Lifetime's VC Andrews Movies Topic (Flowers In The Attic, The Dollangangers, The Casteels, etc) - General Discussion

[Daisy]

That was very interesting. (I just watched the last two movies). I think they really missed a key element of Cathy writing it all down. Because in a way, it was Cathy's insistence  that every single person knew (when she was a child) what her mother done, and it manifested itself into a book, that caused the secret to continue/destroy their lives. 

 

 (also the hint that she was replicating the attic was too brief. Chris was freaked the hell out in the book, and it was always ... again hinted that Cathy was afraid she'd do it without a moment's thought, and she even bought the same picnic basket). 

Thorns and Seeds were always tedious and it was the in the movies 

Melodie (still hated her, so great job there LOL). and I am sort of glad that Joel wasn't there. Someone wrote it above, and I agree, instead of having it that Bart was insane due to all of this religious mumbo-jumbo-dogma, it could have been that being the byproduct of incest is what damaged him.

I also like the fact ... well. i like the concept of turning left, with Bart and Cindy getting together because it was always hinted at in the books, and then he'd go all roid-ragey. Though, i will not lie, I went. "are you serious?" when they had sex in the woods. (In the books, you always had the idea, that Bart raped Cindy because Cindy is all sobbing and telling  Cathy what happened, and the boyfriend (Lance) was dragged out of the car, and then Cindy was about to say something, like, "Bart took me and--" she stopped talking, Cathy pushed her and Cindy refused to say anything else. So It just seems to me, that they showed the "and...." - though them actually getting married... yesh.]

 

And I hate Cathy's abrupt death.. it just didn't feel... right. 

 

I think they need,  need, to do Garden of Shadows, to explain why this is all so important though, ending it on Seeds..makes no sense. 

 

Also. Heaven, please. (I hated Heaven (the character) soo much but I loved it). Actually. Cutler too would be great. 

[backformore]

I saw that these movies were on, and I read these books LOOOONG ago.  I want to watch the movies, I saw the first one FITA and it was gloriously bad.  could someone put the movies in order for me?   I want to make sure I watch  them in the right order.  

thanks.  

I'm glad to know so many other people here devoured the VC Andrews books.  I always wondered what would happen in a woman's life that caused her to be obsessed with topics of incest and abuse.  But then I recall that she didn't actually write all the books herself, because the books kept coming after her death.  

 

I would love to have a week off work to re-read all the VC Andrews books.  Pure escape. 

Edited April 14, 2015 by backformore

[ElectricBoogaloo]

in a way, it was Cathy's insistence  that every single person knew (when she was a child) what her mother done, and it manifested itself into a book, that caused the secret to continue/destroy their lives.

True, but I think that eventually Jory and Bart would have figured out that Chris was her brother so it was just a matter of time before they had to deal with the fall out from learning the truth about Chris and Cathy's relationship. It may have been easier for Jory and Bart to accept Chris and Cathy's relationship when they were older though. Adolescence is tough enough without learning a huge secret like that.

 

And actually, both Jory and Bart found out not because of her manuscript but because of other people (Jory figured it out when Madame Marisha came to visit and started asking questions and John Amos flat out told Bart) so even if Cathy hadn't insisted on writing her book after her accident, both boys were going to find out the truth through other people. Reading her manuscript just confirmed what they already knew.

 

I agree that Cathy putting the beds and the picnic basket in the attic was a bigger deal in the book. She told Chris she had no idea how all that stuff got up there but come on, lady, you bought two beds from the store, dragged those huge boxes up to the attic, put them together by yourself (I hope they weren't from Ikea!), and you have NO IDEA how they got there? I believe that Cathy was traumatized by her years in the attic but not to the point of having some kind of dissociative disorder where she completely blocked out buying beds and putting them in the attic. Girl, please. And Chris was suitably horrified in the book, asking her if she planned to lock Jory and Bart away if people found out their secret. In the movie, it was like two seconds of dialogue.

 

In the books, you always had the idea, that Bart raped Cindy because Cindy is all sobbing and telling  Cathy what happened, and the boyfriend (Lance) was dragged out of the car, and then Cindy was about to say something, like, "Bart took me and--" she stopped talking, Cathy pushed her and Cindy refused to say anything else.

This was actually explained later in the book when Cindy finally got fed up with Bart being an ass and Cathy always defending him. Just before she left Foxworth (for the millionth time), she told Cathy that after Bart beat up Victor (Lance was the guy she brought to Bart's birthday party and they were caught having sex in Cindy's room, while Victor was from a later visit to Foxworth Hall when Cindy said she was going for a walk and Bart caught them having sex in Victor's car), Bart took her up to Joel's room and let Joel spit on her and curse at her.

