Name: Flowers in the Attic
Rating: 3.626829268292683 (205 reviews)

Virginia C. Andrews

This is the extraordinary novel that has captured millions in its spell!

Flowers in the Attic

Up in the attic, four secrets are hidden. Four blonde, beautiful, innocent little secrets, struggling to stay alive…

Chris, Cathy, Cory and Carrie have perfect lives – until a tragic accident changes everything. Now they must wait, hidden from view in their grandparents’ attic, as their mother tries to figure out what to do next. But as days turn into weeks and weeks into months, the siblings endure unspeakable horrors and face the terrifying realisation that they might not be let out of the attic after all.

Virginia Andrews is a publishing phenomenon, with over 100 million books in print. Still as terrifying now as it was when it first appeared, Flowers in the Attic is a gripping story of a family’s greed, betrayal and heartbreak.
--back cover

Tim Pendry

This dark Gothic romance about betrayal, adolescent sexuality, rape, murder, incest, greed, religious mania and cruelty became the basis for a major bestseller series in the 1980s centred on a perfect family with a secret that draws them and us into a very nasty world indeed. The book itself is not high art although Andrews (many of whose subsequent novels had to be ghosted for the market on her death) writes in an easy to read manner that works well in telling the tale from the point of view of a romantic adolescent girl (ultimately to be her audience). What is interesting is why it was so popular amongst women of that particular era because it is unlikely that many men bought the book. This probably comes down to Andrews ability to offer a range of transgressional fantasies in a coating of innocence. The rape and incest fantasies themselves are barely sugared but at the heart of the story lie two women villains. There is the mother, cold and calculating offering a disposable shallow love with her interest more in the pleasures of the gaudy and sensual than in motherhood. Then there is her mother, also cold and greedy but imbued with an inherent cruelty justified by religious mania. The father figures are distant two sides of a coin - loving perfection that dies early and hard grandfatherly cruelty that is never seen except at a distance. This is an exercise in self-psychotherapy by a woman crippled with disability and ready to settle some scores. The book is coldly dedicated 'to my mother'. It does not take a genius to find that dedication not a particularly loving one in light of the book's story line. In the book, four children are incarcerated in a single room leading to a dusty but spacious attic and there they live out years of lost time as prisoners because of the shame and greed of others. It is not hard to see this being linked to Andrews' own life experiences. It is also lined up for a sequel tale of revenge which I shall probably not read although I suspect many young women who get to the end of this book will need more than they want to see how that revenge will be exacted. Why did so many women relate to the story in 1979? The obviously transgressional elements are present but not as dominant as this mother resentment. One suspects that not a few women feeling trapped in their world were inclined to blame their mothers for their predicament at that time. This was the period of transition from the conformity of materialism to the age of the career woman following her own path (the girl, Cathy, wants to be a dancer). The late 1970s saw a lot of women 'left behind' and turning their resentment backwards on their conformist mothers. Daddies, at this stage, are still being looked up to as either paragons or cold distant patriarchs (later feminism would concentrate more direct ire on the patriarch) but it is the mother who is to blame for being detached from love and attached to other realities such as money or religion. The books were thus originally of a particular culture, time and place. This first in the Dollenganger saga was published in 1979 and Andrews died in 1986 yet books on the same themes continued to be churned out by Andrew Neiderman, providing adolescent 'guilty pleasures' as if cream cake. Andrews had tapped into a dark sexually transgressive fantasy world much as Bram Stoker once did, creating a world where young women could move from Andrews mother hatred into a fantasy world that fed some of their darkest desires, from which they would have run a mile in reality. This need to keep transgression firmly in fantasy is sustained in the film versions. The story is clearly eminently filmable except that it isn't ... how do you bring the incestuous rape between adolescents into the open and then make it appear consensual (sort of) as Andrews does? The answer is that you don't (the films tone it down considerably) because the fans almost certainly do not want their fantasy made bestial reality. Cathy in the novel's tale is quite consciously of a romantic fantasy coming to terms with brutish human motivations. But, in the struggle between fantasy and reality, in the end brutish reality must not triumph, love must prevail and so must hope for the paragon male, despite his weaknesses, to appear and be protective and faithful. Making the transgressions real on film kills the fantasy. However, the small genius of the book lies in its ambiguities. Love is reasserted as the primary value even if that love can triumph only with difficulty. God is still there somewhere gathering little ones into his dominion. The values remains Victorian-sentimental. This is an intensely private book that just happens to appeal to hundreds of thousands of young women who also treat it, I suspect, as if it was written just for them. The mass market has thus constructed eternal verities that give us a partial view of our deeper nature. Although I will probably not read another Andrews, i suggest that every male should read not just Jane Austen but at least one Georgette Heyer and one Virginia Andrews if he is ever to get close to understanding essential aspects of the gender with whom he shares this planet. And perhaps aspects of himself ...

