Author: V.C. Andrews
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Gallery
Publish Date: 1979
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.
Why You're Reading This Book:
- You love to hate terrifying characters.
- You're looking for something campy.
From Goodreads.com: "It wasn't that she didn't love her children. She did. But there was a fortune at stake--a fortune that would assure their later happiness if she could keep the children a secret from her dying father.
So she and her mother hid her darlings away in an unused attic.
Just for a little while.
But the brutal days swelled into agonizing years. Now Cathy, Chris, and the twins wait in their cramped and helpless world, stirred by adult dreams, adult desires, served a meager sustenance by an angry, superstitious grandmother who knows that the Devil works in dark and devious ways. Sometimes he sends children to do his work--children who--one by one--must be destroyed....
'Way upstairs there are
four secrets hidden.
Blond, beautiful, innocent
struggling to stay alive...."
My Two Cents:
V.C. Andrews is a special author for me. I have always loved going to the library and I think my parents were just happy that I read so they never really paid that much attention to what I was taking out of the library. When I was in middle school, I discovered V.C. Andrews and that the books were filled with all sorts of salacious things that I probably should not have been reading about but really wanted to. This book in particular was a re-read for me. I jumped at the chance to read in light of the Lifetime movie that came out in January.
It is easy to see why this story is still considered scandalous even 30 years after it was written. The writing isn't great (it's quite repetitive and no one really seems to have their own voice) but the subject matter was still gripping and disturbing (this book is so, so disturbing). I noticed that I was doing a lot of comparing between the first time I read the book and this time. I remember being a little more shocked the first time but I had forgotten just how brutal this book was. The grandmother and the mother in this book are incredibly horrible human beings.
Overall, this book was pretty creepy!
Though I have seen this author around for some reason I never picked up the books. You've given me the push to do so now.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this book when i was 12. I couldn't put it down, but i do remember thinking even then that it was somewhat trashy. I sometimes wonder why my mom let me read them, but she read them too.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those stories I always mean to grab, but somehow keep forgetting. I've heard bits and pieces of the scandalous content over the years -- who hasn't? -- and must admit: I'm intrigued! :)
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