 

I think Bart hated Cindy for the same reason that Malcolm hated his daughter Corrine - these girls reminded them of their mothers. Since Cindy was younger, she was easier for Bart to pick on than his mother. He gets to project all of his mommy issues onto Cindy, hating her for being beautiful and translating that into assuming that Cindy was a slut out to seduce him (especially since John Amos and Malcolm's journal taught him that all women do is tempt you and weaken you). In the book he said, "I see that kid, Cindy, and realize she must look the way you used to, and a little bit of me knows why Chris fell in love with you. That makes me hate her worse. She teases me, you know. Cindy would like to creep under my skin and make me do something as wicked as what Chris does with you. She strolls around in her bedroom wearing nothing but bikini bra and bottoms. And she knows I check her rooms before I retire. Tonight she had on a nightgown so transparent I could see right through it. She just stood there and let me stare. Joel tells me she's nothing, but a whore."

 

Similarly, Bart is one of those people who wants to exclude people because it makes himself feel better about feeling left out. Jory always considered Cindy his sister but Bart kept insisting that she wasn't. Whenever Cathy said things like, "Be nice to your sister," Bart would say that Cindy wasn't his sister. I understand that resentment a little more from 9 year old Bart, but adult Bart still felt the same way. After the failed Christmas party, he told Cathy, "I hold no love at all for Cindy. She's done nothing but steal from me—and she isn't even one of us."

 

instead of having it that Bart was insane due to all of this religious mumbo-jumbo-dogma, it could have been that being the byproduct of incest is what damaged him.

It's a common misconception that children born from close relatives will have all kinds of defects (see: Malcolm's assumption that Chris Sr. and Corrine's children would have tails). Although the risk for diseases carried on recessive genes is higher, it takes several generations of inbreeding to really get the weird stuff. Bart being the son of Cathy (whose parents were half brother and half sister) would most likely not have produced anything damaging. Heh, although he did get twice the amount of Malcolm in his gene pool so there's that!

 

Bart makes it very clear in the books that learning about Cathy and Chris made him feel dirty which is what caused his OCD when he was older, so I can see how that constant need to cleanse himself and not feel dirty combined with religion could make him crazy. I was not a fan of Joel in the books, but it did provide a very realistic reason for Bart becoming a religious fanatic. He saw Joel as a father figure and he was also looking for something to make himself feel better. Religion not only did that but also armed him with the ability to call Cathy and Chris sinners. I have read a couple of books about religious fundamentalists and cults and they prey on people like Bart who feel crappy about themselves and are searching for something to make them feel better and to give them a sense of belonging.

 

One thing that always cracked me up (while simultaneously horrifying me) was when Cathy found Bart singing in the chapel with Darren and Deirdre and she thought, "Oh, Bart, you can't be all evil if you can sing like that, and look like that. It isn't too late to save you, it can't be. " You know, because evil people can't be attractive or sing well. You can always spot the evil people because they're ugly and tone deaf.

 

edited because Cathy is not Cindy!

Edited April 15, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I saw that these movies were on, and I read these books LOOOONG ago.  I want to watch the movies, I saw the first one FITA and it was gloriously bad.  could someone put the movies in order for me?   I want to make sure I watch  them in the right order.  

thanks.  

I'm glad to know so many other people here devoured the VC Andrews books.  I always wondered what would happen in a woman's life that caused her to be obsessed with topics of incest and abuse.  But then I recall that she didn't actually write all the books herself, because the books kept coming after her death.  

 

I would love to have a week off work to re-read all the VC Andrews books.  Pure escape. 

1. Flowers in the Attic

2. Petals on the Wind

3. If There Be Thorns

4. Seeds of Yesterday

 

The fifth book, Garden of Shadows, is a prequel so it takes place before Flowers in the Attic but Lifetime said they will not be making that movie.

 

As for the source of the incest/violence/creepy families, VC Andrews had an accident in high school that injured her back. When she was in the hospital, she met a doctor who said he and his siblings had been locked away for six years so that their mother could inherit a fortune. He was the inspiration for Chris. She later used the same half niece/half uncle incest from Chris Sr./Corrine's relationship in the Heaven series for Heaven/Troy. Even though I didn't like her repeating that exact same incestuous relationship, at least Heaven and Troy didn't know about it at the time. The other book she wrote before her death, My Sweet Audrina, didn't have any incest (just creepy relationships in the family like men sleeping with two sisters). But after her death, the ghost writer was writing basically the same books over and over with different names and locations (and sometimes he even recycled names which seemed ridiculously lazy). VC Andrews only wrote the first four Dollanganger books, the first two Heaven books, and My Sweet Audrina. The ghostwriter that her family hired wrote everything else (they did say she started Garden of Shadows and Fallen Hearts and that he finished them for her but there are some discrepancies that make me think she outlined what she wanted to happen in those books but he did most of the writing).

[psychoticstate]

I saw that these movies were on, and I read these books LOOOONG ago.  I want to watch the movies, I saw the first one FITA and it was gloriously bad.  could someone put the movies in order for me?   I want to make sure I watch  them in the right order.  

thanks.  

I'm glad to know so many other people here devoured the VC Andrews books.  I always wondered what would happen in a woman's life that caused her to be obsessed with topics of incest and abuse.  But then I recall that she didn't actually write all the books herself, because the books kept coming after her death.  

 

I would love to have a week off work to re-read all the VC Andrews books.  Pure escape. 

The books were published in this order:  FITA, POTW, ITBT, SOY and GOS.  You should definitely read them (and watch the movies) in that order.

As for the source of the incest/violence/creepy families, VC Andrews had an accident in high school that injured her back. When she was in the hospital, she met a doctor who said he and his siblings had been locked away for six years so that their mother could inherit a fortune. He was the inspiration for Chris. She later used the same half niece/half uncle incest from Chris Sr./Corrine's relationship in the Heaven series for Heaven/Troy. Even though I didn't like her repeating that exact same incestuous relationship, at least Heaven and Troy didn't know about it at the time. The other book she wrote before her death, My Sweet Audrina, didn't have any incest (just creepy relationships in the family like men sleeping with two sisters). But after her death, the ghost writer was writing basically the same books over and over with different names and locations (and sometimes he even recycled names which seemed ridiculously lazy). VC Andrews only wrote the first four Dollanganger books, the first two Heaven books, and My Sweet Audrina. The ghostwriter that her family hired wrote everything else (they did say she started Garden of Shadows and Fallen Hearts and that he finished them for her but there are some discrepancies that make me think she outlined what she wanted to happen in those books but he did most of the writing).

 

 

As I recall, that doctor supposedly told V.C. that he and his siblings were locked away for 6 years.  Can you imagine?  And that FITA started out as a novella and was increased to be a novel.

 

You are right, EB - - Andrews' family did state that she left behind a notebook full of ideas and Neiderman was given access to it after he was hired by her estate.  I haven't cared for any of the VCA books after GOS.  To me, it's very clear that she didn't write them.  Not saying that Neiderman isn't a good writer but he's writing in her style, the way he imagines she would have written the books but he's not her and it just doesn't gel for me.

 

I got spoilered by an Amazon review on the last VCA book to come out - - the one that's about a diary Chris supposedly wrote while the kids were locked up.  The retconning of a very important fact from FITA makes me boil and it changes so much about what we think and know about the characters in the books (and clearly not in a good way).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One thing that bothered me about the prequel (Olivia's book) was the note in the beginning saying that she's writing her story down to set the record straight because of Cathy's books. But Olivia died long before Cathy ever wrote or published those books.

There were a lot of errors/discrepancies between the earlier books and the later books, but that is one of the most glaring ones. Olivia was dead and buried by the end of the first book and Cathy didn't start writing until the middle of the second book so there is no way that Olivia was able to set the refute Cathy's story. Heh, or maybe that is the most literal definition of a ghost writer!

 

 

As I recall, that doctor supposedly told V.C. that he and his siblings were locked away for 6 years.  Can you imagine? 

Not to take away from Cathy and Chris being in the attic for over three years but yeah, six years is ridiculous. Those poor kids.

 

You are right, EB - - Andrews' family did state that she left behind a notebook full of ideas and Neiderman was given access to it after he was hired by her estate.  I haven't cared for any of the VCA books after GOS.  To me, it's very clear that she didn't write them.  Not saying that Neiderman isn't a good writer but he's writing in her style, the way he imagines she would have written the books but he's not her and it just doesn't gel for me.

He has written other stuff (none of which I have read) but I agree. It's really obvious that he was hired to imitate her style and regurgitate the same stories over and over so that the cash cow can continue. It's insulting to me as a reader when he uses similar metaphors/descriptions/storylines in different books. I tried reading some of the other series but they were so repetitive. Innocent girl who is BFFs with her brother and is secretly attracted to him finds out that she is actually the daughter of a rich family. Her rich bio brother is creepy and tries to rape her. Her rich bio sister is a slutty bitch who is jealous of her. The rich adults treat her like trash and hate her. Eventually she is reunited with her adoptive brother who she is now free to bone because they aren't related. I tried reading the Dawn and Ruby series but it was such a blatant mishmash of all storylines from the Dollanganger/Heaven series that I couldn't take it anymore.

 

 

I got spoilered by an Amazon review on the last VCA book to come out - - the one that's about a diary Chris supposedly wrote while the kids were locked up.  The retconning of a very important fact from FITA makes me boil and it changes so much about what we think and know about the characters in the books (and clearly not in a good way).

I was curious about the Christopher diaries but I read an excerpt online before the first one was released and hated it so I had no motivation to read the books. But now I want to know about this retcon! Do tell!

 

ETA: I went to Amazon to find out what this retcon is and all I can say is WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!!

