If its there, I've read it.: Review: Flowers In The Attic by V.C Andrews

Title: Flowers In The Attic
Author: V.C Andrews
Series: Dollenganger Series (#1)
Genre: Suspense, Drama, Young Adult
Publication Date: 1979
Publisher: Pocket Books.

	In Flowers in the Attic, the first installment of The Dollenganger series, Cathy, Carrie, Chris, and Cory, four siblings, must deal with living in the dark attic in their grandparent's house after their fathers death, while their mother tries to win back her father and inherit a fortune. This is, needless to say, a very mature book. It was written by the well known V.C, Andrews, and I picked it up last-minute because I was desperate for a new book- any book. I saw the cover, the time, and bought it before the store closed. When I got home, I started to read. And I was very hooked. The story deals with many topics as the four dollenganger siblings grow up in the attic, topics such as puberty, family, wealth, love, sex (yes, there is lots of sex. Its mentioned quite a lot, actually, and I read this when I was younger and was wondering how someone could write such risky, naughty topics), and such. It is very powerful and immensely well-written. The only thing that detained me from rating this story was Catherine Dollenganger, better known as Cathy, the narrator of this book. She suffers from Mary-Sue syndrome, though she is probably not even close to making it to the top 100 Mary Sues I have ever read about. Cathy can be selfish, egotistical, mean, stubborn, and whiny. Whenever she doesn't get her way or sometime upsets her, she becomes easily upset and refuses to forgive for quite awhile. She doesn't have a great relationship with her mother, dances ballet, and is described as obscenely beautiful, like her mother, with lush blond hair and fair skin and big blue eyes, like a dresden doll. The reason I rated this three stars rather than four is because I couldn't really like Cathy. I felt sympathetic towards her, but she didn't really show a lot of character development, and even in the next book she seemed to be still selfish, whiny and self centered. Though she does care for others, like Cory, Carrie, and Chris, most of the time she thinks of herself first, and her own needs and wants. if she doesn't like something, it must be changed. She holds grudges against the smallest things and at one point even wishes harm upon herself so that others will feel bad for her, just because they made her mad. She is prone to throwing "hissy fits" and such, but is very talented at lots of things, such as academics, ballet, acting, and singing- which also causes her to suffer from Barbie Syndrome, meaning she can do almost, well, everything. The fact that she does not get any less selfish or whiny throughout the first and second book doesn't help, but there were times when she was likeable and she was a great mother to Carrie and Cory. The other thing I didn't like was the fact that Christopher Dollenganger, her brother, seemed to worship his mother AND Cathy (which made Cathy very angry) in a way that just sort of creeped me out (for lack of better word). He easily seemed to forgive Cathy for her misdoings and never really got angry at things that I, and any reasonable person, would get angry for. The only times he did not worship or love Cathy was when she was derigatory towards their mother, and even then that just made HIM look stupider while it made Cathy look smarter and more in the right, which feeds her being a Mary-Sue. One more thing I didn't like was that the mother was the ultimate villain, because though that goes far to show how lust for money and fame can change a person, it is unrealistic the things she did, and Cathy was the only one who didn't like their mother, who was a very weak and very horrible person. Everyone else, Cory, Carrie, and Chris, seemed to be blind to how horrible and despicable their mother was acting- they all loved and forgave her for the things she did almost the second she entered the room. Cathy was the only one with sense enough NOT to forgive her, which is good and makes me respect Cathy, but is also bothersome to see how dense the rest of her family and the other characters are when it comes to things that are so obvious. It was infuriating, at times, how dense Cathy's siblings were- especially Chris[topher]. However, Andrews made up for mary-sue Cathy and slightly dull, worshipping-Chris in the way she told the story and how powerful the plot and writing was. Unlike many Young Adult books now adays, this story did have a plot that was NOT relying on the characters themselves. If you took away the characters, there would still be a solid plot. This story also has many morals and things that deal with the hardships of life and I think it's great to find a story with such power behind its plot. You are with Chris and Cathy as they deal with puberty and raising themselves and their siblings all alone. You are there as the twins fall ill, as they are mistreated by their grandmother, and as their own mother falls in love more with MONEy than her own children. These aspects, of course, are unrealistic, but they do touch your heart in a way that is hard to describe. Just watching them grow up and have to deal with these things makes this book a worthy read. However, this is also a painful read- not because it is a bad book, but because of the horrible, atrocious things the characters have to deal with, even having their own mother do the worst things imaginable for money. It goes far to show how our world is today- how greedy people can be, how manipulative looks and money is, how hard it is to grow up, such and such. I think this is a great book with depth, and despite the characters lacking development and common sense at times, I really did enjoy this book. It was very well written, captivating, and it took many risks along the way. I think it's a great read and I recommend it to mature teenagers and to adults. There is something terrorizing and mesmerizing about this book. It's horrible and sad and twisted and has incest and an attempt at murder and even has rape...but something about it makes it a enjoyable book anyway. I guess it's the way the author HANDLES all those mature topics. She handles it well, in the end. -Astrid

