Book Review: Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

“Let’s go forth tomorrow with no great expectations of finding perfection.

Then, expecting only a small share of happiness, we won’t be disappointed.”

When I was about ten, my mom was talking about Flowers in the Attic. She seemed to have forgotten I was in the room, and when she realized I was in earshot she looked at me and said "You're not allowed to read Flowers in the Attic."

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate the idea of being in trouble and I don't usually go against authority, so I didn't read it. Then, at 23 years old, I remembered that Flowers in the Attic existed and thought "I'm an adult now and I can read what I want."

Suffice to say, I had no idea what I was getting into.

The Technical Stuff

Reading Format: Audiobook by Simon and Schuster audio. Narrated by Mena Suvari.

Genres: Psychological Horror, Fiction

Content Rating: MA

NeuroCandy Scale: 🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary from the Simon and Schuster Website

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.

Review

First thing’s first… this is not a NeuroCandy book, hence the vegetable rating under the technical stuff. This one is rough. Yet... the general consensus among the population treats it as though it is a NeuroCandy book, which I’ll admit I still don’t understand. I guess you had to be there? (By which I mean: be a 12-15 year old in the 80’s/90’s. Reading the popular opinions of this book really reminds me how young I am.)

The most concise way that I can say how I feel about this book is that I was incredibly disgusted, couldn't believe what I was listening to, and felt like I should put it down... but I couldn't. Despite how icky this book made me feel, I listened to it from start to finish.

Not only did I listen to the whole thing, I was emotional while doing so. Of course, disgust was the most prominent emotion, but I also felt empathy, sadness, anger... and despite how bleak everything was, I felt joy in the small things that were given. Near the end, I ugly cried in the car after what happened to Corey after everything the children had been through.

When I was still pretty early into the book, I almost stopped listening to it purely because of the voice acting that Suvari used for the twins. I understand that the twins are young and therefore whine and complain, but the screeching in my ears as I listened to her act out the voices of the tantrums almost gave me a headache. There is such a thing as character voices being too convincing and I almost couldn't do it. This is my only complaint about Suvari's narration; the rest was paced well and easy to listen to.

I know this book is infamous for its taboos. When I was done listening, I was sure that I would find it to be a book of literary merit with plenty of essays and articles written about it dissecting the themes and meaning of the text such as religion, family, and love. Imagine my surprise when I found that this book was incredibly popular among pre-teen girls back in the 80's.

This book is a mass market hit that 12-15 year old girls would pass around among friends without their parents knowing. A lot of parents would even give it to their young kids. When I read even further into it, I learned that a lot of people either don't see anything wrong with it, turn a blind eye, or even find it to be romantic. When you look up the genre of Flowers in the Attic, results will include young adult fiction. WHAT!?

Clearly, I have a lot to say about how horrifying this book is. So, why did I finish it? Well, why do any of us finish it? The biggest reason is the inherent morbid curiosity that humans have for disturbing events and situations. It's why true crime is so popular.

"People have a way of believing nothing terrible will ever happen to them, only to others."

For me, even though this book is appalling in every aspect, I thought it said a lot about the human condition and how society handles religion and familial relationships. As usual, I went into this book pretty blind and as I got further into the story I naturally fell into dissecting it with my English-literature-major-analyzing brain rather than my consuming-for-entertainment brain. I was treating it like a vegetable book instead of a NeuroCandy book… and I still do. You can’t change my mind. I think this is part of why I was so surprised when I found that most people were the opposite; I was looking at it from a different point of view than the masses (insert joke about being quirky and different here).

As someone who grew up with no religious influence in my life (seriously, I thought Jesus faked his death on the cross and the whole story was a metaphor for rebirth until I was 20 years old) I was fascinated by the religious aspect of Flowers in the Attic. While I understand the faith and belief in a higher power, I don't agree with organized religion because from what I've observed it has never worked. From what I understand, the way that many extreme Christians judge others goes against the teachings of acceptance and love from Christ.

I found the narrative of Flowers in the Attic to solidify the way I think about religion. As the reader, we see that the Dollanganger children are good kids who are innocent. However, the grandmother took it upon herself to judge them before meeting them based upon her understanding of God and the Bible.

"To believe in God is a good thing, a right thing.

But when you reinforce your belief with words you take from the Old Testament that you seek out,

and interpret in the ways that suit your needs best, that is hypocrisy."

We also see themes of child development as the oldest children experience puberty in captivity. This might be a controversial take, but I think it is similar to Lord of the Flies in that it theorizes what would happen if a group of children were left up to their own devices as they grow up, though Lord of the Flies does not have outside influences that visit the children like Flowers in the Attic does.

The book is melodramatic, but the intensity of how ridiculous and disturbing the circumstances of the book are only help to show the themes in a more obvious light than we see them in our society.

"People make the rules of society, not God."

Overall, I think highly of this giant WTF fest because of the way it can be analyzed, though like many things it is not taken seriously because it is (apparently) of interest to young girls. It fell into the reputation of being mass market entertainment, but I also believe it could qualify as an analytical piece that I would personally write an academic essay about. Perhaps my master’s program will provide the opportunity.

I gave Flowers in the Attic four stars because my disgust while reading was truly enough to knock off a star. However, despite the icky feeling the book left me with, I didn't stop thinking about it or reading about it for a solid month, which is why I rate it so highly. Even though the events of the book are horrific, it's a good read and I'll be questioning powdered donuts until the day I die. (Seriously, why does nobody talk about the powdered donut thing?)