 

For the person who asked about the way Seeds of Yesterday ended in the book, I thought I would include the letter that Cathy wrote before she died:

 

There's a garden in the sky, waiting there for me. It's a garden that Chris and I imagined years ago, while we lay on a hard black slate roof and stared up at the sun and the stars.

He's up there, whispering in the winds to tell me that's where the purple grass grows. They're all up there waiting for me.

So, forgive me for being tired, too tired to stay. I have lived long enough, and can say my life was full of happiness as well as sadness. Though some might not see it that way.

I love all of you, each equally. I love Darren and Deirdre and wish them good luck throughout their lives, as I wish the same for your child-to-be, Jory.

The Dollanganger Saga is over.

You'll find my last manuscript in my private vault. Do with it what you will.

It was meant to be this way. I have no place to go but there. No one needs me more than Chris does.

But please don't ever say I failed in reaching my most important goal. I may not have been the prima ballerina I set out to be. Nor was I the perfect wife or mother—but I did manage to convince one person, at last, that he did have the right father.

And it wasn't too late, Bart.

 

It's never too late.

Edited April 15, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[TattleTeeny]

So another issue I had with the movie. Cathy and Chris being siblings is a secret, yet in the movie we have the executor reading the will and saying that Corrine's son Chris will continue handling the estate and we have a party where people are whispering about Cathy , Corrine's daughter coming to the party many years ago. We also have Cathy and Chris openly living as husband and wife so how is it that people couldn't figure it out.

I remember in the book Cindy knew but I can't remember how she found out.

Also in this movie, Chris gave his name as Sheffield, but weren't they Dollanganger at the end of PotW at the barbecue or whatever party they were having? Am I misremembering? How can a doctor keep running all over the country with different names?

 

Olivia was dead and buried by the end of the first book and Cathy didn't start writing until the middle of the second book so there is no way that Olivia was able to set the refute Cathy's story.

 

She was alive after the first book and throughout the second until the fire at Foxworth Hall that killed Bart. 

Edited April 15, 2015 by TattleTeeny

[TigerLynx]

Chris was freaked the hell out in the book, and it was always ... again hinted that Cathy was afraid she'd do it without a moment's thought, and she even bought the same picnic basket

 

I could see Cathy becoming unhinged over time.  Not only, because of being locked in the attic, she never really dealt with her anger/fear, Cathy, Chris, and Carrie should all of had therapy/counseling, but didn't, and Cathy kept getting into abusive relationships with men.  If being locked in the attic for three years, married to Julian and being abused by him for years wasn't enough, Cathy was also raped by Chris, Julian and Bart.  That's a lot of trauma for anyone to deal with.  There was a passage in POTW where Cathy wonders if she had had a normal childhood, met Julian in New York, and come to him as a pure bride if their marriage would have been better, he wouldn't have cheated on her, and he wouldn't have abused her - what the hell?

 

It's a common misconception that children born from close relatives will have all kinds of defects (see: Malcolm's assumption that Chris Sr. and Corrine's children would have tails). Although the risk for diseases carried on recessive genes is higher, it takes several generations of inbreeding to really get the weird stuff. Bart being the son of Cathy (whose parents were half brother and half sister) would most likely not have produced anything damaging. Heh, although he did get twice the amount of Malcolm in his gene pool so there's that!

 

 

Recessive genes are tricky.  The mental deficiencies can show up sooner.  It's not just physical deformities (which become more and more likely with recombinant DNA strands), and diseases.  A lot of the European royalty and nobility would marry what they believed to be distant relatives to maintain their wealth and power.  However, because it was such a common practice, they ended up with children who had recombinant DNA strands that were higher than if their parents had been full blooded brother/sister.  A lot of these children were physically beautiful and intelligent, but had major emotional problems and anger issues.

 

I always wondered about Malcolm's weird fixation on his mother.

Edited April 15, 2015 by TigerLynx

[ElectricBoogaloo]

She was alive after the first book and throughout the second until the fire at Foxworth Hall that killed Bart.

Ha, apparently I was subtracting one number from each book so thanks for catching that! But yeah, Olivia was dead before Cathy started writing her first book so the foreword to Garden of Shadows still makes no sense.

[TattleTeeny]

You must recall the interior photo from the PotW cover (not that this scene ever happened with all the kids).

Edited April 15, 2015 by TattleTeeny

[backformore]

thank you so much for the info!  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

That was my favorite cover from the series!

[psychoticstate]

I loved all the interior covers on the old school books!   The new covers just don't do it for me.  Bleh, whatever. 

 

EB, sorry to send you off in the direction of Amazon and the fuckery that Niederman unleashed on VCA fans.  I actually purchased the first book when it was published but have not read it.  The reviews are almost uniformly awful, saying it's either a total rehashing of FITA, word for word, or some kind of retcon.  Do not like.

[andromeda331]

Darren and Deirdre were the cutest babies.

