So how is perfection decided?Is it by looks?Is it by choices?Is it by God's standards?Or perhaps by the human's opinions? Do children pay for their parents' decisions?Why should they?And who in this motherf*cking universe is entitled to do just that?So here's the deal.I'm going to start with the mother of the story.She gets the honors because she's really something.So let me get this straight.You decide, after the death of your husband and your childrens'father, to grab your kids and lead and leave them at the mercy of your mother, to whom the Devil wouldn't hold a candle to, and who has thrown you out of her life after you eloped with your half-uncle, because that was the best decision.THE.BEST.DECISION.Why is this the best decision?Because you want to get back to your father's good graces so that the prodigal daughter can be re-installed in the will.So what's reason?F*CKING MONEY.Que bitter laugh. And hear this.You lock up your children in a secluded room , with the only pacing opening towards an ATTIC, lie incessantly to them about the time they are going to be trapped in that hell-hole and then gradually abandon them, forget they need their mother after losing their father so recently, and drop them like a sack of sh*t.And what's the reason of that?TO GET BACK THE F*CKING MONEY.Why?BECAUSE YOU WON'T RECEIVE NOT ONE F*UCKING PENNY IF YOUR FATHER FINDS OUT ABOUT YOUR KIDS.So the woman does something brilliant.Really great parent advice.Not only does she leave her beautiful and most caring children at the mercy of a flogging,relentless,grey-haired monster with the lamest excuse of all that she will get them out as soon her father is dead and the fortune is hers. But. She fails to inform them that her father has already been dead for a whole year, during which time one of her kids dies, she gets remarried and then flees without so much as an explanation.Do you thing that's it?NO. Because she actually poisons her own kids little by little with arsenic hidden in candy.Why is that?BECAUSE THE F*CKING MONEY WILL BE TAKEN FROM HER IF SHE'S FOUND OUT TO HAVE HAD CHILDREN FROM HER FIRST MARRIAGE.This must be one of the most outrageous things I have ever read.Now as far as the brother ans sister, Chris and Cathy are concerned, I have to say this. If they can manage in such an appaling condition to find love despite what their blood is telling them, then so be it. Circumstances make us who we are. Feeling that this relationship is a taboo would be solely hypocritical when the true disgust stems from the actions of those considered older and wiser. That young love had no part in the atrocities that were bestowed upon them. Nobody was ever going to make me hate my father or my mother! Nobody was going to have the power of life and death over menot while I wasalive and could still fight back!“What have we done so sinful?” he asked. "Do you think we can live in one room, year after year, and not see each other? You helped put ushere. You have locked this wing so the servants cannot enter. You want to catch us doing something you consider evil. You want Cathy and me toprove your judgment of our mother's marriage is right! Look at you, standing there in your iron- gray dress, feeling piousand self- righteous while you starve small children!““I'm going to get even one day, old woman,” I said. “There's going to come aday when you are going to be the helpless one, and I'm going to hold the whip in my hands. And there's going to be food in the kitchen that you arenever going to eat, for, as you incessantly say, God sees everything, and he has his way of working justice, an eye for an eye is his way,Grandmother!”“Wrong?” he repeated. “Momma, what can be right about living in one room? You said I don't sound like myselflook me over good. Am I a littleboy now? Look at Cathyis she still a child? Look longest at the twins; notice in particular how tall they've grown. Then turn your eyes back on me,and tell me that Cathy and I are still children to be treated with condescension, and are incapable of understanding adult subjects. We haven'tremained idle, twiddling our thumbs while you were off having a good time. Through books Cathy and I have lived a zillion lives . . . our vicarious wayto feel alive.”“I love you,” was his reply. “I make myself keep on loving you, despite what you do. I've got to love you. We all have to love you, and believe inyou, and think you are looking out for our best interests. But look at us, Momma, and really see us."“Momma, whether or not you inherit your father's immense fortune, we want out of this room! Not next week, or tomorrowbut today! Now! Thisminute! You turn that key over to me, and we'll go away, far away. And you can send us money, if you care to, or send nothing, if that's what youwant, and you need never see us again, if that is your choice, and that will solve all your problems, we'll be gone from your life, and your father neednever know we existed, and you can have what he leaves you, all to yourself.”