Great read before I watch the version on TV. I remember my mum reading this book in the eighties 

Joanna Tweedale

Nina

this book was absolutely heartbreaking. i did see some of the twists coming, but the impact still was felt when they discovered the betrayal they had experienced. 

also, fuck whoever thinks this is a "forbidden love story." you make me sick. 

kaii

this book was absolutely heartbreaking. i did see some of the twists coming, but the impact still was felt when they discovered the betrayal they had experienced. 

also, fuck whoever thinks this is a "forbidden love story." you make me sick. 

V. C. Andrews

this book was absolutely heartbreaking. i did see some of the twists coming, but the impact still was felt when they discovered the betrayal they had experienced. 

also, fuck whoever thinks this is a "forbidden love story." you make me sick. 

this book was absolutely heartbreaking. i did see some of the twists coming, but the impact still was felt when they discovered the betrayal they had experienced. 

also, fuck whoever thinks this is a "forbidden love story." you make me sick. 

V.C. Andrews

Celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the enduring gothic masterpiece Flowers in the Attic—the unforgettable forbidden love story that earned V.C. Andrews a fiercely devoted fan base and became an international cult classic. At the top of the stairs there are four secrets hidden—blond, innocent, and fighting for their lives… They were a perfect and beautiful family—until a heartbreaking tragedy shattered their happiness. Now, for the sake of an inheritance that will ensure their future, the children must be hidden away out of sight, as if they never existed. They are kept in the attic of their grandmother’s labyrinthine mansion, isolated and alone. As the visits from their seemingly unconcerned mother slowly dwindle, the four children grow ever closer and depend upon one another to survive both this cramped world and their cruel grandmother. A suspenseful and thrilling tale of family, greed, murder, and forbidden love, Flowers in the Attic is the unputdownable first novel of the epic Dollanganger family saga. The Dollanganger series includes: Flowers in the Attic, Petals in the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, Garden of Shadows, Beneath the Attic, and Out of the Attic.

Flowers In The Attic

Lindy

Flowers in the Attic does not deserve the reputation it has. First, I expected to be morally outraged. I was not. Second, I expected it to be campy. It was not.

If one of the purposes of young adult novels is to instruct young people in how to approach, understand, and interpret literature, then Flowers in the Attic is a primer for gothic fiction, and is, in that way, successful.

Ivy X

Reread: still a very haunting and strange read. 
It doesn't sit well because it contains incest, religious trauma, a mother hiding and even trying to get rid of her children, etc. But it is fascinating to see the characters mature despite living for years in an attic with no contact with the outside world. 

The foreword by Gillian Flynn captures the intrigue of this book perfectly: "What kept me circling around to the beginning was that hyper-Gothic female evil. The emotionally cold, physically abusive grandmother. The cloying, manipulative, mind-warping mother. It felt so new and stunning to me--these witches who seemed quite real. I devoured the sequels less to learn about Cath's tragic love story than to see what kind of woman Cathy became -- princess, witch, a bit of both?--and what she'd do with all those awful urges she inherited." 

