Flowers in the Attic pt 6 - or "Well that happened."

Hello and welcome back to this Gothic nonsense.

In this chapter, "Momma's Story," we learn the deep dark secrets of the Dollanganger family ... some of them, at least. Depending on how much you read after this, they really just start to pile up.

We rejoin the Doll' family after Corrine reveals that she'd been whipped by The Grandmother, who also took it upon herself to knock the stuffing out of the bratty twins while she was at it.

Instant replay

Naturally everyone's feeling pretty despairing after all that, but Corrine tells them it'll all be fine and it will never happen again. She assures them that she would suffer a hundred times over if it meant living the fifteen years of happiness she spent with their father. They all gather around her and she tells them what really happened - or at least some of it. I'm sure I don't have to say that we'll learn more later. 

" 'This is a strange house, and the people who reside in it are even stranger...' " 

Pretty sure they noticed that already, Corrine...

She says she should have warned them that her parents are both fanatically religious (again, pretty sure they noticed) and gives an example that, while her father is dying, he's still carried to church in a wheelchair or a stretcher every week and gives a tithe of one tenth of his income. Basically buying his way into heaven so he can act like a bastard as much as he wants. 

What a nice guy. 

Also, Corrine talks for about five straight pages, so I'm going to be paraphrasing this a lot. 

She tells them that when she and her older brothers were growing up, religion was forced down their throats and all they were ever told was "be good." They were forced to go to church no matter what, even if they were sick in bed, weren't allowed to go swimming, because it would mean wearing bathing suits, weren't allowed to play any sort of card game - you get the idea. 

" 'Into all of this, a beautiful young man came to live'" 

Guess who. 

Here's where it gets both confusing and, honestly pretty gross. 

Without all the flourishes Corrine adds - never outright saying its her husband until Cathy's narration actually tells us - the "beautiful young man" was Corrine's husband. He was her grandfather's son that he had with a sixteen year old girl named Alicia, when he was fifty-five. 

- take a shot when this is just outright pedophilia

-ahem- where were we?

So Corrine's grandfather died when Christopher (the first one) was three and he and his mother were thrown out of the house by her father. Alicia married again - and then he died - and then Alicia herself died of breast cancer when her son was sixteen. Putting her at about twenty-nine - good lord, these books are tragedy porn. 

Without anywhere else to go, Christopher went to live with his older half-brother and his family - that of course, being Corrine's parents. 

There's about a page and a half about how he looked standing in the sunlight, marveling about what was around him and how Corrine never noticed that she lived in wealth because it was always there around her. None of that should really be surprising, considering what we know about her so far. 

She also explains that her father is a collector of beautiful things and wants to own everything. Considering that one of these things is his, then fourteen year old, daughter, maybe I should bring up that drinking game bullet point up there again. This family is really cringe worthy... 

So she falls instantly in love with him, even though he's her "half-uncle" ( -shot-) and they grow very close over the years and her parents never suspect a thing. They agreed that, right or wrong, they had to marry, and that once Christopher was out of college, they would elope together. 

" 'They sent him to Yale and he was brilliant.' " 

Sorry, there's just something outrageously stupid about how that line is worded. 

Even though "he was brilliant" and graduated in three years, he could never use that degree because it had a different name on it than the one he used when they were married. Should have thought of that before, huh? 

All while she's explaining this, Cathy is getting totally swept away like it's some deeply romantic fairy tale, ignoring ... dude, she married her uncle. 

(note for the prequel - spoiler ahead: they're not just uncle and niece, he's totally her half-brother) 

Once Corrine turned eighteen, the two of them ran off and got married, then came back to explain to her father what happened and that they were deeply in love and ... I'm sure you can guess the outcome. 

" 'My father nearly threw a fit. He raged, he stormed, he ordered us both out of his house, and he told us never to come back, never!' " 

Pretty sure that is throwing a fit...

So that was why she was disinherited, and in order to win back his love, Corrine is willing to do whatever her father wants - no matter what that may be. 

" 'What could he want from you but obedience and a show of respect?' asked Chris in the most somber, adult way, as if he understood what this was all about.

Momma gave him the longest look, full of sweet compassion as her hand lifted to caress his boyish cheek. He was a younger smaller edition of the husband she'd so recently buried." 

Creepy subtext aside, there is some really Freudian shit in this book. 

Corrine assures them that no matter what the Grandparents might say, there is nothing evil about any of them and that they are not the Devil's Spawn/ Issue and the fact that she gave birth two four beautiful, perfect children is proof that there was nothing unholy about her marriage. They promise that they will always be proud of who they are and never believe what their Grandmother might say about them. 

