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V.C. Andrews- Flowers in the Attic
The horror begins with…
Flowers in the Attic.
Righteous Anger…
Innocent Fear…
Because the grandmother’s wrath has not yet materialized, Chris and I had grown careless. We were not always modest in the bedroom. It was difficult to live, day in, day out, and always keep the intimate places of our bodies secret from the other sex.
And to be perfectly honest, none of us cared very much who saw what.
We should have cared…
We should have been careful…
We should have kept the memory of momma’s bloody welted back sharply before us, and never, never, have forgotten. A key turned in the door lock, swiftly I tried to put the dress over my head and pull it down before she came in. But she had seen me naked; it was those glittering gray stone eyes.
“So!” the grandmother spat, “I have caught you at last…Sinners! You think you look pretty? You think those new young curves are attractive? You like that long golden hair that you brush and curl?”
She smiled then.
The most frightening smile I ever saw..
This is the extraordinary novel that has captured millions in its spell! All across America and around the world, millions of readers have been captivated by this strange, dark, terrifying tale of passion and peril in the lives of four innocent children, locked away from the world by a selfish mother.
FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC is the novel that launched the extraordinary career of V.C. Andrews, winning her an immediate and fiercely devoted worldwide following; today there are more than 58 million copies of her books in print.
My Review
Christoper-
Cathy-
Carrie-
Cory-
These are the main characters, they are all children. Chris is the eldest at 15, then Cathy who is twelve, ad the twins are five. The story begins with them living with both parents, their lives are very happy. Although they aren’t rich, they aren’t poor either. They know love and caring, as well as nourishment and delight.
Their daddy, Christopher Sr., was a P.R. man for a large computer manufacturing company. He was a huge success and they were living well=being middle-class citizens.
Their mother was a stay-at-home mom. Everything seemed to be going well, until their daddy didn’t show up for his own birthday party. They were thinking he was just held up in traffic. Three hours after the dinner was supposed to start, there was a knock at the door. A policeman gave the bad news that their fateher had been in a terrible accident and he didn’t survive. Their mother had no way to keep the bills paid on their house and car.
The kids knew she was writing her parents to ask for forgiveness, but they had never heard her speak of them when their dad was alive. She wanted to be able to move back in with them because she couldn’t financially take care of all four kids with no job and no experience. When the story unfolds the kids learn that their mother had come from a very rich family and had been disinherited. The grandmother agrees to let her and the kids come live with them. The mother explains to her children, that until now, the grandmother didn’t know about them.
She promises that she can get her father (who is on his deathbed) to re-write her into his will. So staying with them would only be temporary until she can leave with a vast amount of money and they would be rich. They end up being locked in a room off an old wing of the huge house that isn’t used anymore. Their mother promises to them that they won’t be in the room for long. She promises to buy them thing to keep them occupied, such as games and toys, until she can win back her father’s love and affection.
They hate their grandmother and she hates them right back, calling them “devil’s spawn”. They don’t know what she means by this until their mother explains that their father was also their half uncle, and that’s the reason she had been disinherited. A week turns into months, which turns into years of them not being able to go outside and see other people. They turn pale and sickly and begin to lose weight.
Their affections for each other turn from innocent into thriving curiosity. They end up sleeping together when her brother turns aggressive because he can’t express himself as a man and she feels like she caused him to feel this way when she wore short skirts and clinging nightgowns in front of him.
The twins end up hating their mother and turning against her and start seeing their big sister as their mother because she is the one who takes care of them. The story unravels and they find themselves sickly and wanting out after 3 years of imprisonment. Chris, the brother, makes a key imprint when their mother leaves the key laying around, and they sneak in her room and pocket all the money they can get their hands on without being noticed. She thinks the maids are stealing from her, while they are collecting money for their escape.
The twin boy Cory, ends up getting extremely sick and dying. Their mother didn’t even want to take him to the hospital for fear of them being found out. She finally agrees to, although the other kids soon realize that she is lying to them. Cory dies, and although she says it’s pneumonia, they think he has been poisoned. They take Cory’s pet mouse, and start experimenting with him, giving him bites of the powered sugar donuts that the grandmother brings them each morning.
They finally realize that their mother has lied to them the entire time they have been held in captivation. They realize that she has had a new love, and she didn’t even tell him about them. The grandfather has been dead for awhile, and she never said anything. Why would she betray her own children this way? They realize that they can’t depend on their low-life money hungry mother to help them. They have to depend on each other or they will die in captivation. They find out that her love for money, exceeds the love that she has for them.
This is a must read book. It captivated me, drawing me in and kept me turning pages until I was done with it. Makes you hate their mother for being so rude and disregarding to her own children, while they suffer- locked away, dying for her affection and love. V.C. Andrews is a very good writing. Spinning an unbelievable awesome web, that leaves you wanting more of her words. She knows how to write a story, her characters are well developed, her plot so terribly frightening and words that bring you to your knees.
♥Jess
