The Tragedy of Flowers in the Attic 

My dad gave me this book when i was a kid, and i stupidly assumed he had read it also. When i started asking him about the incest in this book he said, "The f

The tragedy of flowers in the attic was that it was my moms favorite book at one point and she named me and my brother Katherine and Christopher

Corrine is the true villain of that story, not Olivia. Yeah, Olivia was horrific, but she was always that way. Corrine was their mother and she tossed them aside for her own comfort and luxury.

Flowers in the Attic IS gothic horror, you don’t need to build a case for that, it’s always been considered a horror story

This book connected HARD with very late Boomers/very early GenX’ers when it first came out. One reason is because the horrors the Dollangangers experienced were super-exaggerated versions of actual traumas that real-life kids were going through, and which society wouldn’t let them talk about. Parental verbal abuse (you weren’t abused if you weren’t being beaten!), religious abuse, sexual abuse within families, and gaslighting of kids by adults were rampant. These books served as a primal scream for traumatized kids who didn’t realize how traumatized they were. (And we’ll get to another form of trauma in Book 2 - grooming and molesting of tweens/young teens by grown men).

Read the books when i was 11. Honestly its so validating to know its a universal experience to read these waay before it was appropriate

I love that we all got exposed to Flowers in the Attic way too soon. I'm convinced everyone finds it secondhand in middle school, like some weird thing that beckons to you until you pick it up. It is beyond your understanding but it pulls you in anyway. I got many V.C. Andrews books from my second cousin before her family moved. She did not want to deal with packing and lugging them. Flowers in the Attic got picked up by me first. I was probably 11. It definitely has some staying power in your brain, too. I think of it every time I eat a powdered donut now.

fun fact about VC Andrews: a ghostwriter continued to use her name after she died. It's disputed how much of the prequel for this series was actually written by her, and there's a weird spinoff series that has a book (with a ghostwriter still using her name) published as recently as 2020. Nothing says horror more than a dead author still "writing" books! I also read the original four books WAYYY too young, actually on recommendation of my mother who liked them lol.

This book made me write a whole play about kids coping with death. It was the paper flower garden that got me.

Having also read them way too young, the books absolutely feel like old-school Gothic horror. Like a more salacious (and, yes, dramatic) Shirley Jackson.

I loved this. These books have some ridiculously purple prose and are obviously super melodramatic, but you know what? I frickin' love Cathy and think she's a genuinely fascinating character. I love how vengeful she is throughout the series and that VCA is not interested in worrying about if she's "relatable" or "likeable". She is filled with rage and resentment and it's AWESOME. So I love seeing people who look at the series past just "tee hee, incest, stained mattress". One other thing you touched on that I always felt was SO important to the series that gets overlooked a lot was Chris and Corinne's relationship. It was honestly some of the most twisted and interesting stuff in the books for me. How much longer it took Chris to turn on Corinne in comparison to when Cathy did, Cathy's low-key jealousy/competitiveness with her mom that never truly goes away, the way Chris' love for Cathy is because he almost sees her as the idealized version of his mom, Corinne finally breaking in Petals on the Wind when she sees Chris again. But that's for your next vid. Can't wait.

Holy crap you took this Gen Xer right back to 1986 when I read these books without my mom knowing. They were so disturbing and awful yet captivating. I remember being just desperate to know how it would all end (sadly of course).

My mom got me into this series. Later in life I realized she matched Corinne’s narcissism and…parenting tactics

My abusive parent absolutely loved this book as I was growing up. I'm not sure if it was because they could tell themself they were such a good parent for being so much better, or because they got some vicarious enjoyment from the cruelty

I am 30 and re-reading Flowers in the Attic had me feeling physically ill at some points. I have no idea how I did it when I was a teen.

I wanted to be Catherine so badly. Only as an adult do I realize how bizarre that is.

I was put in a mental hospital at 17, and my mom gave me this book to read while I was there for two months, I loved it so much. I would read it from the light under the closed door in my room coming from the hallway (had to mostly read at night because I had therapy and homework all day.). I finished it in two days and begged my mom to bring me more, so she brought me My Sweet Audrina and Dawn. I loved these books so much because they got me through some rough times. My aunt got me the first printings of hardbacks of the first 3 Dollanganger books from a flea market when I came home

Reading Flowers In the Attic is an 8th grade right of passage as far as I’m concerned.