Other quotes:
- When you grow up, and have a million adult things to do, you forget how long a day can be for a child. 
-She even had the money to buy a much younger man to love, and sleep with--and what did Chris and I have but broken dreams, shattered promises, and unending frustrations? And what did the twins have, but a dollhouse and a mouse and ever-declining health? 
-There is no hate such as that born out of love betrayed--and my brain screamed out for revenge.

I simply do not know what stars to give this. Beautifully written but intensely noncey.

Holly Alice Jess Middleton-Spencer

Jessica Field

** spoiler alert **
           The book I have read recently and chosen to review is called Flowers in the Attic, written by Virginia Andrews in the 1970s. It is a gothic novel set in the 1950s in Pennsylvania. This book, followed by the main character Cathy's point of view, shows how the Dollangager family's life fell apart as their father died in a car accident. Their mother Corrine, with her four children aged 14, 12, 4 and 4 years old, has no money and has to move them all into her rich parents' home far away in the middle of the night. They have to leave all their belongings at their old home except for once suitcase of clothes. Due to uncontrollable circumstances, the children have to be locked and hidden in the attic and never seen - in her childhood, their mother had done something to anger her father so much that he wrote her out of the will. If he found out she had children his hatred would deepen even more. As she slowly tries to win back her father's approval, the mother forgets how much she once adored her children and starts to forget them, whilst their grandmother abuses them. This novel has a lot of dark themes such as incest, rape, murder, death, betrayal, deception, loss, grief and hopelessness, which may not be suitable for some. However, I would recommend this book to people aged over 14 because it is original, interesting, written well and leaves a lasting impression. It is a thriller novel that always urges you to keep on reading. Here is an excerpt from the book: 'It is so appropriate to colour hope yellow, like that sun we seldom saw. And as I begin to copy from the old memorandum journals that I kept for so long, a title comes as if inspired. Open the Window and Stand in the Sunshine. Yet, I hesitate to name our story that for I think of us more as flowers in the attic. Paper flowers. Born so brightly coloured, and fading duller through all those long, grim, dreary, nightmarish days when we were held prisoners of hope, and kept captives by greed. But, we were never to colour even one of our paper blossoms yellow.' The book's main theme is betrayal because the children were betrayed by the person who they once gave all their trust. These children must learn how to adapt to their new environment and how to take care of themselves as the years go by.

Missy Zuber 

First V.C Andrews book I read all because a friend told me about it since it was on her summer reading list when we were starting high school.

Read summer of 1997.

Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger Family 1)

Sian Wadey

Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews

I was recommended this by a ten year old. It's not something I'd normally go for, but it was cheap on Amazon so I thought I'd give it a go. It was a good read and it didn't take me long to get emotionally invested with the characters. I want to read the rest of them now.

irina 

i dont ever want to read anything like this in my life ever again

Liza 

I'm rating this a 3 but it is actually more like a 3.4.

I heard two ways this book was generally described: as a weirdo incest sex romp and as a story of progressively escalating child abuse. It definitely ended up being the latter. There was a grand total of one sex scene in this book. The rest of it was about four children growing up locked in an attic for four years. The thing that strikes me the most is I bet this actually happens, or easily can - if I was 12 and my mom told me that we'd have to just stay in an attic "for one night" I would believe her, and I can see myself continuing to believe her as one day turned to a week, or months, or years and you just got conditioned to being there. 

As for the incest angle - definitely not as porny as some reviews made it sound. The 12 year old protagonist is stuck in an attic with her 14 year old brother (plus two 4 year old twin siblings). They are in there long enough for both of the older children to go through puberty and stuff happens. The feelings of reluctant-attraction-slash-sexual-tension are described in some detail and there is some kissing and stuff, but like I said, a grand total of one (really bad) sex scene. There is nothing very risque about it (then again apparently many people read this in middle school? Maybe it was a little more shocking at that age). The main plot of the book and the most memorable thing about it is the transformation of their mother from a loving parent to an abusive monster (view spoiler)[who apparently tries to murder them and succeeds with one of the twins (hide spoiler)], an illustration of how a kid could actually end up in this kind of situation, and the coming of age of a couple of kids.

