Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

13 reviews

renee_chrys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

andrewhatesham's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Very disturbing... but it's supposed to be like that. Can't exactly say I enjoyed this book, but I was certainly pulled into the story, enough to read it super fast because I jus had to know what happened next! I'd say it's pretty immersive and well written, and the way it ended definitely has me interested in reading the next book in the series. But yeah, it's pretty uncomfortable, and sad; if you've read it and hated it, I totally understand why. Wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Incest, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape and Sexual content

Minor: Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

kelseyr713's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

2014 review: This is a bleak gut punch of a book. I was absolutely compelled to keep reading, despite a stilted writing style that was inadvertently humorous at times. Cathy is just so earnest about everything. ("Golly-lolly!") I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series. I unfortunately went in knowing what I thought was the twist, but there was so much more to the book than that. I worried and rooted for the Dollanganger children the whole way through.

2024 review: Re-read for book club. I honestly can't believe I forgot so much of the plot of this book. All I retained was the incest (but I forgot it was non-consensual), the attic, and the scary grandma. I forgot they had a bedroom, I forgot that Cory dies, I forgot all the twists during the ending. I feel like the incest overshadows this book and its public perception SO MUCH when the actual moment is a single page. I do agree with my 2014 review that the writing is stiff/stilted, but when you consider that Cathy is writing the events years later looking back, and that she lost a lot of schooling time, it makes sense. Does a fantastic job of making you flip the pages as fast as possible while your skin is crawling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Incest only happens over the course of one page. Incest is non-consensual brother-sister. Mother attempts to kill her children via arsenic poisoning; succeeds in killing one.