The Works of V.C. Andrews

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carrier76, don't forget the slutty sister/cousin who's out to destroy the heroine and steal the love of her life (who she just met a couple of days ago but already knows that he's the one).

It always drove me up the walls how the heroine would find nothing wrong with dating the boy she'd assumed to be her brother all her life once it was revealed they weren't related. Not to mention that we would have to be subjected to the flirting and inappropriate touching beforehand.

I guess in the VCA world, family reunions double as places to meet potential mates.

[Deleted]

Haven't read any of her books, but read a summary of Flowers in the Attic in Joe Queenan's book America. It sounded insane.

Am currently reading that film summary. It sounds even more insane.

[ladymadonna]

I think that's the appeal.... it's ALL insane in the VCA universe.

When I was a "tween", VC books were all the rage. Flowers in the Attic was all anyone could talk about, because our parents forbid us to read them, with good reason, obviously. There is something about the ultra-melodramatic storylines that appeals to angst ridden teens and pre-teens. I don't think I even understood the incest stuff until I was much older. By then, of course, I was hooked, and I still feel sort of dirty and rebellious when I read one, even though I am in my 30s. I have friends my own age and older who "secretly" read Jackie Collins and the like, VC isn't much different than the trashy "romance" novels. It's mindless entertainment for the voyeur in all of us, really.

I have to admit, though, I haven't read anything beyond "Willow", because Willow is my oldest daughter's name and connecting her with VCA is.... kind of gross.

[batmom]

The last time I got into a VC Andrews thread I felt compelled to reread the FitA series and, let me tell you, going up to the librarian and having to ask out loud for them to hold If There Be Thorns book is humiliating and I'm not going through that again.

But it has been a long time since I read the Heaven series. Maybe I reread that one without anyone knowing. Hmmmm.

And the FitA moving was such a ripoff! Total letdown.

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zacandmax said:

I loved the Flowers in the Attic series. Then V.C. died and the family decided to cash in on some old half-finished manuscripts lying around by hiring a ghost writer who copycatted the same formula and put it out under the "V.C. Andrews" name. That's why Dawn Cutler, Heaven Leigh Casteel, Ruby Landry and Melody Logan are interchangable, all get raped and all find out some family secret that changes their lives. Why couldn't my Grandma had left some old manuscripts somewhere?

Author Andrew Neiderman. I think the first book he wrote was Fallen Hearts in the Casteel series. Heaven rocked until that book.

I HATED the obvious mistakes though in the later books. Like in the Ruby series, Ruby's sister-in-law, Jean, gets married. Ruby's family and her husband (really her half brother so it's a sham marriage) let her get married at their estate. Um, hello, the family is reputedly devoutly Catholic. A Catholic wedding MUST take place within a church. Period.

Also, the Garden District is not a bunch of houses set in "huge tracts of land." They're all really really close together. You might have a pool, but not a tennis court, stables and grounds.

Oh, and when it was mentioned that Ruby's grandmother makes a vegetarian gumbo for Lent-um, hello, she could have used fish-fish is allowed during Lent, even before Vatican II.

Do some research, Neiderman you fuckstick.

I stopped reading after the Rain series. I used to belong to a V. C. Andrews online fan club-we'd gossip and make up jokes about the books. Good times. I LOVE V. C. They're so bad, they're good. Pure cheesy fun.

The movie was the same-it was so morbid and creepy and stupid. I love it. Plus, I want Cathy's dress that she wears at the end-the white one with the pink sash? I love Edwardian tea gowns. But yeah, it left too much out. It would be fun to remake it.

There was supposed to be a Ruby movie on CBS, but the person in charge of it was fired.

[rattlerbrat]

*snort* Thank God.

More inconsistencies:

In the "Heaven" books, Logan's name is Logan Grant Stonewall; in "Fallen Hearts", it's become Logan Robert.

In "Flowers in the Attic", Cathy's mom discusses the first day of her menses, saying that she ran into the house a few times now knowing what was going on. Later, (in the prequel, from Olivia's POV), Corinne gladly tells her mother and asks her to make a wreath for her hair.

I mean, come ON! At least READ the other books before you write!

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Oh yeah. The second, we can maybe chalk up to Corinne possibly lying to her kids about how bad her mother was, but the first?

Oh, and don't forget, originally Drake's full name was Walter Drake Casteel. Then, in Gates of Paradise, it was Drake Ormand.

[Mugsy]

Nitpicking VC Andrews' books will make you spontaneously combust. Seriously, there's no end.

I figure they have a master outline they use for each series, with blanks for things that change like names/places/flowery adjectives/and so on. For each new series, they just fill in the blanks and voila! They have a book!

Kinda like Mad Libs.

batmom, I reread the first couple of Dollenganger books after reading this thread over at FT, too. My secret shame is that I still owned them. I've weeded out my old paperback collection many times over the years, but the FITA series remains.

[forever1267]

Petals on the Wind was the trashiest trash that ever trashed. It just had it all. Lust! Betrayal! Globe-trotting adventures! Death! Forbidden Love! Cruelty! Deception! Lies! and more Lust! LUST! LUST!!!!

Back in the 80's, when everyone who was anyone read those books, I had a crush on poor, sweet Dr. Paul (whom I pictured as James Farentino from "Dynasty",

and rich but poor, sweet Bart as Tom Selleck

As for cruel, narcissistic Ian, I bizarrely pictured Ian from the Bay City Rollers. Ah the dreams a teenage boy can have!! Le sigh!!

[heavenleigh2001]

My secret shame is that I still owned them. I've weeded out my old paperback collection many times over the years, but the FITA series remains.

You're not alone Mugsy I still have my old paperbacks too. And you can see where I got my screen name from.