You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.9k reviews for:
Flowers in the Attic / Petals on the Wind / If There Be Thorns / Seeds of Yesterday / Garden of Shadows
V.C. Andrews
3.61 AVERAGE
3.9k reviews for:
Flowers in the Attic / Petals on the Wind / If There Be Thorns / Seeds of Yesterday / Garden of Shadows
V.C. Andrews
3.61 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
(via audiobook)
i feel like ive lived under a rock for not having heard of this book until recently. it is clearly a book i would have been insufferable about in middle school. i decided to read it because of it's premise- i knew very little beyond that. from this perspective, flowers in the attic delivers above and beyond. i will concede that if you know it's reputation, it may seem like a "trashy" read.
i would like to point out that VC Andrews does a great job at creating a horrific gothic tale. she writes compelling scenes with larger-than-life characters. she uses your emotions as a reader against you. her prose is absurdly lyrical and i personally love it.
unfortunately, it is quite predictable. there were times i felt like i was being tortured to slowly have a plot point revealed to me which i could have told you would happen since page 5. also, the elephant in the room. this is one of.... 11 books?!?!???! i refuse this. there is no way you could milk more than 3 books out of this premise without losing your actual mind.
anyway, i enjoyed it! the narration was great in the audiobook. i would consider reading more vc andrews but again, i refuse to finish this series.
i feel like ive lived under a rock for not having heard of this book until recently. it is clearly a book i would have been insufferable about in middle school. i decided to read it because of it's premise- i knew very little beyond that. from this perspective, flowers in the attic delivers above and beyond. i will concede that if you know it's reputation, it may seem like a "trashy" read.
i would like to point out that VC Andrews does a great job at creating a horrific gothic tale. she writes compelling scenes with larger-than-life characters. she uses your emotions as a reader against you. her prose is absurdly lyrical and i personally love it.
unfortunately, it is quite predictable. there were times i felt like i was being tortured to slowly have a plot point revealed to me which i could have told you would happen since page 5. also, the elephant in the room. this is one of.... 11 books?!?!???! i refuse this. there is no way you could milk more than 3 books out of this premise without losing your actual mind.
anyway, i enjoyed it! the narration was great in the audiobook. i would consider reading more vc andrews but again, i refuse to finish this series.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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:
Yes
I love whatever the fuck was wrong with VC Andrews.
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
re-reading for one of the first times as an adult — not quite as scandalous as I remember it being when I read it as a teenager, but still has a lot of taboo.
Honestly, I'm surprised at the reputation that this book has compared to what I read. When I was told of this book, it was presented as The Disturbing Incest Bookâ„¢. While it was disturbing and indeed had incest, I think that's mainly overexaggerated. Most of all, this was a tragic story of abuse and literal children not being able to escape this generational abuse. The incest itself is mainly emotional, and there's a sexual assault scene very late in the book that isn't shied away from, but is in no way explicit and is maybe three phrases long.
I think there's a lot of good in this book worth discussing, and I understand why it's considered a classic.
Pros:
- Easy and quick to read, despite how many pages there are
- Despite the length of the book, it's written in a way that makes it seem that it's much shorter
- It's really easy to understand the POV character, Cathy
Cons:
- The ending irritated me a little ngl, but it wasn't a bad ending
I think there's a lot of good in this book worth discussing, and I understand why it's considered a classic.
Pros:
- Easy and quick to read, despite how many pages there are
- Despite the length of the book, it's written in a way that makes it seem that it's much shorter
- It's really easy to understand the POV character, Cathy
Cons:
- The ending irritated me a little ngl, but it wasn't a bad ending
Such a great reread! Now wanting to move on to the next one!
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What can I say like...I've heard the illusions and the jokes and then I read this book for the first time a couple years ago and was absolutely shocked to find out that this was a masterpiece lowkey. Its not without flaws I'd never say that but I'd argue this is a piece of gothic horror literature that is overshadowed by well tbh I think because the main characters are children and that's lead to a miscommunication in who the intended audience is. But this is at its core a horror novel and tbh the incest in here is part of the tragedy but like The Death of Vivek Oji people are like, welp incest is in the book clearly the author wants all of us to think incest is OK 🙄🙄🙄. Like you do not have to engage with triggering content, you don't have to like the novel or whatever but be serious. Anyway, I'll probably have a much neater review when I read it for the third time cause so many thoughts that are spinning in my brain.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes