Customer Reviews

Petals on the Wind

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Somehow, this book is even creepier than Flowers in the Attic. It's not as good, but it's a very entertaining read. After the abuse that the surviving Foxworth children suffered, readers will want to know if they can ever lead a normal life. It's a good examination of how a family might deal with the legacy of abuse if they've finally escaped from the perpetrators. Will they try to forgive and continue with their lives? Will they become obsessed with revenge? Or will they find themselves completely incapable of continuing with their lives because they were utterly emotionally destroyed?

Each of the children deals with the trauma in different ways. While Chris appears to have recovered the best, his obsession with his own sister is the most startling and enduring result of his isolation during the "Attic" years. He does not "give up" waiting for his sister to respond to him romantically. Predictably, Carrie, who never really had a chance to enjoy life on the "outside", and who lost her twin at such a young age, is the most drastically scarred of the children and her story is the saddest and most tragic. She remains emotionally and physically stunted.

For her, Cathy, and Chris, we remain riveted to the story and want to know what happens, because we suffered with them in "Flowers" and cried for little Cory. Now we want to know what happens to them even if a lot of the plot and secondary characters are boring and one-dimensional. I liked Henny,the warm nurse who cannot speak; even if one literary critic suggested the large black woman was reminiscent of "Aunt Jemima", I don't think that's fair. I think Andrews wrote her as a sensitive and intelligent woman, and including her gave us some respite from everyone in the story having "flaxen hair and cerulean eyes".

Much weaker characters are Paul, who we are supposed to like because he takes in Chris, Cathy, and Carrie, but it's hard to like someone because he took in a beautiful fifteen year old girl who was orphaned out of the goodness of his own heart. I'm sorry, but the affair between him and Cathy was somehow even worse than that between Chris and Cathy, and very exploitive. The abandoned Cathy's gratitude toward Paul for taking in her and her siblings is something she feels she must repay sexually and Paul is ok with that despite being more than twice her age, rewarding the teenager with negligees etc. I'm not sure if Andrews wants us to find this exploitive or if we're supposed to sympathize with Paul. Her Ballet life is also an unwelcome diversion as are Julian and his mother. You can't figure out why someone as strong as Cathy, and as willful, would waste time with the abusive Julian, whose arrogance is ridiculous.

The real center of the story, which make sense because she was the focal center of "Flowers" and the narrator of these two books, is Cathy's plans to resolve past injustices committed against her. She is mad with plans of revenge, which is understandable since Corrine, after what she did to Cory and then Carrie, is enjoying the life of luxury that was more important to her than her own children.

This is the most thrilling aspect of the story and what we're reading it for, and these are the best scenes of the book. Everyone who read "Flowers" will enjoy when Cathy has an opportunity to confront her grandmother and mother. The best scene in the book is undoubtedly when Cathy, who is in her late twenties (Corrine was in her mid-thirties when this happened) dresses exactly as her mother did for the Christmas ball and looks, not surprisingly considering the lack of diversity in the Foxworth gene pool, every bit the double of her mother several years earlier.

There are those at the party who saw Corrine years prior and immediately realize that something is terribly wrong when Cathy appears in that most dramatic scene, a great guilty pleasure. The ending is very haunting and sets the stage for the next book, suggesting the "legacy of evil" cannot be overcome.

"Flowers in the Attic" was my first step into this genre, and I found it one of the best books I've read. I looked to "Petals on the Wind" with great anticipation, but a short ways in, my enjoyment nearly flatlined.

Bad points of the story:

The story jumps around a bit too much, and what there is of the story seems to be too many people trying to get into Cathy's tutu. It seems half the time she's sobbing, a word used a bit too often throughout the book. And if she's not sobbing, someone is gripping her to them and telling her how exquisitely beautiful she is and that she belongs to him. Another annoying habit in the story is the placing of an exclamation mark behind Chris' name, as if Cathy is surprised her brother actually shows up. Chris himself doesn't seem to have much personality outside of studying and trying to convince his sister that his love for her isn't wrong, and if it is, oh well. Through some pieces of the story you have to wonder if Cathy left her brain in the attic. At one point I was so disappointed in Catherine, I really didn't want to finish the story, as she thought to herself "Life seemed to me nothing without a man." Lastly, I felt there was excess character killing, with eight deaths (that I counted) throughout the story.