My favorite part of the movie was Cathy slamming Melodie against the wall and threatening her. It reminded me why Cathy is my favorite V.C. Andrews character, she does stuff. From voicing her concerns when they were living in the Attic, her need for revenge even sneaking into Foxworth hall to whip and tar Grandmother, the whole of her outing herself at the Christmas party and kicking or slapping the girl who was lying about Carrie. In the other series the heroines kind of just let things go.

[Snow Apple]

Since the book covers were brought up, can anyone tell me who the young adult couple are in Seeds of Yesterday? Jory and Melodie? Jory and Cindy? Bart and Cindy?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Heh, good question. When I originally read SoY in middle school, I assumed that the couple was Jory and Melodie, only because the guy had his hand on Darren's shoulder (and now I see that his hand is actually in his front pocket). But now as an adult, I think it's Bart and Cindy because the book centers around Bart (plus the guy in the picture looks cranky, unlike Jory who was supposed to be optimistic like Chris) and Cindy has that classic VC Andrews slutty attitude pose with the crossed arm and the pissy look on her face. Darken her hair and hey, it's Fanny!

Edited April 15, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Daisy]

True, but I think that eventually .....

 

I just wanted you to have the ear burn because. WOW - is it ever obvious it's been a long time since i read the books. (I usually have a VCA thon every few years, but like I said, Seeds(and Thorns) are generally my least liked and i just breeze through them. You were hitting it out of the park, dude! :) 

thanks for correcting (adding) and giving extra thoughts. (I do remember now the whole spitting, cursing thing). and I do agree with you. I don't think Cathy was all DID, I (kind of like/) the idea, that she would totally lock them up. (Cathy was ruthless, or I always got that idea), so it's like. ohh yeah? 

In Thorns, I do hate, how they basically had Corrine's picture so Cathy knew. I loved how Cathy is like "do you think i'm stupid, you're playing with your pearls, MOMMA!" in the book. (and they hinted that in the movie with Cathy playing with it, but never went there)

 

Boo. Lifetime. You NEED Garden of Shadows!

Heh, good question. When I originally read SoY in middle school, I assumed that the couple was Jory and Melodie, only because the guy had his hand on Darren's shoulder (and now I see that his hand is actually in his front pocket). But now as an adult, I think it's Bart and Cindy because the book centers around Bart (plus the guy in the picture looks cranky, unlike Jory who was supposed to be optimistic like Chris) and Cindy has that classic VC Andrews slutty attitude pose with the crossed arm and the pissy look on her face. Darken her hair and hey, it's Fanny!

 

 

Redden her hair and it's Gisselle! :D                

[iMonrey]

 

Also in this movie, Chris gave his name as Sheffield, but weren't they Dollanganger at the end of PotW at the barbecue or whatever party they were having? Am I misremembering? How can a doctor keep running all over the country with different names?

 

Legally they're Sheffields because Paul adopted them. But, that's a whole 'nother problem right there. It would be so easy to find out Cathy and Chris are brother and sister with a modicum of research because their adoption by Paul would be a matter of public record. So for Chris to try to pass himself off as Paul's younger brother is foolish in the extreme. Paul even had to put a public notice in the paper so any legal guardian could come forward to claim the children (knowing full well Corinne would never do so), clearing the way for his adoption. 

 

What Chris and Cathy should have done was say that they were not siblings or related in away way until Paul adopted them. That way there's no "secret" anyone can hold over their heads. There's no real way to trace them back to the Foxworth family because their own parents used fake names (Dollanganger). I supposed Dollanganger was used in their adoption records if they chose to divulge it though. 

 

At any rate, the "Chris is Paul's younger brother" story makes no sense. Their best bet would have been to use a different last name altogether. Like Smith. Probably Chris couldn't get a job without using Sheffield though since his degree in medicine is under that name. 

[psychoticstate]

Darren and Deirdre were the cutest babies.

My favorite part of the movie was Cathy slamming Melodie against the wall and threatening her. It reminded me why Cathy is my favorite V.C. Andrews character, she does stuff. From voicing her concerns when they were living in the Attic, her need for revenge even sneaking into Foxworth hall to whip and tar Grandmother, the whole of her outing herself at the Christmas party and kicking or slapping the girl who was lying about Carrie. In the other series the heroines kind of just let things go.

 

This is so true.  Don't fuck with Cathy. Girlfriend meant business.  She did aggravate the crap out of me sometimes, and she clearly had a magical vagina to make all these men fall head over heels, but I can't imagine having the balls to show up at a Christmas party that my estranged mother was hosting with her husband, who I am having an affair with and whom I have been impregnated by, dressed exactly like she had fifteen years earlier and to spill the family secrets. 

 

That is one thing about our gal Cathy - - she didn't let things go.

Since the book covers were brought up, can anyone tell me who the young adult couple are in Seeds of Yesterday? Jory and Melodie? Jory and Cindy? Bart and Cindy?

 

I always thought Bart and Cindy.