Sasha Mann

The beginning of the story hits you hard, showing you a loving family before tearing them apart with the death of the father. The children and their mother are off to live with grandparents who are apparently very rich. Only to find out they are instantly hated by the grandmother, the only of the two grandparents to even know of their existence.  They are kept in the attic room, not allowed to roam anywhere else. Truly a very bleak and horrible way to spend time. We learn just how horrible the grandmother is, the only member that the children have contact with besides their mother on occasion. 
There is a growing sense of unease as time passes and the Dollanganger children are still left in the attic, their mom carrying on a more normal life. We see how the kids adjust to their living quarters,, how they make the best out of a bad situation.. Sure she does on them when when can,but it just isn't the same. It doesn't sit right. As a parent I just can't picture her not doing everything in her power to get her kids free of the attic as soon as possible.
A truly gut wrenching and horrid secret comes to light and it leaves the reader completely shocked and horrified. So many emotions are felt in the last several chapters.

Lucia silva

¿Que decir?
Me gustó el libro, lo quería leer desde hace mucho mucho tiempo por razones personales (alguien que quería le gustaba mucho) pero ya había visto las dos peliculas y no lo sé... sentí que podría haber sido diferente. Más emocionante tal vez, las cosas que pasaban era debiles, como que sin fuerza. El final no tiene fuerza, se escapan tan fácil que te da bronca. Uno se queda como "PERO PERO... TAN FACIL?". Entiendo en el abuso mental que tenían estos jovenes para no salir de su cuarto pero... no lo sé, esperaba más. Lo "romantico" no me gustó, realmente me sonó forzado. Esperaba un romance mucho mejor, más desarrollado teniendo en cuenta la gravedad del asunto.
Así que nada, no fue decepcionante pero estaba MUCHO más.

Samantha 

What did I just read? That was disturbing, and a complete mind-f***. But it was so good!!! Such a tragic story. So many tears I had!

Emir Andrés Ibañez

Drama, incesto, secretos y mucha plata en juego. Las sagas familiares son mi debilidad y no podía no leer este clásico de culto. Pasen a echarle un vistazo a mi reseña en el canal.
Link al video: https://youtu.be/MjTKdWcRd2Q

Nota

I started reading this because my friend picked it up. I won't judge them for their choices, they probably just wanted to read a work of horror, but the book in question... ugh.

Why I hated reading this book:

1. No self-awareness coupled with bad execution -

This book contains taboo subjects and utilizes them like a toddler throwing darts of a truck. Edgy stories can be great, but this one has horrible morals that make no sense, is written like a telenovela, and then acts like it's appropriate for teens. One moment you will see something not age-appropriate and another a character saying "Golly-lolly that's terrible! Gosh!". Why is this written? You can say it's to show how abuse works, but for that, there are far better stories. You can say that you have to consider the timeframe this book was released in, but that means, it did not stand the test of time.

2. Bad character voices -

The kids, especially in the beginning, while being aged 12 and 14, speak like the elderly trying to get up the chair. Should I assume that reading a lot of books and being locked up for a little while made them that way? No, books don't do that and they had plenty of time outside before. Their parents sound more youthful, why can't the kids?

There's plenty of contradictions and leaps of logic they make which is common in abusive relationships, but here their struggles feel more like plot devices to delay the inevitable and drag out the story. They give up their strong convictions as fast as a bullet train when they need to.

3. Dull narration -

The main character narrates the story. You can excuse her bad storytelling by saying she's 12, but regardless of the intention, the book is still dull and unenjoyable. She spends a long time on descriptions of objects, throws way too many adjectives, and tells irrelevant plot details.