One of the most tragic scenes for me is when Chris and Cathy manage to get outside and go swimming before the escape. Like, they’re OUT they can GO, but the twins are still up there. And despite the physical similarities, Chris and Cathy are not their parents, they are not going to leave those babies behind. Reading about them climbing back up and into that house is always heartbreaking

This book and story fuel me with so much anger. It's one of those stories where I wish I could reach into in and hurt the bad people, to protect the innocents with all my power.

So, um, after I watched this video I found out that Flowers in the Attic had a 1987 adaptation. Where they crash the mom's wedding confront her in front of everybody, then Kathy proceeds to push her off a roof while trying to force her to eat the poisoned food. She is hanged by her own wedding dress. Also Chris Knocked the grandmother out while they're escaping. Just hits her over the head. I don't normally like when a movie deviates this much from The source material, but in this particular case I have to forgive them. It's like they finished the book and were like, no these people have to pay. XD

Aah, the eternal childhood classic…😊

Owning and devouring every single vc andrews book I could find between the ages of 11-12 was probably terrible for my development but i am so happy I am not alone 🤣 even as an adult and recognizing how depraved this series is I still am captivated by it.

I’m constantly intrigued by these discussions as a survivor who finds this type of media cathartic

Domestic horror that steps up past Shirley Jackson.

Wow. A friend gave me Flowers In The Attic at outdoor school back in 6th grade, over 30 years ago. I absolutely devoured it and that set me on my V.C. Andrew's obsession for the next 2-3 years. I would reread FITA and every time would get so angry and heartbroken over Cory's death and Corrine's response to it. Thanks for doing this summary, I will tune in for the whole series.

I grew up as an only child, with a mom who loved (and still does) all kinds of books. She and my dad still have 6-8 10 foot bookshelves in their house. Anyway, I was an early reader (lots of alone time with parents who worked all the time), and my mom had told me at one point very early in my life that I could read any book I wanted to read that was on the shelves. I read every Stephen King book by the time I was 10 years old, but what did I read first?? NINE AND A HALF WEEKS, AT LIKE SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS OLD PEOPLE. And now I’m a clinical psychologist 🤓

As a society we are heading down a very dangerous path. Censorship is creeping in helped with fear mongering of books. V.C. Andrew's books are a great example of how fear of content is assisting the process. Some folks just can't understand that reading about something will not automatically make a behavior appear. Yes there's incest and violence in these books but most people recognize that it's a work of fiction. Of course these things happen in real life. I'm pretty sure bad things happened before books came along.

I remember as a kid reading this book and I don’t think the movie was out yet, but the suspense was so intense when their escapes happened and almost got caught. My heart would be racing. Unfortunately after I completed this series and discovered many many typos in the future books, I learned the ghost writer had a pretty bad editor. lol. But I did feel that he did a good job with VC Andrew’s other series he created from her incomplete writings her family discovered. Her own childhood life was hard. My childhood before I read the flowers in the attic which was the first book of hers I read, was chaotic and filled with turmoil. I felt that I could relate to Cathy very much.

I never ever forgave Corinne for what happened to Cory.

Stole this book from my aunts V.C. collection and read it when I was 11. As a kid who had been molested and emotionally abused it struck several chords and was probably a key step in my early life toward identifying and healing my trauma. Maybe I should give it a reread.

I suppose technically it’s a haunted house… of sorts…

I was an avid reader when I was younger, I still am, but for reasons, reading was pretty much all I did. I was really upset one weekend when my local library ran out of books to read, I'd just read everything from the kids' section, then YA, then adult fiction and then all the nonfiction. My Nan took pity on me and said that I could read through her mini library and I eventually found The Dollanganger series and devoured it, I absolutely loved it at probably a far too young an age. I've come back to it time and again as I've aged and love the gothic horror melodrama more and more every time I reread the inherited copies of all four books my Nan made sure would go to a place they were appreciated. I later found out she made that specification because all four books are first editions but like me, she thought books should be read and enjoyed not collected untouched until they can turn a profit.

i can’t remember a lot of things from being a kid but i very clearly remember finding this book series when i was 11 or 12 and how it scarred my innocent little mind but i still couldn’t put them down. even to this day, there is something about them were i still come back to this series every once in awhile.

