forming romantic or sexual relationships (even past the age of 40!), would make her wear clothes that hid her wheelchair whenever they had visitors, and would not even allow V.C. Andrews to accompany her outside the house if shopping was needed. (V.C. Andrews would say at the age of 41 that the last time she was allowed outside to buy shoes, she was 17!!!)
No wonder this novel is so fixated on following the matriarchal path that abuse can take between generations. No wonder she wrote the dedication addressed to her mother (who, BTW, refused to read her novel or support her writing—not until it started earning them money!!!)
It genuinely hurts me when people don’t treat this book seriously, when it’s reduced to “degenerate incest porn” meant to titillate and titillate only. It’s such a harrowing tale of abuse, of having to grow up quickly to be the meat shield for your only family, of how children are seen as disposable in a society that values only wealth and power. And can’t we also consider it as an abused daughter’s letter to her mother, a way to make sense of the cruelty only a parent is capable of?
V.C Andrews’ mother was ashamed of her disability and would keep her confined in the house to avoid having anyone see her “damaged” daughter. (And if V.C Andrews was allowed out on the front porch, the mother would have her hidden behind bushes, away from the eyes of their neighbors.) Her mother would lock her in her room without food if she was angry, would prevent her from forming romantic or sexual relationships (even past the age of 40!), would make her wear clothes that hid her wheelchair whenever they had visitors, and would not even allow V.C. Andrews to accompany her outside the house if shopping was needed. (V.C. Andrews would say at the age of 41 that the last time she was allowed outside to buy shoes, she was 17!!!)
No wonder this novel is so fixated on following the matriarchal path that abuse can take between generations. No wonder she wrote the dedication addressed to her mother (who, BTW, refused to read her novel or support her writing—not until it started earning them money!!!)
It genuinely hurts me when people don’t treat this book seriously, when it’s reduced to “degenerate incest porn” meant to titillate and titillate only. It’s such a harrowing tale of abuse, of having to grow up quickly to be the meat shield for your only family, of how children are seen as disposable in a society that values only wealth and power. And can’t we also consider it as an abused daughter’s letter to her mother, a way to make sense of the cruelty only a parent is capable of?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest
Moderate: Rape