Flowers In The Attic

Flowers in the Attic is a somewhat disturbing novel by V.C. Andrews of his

Dollanganger series. After the sudden death of their father, four children face cruel

treatment from their ruthless grandmother. The majority of the story takes place in

the attic of the mother of the children’s childhood home. Flowers in the Attic is a

gothic tale of greed and incest that will keep readers spellbound until the final

paragraph. The conflict of the story is the grandmother. She constantly shadows the

children, whilst upbraiding them and haranguing them, undermining their natural

manner and eradicating their self-confidence. The theme of the book, I would think,

is incest - the children are locked away in the attic and the eldest two of

the four,

being teenagers [ya know]…….. The protagonist of the novel is Cathy. She is the

second child and older daughter of Christopher and Corrine. She aspires to become

a ballerina and later becomes an accomplished novelist.

Corrine is the mother of the

children. She eventually becomes an antagonist in the story when she turns against

and abandons her children in order to gain her dying father’s inheritance. She

marries her father’s attorney, Bart, losing interest in her children and late husband.

The audience would probably undergo a strong, rapidly progressive disliking for the

mother and her neglect. The story is in no way shape or form intended for very

young, immature audiences. Mature, adolescent readers may be very interested in

the plot of this novel as it contains mature content and is very suspenseful with its

abrupt turns in storyline. The sequence of events in the story are arranged in the

best possible way, to keep readers “on the edge”. A teenage audience could relate to

the children locked away in the attic because they are restricted, confined rather.

They have no say-so in what their mom and grandmother do as their guardians,

much like a normal teenage life. The majority of the book’s diction is colloquial as it

is comprised of mostly dialogue. It’s contents are legible and understandable to a

adolescent/adult audience. I have to admit that I would indeed read this book

again.

This book was:

Devious, Thought Provoking, and Tragic,

Yet Romantic and Heartfelt.

I would most definitely recommend this book to any and every mature interested

reader.