“Damn you to hell, Corrine Foxworth,” I shouted at the top of my lungs, “if you don't take your son to a hospital! You think you can do anything youwant with us, and no one will find out! Well, you can throw away that security blanket, for I'll find a way for revenge, if it takes me the rest of my life, I'llsee that you pay, and dearly pay, if you don't do something right now to save Cory's life. Go on, glare your eyes at me, and cry and plead, and talk tome about money and what it can buy. But it can't buy back a child once he's dead! And if that happens, don't think I won't find a way to get to your husband and tell him you have four children you have kept hidden in a locked room with their only playground an attic . . . and you've kept them therefor years and years! See if he loves you then! Watch his face and wait to see how much respect and admiration he has for you then!” She winced,but her eyes shot deadly looks at me. “And what's more, I'll go to the grandfather and tell him, too!” I yelled even louder. “And you won't inherit onedamned red pennyand I'll be glad, glad, glad!” “And when I fall in love,” I began, "I will build a mountain to touch the sky. Then, my lover and I will havethebest of both worlds, reality firmly under our feet, while we have our heads in the clouds with all our illusions still intact. And the purple grass willgrow all around, high enough to reach our eyes." So this is my gift to you. STUNNING.PARENT.MODEL.
These days, I'm always hearing people opine, "Say what you want about Harry Potter, at least it's getting kids to read." Well, you could make a very good argument that Flowers in the Attic did the same thing for a generation of pre-teen girls. When I was 12, everybody was sneaking this novel under the covers or behind their math books. I remember a girl actually got in trouble for bringing it to free reading period in English class. Seemed a little hypocritical to me, since the whole idea of a free reading period was to instill reading for pleasure, but whatever. If I had a dime for every hypocrisy I witnessed in school, I'd be writing this review from my villa in France.While the incest angle of this story held undeniable appeal for me, I have to say that it was really the premise that captured my attention. The whole notion of a mother who hides her children away in an attic was fascinating to me. I've always loved stories about people who are forced to survive in abnormal surroundings, whether it's Anne Frank or Patty Hearst or Pocahontas. The sick, twisted conditions that the Dollanganger kids endured made for great reading, especially as a preteen undergoing her own hellish circumstances. Contrary to what a lot of other readers have said here, it isn't just the sex that accounts for this book's popularity...the plot is also a strong point in its favor.Although it's been many years since I've read this story, its characters remain vivid. This is definitely a sign that the author did something right. I particularly enjoyed the two villians: the glamorous, narcissitic mother and the pious, sadistic grandmother. Looking back, I still hate those bitches! They were sort of like Godzilla vs. Mothera. (Speaking of good stories...)It may seem like a small point, but I remember enjoying the ballet angle of this book. I loved how Cathy used to practice her ballet moves in the attic with the elaborate costumes her mother bought her. I also remember how the bodice on one of them was too tight, because dear old mom hadn't recognized that her daughter had developed breasts. This scene may seem salacious to some, but I actually appreciated it on a whole different level. As a young girl venturing into adulthood, I could really identify with Cathy's desire to be acknowledged as a young woman, only to be treated like a little kid.Believe me, I'm not saying this is a great work of genius...the writing is so bad it's good...even at 12 I laughed at expressions like "Great golly lolly!" Still, Flowers in the Attic is the literary equivalent of a Krispy Kreme doughnut. It's delicious on the way down, but its lingering effects are vaguely sickening. Still, that won't stop you from having another...and another...until the whole box is gone and you're left bloated and groaning on a smelly old mattress, only to be raped by your brother. Sorry, I got my metaphors mixed there for a second. Anyway, taken in the right spirit, Flowers in the Attic is a decent read, especially when you're being force fed rubbish like My Brother Sam is Dead and Where the Red Fern Grows. Get thee behind me, sixth grade!