The way this immediately caught my eye I remember watching the movie rendition and I think I mentioned it to my mom and she gasped because she grew up when Flowers in the Attic was originally published

I read all of VC Andrews the summer I turned 10. Obsessed. I will never understand why.

I know a lot of people consider this series to be trashy, but honestly, the psychology behind each of the characters was what always fascinated me and kept me reading. Also, the funny way in which I stumbled upon the series (at 12 years old ofc lol), was that my mom used to watch the movie with me, and one day I found a copy of the novel for sale at the library lol

Not me in the way back of our station wagon in 1989 reading this and my parents… “good for her she’s finally ready a book! “😂

I did a book report on 'Flowers in the Attic' and 'Petals on the Wind' when I was 12. My teacher was super supportive of it, and so I thought it was OK! I felt very respected by that teacher. Also, my lord, was this video pure comfort food. Thank you. I can't believe something so simple can be so perfect.

I've never read the books, but I saw the movie as a kid and it was definitely a mind fuck. I can't imagine seeing this story as a romance.

I read this entire series back in the 90s and I agree with you! This is not a forbidden romance… this is a very epic tragedy of a family full of very dark and evil secrets. In romantic tales, even in forbidden ones the readers tend to root for the couple, cheer them on, etc. In this series nobody is cheering for Cathy and Christopher. It’s so sick and twisted it is disturbing. Even to this day you feel like taking a shower after reading it.

The real tragedy of FitA is Ms. Andrews herself. She was a bright popular teen suffered a crippling fall and botched surgery and had to leave school. Her mother was very protective and frankly ashamed of her disability and kept her hidden away, her house and porch became her whole world. Despite this, she completed a four year college course and was a successful illustrator before writing FitA. Her mother remained a controlling, yet loving and protective, force in her life throughout her success, and travelled with her on junkets. She was very proud of her. V.C. was an incredible woman. I enjoyed your video (my first!) and subscribed.

*sighs* *adds to kindle TBR*

We had only the first three Dollanganger books in in the school library. Used to read them on the bus home and it was the first time I ever cried to book series. The one scene that will always stick with me is Christopher feeding his siblings his blood so they don't starve. I'll be looking forward to seeing your coverage on the next books ^^

Was a big bookworm as a kid - it was an escape from my terrible homelife - but my mother and I still went out to barnes and noble sometimes. I pointed the book out, because it had a cover that looked interesting, and my mother immediately was like "oh yeah, I read that as a teen! It was messed up. The movie was even worse." She ended up buying it for me because I was into messed up/morbid things. I was 12.

I was interested in these way too young but I only read them in my late 20s! The relationship between Chris and Cathy is textbook trauma bonding. Plus I'm hoping that you get to the Whitefern series.

i love vc andrews and relate deeply to some of the stuff she writes about and she personally dealt with in life. i think so many people forget about her disability that marked her pretty young. as someone who survived a pretty terrible illness in my teens and was bound to bed and limited personal space for weeks and months on end, so many people don't get how quickly a place of comfort can become a cruel prison. taking away the generational trauma and incest that the books deal with, the idea of homely, family space as monstrous is so reflective of andrews' and my lived experience. interesting ly, it's interesting how many of the authors who use motives of a house as a prison/living breathing monster are women, bound to be homemakers and housewives but never homemakers. if anyone has other southern gothic/gothic stories where the house itself becomes a living breathing being or monster i would love to get some recommended.

My mom read these when she was 12 and had me watch the movie when I was the same age. I have no idea why. But man, if she'd waited a couple more years I might have been able to decipher some of this metaphor! You're an excellent analyst.

My Dads girlfriend gave them to me and told me she liked them when she was my age, when I was in the 8th grade.

