The Big Read discussion

To everyone who either read Flowers in the Attic for the first time, reread it, or remember it fondly--what did you think?

I read all the comments about this book before I read it again and they certainly made me think about what a good book really is. When I first read this, I remember feeling simultaneously shocked (incest?! Oh my God!!) and titillated--I was the proverbial good girl and this was the closest I had ever gotten to sex in all of my 13 years (my parents were incredibly restrictive; the only reason I was able to get away with reading this was because neither of my parents read much and they had no idea who V.C.Andrews was!) I talked in an earlier post about being slightly embarrasssed about checking this book out because I've come to think about it as kind of "trashy" literature, but I've thought since a lot about the posts that have been written about Flowers in the Attic and I have to agree: it really IS unfair to call it trash lit because, regardless of the passage of time and the number of books I read either because I wanted to or was forced to in college, I've certainly never forgotten what happens in this book!
What is interesting to me is that, reading from a more mature perspective, I was more sensitive to different aspects of the story this time around than when I was an innocent junior-high gal. Back then it was the sex that got me (what a surprise, ha ha); this time around, I spent more time thinking about the mother's actions and their repercussions, probably because I'm older and have children of my own.

I've been trying to remember books other than Flowers in the Attic that contributed to my personal knowledge of sex (which, granted, is not large.)I know that another landmark author for me was Victoria Holt. My dad belonged to one of those book club thingys that, unless you send some sort of Don't Send notice to them every month, they'll send you a book at random that you are then obliged to pay for. My dad (who scarcely ever read but was savvy enough to know that a house should have books in it, bless his Mississippi raised heart) inadvertantly ended up with a complete set of Victoria Holt romance novels this way and, unbeknownst to him, I read and loved them. They weren't as explicit as the V.C. Andrews books (to my profound disappointment) but they certainly talked about love and sex in in a way that my copies of Pride and Prejudice, Tom Sawyer, and The Call of the Wild, for Christ's sake, did not. The first one I snuck off to my bedroom and read with relish was Menfreya in the Morning. Dear God, I loved that book. Has anyone else read that? I know it isn't Flowers in the Attic, but for me, its themes of rebellion and forbidden love were just as illicit!

Number 200 in The Big Read is done! The next book is, oddly enough, a children's book--Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I'd like to kick off the discussion with this observation:

When I first read this book aloud to my young kids I thought, "Ho hum; I prefer Beatrix Potter." My children however thought differently. They went completely nuts for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Since then, I've read the book aloud probably a thousand times. I'd love to hear from other parents or children's picture book authors--what is it that elevates a mediocre children's book to a classic?

Happy reading everyone,

Michelle

All my friends read Flowers in the Attic in junior high, but I never did. This is a great excuse to head over to my aunt's house and borrow the book and finally read it.

As far as The Hungry Caterpillar, my kids love that story too (along with Brown Bear Brown Bear by Carle). Brown Bear I can kind of understand. It has a certain cadence to it, but I'm not sure what makes The Hungry Caterpillar so appealing to kids. Maybe it's the holes in the pages where he eats through the food? My kids are always trying to fit their fingers through them. Maybe it's the brightly colored pictures, or the just the pure simplicity of the story.

I just recently re-read Flowers. When I first read (and read and read) it in the '80s, I loved it. Recommended it to all of my friends. Read the entire series, and again, and finally moved on to Heaven.

The reason I brought the book home this time, was to distract my daughter from lusting after Breaking Dawn. She didn't read it (yet?), but I did. I coulnd't put it down, and when I finished I thought 2 things.

1. Wow, it is as good as it was when I was 12!!

2. Gotta go get Petals on the Wind!

Memory told me that the circumstance in Flowers was a bizarre fantasy (children locked away for years by a parent). But how often on the news is it found that some parent DOES have children (and a spouse) locked away. So it changed my perspective a bit this time around. I also thought more about the mother's motives and what she was capable of.

Also, I was surprised...I always credited the grandmother with poisoning them, while it was clearly the mother.

The Hungry Caterpillar? I always hated that book! For some reason Eric Carle always gave me the creeps!!

The interesting thing is when I read Flowers in the attic, the incest was sad and shocking and all of that, but then when it became a plot point in EVERY future VA Andrews book to this day (or so it seemed) it became disgusting and annoying to me


Michelle wrote: "To everyone who either read Flowers in the Attic for the first time, reread it, or remember it fondly--what did you think?

I read all the comments about this book before I read it again and they..."

My mom read that book when I was a kid and it had such a profound effect on her. I'm only just getting around to reading it now.