Reviews with content warning for Child death - Flowers in the Attic

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

161 reviews

jadedcreator's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.75

4.8 stars

[I have the faintest inklings of reading this so long ago. So this technically a reread, but close to 20-odd years ago as a child: I faintly remembered kids locked away, ballet, $394, powdered donuts, Cory's death.]

First off, people talk about this book as incestuous. There is only one true brother/sister sex scene, and it hits uncomfortably with rape. He forces himself on her because he "can't resist" anymore, but she refuses to call it rape because part of her wanted it too and she didn't want him to hurt. But I don't think she was wanting that: she wanted to be close, and she was curious about the things she was learning, and she loved her brother. It's most accurate to say that their boundaries were all blurred. They were forced into close quarters and left uneducated, left pretending to be parents while at their most sexually vulnerable, left with only each other. They were uncomfortably physically close with their mother, and that's what they were taught. So the fact that people want to reduce it to incest with the jokes that come along with it, while the real truth was that it was child abuse, hurts and angers me.

Second, Cory's death hits as waiting for the other shoe to drop. I didn't believe it to be true this time around. It fell so flat that I expected them to have whisked him away to be raised alone by their mother, and the children all led to believe it (they are incredibly naive). Especially upon finding out that their mom has just up and left. But you finish the book with nothing changed, so I guess that's it? They have no proof of anything after him being led away, no death, no funeral... And their mother is so caught up in her lies, that he's not buried in his own name!

The mother is extremely emotionally abusive. Also upon reflection, she's a narcissist. Everything has always been about her and her desire for money. You know she's manipulating their love for her, and it gets worse and worse what they're willing to give up for her. She lies, over and over, and makes it and their emotions their fault (gaslighting also, wonderful). But to legitimately choose to not free your kids, and then to murder one, to try and murder them all? That's such a line to cross. She's sad and pathetic, and because they're trusting children and she's beautiful, she gets away with it.

I don't know if I want to read the next books. But I'm totally on board for revenge, even though it will never be enough. (Even though she throws the bag of evidence away!!!)

The writing is dated. Silly and innocent, but a large vocabulary. It went from slowly describing everything, to the years/time quickly passing, and yet the pacing wasn't the worst because things were happening.

The hardest part of this book is that is doesn't relate to some people. They have never been a victim/have never seen themselves as a victim. To let it go this far is far-fetched, even in their circumstances/date/age, for some people. They can't suspend their disbelief, and they're enraged especially at the thought of their siblings suffering, and doing nothing.
I think both are possible, but this book isn't for everyone.

"We wouldn't want to leave anything living and loving of sunshine in this attic."

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arangele's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

castawaycove's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i remember my dad got me a copy of this book ages ago and i dont remember reading it but i remembered like the beginning and one scene that ended up being right near the end so clearly i read the entire book at some point and it was just completely wiped from my memory but it was pretty good i really liked the writing the beginning was really slow but once i was like 40% through it started picking up and it was a good halloween read it wasn’t creepy but it was very disturbing and gross

like chris and cathy .. ew and then i googled the sequels and read the plots of all of them and they actually end up getting married and having a life together it's crazy the plots of the rest of the books r INSANEEEE this plot was just like oh nooo we r locked in the attic and we're not getting sunlight or enough food 😟 i'm making it sound bad it wasn't it was just tame compared to the rest of the series apparently .. when it turned out that the mum was poisoning them and not the grandmother i gasped and when cory died i gasped too but i don't know why because he was the one with the least personality it was pretty obvious he was gna die

this book is sigmund frueds dream come true

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