33:31 We needed the levity of the wig revelation, haha

My older sister gave me her entire VCA collection when I was 13/14. My first one was My Sweet Audrina but I would eventually read all of the Dollanganger, Casteel, Landry, and Culter series. This is a great analysis! I look forward to your videos on the other books in the series, especially Petals lol

Yep, I read these books when I was 13 haha. Now I wanna re-read the series. Really enjoyed reliving it with this video!

was hooked on these as a teen

Read it when I was 11. Got it at the grocery store with my mom. I thought it was a spooky story. Way over my head!!

It very much is a horror series- gothic horror is one of my favorite genres, but this series, admittedly, is more tragic than anything, and is a major example on the cycle of abuse and pain. Thanks for talking about this series, as heavy as the books can be.

Glad to see I’m not the only one that read this book at 10-11 years old lol 🌈🦋🌈

I remember when I was a kid this series was THE housewife read. ALL the women were reading these books. Go to the beach? Every mother had one in their hands. Go to your friends house? Their mom had the series on a shelf in a livingroom end table/knickknack cabinet next to porcelain unicorns, kittens, and angels. My own mother? Had them all and read them voraciously and yes, they were kept in an end table shelf. Next to her Stephen King.

I believe that they were leaving from the train station in Charlottesville Va. It was rumored that VC Andrews got the idea for the story from a doctor friend that worked at the University of Virginia hospital. He said that in the middle of the night he was brought a sick child from a well to do old money family that no one knew existed. He could tell that the child had rarely if ever had been outside. He wondered if there was some scandal involved in why the child had been hidden away and VC created Flowers in the Attic as a possible explanation. Of course this is just a rumor.

I read the series while I was deployed. I remember being excited to read after my 12 hr shift

This video was so well done. The series has always been under appreciated by my perception, and you did a phenomenal job putting the significance of the children's trauma into words. The story is too often brushed off as an incest romance, and no one digs any deeper or acknowledges any of the overarching themes of the story itself.

I read the books as a teenager. My grandmother collected all of V.C. Andrews books. I'm disabled from birth and I didn't realize until later that V.C. Andrews also became disabled sometime before adulthood. There's a lot of allegory for living with a disability in her novels. FITA is no exception. As a disabled person, you're isolated a lot of the time. The only people you really interact with are your caregivers. Historically, we were institutionalized often in horrific conditions. School was a luxury only for able-bodied kids. I found the kids relatable for those reasons. Additionally, Oliva's comment about them looking normal brings the Ugly Laws to mind. We were not to be seen and the idea was not to bring discomfort to or offend the sensibilities of able-bodied people.

I absolutely love Flowers in the Attic, never finished the sequels tho. But going in knowing NOTHING besides just finding it in a 2nd hand shop I can’t say I was disappointed 😂 fantastic gothic horror atmosphere

I was 11 and the cover got me too! Read and reread til I can still quote a ton and I'm 55 now. I actually named my son Joryn thinking I'd call him Jory but it just didn't fit. He's Joryn. I was a dancer so I really identified with Catherine. Cory dying devastated me. I run a used book store now that is a nonprofit and we get book donations from the community and V.C. Andrews is my most donated!

This video, and the promise of doing more of this series, won you my subscription. Plus I put alert to all your uploads.

You did a great job of telling this story. I am excited to listen to your next video of this series. Thank you so much for making this video.

I remember your original videos about flowers in the attic! I was super bummed that they disappeared and I didn't remember your channel name. Glad to see you're back and redoing the videos! (I did like the old ones tho). "All the men in Cassies life are trash!" Still lives rent free in my head.

This was a great overview of the book, and your insight was awesome. I hope you complete the series.

Great recap. I'm immediately looking forward to your recap of the rest of the series which I'm not sure how far are you made it into it yet but I'll be looking for it. Thanks for the hard work.✌️💪❤️

After piecing together some really dark family history, I'm tempted and wary to revisit this book after so many years. It being your gma's favorite book is one thing, realizing she and her twin personally related to it is another.

You did a captivating summary of Flowers in the attic! You have a subscriber in me for sure!

I read it way too young. Had no idea incest was even a thing at that time

Beautiful, haunting book I'm looking forward to reading the other books VC wrote. After learning more about the author's life I found her so relatable and find catharsis through her work.

i've been binging your videos. so good! can't wait for the second book.