[TattleTeeny]

Since the book covers were brought up, can anyone tell me who the young adult couple are in Seeds of Yesterday? Jory and Melodie? Jory and Cindy? Bart and Cindy?

I have been wondering this since the year that book was published!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

EB, sorry to send you off in the direction of Amazon and the fuckery that Niederman unleashed on VCA fans.  I actually purchased the first book when it was published but have not read it.  The reviews are almost uniformly awful, saying it's either a total rehashing of FITA, word for word, or some kind of retcon.  Do not like.

Ha, no worries. I am glad you warned me so that I don't have to bother reading that crap. I was willing to cut him some slack about the errors in GoS because it was one of his first VCA books and I was willing to cut him some slack about basically repeating everything she wrote because that was what he was hired to do, but that retcon is just about the most ridiculous twist ever. I don't know how he explains it, but I don't care. That was a huge part of the first two books so destroying that plotline with this dumb twist is like a huge middle finger to VCA and her readers. I saw that the next book in the series is about the character in question having amnesia. Seriously? Thank goodness Lifetime isn't making the Christopher's Diaries into a movie because I would not be able to stomach watching that.

 

Don't fuck with Cathy. Girlfriend meant business.  She did aggravate the crap out of me sometimes, and she clearly had a magical vagina to make all these men fall head over heels, but I can't imagine having the balls to show up at a Christmas party that my estranged mother was hosting with her husband, who I am having an affair with and whom I have been impregnated by, dressed exactly like she had fifteen years earlier and to spill the family secrets.

 

That is one thing about our gal Cathy - - she didn't let things go.

What I found interesting about Cathy is that she was so aggressive with her mother but then pretty passive with Julian. He was so abusive in every way (beating her, raping her, cheating on her) but she just accepted it for the majority of their marriage and then felt guilty about not loving him enough or being a virgin when she met him (ha, of course, she found a way to blame Corrine for that too!). I totally loved that her big revenge plan was to get a custom made dress, steal the Foxworth jewelry to wear with it, and then spill Corrine's secrets at the Christmas party. Then when you factor in that she was doing this in front of Bart, that is just gold, Jerry, GOLD! I love that she used the four Ds of ballet to get her revenge.

[callmebetty]

Please please spill what the recon us in those new Christopher book I looked it up on Amazon but couldn't find anything.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Y'all, I refuse to see the movies, but all this book talk is making me want to get the books and read them again! And I want the original covers, so it's off to the libary (not a typo!) I go. Because those covers are freaky scary, yet beautiful.  As for the cover on Seeds of Yesterday, I always thought it was Jory and his nurse-turned-wife. That wasn't Melodie, was it?

 

Not only that, but my sister watched all of the movies, and didn't realize it was a series, since she only read Flowers.  Her take on why Lifesuckstime isn't doing Garden of Shadows is probably because having to reveal that Corrine and Chris Senior were also half-brother and sister was too, risque or taboo. I say, tant pis*. Not sure if that's the right phrase. 

 

*Re-reading one of my favorite series by Anne Stuart.

[Snow Apple]

As for the cover on Seeds of Yesterday, I always thought it was Jory and his nurse-turned-wife. That wasn't Melodie, was it?

 

It's definitely not Jory's nurse/wife because the picture is of a blond and Toni had dark hair. And Toni wouldn't have that "yeah, I'm sexy" expression on her face (or is her expression more snotty than sexy? I can't decide.)

Edited April 16, 2015 by Snow Apple

[GHScorpiosRule]

It's definitely not Jory's nurse/wife because the picture is of a blond and Toni had dark hair. And Toni wouldn't have that "yeah, I'm sexy" expression on her face (or is her expression more snotty than sexy? I can't decide.)

 

Well, I was 15 or 16 at the time, so dat's my 'scuse!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Please please spill what the recon us in those new Christopher book I looked it up on Amazon but couldn't find anything.

Cory is alive!

Y'all, I refuse to see the movies, but all this book talk is making me want to get the books and read them again! And I want the original covers, so it's off to the libary (not a typo!) I go. Because those covers are freaky scary, yet beautiful.

I love the original covers too. The artist managed to make them creepy without any actual monsters. Even if you don't see the ghost of Malcolm looming over them, they are still very haunting pictures.

Now that the whole "who is on the SoY cover?" question has been brought up, it's interesting to go back and think about who was on all the different covers. Lifetime made Heather Graham a big part of the tv movies but the only book cover she was on was ITBT as a creepy old lady. I also loved the Audrina cover but I didn't like the later book covers as much. I think they looked more like regular portraits and didn't capture the creepy tone as well. I liked the first Heaven cover but I remember being disappointed in the ones for Dark Angel and beyond.

Her take on why Lifesuckstime isn't doing Garden of Shadows is probably because having to reveal that Corrine and Chris Senior were also half-brother and sister was too, risque or taboo. I say, tant pis*.

