What is wrong with V.C. Andrews?

[INTUNEevolution]

Seriously, Flowers in the Attic is perhaps the most disgusting thing to ever be quoted by my friend on a regular basis. "His male organ grew hard against me"
AND THEY'RE BRO / SIS!!!

Just wow, this book is vile and the author is so, so base.

What did you think, pervs that read it?

[History]

I never read Flowers in the Attic, but I have read other books by V.C. Andrews. Some written by her, which I found kind of terrible, and other ones started by her but finished and edited by another author after she died. From what I gather, they all pretty much deal with incest. The ones actually written by another author tone it down a bit, with the love interest being between step siblings. I don't get it. I can see exploring a taboo subject, but I guess she was just super messed up. That's about all the insight I have.

[megynn]

When I was in junior high I read a TON of her books (I was a very strange child). All of the series basically have the same plot, and they do all have some sort of incestuous relationship. Maybe she had a serious crush for her brother/step-brother/cousin/whatever. Thinking back on it now, it was fairly disturbing.

[INTUNEevolution]

Yes, if there are more of these books, then I have no doubt she has serious, serious issues.

[Xambesi]

Nabokov was constantly writing books of an incestuous nature and he's hailed as a genius.

[INTUNEevolution]

Did he do it first?

[Xambesi]

Are you joking?

[Tyler_Legrand]

Were the stories any good? "His male organ grew hard against me" sounds pretty weak.

[timbot]

I always wanted to read Lolita by Nabokov, but was always afraid I'd look like a perv while buying it. My general perception is that his work is better than Andrews', but I've never read either of them.

Just because you write about incest doesn't mean you're a pervert. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in his novel Love in the Time of Cholera writes about a pseudo-incestuous relation between an old man and a very young girl. It's still a good book, and it's hard not to like the old pervert.

[BKS]

I saw the movie, and it was poorly done, but I've only heard semi-decent reviews for her books, so I assume she does something right. I think you need to look past the whole "Bro, I'm totally gonna fuck the shit outta my sister with my genuine penis" factor and more towards the "Goddamn, my cuntass grandma locked us the fuck up forever" message thats being conveyed.

Perhaps she's trying to say "People do things they normally would not in dire situations." Think about it, if you're locked up for that long, and the only piece of ass you happen to glance upon belongs to your sister, or your 70-something year old grandmother, you're bound to get wood eventually. Its not like he actually thought to go jerk off.

[INTUNEevolution]

Are you joking?

I'm just saying that the only way he would have any respect is if he did that whole incest scene first. And from what I understand from people's anecdotes about peers in highschool, the kids that read Andrews were seriously messed up. Like suicide in your 20's messed up.

[timbot]

Yes, Nabokov was before V.C. Andrews. His most famous novel, Lolita, about Humbert Humbert and his obsession with a 13 year old girl, is about 50 years old. I just started reading it, and so far it's pretty good. And, like Xambesi pointed out, it's considered a modern masterpiece. One review on the copy of the book I have said something like, "the only convincing love story of this century."
Of course, he wasn't the first person to write about incest or pedophilia. The ancient Greeks had writing about that stuff, Oedipus the King for example, is at least in part about incest.
Also, I think BKS has a good point. I saw the movie several years ago, and haven't read the book, but I don't really think the point is the incest. I think that's part of it, of course, but there's so much else going on. It doesn't make V.C. Andrews a pervert. It doesn't mean she wasn't one either though. . .

[Oodge]

Flowers in the Attic didn't freak me out. I think I was continually too angry at their mother and grandmother to get weirded. And I read that when I was about 11. Maybe I was too young to appreciate its vileness. In any case, I started reading the second and got bored and never finished it. Anyone know how the series ended?

[Wackomyjacko]

What was wrong with V.C. Andrews? For starters, she was in a wheelchair most of her life. Her books are...interestingly...different, but she make good observations and theories on human nature and behavior. I've actually never read the second book, but I am sure that Cathy ends up marrying her brother, Chris.

[AgentElectro]

There's nothing wrong with V.C. Andrews. So her book is a little different. Just because you can't understand a different view, this book is 'weird' and 'perverted.'
I found it uplifting and inspiring. Her characters found hope where they never thought they would. Best book ever.

[Nexus]

I don't know what was wrong with Virginia Andrews, she is of course dead now. Her books have always disturbed me, I only ever read two of them whilst dating some one completely enthralled by them. I could never understand why, when my partners family life was already straight out of a V.C Andrews book, she felt the need to read about it every night.

The problem now with her book is, well she doesn't right them. They are now written by a series of other authors who profess to stay as true to her style as if it were Andrews herself. I haven't read any of these so wouldn't know if this is the case, any one still reading these books care to say if there has been any discernible difference?

[timbot]

I've never read any of the books written by her or her literary heirs, but I have heard that the incest was toned down.
But to be a proxy author? How pathetic. I would rather not write than be a professional writer whose claim to fame is pretending to be V.C. Andrews.