In Flowers in the Attic, the first installment of The Dollenganger series, Cathy, Carrie, Chris, and Cory, four siblings, must deal with living in the dark attic in their grandparent's house after their fathers death, while their mother tries to win back her father and inherit a fortune.
This is, needless to say, a very mature book. It was written by the well known V.C, Andrews, and I picked it up last-minute because I was desperate for a new book- any book. I saw the cover, the time, and bought it before the store closed. When I got home, I started to read. And I was very hooked.
The story deals with many topics as the four dollenganger siblings grow up in the attic, topics such as puberty, family, wealth, love, sex (yes, there is lots of sex. Its mentioned quite a lot, actually, and I read this when I was younger and was wondering how someone could write such risky, naughty topics), and such. It is very powerful and immensely well-written. The only thing that detained me from rating this story was Catherine Dollenganger, better known as Cathy, the narrator of this book. She suffers from Mary-Sue syndrome, though she is probably not even close to making it to the top 100 Mary Sues I have ever read about. Cathy can be selfish, egotistical, mean, stubborn, and whiny. Whenever she doesn't get her way or sometime upsets her, she becomes easily upset and refuses to forgive for quite awhile. She doesn't have a great relationship with her mother, dances ballet, and is described as obscenely beautiful, like her mother, with lush blond hair and fair skin and big blue eyes, like a dresden doll. The reason I rated this three stars rather than four is because I couldn't really like Cathy. I felt sympathetic towards her, but she didn't really show a lot of character development, and even in the next book she seemed to be still selfish, whiny and self centered. Though she does care for others, like Cory, Carrie, and Chris, most of the time she thinks of herself first, and her own needs and wants. if she doesn't like something, it must be changed. She holds grudges against the smallest things and at one point even wishes harm upon herself so that others will feel bad for her, just because they made her mad. She is prone to throwing "hissy fits" and such, but is very talented at lots of things, such as academics, ballet, acting, and singing- which also causes her to suffer from Barbie Syndrome, meaning she can do almost, well, everything. The fact that she does not get any less selfish or whiny throughout the first and second book doesn't help, but there were times when she was likeable and she was a great mother to Carrie and Cory. The other thing I didn't like was the fact that Christopher Dollenganger, her brother, seemed to worship his mother AND Cathy (which made Cathy very angry) in a way that just sort of creeped me out (for lack of better word). He easily seemed to forgive Cathy for her misdoings and never really got angry at things that I, and any reasonable person, would get angry for. The only times he did not worship or love Cathy was when she was derigatory towards their mother, and even then that just made HIM look stupider while it made Cathy look smarter and more in the right, which feeds her being a Mary-Sue.
One more thing I didn't like was that the mother was the ultimate villain, because though that goes far to show how lust for money and fame can change a person, it is unrealistic the things she did, and Cathy was the only one who didn't like their mother, who was a very weak and very horrible person. Everyone else, Cory, Carrie, and Chris, seemed to be blind to how horrible and despicable their mother was acting- they all loved and forgave her for the things she did almost the second she entered the room. Cathy was the only one with sense enough NOT to forgive her, which is good and makes me respect Cathy, but is also bothersome to see how dense the rest of her family and the other characters are when it comes to things that are so obvious. It was infuriating, at times, how dense Cathy's siblings were- especially Chris[topher].

However, Andrews made up for mary-sue Cathy and slightly dull, worshipping-Chris in the way she told the story and how powerful the plot and writing was. Unlike many Young Adult books now adays, this story did have a plot that was NOT relying on the characters themselves. If you took away the characters, there would still be a solid plot. This story also has many morals and things that deal with the hardships of life and I think it's great to find a story with such power behind its plot. You are with Chris and Cathy as they deal with puberty and raising themselves and their siblings all alone. You are there as the twins fall ill, as they are mistreated by their grandmother, and as their own mother falls in love more with MONEy than her own children. These aspects, of course, are unrealistic, but they do touch your heart in a way that is hard to describe. Just watching them grow up and have to deal with these things makes this book a worthy read. However, this is also a painful read- not because it is a bad book, but because of the horrible, atrocious things the characters have to deal with, even having their own mother do the worst things imaginable for money. It goes far to show how our world is today- how greedy people can be, how manipulative looks and money is, how hard it is to grow up, such and such. I think this is a great book with depth, and despite the characters lacking development and common sense at times, I really did enjoy this book. It was very well written, captivating, and it took many risks along the way. I think it's a great read and I recommend it to mature teenagers and to adults. There is something terrorizing and mesmerizing about this book. It's horrible and sad and twisted and has incest and an attempt at murder and even has rape...but something about it makes it a enjoyable book anyway. I guess it's the way the author HANDLES all those mature topics. She handles it well, in the end. -Astrid

If its there, I've read it.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Review: Flowers In The Attic by V.C Andrews

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