From the Bookshelf of Read by Theme…

Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1)

V.C. Andrews

Start date: September 4, 2012

Why we're reading this: I Chose this one because it has been such a long time since reading the book, and I saw another also read…more
[close] I Chose this one because it has been such a long time since reading the book, and I saw another also reading this book for the theme as well. So if anyone likes who happens to be reading or have read wants to discuss it, I am up for it :D

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Apr 08, 2012 Kat rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: udate, horror, ya

Somewhere in my adolescence, I appear to have missed the memo about V.C. Andrews. It was only after a discussion on Goodreads that two friends pointed me in the direction of Flowers in the Attic, and it was only then I realised it was a book read by many tween/teen girls in the 1980s, which should have (almost) included me. I was immediately intrigued - after all, how explicit and creepy could this book really be?

It was only after I finished reading that I realised what the attraction here actua Somewhere in my adolescence, I appear to have missed the memo about V.C. Andrews. It was only after a discussion on Goodreads that two friends pointed me in the direction of Flowers in the Attic, and it was only then I realised it was a book read by many tween/teen girls in the 1980s, which should have (almost) included me. I was immediately intrigued - after all, how explicit and creepy could this book really be?

It was only after I finished reading that I realised what the attraction here actually was - all those taboo topics that were rarely spoken about during my teen years, along with one huge one that's rarely spoken about now culminate into a book that although it appears to have been written for readers of a certain age, is the reading equivalent of watching a car crash for hormone-ridden teenagers.

To be honest, the writing is, well, crap. The language and dialogue is cringe-worthy and extremely outdated - the word 'golly' is used a whopping nineteen times, and often combined with 'day'. The characters are either blindingly naive or so nasty I wanted to throw them down the stairs, there are generous lashings of innuendo and the story itself borders on the ridiculous. How a bunch of children can live in an attic for a long period of time without a household full of servants even guessing that something other than 'hundreds of mice' was living upstairs, how the mothers friends and family don't guess that she'd popped out four kids and how the grandmothers crackpot religiousness both discouraged and yet in a way encouraged the inevitable really pushes the limits of believably, but in the end it was so engrossing I really didn't care.

And yet, I found this incredibly readable simply because it was like watching that car crash. It's creepy and controversial yet appallingly written, but I went straight out and bought the next book, Petals on the Wind.

I can't with any integrity rate this book - on one hand I rolled my eyes so hard they hurt, on the other I was completely captivated. ...more

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Apr 27, 2016 Kingfan30 rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bbc-big-read

Like many, I read this book many years ago when I was in my teens. In fact I think I read the whole series. Anyway this has been on my shelf for a long while and I felt it needed moving on after a reread. I vaguely remembered the story line, but there was quite a bit I had forgotten. It really is quite a horrifying storyline, however looking back the language used is quite amusing at times, and showing its age. I can imagine it was quite shocking when it was released. It says at the beginning th ...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Harmony rated it really liked it

I read this book in the 6th grade, not that long ago (5 years ago) and I guess the story was confusing to mr because I was 11. I'm thinking about reading it a second time because I would like to get the full effect of it, now that I'm older. I remember the story itself, was amazing. The way the characters treated each other, took the story to a new level. I would love to read it multiple times more. ...more

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