Customer Reviews

Midnight Flight (Broken Wings)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

How could Neiderman ever have published anything like this??? The plot was convoluted, and is something that VCAndrews would NEVER have written, or even crapped out.

The whole thing with Posy was never explained, and why didn't the other two girls (Mandy and Gia) have their own M'Ladies to supervise them? That always struck me as odd. Also, Dr. Forman liked to brag about how well her program worked, and how some of her former students went on to work in law enforcement, yada yada. Yet her M'Ladies were smoking pot and doing other things that Phoebe caught them in doing. And she didn't even tell Dr. Forman! What a wasted opportunity.

The whole diapers thing was disgusting and repugnant, and the therapy sessions didn't seem to be helping. This sounds more like some twisted fantasy that Neiderman cooked up than any real effort to write like VCA. This sort of shoddy workmanship from an author is unacceptable, and I stopped buying VCA a long time ago. I wish I had never bought this book, Broken Wings was a decent read and I had been expecting this book to be the same, only to be confronted with this travesty of a book that is completely and utterly insulting to the VCA name. I wasted a couple of hours reading this that I will never get back. Thanks a lot, Neiderman.

I can sum this book up in one word: Ewwww. It read like some sort of demented, (...) fantasy. I don't know about the rest of you but this sort of twisted tale doesn't appeal to me now and wouldn't have appealed to me as a teen and I read and enjoyed some weird things. I read most of the early VC Andrews novels and enjoyed them through and through even when they started to become repetive but, sadly, I couldn't bring myself to finish this one. The story is thoroughly unappealing on all levels. Where shall I begin? The child-like writing? The unlikable and unrealistic teens? The forced diaper wearing? The information dumps that defy all logic? Need I continue? I think not . .

This has to be one of the most stupid books I have ever read. Any book with the V.C. Andrews name and requisite attention-grabbing cover picture is sure to rack up sales. V. C. Andrews books are good for reading on a long plane trip. Still, I would not recommend them.

Robin - an Ohio girl whose country-singing mother uproots her from her grandparents' farm and pursues her Grand Ole Opry dream. Robin falls in with a bad crowd, robs a store and is busted.

Teal - a poor little rich girl in upstate New York who is neglected in her own home steals a piece of jewelry worth over $10,000.00 and runs away with a boy who lives in poverty with two younger siblings. She has a history of drinking in school.

Phoebe - an Atlanta girl whose mother leaves home to pursue a singing career and whose salesman father can't be home to raise her. Turned over to a punitive maternal aunt and disinterested uncle, Phoebe becomes out of control. She is caught sleeping with a boy in the school nurse's office. She is busted when she attacks that same boy at a party where she was set up by a pair of vile, catty girls.

Each of the girls is drugged and transported by plane to an undisclosed school after their guardians are convinced the girls need to be in a supervised setting. A Dodge car picks Robin up and transports her to a small plane where she will be flown to this mysterious school. Teal is taken by family limo to the plane. Phoebe is subdued by guards driving an ambulance where she was drugged after the guard says she is having a seizure to ward off curious onlookers. She is the only one to arrive by ambulance to the mystery plane.

Each girl awakens to find herself the sole passenger on a plane bound for Arizona. Each girl awakens to find herself dressed in a rough burlap sack, diapers, work boots and her clothes gone. Harsh martinets gather the trio into a dark warehouse for their introduction to Dr. Foreman's "school." In order to leave the warehouse, the girls have to write about their lives in notebooks under the derision of the guards. From there, they are transported by bus to the "school" after being indoctrinated by the guards to declare their worthlessness and how they owe everything to Dr. Foreman. Sounds like a twisted version of the "Stockholm Syndrome" to me.

The girls are forced to sleep in the barn; do long chores during the day and fight for what little dignities they are allowed. Progress is being allowed to wear underwear and overalls instead of diapers ("you are infants and must be treated as such," is the rationale for this twisted, degrading decision according to Dr. Foreman). Pillows and blankets have to be earned; food has to be earned; the girls have to make their own pottery or eat off the table.

The punishments were inconsistent and implausible and made no sense. Teal and Robin are bound in blankets and forced to spend the night outdoors in coffins that are partially buried ("bury the bad part of you," as Dr. Foreman explained.) The girls' few assignments were random and haphazard; at no time did they attend classes. Cruel guards and a sinister Dr. Foreman make the place all the more heinous. Dr. Foreman's "therapy" consists of pitting the girls against each other so that enmity instead of amity will prevail and that she will maintain control over them. The hateful guards were former students of this bizarre excuse of a school.

Only one person befriends the girls. Natani, a Native American healer lives on the grounds and he does what he can to help the girls. When the guards plan to leave the girls in the Arizona desert to die, it is Natani who tells them how to survive should they ever be in the desert.

A fire and the end of the school mean liberation for the girls. Two other inmates, Gia and Mandy have become more or less resigned to the punitive, illogical environment they are in. Gia talks of a former inmate named Posy whom Dr. Foreman insists is a product of Gia's imagination. Whether or not there was a Posy in that Chamber of Horrors is never explained. Readers are never sure if Posy was somebody Gia made up or if she was an inmate there. The Ice Room is another Chamber of Horrors where the inmates endure virtual reality of the things they fear most. Mandy caves and is subsequently institutionalized and Gia plans a daring escape for them all.