Good points of the story:

Carrie gets some more attention in the story, but it's mostly bittersweet. The only real redeeming part of the story was settled in the last fifty or so pages, with an excellent revenge set loose on the mother and grandmother. Which almost makes the rest of the story worth reading.

In conclusion:

Between "I sobbed.", "You're beautiful. You belong to me!" and "Chris!", the author manages to create a mildly entertaining story. But if I had it to do over again, I would have stopped at "Flowers in the Attic" and let my prior image of Cathy's character be.

Sequels are a tough nut to crack. Especially when the original source material is as revered as Flowers In The Attic. And yet, with Petals On The Wind, V.C. Andrews achieved the near-impossible. Despite the sequel being completely different from the work which came before, it retains the same spirit and tone.

Chris, Cathy and Carrie have finally escaped the horrors of the attic... and yet life will not be simple for them, as the attic has left a harsh impression upon them. Chris finds it impossible to move beyond the unholy love born in the attic. Cathy burns with a desire for revenge against those who took so much from her. And Carrie... well, let's just say the fates aren't kind to poor Carrie.

As with most of the early works by VC Andrews, the tone is most definitely gothic. The descriptions are lush and lavish, and lust often permiates the air... especially whenever nubile young Cathy, our narrator, begins speaking of her sensual exploits. To say that Cathy has a well-defined sense of self and sensuality would be an understatement, to be certain!

Perhaps the best reason to read Petals On The Wind is to finally know the answer to the age-old question any good book (aka Flowers In The Attic) leaves the reader asking: What happened next?

Oh God. I got trapped in a car with this book playing on tape and I truly had to scream out loud several times, "Why are we listening to this crap!!!?!???".'Flowers in the Attic', while somewhat beyond belief (who acts like these people?) was able to hold my interest out of curiosity. 'Petals' on the other hand is so horribly inconsistent, whiney and uninteresting that I almost bailed at 75 mph. If they erased all Cathy's sobbing crying and lust, all of Carrie's fears and attacks with tiny fists, all of Chris' ultra dull personality, lust and jelousy, this book would be 3 pages long. IT IS INTERMINABLE! Who writes this crap? Oh yeah, the dearly departed VC Andrews. At least there won't be any additions to this balderdash. Of course, women love this fantasy, "Let's fall in love" drivel, and I guess it was written by a woman for women, but at least learn dialogue that will interest both sexes and anyone over 13 years old. People just don't talk this way. I mean what do you do with a love scene where "he touches her in that wonderful place" and "she touches him in that wonderful place". Arrrrghh!I had a dire wish for the grandmother to show up with a machete and put this sad group out its misery. Men, grab whateven gonads you have left and flee this book or they will be taken from you. Be warned. This is tripe like you can't believe.

SPOILER WARNING!
This is a very disappointing follow up to Flowers in the Attic. The character of Cathy completely changes from a protagonist you sympathize with to someone you just don't care about anymore. She becomes so self destructive that it makes the "climax" of the book; her revenge plot against her mother anti-climatic. Also, Chris becomes almost one dimensional, as if he has no personality of his own. All you read is about how he studies, has a heart of gold and pines for his sister...not matter how dumb and heartless she becomes. I get that Andrews wanted to make a point about the "cycle of evil" continuing but I think that's a cheap ploy. There is no rule that says once a cycle has begun you have to remain in it. Perhaps that was enough to stretch the first book into a series but I never bought it. I would have found it a far more interesting read if Cathy had made at least a few smart decisions in between her dumb ones. At least then I would have actually cared when things didn't go her way. By the end of the book I was left feeling Chris was a fool... why would he still want her after all she had done? The worst was that she always blamed her mistakes on her mom or her past. She never faced up to what she did or had become.