You are AMAZING FOR DOING THIS! Amazing retelling!! I read ALL the series! The move for those who saw it was NOTHING

Subscribed to eagerly await the rest of this series

Loved this video. Subscribed for your future Dollanganger videos. Can't wait!!

I can remember when I was thirteen watching the 1987 film adaptation on late night TV. Even with so much material having been cut out and a new ending being written, it was still one of the most difficult stories I’ve ever sat through. Not a haunted house, but haunting nonetheless. Great video.

This series is forever my favorite. I first read Flowers in the Attic at age 12, way back in 1990. I couldn’t begin to count how many times I’ve read it and the entire series. I love ALL of VC Andrew’s original works. I only wish I could have met the woman. I wish she’d lived longer. Brilliant author and storyteller. This woman inspired me to become a writer and that’s what I am today. ❤

my mom LOVED these books when she was younger and got them all for me at a resale shop when i was maybe 13 lmao. she definitely did not reread them before or there's no way she would have let me at them.

Hope you know how excited I got when I saw this. I was 13, and also thought I was getting a horror novel. I ended up reading several more of the Andrews books. Did you ever read the 5th book in the series about the grandmother?

Same....my local thrift shop when in middle school "flowers in attic" for maybe a dollar, saw the movie original and have been obsessed ever since ❤

A week ago this video got recommended to me on my feed and without clicking on it, I got intrigued. I saved it for later, and read the first book in a week and i can't wait to start the others. Im kida obsessed now with it, so thank you for the video..?

I remember reading the waaaaay too young. One after another. This scarred me.

I need more of these. All of them. Plus the Dawn series and of course. Ruby. I am old enough to be your mom. So do what I say. Love this video hon. Keep up the amazing work. You are going to grow amazingly. You did a perfect job with this video. I bet of you keep these coming.

This book series is absolutely my biggest special interest. I have ready every single book in the series at least twice. Even the spin offs, prequels, and sequels. Really excited to see someone talking about these books

This book is a favorite of mine. I have read it many times as a teenager. I hope you end up making the videos about all the books I'll happily watch them.

Great review! I'm looking forward to watching the reviews for the rest of the series.

I was a huge big time rush fan and James was my favorite member so when the Seeds of Yesterday movie came out I watched it just for him, not knowing anything about the series and to say I was shook was an understatement

Hi! I’m new and just found your channel with this video. I’m so excited to hear about the other books, as Flowers in the Attic was the only one I actually read. (When I was a teen and found it, I didn’t know there were more.)

It was Spring 1983. I actually stole my mother's copy of PETALS ON THE WIND when I was 13 going on 14. I was curious (not having heard anything about it--why would I since I was attending Catholic school) so I opened it, right in the center, and started reading. OMG! My mind was blown! I mist have read the book twenty times that summer. I wasnt so much aytracyed to the underlying current as much as I was the storyline and dialogue. In a way, V.C. taught me how to write. Okay, maybe not taught. That honour goes to Laura Ingalls Wilder and Janet Dailey (I was a boracious reader when I was a child). V.C. helped me polish what little talent I have. Now that Im in my 50's, I read the series with a much more jaundiced eye and a brain full of harsh life experience. I see how it isnt as cut and dry as it originally appeared. Still love the books, except for the fifth one--which I hate and despise. I suggest FITA to potential writers so they can learn how to structure dialogue and set scenes.

WHERE HAS YOUR CHANNEL BEEN ALL MY LIFE I’m really glad i found it t! ❤

Looking forward to the "Petals on the Wind" video!

I read this series a while back and it was truly bone chilling. Great recap of the first book!

It was years before I ate another powdered donut.

This is 100% a melodramatic gothic horror. It is horrific and shocking

I recently watched the movie adaptations and have been CRAVING content for the series! Thank you!

Please do all the books!! I absolutely loved this you absolutely did an AMAZING job on this I would listen to them all!

I can't wait for the next video, this series is amazing. I watched the original movie when I was way too young to see it, around 8, but it has always been o e of my favorites. The books are so great and I loved your examination of what went down in the first one.

Great analysis! I'm putting you on my short list of people I would be locked in an attic with

You did an amazing job breaking this down! Voice is very easy to listen to :)