This is actually a nice passage, but it falls a little flat, knowing what's obviously going to happen later on. Even if you haven't read it before, it's clear things aren't going to go that smoothly or this book wouldn't be four hundred pages long. 

She has them all join hands and say that they are perfect and healthy and wholesome and deserving of love in every way. 

Since they obviously can't go on living in that nightmare of a house, Corrine explains that while she's kissing up to her father, she also plans to go back to school and learn to become a secretary so that she can get a job and move all of them out of there, just in case. They would get an apartment nearby, so that she can still visit her father (because, despite not having her kids trapped in an attic, still gotta try for all that money, right?)  She adds that it might take her a while to learn, because she's never had to work before and always expected to have a man to take care of her. 

" 'It's not my fault, really ... When you're born rich, and you're educated in boarding schools only for the daughters of the extremely rich and powerful, and then you're sent to a girls' finishing school, you are taught polite rules of social etiquette, academic subjects, but most of all, you're made ready for the whirl of romance, debutante parties, and how to entertain and be the perfect hostess. I wasn't taught anything practical. ... I knew that they day I turned eighteen we'd be married' " 

( -drink to forget the 50's) 

All the while she's saying this, Cathy is taking in every word and deciding that she'll never need to rely on a man to get by. Despite swearing her love for her mother in the last page or so, she's also angry and blames her for everything that was happening, because if her mother had been working as well when they're father had died, they might not be where they were. 

Gotta hand it to Cathy, when she's right, she's right. 

Before she leaves, Corrine begs her children one last time to be good and not give the Grandmother any reason to punish them and says she loves them all very much. 

She promises to bring them some games the next day, and Cathy wonders how she would afford that. 

Corrine answers a little too quickly and explains that she has a little money from her father, seeing as he wouldn't want her looking like a beggar to their friends or neighbors. 

Corrine leaves for the night and the kids lay in bed thinking about everything they'd just been told and wonder how long it'll really take to get out of that room. They have faith that their mother will do her best by them and they'll be out of there before they know it. 

With three hundred pages left of this book, I really doubt that. 

Flowers in the Attic: Pt. 5 or "Everyone just SHUT UP!"

-Dusts off my blog-
Damn, okay, so that didn't quite work out. To anyone who looks at this - terribly sorry for the hiatus.

I had actually intended on ... actually posting something, but I work in retail, and the months of October to January are what most people might refer to as: Hell.

As for recently, I'm in the middle of moving again, so things have been a little complicated, and also - it's just really hard for me too keep reading this Goddamn book over and over again...

Anyway, show must go on. I found my marked-up copy of this paperback idiocy, I've had a decent enough break from looking at it - on with the show!

Before I get totally into it, I'd like to thank Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix for getting me back into the spirit. If you don't know what this book is, it's a collection of pulp horror novel artwork done in the 70's and 80's during the paperback horror boom and - let me tell you - some of these, I'm actually dying to get my hands on. They're the dumbest things I've ever seen and would be so much fun to read.
Note: as of writing this, I have found some here and there and have actually read one of them so far. More on that later.


So the title of this chapter is  "The Wrath of God" so we already know we're in for a fun time.

We last left the idiot siblings still locked in their room after exploring the attic and waiting for their mother's arrival. When she finally comes in, Cathy and Chris instantly notice she's moving very stiffly, her face looks pale and she wont look any of them in the eye.
Mum's not doing too great then.

She asks how their day went and immediately the twins start complaining that they were locked in the room, forced to go into an attic and a ton of mediocre things that probably seem like nothing compared to the day their mom had.
To be fair - yeah they're like - three years old.
I don't care, I hate these kids. I hate reading about them. I hate most of their dialogue.

Carrie the moose starts shrieking and hitting and screaming and all the things she's already known for, and Corrine tries to calm her down with little to show for it, when nurse Ratchett shows up.

For the record, the movie from the 80's is a real gem. An insanely campy, terribly melodramatic gem

She commands that Corrine shut her children up that instant (her words, not mine for a change) with a look on her face that suggests she'd do it for her in another few seconds.

To show just how well behaved she is, Carrie goes over to the Grandmother and does this:

"Planting her small feet wide apart, Carrie threw back her head, opened her rosebud mouth and really let go!" 

It's scenes like this that give a perfect example of why I hate this child. I can't do temper-tantrums, and this whole scene has me on the evil grandma's side of this. They're spoiled as Hell and scream whenever they don't like something.