With the glut of teen-geared, posthumously-published, ghostwritten V.C. Andrews paperbacks that have been flooding the book world of late, it might be easy to forget that Virginia Andrews had the ability to create wrenching drama and unique characters who struggle to open the door to happiness even when the key is placed right in their hands.

In "Petals on the Wind", the second volume of a five-book series, the three remaining "flowers in the attic" - Cathy, Christopher and Carrie Dollanganger - escape Foxworth Hall and certain death by poisoning at the hands of their gold-digging mother.

As they heal, Chris, the sunshine of Cathy's heart, continues to try and care for his sisters while pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor. Through Cathy's adoring eyes, the reader sees him grow into a man who is handsome, protective and giving, with the flaws of an occasional temper and an inability - and unwillingness - to love any woman except his younger sister, who yearns to be a prima ballerina.

And it's here that the book hits a snag - in Cathy's tortured relationship with her ballet partner Julian, a selfish brat who beats her, cheats on her and allows her no privacy. Given the singular experiences she has endured, it is plausible that Cathy would be torn between her love and gratitude for Dr. Paul Sheffield, the man who takes the children in and becomes their guardian angel, and her forbidden adoration for her brother Chris.

However, it seems unfathomable that Julian, whom Cathy accurately calls a "nasty, inconsiderate brute", would fit into the equation. She and have both fiery natures and good physical chemistry that allows them to dance well together, but Cathy has been written to have too much fierce self-preservation (if not self-esteem) to put up with such horrendous treatment.

A little more understandable is Cathy's later passion for Bart Winslow, the stepfather who never knew she existed. After all, her infatuation for him has slept inside her since she was fifteen and came across him dozing in Foxworth Hall's infamous Swan Room.

V.C. Andrew's books are not for everyone. Readers who want stoic realism and sensible characters that find it easy to live by society's rules might have a hard time swallowing these stories. Some of their events are as fantastic of those that unwound in the soap operas Chris and Cathy watched while locked up in Foxworth Hall. Also, Cathy's deep romantic feelings for her brother, her mother's husband and the man who becomes her surrogate father might certainly be disturbing to some.

But for fans who enjoy the struggles of Andrews's characters to find inner peace, artistic fulfillment and true love, "Petals on the Wind" is undoubtedly one of the best choices.

"Flowers in the Attic" to this day remains one of my all time favorite books. Anyone caught in it's spell could not possibly not want to read the sequel and see what happened to the three children that escaped the clutches of the Attic and their evil grandmother.

Well........for one this story is a bit far fetched. Did V.C. Andrews even write this? Didn't she die after 'Flowers' and has had a ghost writer for the last twenty years? Anyway they leave the attic and get on a bus, headed for Sarasota, Florida to join the circus. Instead they run into a mute housekeeper who takes them to her employer, a doctor. As in real life, this complete stranger befriends the three of them. He adopts Carrie, sends Chris through medical school and helps Cathy follow her dream of being a ballerina.

In the course of this of course, the doc falls in love with Cathy while Chris is still in love with her sister.

The great confrontation which ends in a disappointing anti-climax is when Cathy meets her grandmother again. You remember 'Flowers'? The hate, the fear, the helplessness. Remember how badly we wanted Cathy to get away? Well now the shoe is on the other foot. After a stroke, the grandmother lays helpless, though alert. Cathy stands over her with a switch and strips the helpless grandmother. The anger is burning in Cathy's eyes. The fear is in the grandmother's.....

I'll stop here. You just have to see what happens. I for one was disappointed.

The story ends with a great fire that destroys the mansion and it's evil, forboding attic.