What do You think about Flowers In The Attic (1979)?
I have no perspective on this book. I can't separate it from my teenage self. For the first 200 pages I was amused to be re-reading a book I had loved as a teenager. I LOVED this book in the 1980s, and I'm guessing that had something to do with the titillating subject matter but it might also have been because I was desperate to get away from my hometown and start my life and there is a theme of isolation and a desperation to get out into the world and be free. It's a theme lots of teens could relate to, certainly. That said, those first 200 pages made me giggle at the absurdity of the dialogue, the over-the-top characterizations, and whacked-out plot. But something happened during the second half of the book for me. I feel like I slipped into a time machine and became my 14-year-old self for several hours on Saturday afternoon. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, couldn't stand to put the book down, and had cereal for dinner just so I didn't have to leave my apartment. Seriously. I don't even understand it. The writing is silly and melodramatic (and the dialogue is laughable) but there is something about V.C. Andrews's prose that keeps the story hustling along at a nice and speedy clip. And perhaps the fact that the dialogue slips away in the second half in favor of dark and twisted plot turns has something to do with that. I'm buying Petals on the Wind today. I am a tiny bit ashamed but I flat-out can't wait for Cathy's revenge!
—Bex
Leído para el 2015 Reading Challenge: #41. Libro de un autor nunca leído.Primero que nada pensé que el libro iba sobre gays, y lo elegí porque hize el "timarin" porque tengo una larga lista de libros y quize intentar con el libro.El libro en si es perturbador, desde el principio tuve muchas dudas, si me las respondieron con los capítulos que pasaban, pero no era como que me intrigaba mucho porque la autora hacía mucha descripción en cada capítulo y eso me aburria o me dejaba de interesar, creo que si hubiera tenido menos páginas hubiera sido más simple y un poco más ameno o más liviano.Personajes:La mamá Corine PERO QUE FASTIDIO DE MUJER! es una perra perdón pero eso es lo que la describe es una persona egoísta desde el principio que aparece y lo peor es que todo el libro la vieron como la santa de las santas, la odie, me cayo tan mal, era una mamá desconsiderada, la peor de todas las mamás de los libros.La abuela: Que mujer más rara y si que daba miedo, todo le parecía pecaminoso como ella decía, para mi que esa vieja hacía todas las cosas que pensaban que iban hacer sus nietos y tenía pensamientos más perturbadores.Chris: Pero que muchacho más cejado, casi le hacía altar a la mamá, y mira de lo que se fue a enterar, por eso pienso que no debes adorar a nadie porque puede traicionar.Cathy: no sé que pensar de ella, pero si que aveces no razonaba las cosas y eso me estresaba.Bueno esté libro en general si es un poco aburrido, es lento, y si me hizo sentir emociones negativas, creo que me salió una arruga de enojarme por los personajes, si me sorprendio el final, no me lo esperaba, porque si tenía algo ya en mente desde el principio.No tengo muchas ganas de leer el segundo y los siguientes porque no me gusta mucho la venganza en los libros y porque pienso que si siguen con lo mismo me voy a tirar de un puente y no pienso cometer el mismo error de terminar una saga que fue un fracaso, salvo que alguién me diga cosas lindas del segundo libro, entonces tratare de convencerme y leerlo, pero después de un tiempo porque estoy perturbada mentalmente.
—isa
I read this book in grade school (maybe middle school) and I don't remember much except being in total awe that someone would write down such naughty things. I seem to remember a scene where the grandma walks in while they're having sex and they can't stop because they are so enraptured with the experience and I remember thinking damn! Sex must be awesome if it makes you lose your mind and not be able to control your senses. Note to any young person that may be reading this: sex is actually not so great that you couldn't stop if you're grandma walked in on you mid-act: so really, theres no need to run out there and try it too soon and always, always, always use a condom and sex with a sibling may be a titilating topic (as evidenced in Middlesex) but in real life that's just f*#^@ed up!
—Malbadeen
