Reviews

‘We lived in the attic, Christopher, Cory, Carrie, and me.’

The tragic death of her husband leaves Corinne penniless, unable to support her four children. At the tender age of eighteen, she was disowned by her wealthy parents for her sins, but a desperate letter to her mother, begging to be allowed to return to her childhood home, sees the five of them travelling to the sprawling estate – Foxworth Hall – in rural Virginia.

Corinne tells her children, Chris (14), Cathy (12), Cory and Carrie (5), that she needs a day or two to prepare her father to meet them. She informs them their Grandfather is dying, and that once she wins back his affections, she will inherit everything and they will be rich. But in the interim they must remain quiet and hidden, locked in a back bedroom on the second floor their Grandmother has prepared for them, with access to the attic via a staircase in the closet, to use as a playroom. But a day turns into a week, then a month, and then years pass. Chris, Cathy, Cory, and Carrie have long ago stopped caring about the Grandfather and the money. All they want is their freedom.

First published in 1979, set in the late 1950’s, Flowers in the Attic, and it's three sequels, Petals on the Wind (1980), If There Be Thorns (1981), Seeds of Yesterday (1984), and the prequel, Garden of Shadows (1986) have been favourites of mine for over thirty years. Part horror, family saga and drama, forbidden romance, coming of age and gothic tale, Flowers in the Attic is the troubling story of love, loss, abuse, secrets, lies, and betrayal.

Cathy is the sole first-person narrator, and we experience every injustice and shocking revelation as she, along with her brothers and sister, do. As a pre-teen I found Cathy’s thoughts, hopes and dreams, teen angst, body image issues, and mood swings to be very relatable, and as an adult reader my heart ached for her and her siblings and their suffering, and I admired Cathy's strength of character, and her caring nature. Chris, Cory, and Carrie were just as compelling, all with their own unique personality traits, and I love them all. The Grandmother and Corinne's behaviour and actions, particularly the latter’s selfishness and motivations, held a particular horrified fascination on this read through. How could any mother cast her children aside like this one did?

A prominent theme is the end of innocence. The consequences of being isolated and shut away drastically affect the children's physical, mental, emotional, and social development, as well as alter the course of their lives. Cathy and Chris are forced to grow up fast, taking on adult roles of surrogate parents and teachers to their younger siblings – sacrificing their own childhood to care for them. They do everything in their power to minimise the twins suffering, keeping them busy and entertained, making their tiny living space as comforting and homely as possible, and protecting them from the worst of the horrors that surround them.

For Chris and Cathy, teenagers on the cusp of manhood and womanhood, experiencing puberty in close quarters, acting the part of mother and father, causes them to become dangerously close, and develop sexual feelings for one another. The combination of the dark shadow of their recently learned family history hanging over them, and their fanatically religious Grandmother constantly reminding them that they are wicked, spawned from the Devil, evil from the moment of conception, and that it's only a matter of time until they succumb to their sinful lust contributes to this. Bored, starved of love, education, peer-to-peer contact, and adolescent milestones, it made sense that they become drawn to one another in an inappropriate way. It does contain a certain amount of the ick factor, but to be honest I think it helps that I don't have any brothers, and my overwhelming emotion back then, and now, were sadness for both Cathy and Chris.

Flowers in the Attic has elements of dark fairy tale. Cathy, with her long flowing blonde hair, is reminiscent of Rapunzel or a princess, locked up in a dark tower. The Grandmother is cruel, strict, cold, and severe looking, and controls their behaviour and environment through corporal punishment deprivation, judgement, authority, and humiliation. The mere thought of her strikes fear in the children and she is the embodiment of the hag, the old woman, and the witch of fairytale lore. Their mother is beautiful, helpless, weak-willed, and spoiled, showering them with gifts, but the longer they are kept in the attic the less connected she feels to them. The children possess doll-like features, are collectively called the Dresden dolls, their surname is Dollanganger, and Cathy is a talented ballerina who envisions her future stage name as Catherine Doll. The imposing Foxworth Hall has all the gothic trappings – creepy, shadowy, gloomy, depressing, and cut off from civilisation.

In my opinion Flowers in the Attic remains a must read. If you’ve never read it then what are you waiting for? If, like me, you devoured it when you were young, then I'm telling you now it deserves a re-read. I’m undoubtedly bias, because I read it for the first time when I was eleven, and wasn't scarred for life, but I still think it is suitable for a YA audience, the POV is a young person after all, and my local library agrees with me, and has it shelved accordingly. I look forward to picking up Petals on the Wind later this year, when the 40th Anniversary edition is released.

geraldineleyendo's review against another edition

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4.0

Disturbing and incredibly interesting drama - really strong characters.

ellilo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

kalarenee's review against another edition

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1.0

Disturbing. I swear this book messed me up. I read as a younger teen. I would not recommend to anyone and personally will never read it again.

It is a book for adults and they should be aware of disturbing content.

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