Some amusing things:

*She spoke with her brother and told him that this method of long narration is more immersive and made him use it, he was narrating his story fine before.

*In the prologue, the narrator compares herself to Charles Dickens and boasts that her craft has a lot more sweat, tears, and blood, she also calls him her favorite author, so it's hard to understand her intention, just like the intentions of this book overall.

Because of the narration, it's hard to even laugh at how horrible the writing is. If an editor looked through this book, it would become a pamphlet.

4. Terrible pacing -

Time passes and it never feels satisfying. Certain characters disappear for long stretches of time, even if they are there every day according to the story. A lot of scenes could be shorter or avoided. The drama and the quiet are not balanced, the first part of the book goes on forever with barely any drama.

5. Toxic masculinity -

The narrator just has to comment on her mom's swelling breasts, her figure, which makes her into a woman according to her. She also comments on her sister's panties in detail, I get that taking care of children can be gross, but maybe keep it to a few sentences, nobody wants to know about the ruffles on your sister's panties. Her brother can't keep hands to himself either, he wants his woman to be without a flaw, to not abandon him even when he's deep in debt and lost all his money. He can describe them as bad as her.

As the book goes along it gets worse, the peak is blaming the rape victims for being too seductive.

Redeeming points that I tried to find:

1. Not gatekeeping art -

The author is an artist and she clearly doesn't believe in talent, but skill and hard work. Most people can do it if they try long enough.

2. Somewhat trying to educate you, a little -

There are references to other books and there's random trivia that's thrown sometimes.

. . .

Ye, this is just bad djshahdhsadhashd

It was a game of happy families.

The four children had such perfect lives in such a happy, golden family

It was a game of hide and seek.

Their father died suddenly The children now lived alone, hidden in the airless attic.

It was a case of tender, loving murder.

Their mother promised they would stay only long enough to inherit the fortune. But gradually she forgot how much she adored those children.

Flowers in the Attic: the compelling story of a family betrayal and heartbreak, love and revenge.
--back cover

I started reading this because my friend picked it up. I won't judge them for their choices, they probably just wanted to read a work of horror, but the book in question... ugh.

Why I hated reading this book:

1. No self-awareness coupled with bad execution -

This book contains taboo subjects and utilizes them like a toddler throwing darts of a truck. Edgy stories can be great, but this one has horrible morals that make no sense, is written like a telenovela, and then acts like it's appropriate for teens. One moment you will see something not age-appropriate and another a character saying "Golly-lolly that's terrible! Gosh!". Why is this written? You can say it's to show how abuse works, but for that, there are far better stories. You can say that you have to consider the timeframe this book was released in, but that means, it did not stand the test of time.

2. Bad character voices -

The kids, especially in the beginning, while being aged 12 and 14, speak like the elderly trying to get up the chair. Should I assume that reading a lot of books and being locked up for a little while made them that way? No, books don't do that and they had plenty of time outside before. Their parents sound more youthful, why can't the kids?

There's plenty of contradictions and leaps of logic they make which is common in abusive relationships, but here their struggles feel more like plot devices to delay the inevitable and drag out the story. They give up their strong convictions as fast as a bullet train when they need to.

3. Dull narration -

The main character narrates the story. You can excuse her bad storytelling by saying she's 12, but regardless of the intention, the book is still dull and unenjoyable. She spends a long time on descriptions of objects, throws way too many adjectives, and tells irrelevant plot details. 

Some amusing things:

*She spoke with her brother and told him that this method of long narration is more immersive and made him use it, he was narrating his story fine before.

*In the prologue, the narrator compares herself to Charles Dickens and boasts that her craft has a lot more sweat, tears, and blood, she also calls him her favorite author, so it's hard to understand her intention, just like the intentions of this book overall.

