Flowers In the Attic

 

I honestly do not remember why I did not read Flowers in the Attic when I was younger. It could have been that I wanted to prove that I could be a more “serious” reader to people when I was younger (and it did have the reputation for being concerned "junk") It could also possibly be attributed to some of the more conservative Christian literature that I read in my youth like Brio Magazine that tended to be overly moralistic. Or it could have been my parent’s attempt to monitor what I took out of the library and bookstore when I was younger (which must have been hard to do since I wanted to read everything). Nevertheless, I only just read it for the first time this weekend.

I had been meaning to read this book for quite some time now.  In Grady Hendrix's  Paperbacks From Hell V.C. Andrew’s Dollanganger series that starts with Flowers In the Attic was attributed to being the seminal gothic horror novels of the 80s.  And one of my reading resolutions was to read more books featured in Paperbacks From Hell!

The premise of the story is that a mother has her children live in their grandmother’s attic because she did not want anyone else know that the children existed.  A large inheritance is at stake if there is any awareness that she even had her 4 children at all.

The book takes the point of view of Cathy, the 12-year-old girl who with her slightly older brother Chris raises her younger siblings. Their grandmother has some really strict rules for them to follow which are strongly influenced by a Puritan theology (i.e., don’t look at yourself in the mirror, pray every single night, etc.) and they are constantly living in fear of their grandmother. While they are constantly bombarded with fancy gifts---a television set, an expensive set of encyclopedias, a lavish dollhouse, etc. they are never allowed to live outside the attic.

So, they are needing to deal with the realities that had been relegated to the world of grown-ups in their previous life—illness, teaching children to read, willingness to consider seemingly impossible tasks in exchange for food, etc.   And in addition to those adult-like pressures the older brother and sister start to feel a strong attraction to each other in the mist of their own budding sexuality.

While this is something that has been very troubling to critics of the novel as depictions of incest and rape become integral to the plot, I found it very realistic in a troubling way. How else would teenagers who are not exposed to anyone else but each other deal with these emerging desires?

I found this book hard to put down as the characters and pacing were done just right for a more suspenseful read.  While I found it entertaining, the critical questions that I had about the novel were mostly about its primary audience. As a child of the 1980s, this book often a choice that other kids would make when they were given more autonomy over what they could read. While this story is disturbing by nature, I was probably more disturbed by how young many people were when they first read this book.

In my 40s I am not so sure if this is a book I would encourage a younger person to read or not.  I do understand why it was banned from libraries in considering the mature nature of the subject material.  Yet I would not want to tell a younger reader not to read it at all.  Afterall, my parents forbade very few books and yet I do remember sneaking Sweet Valley High books from the school library or on mall trips with my friends because they voiced disapproval…so I know how telling a young person merely not to read something can make it even more appealing.

I would likely encourage someone to wait until they are in high school to read the book with the explanation that they might not understand the nuances of what the book entails or not. Yet I do remember reading books like House of Stairs and Homecoming that were driven by youth needed to learn to live on their own with the absence of any adults around.  While I grew up with very loving parents reading about characters who had to learn to face the world void of any adult supervision was a really attractive concept. I not only found myself imagining that I was involved in the stories but also wondered what kinds of choices I would make if I were forced to survive on my own.

 Flowers in the Attic addresses this concept that often came up in my young imagination…. however, what makes it a lot more visceral is the way that the children did have to deal with violence and neglect. Nor did not shy away from some of the more disturbing ways that sexuality can be expressed in a way that other books that involved younger people did not.  Because of these elements I do completely understand wanting to make sure that someone exhibits a certain level of emotional maturity before sitting down to read this book.  This is a banned book that I think is worth reading but I would proceed with caution before putting it in the hands of a young person. However, as a woman in my 40s who loves collecting paperback horror novels from this particular era, I can not wait to get my hands on the next book in the series to see what could possibly happen next!