I assumed that was the reason too but if they were really shying away from the incest, they wouldn't have shown Cathy and Chris making out and having sex in ITBT. I mean, they have explicitly shown a brother and sister having sex but Corrine and Chris Sr's relationship is too much? To be honest, their relationship is only a very small part of GoS. Ha, maybe there wasn't enough incest for Lifetime to be interested! Edited April 16, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[GHScorpiosRule]

Cory is alive!

 

 

SUCH.UTTER.BULLSHIT.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yup. That is revealed in the second diary book. The third book (which isn't out yet) is about

Cory having amnesia and being adopted by another family.

Fucking ridiculous.

I haven't read any of the Christopher's Diary books, but according to the description for the third book what happened in the second book is

Corrine left Cory for dead at the ER. A man's grandson died in the same ER that night so he takes pity on Cory and takes him home. Of course this guy is rich. Cory remembers nothing. The old guy's granddaughter hates Cory so you know if the story lasts beyond puberty, these two will bone.

If anyone wants to read these garbage books, the order is:

Secrets of Foxworth

Echoes of Dollanganger

Secret Brother

What I don't understand is how this Kristin girl who finds Chris's diary is distantly related to the Foxworths. We know about the offspring of several generations of their family. She isn't the direct descendent of Jory or Bart. We know Cathy, Chris, and Carrie had no other biological children. Corrine and her two brothers (Joel and Mal) had no other kids. We know from GoS that Malcolm had no siblings or bastards (well, aside from Chris Sr). So whoever Kristin is related to is from Garland's generation or earlier. I don't recall him ever saying he had siblings or Olivia mentioning that Malcolm had aunts, uncles, or cousins which means that Kristin must be related to someone older than Garland.

From the free excerpt I read (of the first book), everyone knows about Cathy which was kind of confusing because I thought all her family history was a big secret outside of the family. I am chalking it up to Neiderman being awful.

Edited April 16, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yup. That is revealed in the second diary book. The third book (which isn't out yet) is about

Cory having amnesia and being adopted by another family.

Fucking ridiculous.

I haven't read any of the Christopher's Diary books, but according to the description for the third book what happened in the second book is

Corrine left Cory for dead at the ER. A man's grandson died in the same ER that night so he takes pity on Cory and takes him home. Of course this guy is rich. Cory remembers nothing. The old guy's granddaughter hates Cory so you know if the story lasts beyond puberty, these two will bone.

If anyone wants to read these garbage books, the order is:

Secrets of Foxworth

Echoes of Dollanganger

Secret Brother

 

The original VA Andews series was fucked up to be sure (you know, the whole incest thing), but no FUCKING THANK YOU. I'm not reading this shit.  His ass should totally be fired for pulling this crap.

 

I mean, I'm anal retentive when it comes to my authors "forgetting" what they've written in previous books. And there are a couple which are doozies, but not of this level.

Edited April 16, 2015 by GHScorpiosRule

[Snow Apple]

Why is this man getting big bucks writing bad fanfiction? And I use that term loosely because he is not a fan. A fan loves and respects the original source.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

ITA - authors need to keep track of their own storylines. It's ridiculous when they don't and end up contradicting what they previously wrote. Same goes for tv shows. I find it hilarious when viewers praise a show for their continuity because in my eyes, that's saying, "Congratulations for not fucking up." You have an entire staff to keep track of names, dates, events so it's stupid when viewers immediately spot an error. Once you show someone's DOB on screen, you can't just change it a few seasons later (Buffy).

I get that Neiderman didn't write the original series but he still has a responsibility to stay true to the books. I was already annoyed with Garden of Shadows because he made so many errors. For example, in the original books Corrine tells the kids that John Amos is the grandmother's third cousin. But in GoS, Olivia says John is her first cousin (her mother's sister's son). In FitA, Chris Sr's birthday is in April but in GoS, Garland dies on Chris Sr's third birthday, Malcolm rapes Alicia for a month before Alicia tells Olivia she is already pregnant, in May Olivia tells the kids and the servants that Alicia is leaving Foxworth the next month (when she is supposed to be around three months pregnant), and Corrine is somehow born before Christmas but isn't premature (which would put Chris Sr's birthday in January or February). In PotW, Cathy tells Paul that her maternal grandmother was 16 when she married a 55 year old man but in GoS, it's her step-great-grandmother Alicia who is 16 when she married 55 year old Garland. In ITBT, Corrine said that John Amos lusted after her when he was 25 and she was only 10, but in GoS John Amos was already 23 when Olivia's father died (which happened before Corrine was born). Even within GoS, Neiderman can't keep his own story straight. When Alicia and Garland return from Europe, he says Garland is 55 and then 58 a few pages later.

But in the case of the Christopher Diaries, Neiderman didn't just forget. He deliberately gave this lame twist that contradicts both Cathy and Corrine's stories.