Sorry, I really don't like children.
Let us continue.

The Grandmother grabs Carrie by the hair and lifts her up off the ground, and Cory - the twin I don't hate - takes it upon himself to defend his twin and runs at The Grandmother and bites onto her leg. The Grandmother drops Carrie on the ground and Cory starts kicking her with his tiny little feet.

"...Cory didn't flinch, his only reaction to this very obvious threat was a deeper, more fierce scowl as his small hands knotted into fists raised in professional boxer style." 

Meanwhile I try not to ask why there were so many options when I googled "Boxing hamster" 

They both start screaming and The Grandmother makes it clear she's done fucking around. She starts slapping them both hard enough to send them flying and they go and cower in a corner (still screaming).
While all this has been going on, by the way, neither the older children, nor their mother have done a thing. They're literally all just sitting their watching it. I'll give Corrine a free pass this time (you'll find out why in a minute) but the other two? What's their excuse?

The twins finally stop screaming when their Grandmother actually grabs them both by the scruff and just throws them back on the floor. With as harsh as this is, what she says next really has you kind of agreeing with her:
"... 'Obviously your children have been spoiled and indulged, and are in desperate need of lessons in discipline and obedience... Hear that!'"

I skipped a little in the middle there, I mostly just like the - not a question - "Hear that!" at the end.
And then she says this...

" 'Now take of your blouse, daughter, and show those who disobey just how punishment is dealt out in this house!'" 

So, I lost track of what's been going on in the Dollanganger drinking game, but we're just gonna add:
"Take a shot when something in this book comes out sounding way more sexual than it really needs to" 

So Corrine  tries to reason with her, saying the twins have stopped crying and there's no need for that. However, the Grandmother makes it clear that she wont fall for her daughter's "pretty face and beguiling ways" which really just adds more fodder to that essay - and then calls her a deceitful, lying bit of trash.
Mother of the year, this one.

Speaking of decent parenting, Corrine has a single moment of maybe trying to stand up for herself by telling the Grandmother that if she's cruel to her children (too late) that she'll take them out of the house tonight and the Grandmother will never see any of them again.

I really don't know why she thought this would work.

Cathy gets her hopes up, thinking that they're going to get out of that house and never have to go up in the attic again and ... no.

Predictably, the Grandmother tells Corrine that she can leave and she doesn't care if she never sees any of them again, which - really - Corrine should know better, considering what just happened.

So because she has nowhere else to go and coming to the house was literally the last resort other than....getting a job(?), Corrine doesn't do anything that would get her kids out of a horribly abusive situation and instead ends up doing what her crazy mother says and takes her blouse off, showing them her back, covered in whip marks.

" 'Take a good look, children. Know that those whip marks go all the way down to your mother's feet. Thirty-three lashes, one for each year of her life. And fifteen extra for each year she lived in sin with your father.' "

The Grandmother's full rant goes on to explain that she was the one who actually whipped her even though Corrine's father was the one who ordered the punishment and that her marriage was a sin against God and that she had that many children with him was evil and ... this woman's entire range of dialogue really just is more of the same...

And then we get some more uncomfortable inner monologue from Cathy:

"My eyes bulged at the sight of those pitiful welts on the creamy tender flesh that our father had handled with so much love and gentleness."

Yeah, I always talk about my mother's skin this way - oh wait - no I don't - cause that's fucking weird.

Either way - take a shot.

So this marks the first part of this book where Cathy is filled with hatred and starts vowing revenge on the Grandmother and starts glaring at her, which seems like a great idea, considering.

The Grandmother explains that she'll give the children food and shelter (like a good Christian?) but they can expect no kindness or friendship from her and she would feel nothing but repulsion towards them. She wants them to know that they are the Devil's Issue - which is another phrase that'll come up a lot - and that they're horrible creatures with no hope of redemption and really I'm getting tired of writing the same thing over and over.

Cathy vows that she'll never be made to hate her father and would strike back at the Grandmother someday in any way she can. She looks over at Chris, who is also glaring at the Grandmother but, she realizes, more in anger over what she did to Corrine. Cathy explains that Chris loves Corrine more than the rest of them and puts her on a pedestal of perfection above all others:

"He'd already told me that when he grew up, he'd marry a woman who was like our mother."

You thought I was joking about the Oedipus thing, didn't you?

We end this chapter with Cathy wondering why they were brought to this house, why had their mother thought it would be safe for them, hadn't she known what her parents would be like, why they were brought in the dead of night, etc. etc.

Will we find out the answer to these questions?

Tune in next time and find out!