Because of the narration, it's hard to even laugh at how horrible the writing is. If an editor looked through this book, it would become a pamphlet.

4. Terrible pacing -

Time passes and it never feels satisfying. Certain characters disappear for long stretches of time, even if they are there every day according to the story. A lot of scenes could be shorter or avoided. The drama and the quiet are not balanced, the first part of the book goes on forever with barely any drama.

5. Toxic masculinity -

The narrator just has to comment on her mom's swelling breasts, her figure, which makes her into a woman according to her. She also comments on her sister's panties in detail, I get that taking care of children can be gross, but maybe keep it to a few sentences, nobody wants to know about the ruffles on your sister's panties.  Her brother can't keep hands to himself either, he wants his woman to be without a flaw, to not abandon him even when he's deep in debt and lost all his money. He can describe them as bad as her. 

As the book goes along it gets worse, the peak is blaming the rape victims for being too seductive.

Redeeming points that I tried to find:

1. Not gatekeeping art -

The author is an artist and she clearly doesn't believe in talent, but skill and hard work. Most people can do it if they try long enough.

2. Somewhat trying to educate you, a little -

There are references to other books and there's random trivia that's thrown sometimes.

. . .

Ye, this is just bad djshahdhsadhashd

I was not prepared the short emotional roller coaster that was this book. A young girl, loving and trusting her mother through the painful loss of her father, is tragically turned against her as she and her siblings are hidden away in an attic to wilt like flowers without the sun.

Something that continually haunts me is the naive, simple thoughts of a twelve year old girl slowly beginning to realize that the mother she loved was, in fact, a shallow liar. The emotional journey she and her siblings undergo as they cope with entrapment is something that grips the reader, to the point that I didn't really want to put it down and finished it in about a day.

The only reason it didn't get five stars was because it was hard to stretch my imagination to believe that the children had rarely thought of escape before the time they did. Especially since the grandmother was supposedly so horrid. I also found it hard to believe the scene where a sibling offers for another to drink his own blood, as if that were something that would pop into a child's head like it was normal.

Otherwise it is definitely a good read, just know that there is some incest and some rather grotesque scenes, as this is definitely more on the horror side of fiction.

Amber Mostowyj

It was the best book I have read in a very LONG time

Kerri McDonald

Wow. So I was aware that this book had a reputation for being disturbing. Honestly, that is kinda why I picked it up, lol! Well, it certainly lived up to that reputation. What I wasn't expecting was that it was also very well written. I don't know why I had assumef it would be subpar, but it definitely was not! Excellent read and I will definitely be continuing with this series.

Denise B.

I read this in like 7th grade & it blew my young mind out of the water. I can appreciate as someone that is now wiser, the impact in literature. I would call this a cult classic if not a modern classic since a lot of Andrews' story structure is seen a lot in current times. This is a story about a seemingly perfect family fractured by a tragedy and a now widowed single mother having to figure out how to survive without a husband to depend on. There is no happy ending and a lot of f*cked up shit goes on that not many readers care for but truth hurts. It's very interesting on a psycological & biological level - you just have to get past the knee jerk distaste.

Nikki Sojkowski

This book is thoroughly screwed up. The father dies, the mom doesn't work, and so the family moves in with their grandparents. But if anyone finds out that the mother has four kids than she won't inherit her dying parents huge fortune. So the mother and the grandmother lock the 4 kids up in a room that connects up to the attic that they're never allowed to leave. The grandmother brings them food (view spoiler)[in the morning that consists of donuts with arsenic on them. (hide spoiler)] The eldest daughter and son (view spoiler)[start a sexual relationship (hide spoiler)]. Basically the entire book is "what the f*ck, did that seriously just happen?" and my poor innocent mind read this in 6th grade. 

The only reason I remembered reading this series was because I went to the movies and saw a trailer for this book's adaptation and had some PTSD-type flashbacks... who the hell wants to see this as a movie?

Flowers in the Attic

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