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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What Better Place To End Than At The Beginning?, June 14, 2005
Somewhere along the line, the Flowers In The Attic series lost its luster. The original is a classic tale of horror and betrayal, still shocking to this day. Its sequel, Petals On The Wind, seemed approrpriate in that it answered that question all good books leave one asking: "I wonder what happened next?" And who didn't want to find out not only how these children survived in the outside world, but in what way they lashed out at those who had harmed them? Books three and four - If There Be Thorns and Seeds Of Yesterday, respectively - were... well, less interesting would be a kind way of putting it. In fact, many a reader got to the midway point of Seeds and couldn't help but be struck by a sense of "been there, read that." And perhaps that was, in part, the point of the book: To show that no matter what Cathy and Chris did, the horrors of the attic would haunt their minds and influence their actions.
It's not surprising, therefore, that many readers probably opted to pass on the fifth installment, Garden of Shadows.
How sad for them!
In what would later become a hallmark of the typical VC Andrews series - and continue with the books written by the far-less talented ghost writer in the wake of her death - the final book in the series is, in fact, a prequel, giving us a glimpse into the life of Olivia - aka the mean, awful, hateful grandmother from Flowers In The Attic - and allowing us to better understand her actions.
As would also become a tradition in the VC Andrews novels, this book also reveals a final, shocking twist which allows readers to see the entire series in a new light.
How well written is Garden of Shadows? Well, a friend who was not familiar with the works of VC Andrews read this book before reading Flowers in the Attic. As a result, it pained him to see the grandmother portrayed as cruel and hateful. Given her actions during the course of Flowers in the Attic, that's really saying something!
Without giving away too much of the story, Garden follows the story of Olivia, who is brought to Foxworth Hall as the wife of the tyranical Malcolm Foxworth. She is innocent, young and beautiful - the perfect heroine, given the emotional tortures we know Andrews will unleash upon her! Before long, her husband's dark desires turn the innocent young woman's life upside down.
Were VC Andrews still alive, I would like nothing better to see a sixth book in this series, telling the events of Flowers in the Attic through the eyes of Olivia. Sadly, under the current writing regime and their "crank it out even if the books suck" this promising premise would no doubt be unworthy of the paper it might be printed upon.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Riveting!, July 28, 2000
Absolutely Riveting! Although Garden of Shadows was the last book written in the series of the Dollanganger family, it is the prequel to Flowers in the Attic therefore it was the first book I read in the series. Having seen the movie Flowers in the Attic, many times, there were a lot of questions I had. Well, Garden of Shadows answered my questions ten times over and left me with my eyes wide open (and probably my jaw dragging the floor). Once I started reading I found it hard to put the book down. Sometimes I would read it until my eyes watered. It shows how Olivia goes from being a sad child/teenager growing up without her mother, to being a hopeful and seemingly sweet teenager with dreams of her own to being one of the most wicked people you've ever known. It's symbolic how she relates life to her dollhouse in the glass case with the perfect family of untouchable, porcelain people inside because once she moved into Foxworth Hall, that's how her life was; not perfect but untouchable. This book portrayed how the one person Olivia came to depend on, who she thought would be the light of her life, the one who would turn her otherwise gray life bright, had the exact opposite affect. It portrayed how one man can have so much more than others but still want so much more and will walk over anyone and anything to get it. It also shows Olivia's devotion to Malcolm even when she could have easily walked away. The detail in the book made me see everything exactly the way it was supposed to be. I felt as if I was living everything the characters in the book lived. The way the narrator described the house, each room, each piece of furniture (down to the rugs), each character, their clothing, their expressions and what they were feeling was all so real. The only thing that could have been more developed were the male children's characters; Mal, Joel and Christopher. The narrator mentioned them often but we never really got to know them through their own words and thoughts as we did with Corinne. As I read further into the book, it made me see why Olivia acted the way she did in Flowers in the Attic. I still didn't in anyway agree with the way she treated her grandchildren because who they were wasn't their fault. They were innocent children caught up in a web of deceit and lies and they had to grow up long before they should have had to. THEY didn't even know who they REALLY were. As I said, it did make me understand why she was the way she was; why she always wore gray; why she was so stern; why she was so cold and uncaring. In Garden of Shadows, Foxworth Hall was in a state of total turmoil, much more than in Flowers in the Attic (if you can believe that). If you've seen or read Flowers in the Attic, then Garden of Shadows is a must read. It will clear up any questions you may have about that story.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The evil was spawned in a... GARDEN OF SHADOWS, October 1, 1999
By A Customer
The one liner above this sentence is what immediately caught my attention at the bookstore a few months ago. Okay, so let me get this straight: Within "FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC", you meet the most perfect heroine you'd ever expect. Her name is Cathy. Her mother is a selfish, elusively beautiful woman with many terrible secrets that should have forever been locked away, or else let go of, if that was possible. And because of Corrine's (her mother) conceited, selfish ways she led her children up to a malicious attic where they had nothing to embrace but the dusty darkness....and each other....(THAT'S RIGHT!) In "Petals on the Wind", they barely managed to escape the certain fate that one of their siblings had never recovered from, and because of their shameful past and shattered innocence, the children were swept into the loving arms of a parent that dared to love them a thousand more breaths then Corrine ever did! Yet that still didn't stop the past from continuing its dark legacy in the Dollangangers' lives.... In "If There Be Thorns", the evil past grew despite Cathy and Chris's attempts to stop it, and in the final haunting novel of the Dollanganger Series, "Seeds of Yesterday", the past is monstrous in its enraged fury, leading to an unescapable path for the Dollangangers, unless their family finally banishes the evil forever...if that's possible.... And now, when I have regretfully finished the last book of the series, I was fortunate to come across a copy at a bookstore (whenever I go to a bookstore, they're either sold out or they don't have it) of the prelude to this shocking series. And as I picked this book up, I turned the pages, one after another, bought it, and read it at home. I loved it. Is just as devastating, emotional, and as remorseful as hell. This was disturbing, stunning, and beautifully put together. Yet, I am confused by many thoughts that won't go away in my mind. Olivia ("THE Grandmother") was given such a harsh life, one that was greatly portraited in this novel, but how can her stories contradict Corrine's and Corrine's contradict her mother's? It's very confusing, and though the questions will never be answered, I loved this book.
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