V.C. Andrews books are sore disappointments and I certainly cannot in good conscious recommend this one. I read it because I was curious to see what this undisclosed school was about, but believe me, it wasn't worth it. Natani was the only likable character in this atrocious book.

The first novel in this series was really good, but however this novel was disappointing and if I can get my money back I will! This book had some pretty sick stuff in it i.e. the girls in diapers, the coffins, etc. VCA books has always had some sick incestous type stuff, but this is beyond that! Also, this book just seems to drag on and on! I mean nothing really happens other than the Doctor and the three "buddies" torturing the girls until the end. I felt sorry for "Posy" , and also the book was never clear on what happens to Mindy in the end. Another problem I had with the ending of this book and the other miniseries with the exception of the Wildflowers series, is that most of the girls seem to have their pipe dreams come true at the end. I mean come on Robin suddenly becomes a singer, and Phobe suddenly gets to become a model and actress?? Get real! This is truly my last VCA's novel!

By now we're all familiar with the "V.C Andrews recipe": take one plucky teenage heroine with a troubled past, place in spooky location, remove parents, stir in sadistic guardian(s), add a mysterious friend/mentor and a mysterious enemy and sprinkle liberally with danger, including at least one life-threatening situation. "Midnight Flight" does absolutely nothing to deviate from this basic potboiler outline. Granted, we have three heroines instead of the usual one, and the location is a sort of juvenile detention home; but then again, this is the same ground we traversed with the "Orphans" miniseries. This time around we get a psychotic "school director" and her army of vicious "M'Ladies" who imprison our brave heroine and her friends on a farm in the desert, torturing them with diapers, physical and emotional abuse (how does Dr. Foreman get away with it? Doesn't Child Protective Services EVER drop by?), and the terrifying "Ice Room" which turns out to be nothing more than a basement with a virtual-reality helmet (?!?). It would be nice to see something really original under the V.C. Andrews name for once, but this isn't it. If you're going to read "Midnight Flight", be prepared to check your logic at the gate; this one requires a major suspension of disbelief.

frankly, this's the worst book i've ever read in my life..it doesn't make any sense. Broken wings was far better than this one whisch encouraged me to buy midnight flight but i was totally dissapointed. i don't even give it a one star.if i could i would give it minus ten as Dr forman gave the girls!!! i could hardly manage to read 50 pages but that's it i can't stand it..really the andrews family should rethink about the new writer...where did he get these ideas from????!!

Well...I thought this book was boring. I read the first two chapters about Robin and Teal in the first book, and skipped Phoebe because the storyline was so repetitive for each girl. Well, this book wasn't repetitive, but I thought it was sick and boring. I don't like reading books about people getting "tortured" and the coffin part was really disturbing. So was the fact that they had to use diapers. I like V.C. Andrews, but I think she had, and this ghost writer has, a very sick mind. It's always incest, torture, girls locked up in attics, molestation, and other crap. I admire their talent, but I really thought that Midnight Flight was incredibly sick and boring.

I was disappointed by this current novel. I think the plots are catered to a very young crowd...I prefer the more "mature" versions of the previous books which were in a series with one main character.
My other favorite author, Sherry A Mauro writes in the grand traditon of the "Andrews Gothic". Her new novel, Even Angels Fall will delight VC Andrews fans of all ages. I highly recommend her book!

Though from three dramatically different environments, the three girls share in common walking on the wildside (see BROKEN WINGS). In Nashville, Robin Lyn Taylor lives in trouble. In Albany, New York Teal Sommers breaks the law just to get her away from wealthy parents so they can remember she still breaths. In Atlanta Phoebe meets a boy Ashley who will shred her reputation if she acts as cool as she always does.

The three female losers are sent to the Foreman's School for Girls in an isolated part of the Southwest. Dr. Foreman makes sure her three new students understand the rules starting with no radio or television and wearing diapers to enforce the beginning of a new life. These three difficult tough teens attend a school in which demerits lead to punishment under the abusive rehabilitative therapy employed by Dr. Freeman and associates. Will one or more learn humility leading to the healing of their BROKEN WINGS or will they fail to adapt and learn their life lessons?

Though in many ways MIDNIGHT FLIGHT is the typical fast-paced V.C. Andrews drama involving abuse, fans of the author will appreciate this emotionally laden sequel. The story line is action-paced, but those not familiar with the author need to realize that Dr. Foreman is a no nonsense martinet who reacts harshly to broken rules. The cast is powerful as the three girls, the head mistress and a Native American teacher provide a deep, passionate character study.

Harriet Klausner

The GW Andrew Niederman is not worthy of the VC Andrews name. The family of VCA should re-think the writer and find a better one. This book bit the big one as did the former. I hope and pray that the new Gemini series is worthy of my time and money. As far as the Borken Wings series, I want my money back.