Normally I would not read a book that is narrated by a fifteen-year-old seductress, but the plot intrigued me, so I gave it a try. I must admit, I did read this book for hours on end, but in those hours I could not help but notice a few faults. The book was so repetitive that I began keeping count of some of the following- how many times Cathy has sex, how many times her lover dies, how many times someone touches her breasts, how many times she damns her mother to hell, how many times she tells Chris not to love her after kissing him, how many times the author uses the phrases "as in a dream...," "as in an unhappy dream...," and "as in a nightmare...",and how many times her eyes "met and locked" with a male character.A sign of bad writing? Maybe so? But I did feel involved enough with the characters so that I would not accuse the author of writing bad literature.I might not go so far as to read another one of her books, though. But I must congratulate her on an original plotline.

After three years, four months, and sixteen days, Cathy, Chris, and Carrie Dollanganger have escaped Foxworth Hall. "Petals on the Wind" begins with the three children on a bus destined for Florida. However, their travels are cut short because of Carrie's poor health. They are assisted by a mute woman (Henrietta Beech) who takes them to her boss, Dr. Paul Sheffield, their soon-to-be guardian.

The three children have a new chance at a "normal" childhood. They attend school, and Cathy and Chris even begin pursuing their personal goals: Cathy joins a ballet school; Chris later enters medical school.

At her ballet practices, Cathy meets Julian Marquet, the son of her instructor. He is attracted to Cathy and pursues her until she agrees to marry him. All the while, Cathy is torn between these three men: her older brother Chris who never abandoned his love for her since they left Foxworth Hall; her much older guardian Paul who becomes her first lover; and Julian, her abusive new husband, who she married out of desperation rather than love. One of them fathers her first son Jory.

Carrie, on the other hand, doesn't have as much success as her older siblings. She's constantly teased by her classmates because of her short size and large head, which makes her become more withdrawn and miserable. Then one last encounter with her mother leaves Carrie on the brink of suicide.

Throughout the book, Cathy strikes out at Corrine, trying to ruin her mother's life any way she can. At the height of her revenge, Cathy steals her mother's husband away from her, becomes pregnant by him with her second son (Bart Jr), and publicly announces her imprisonment in Foxworth Hall.

"Petals on the Wind" is the second book in the Dollanganger series, preceded by "Flowers in the Attic" and followed by "If There Be Thorns", "Seeds of Yesterday", and "Garden of Shadows".

This was the first V. C. Andrews book I ever read and is still my favorite. If no other Dollanganger books had followed this one, I would have been satisfied with the series. As far as I'm concerned, "Flowers in the Attic" and "Petals on the Wind" are the only two books worth reading in the Dollanganger series. Although the other three all have their significance to the Foxworth-Dollanganger storyline, I was only interested in the lives of Cathy, Chris, and Carrie; no other characters captured my interest very much.

Also, for being a sequel, "Petals on the Wind" is very successful and true. The effects of their imprisonment in the attic are life-long scars: Carrie's dwarfism; Chris's desire for Cathy; Cathy's bitterness. If you've read "Flowers in the Attic", "Petals on the Wind" is a must-read. It's the aftermath of the children's stay in the attic and how they choose to forget or remember what happened.

I read this book because I wanted to know what happened after Flowers in the Attic, which was a good read. This book, however, was a disappointment. 70 percent of it was Cathy having sex with someone (which she does a lot of in this book, with more than a few partners) or starting to have foreplay and then slapping him in the face and storming out. This book was bad. I'm glad I checked it out from the library and didn't buy it. I really do not care enough about Cathy's sex life enough to read about it in every chapter of a book. Not to mention her incessant self-doubt, worrying, and wimpy questioning of herself on whether or not she is the "Devil's issue." Get over it! And the revenge against the mother came much too late in the book. Furthermore, I was really turned off by the way Cathy is constantly telling the reader how beautiful she thinks she is. If you are looking for a good sequel full of interesting plot, substance and content, this one is not it!