So Cory was not buried in a grave with a fake name, thrown in a ravine and covered with leaves, or hidden to rot in the mansion as described in the previous books. What the hell?

Edited April 17, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[portfino]

SoY did a .59 among 18-49, .83 among W12-34 and .65 for P25-54. I don't have just W25-54, which is what I think Lifetime cares about. IMO, these movies which couldn't have been that expensive did well enough to earn the My Sweet Audrina or other movies.

 

I wouldn't mind if the recycled some of the same actors. The ones who actually put some effort into their performances and weren't just cashing a paycheck.

Edited April 16, 2015 by portfino

[andromeda331]

What I found interesting about Cathy is that she was so aggressive with her mother but then pretty passive with Julian. He was so abusive in every way (beating her, raping her, cheating on her) but she just accepted it for the majority of their marriage and then felt guilty about not loving him enough or being a virgin when she met him (ha, of course, she found a way to blame Corrine for that too!). I totally loved that her big revenge plan was to get a custom made dress, steal the Foxworth jewelry to wear with it, and then spill Corrine's secrets at the Christmas party. Then when you factor in that she was doing this in front of Bart, that is just gold, Jerry, GOLD! I love that she used the four Ds of ballet to get her revenge.

 

I loved Cathy's thoughts towards her mother even when she was breaking into Corrine's safe rolling her eyes over her mother's stupidity about how easy the combination was. It would have been nice (and fun!) to see some of that directed at Julian come on Cathy it could have been practice before going after Corrine. 

 

Agree about the Christopher's Diaries, ah no I don't buy the deep dark secret for one second.  If they wanted to revisit the Dollangangers why not go with Cathy's grandchildren? There's no way Bart's not going to screw up his own kids. I did like in SOY movie that he and Cindy got married, I don't know why I always thought they might in the book and in the movie wasn't surprised they went there. I thought it kind of fit with the Dollanganger theme.

Edited April 17, 2015 by andromeda331

[psychoticstate]

I appreciate a good twist, like the one that came out in GOS about Chris Sr. and Corinne.  But Neiderman's retconning makes me stabby.  That's not a twist, that's a straight up fuckery.

 

ETA: 

How exactly did Cory get amnesia?  Can you get amnesia from arsenic
poisoning?

 

 

He should have left the series alone.  Unless you're going to write the story, or a portion of it, from Malcom's POV or Corinne's or Joel's, there isn't much left to say.  And there really isn't in those circumstances either, unless we were to find out that Corinne truly did want to murder her children or something else was going on while the kids were locked up in the attic that would make it interesting. 

 

I hate to say it but maybe it's time to close up shop with V.C. Andrews.  Or find another ghostwriter. 

Edited April 17, 2015 by psychoticstate

[bluvelvet]

Wow I would have read Christopher's dairy but after reading that spoiler, no way....*shakes head*...nope..nope

 

The more I think about the Cindy/Bart thing, the more I like it from the movies. That being said, when Cindy came back after Chris died and Bart was like "we belong together".. I literally said out loud.."that's random?"

[andromeda331]

He should have left the series alone.  Unless you're going to write the story, or a portion of it, from Malcom's POV or Corinne's or Joel's, there isn't much left to say.  And there really isn't in those circumstances either, unless we were to find out that Corinne truly did want to murder her children or something else was going on while the kids were locked up in the attic that would make it interesting

 

Corrine's version of things would be an interesting read. Probably packed full of why her parents won't let her marry her uncle, its true love after all and how mean Cathy is every time she goes to visit her in the attic. Doesn't she know how hard it is for Corrine out there going sailing and dating Bart? Although it would be nice to know if Corrine did plan to murder her children and when she decided to do that. I tend to believe Olivia on that one Corrine's actions around and after Cory's death were hardly the ones of your mother just murdered your child. And of course her words when she mistook Chris, for her dead husband.

Edited April 17, 2015 by andromeda331

[GHScorpiosRule]

Thanks to y'all, and our conversation of yesterday here, I was surrounded by Dollangangers last night in my dreams Nightmares. {SHUDDER}

 

That is fucked up. I'd rather be dreaming about Charlie Cox, Daniel DayFucking!Lewis or/and Roarke*!

 

*Hero of JD Robb's In Death Series.

[TattleTeeny]

How do I get these Christopher books? I am staying in a hotel tonight and will have nowhere to go if the BF snores and keeps me awake! Are they digital? I need 'em!

Edited April 17, 2015 by TattleTeeny

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I think Amazon has them available on kindle. Hopefully you won't have Dollanganger nightmares like GHScorpiosRule!

[callmebetty]

Thank you for the reveal.  That is beyond f'd up.  Just no no no.

[Snow Apple]

My wish is that nobody buys any more of the books which will send a message to the "writer" and publisher.

[StaceyNotStacie]

I didn't hate the Christopher Diaries books.  I thought it was interesting to hear things from Christopher's point of view, even if a lot of the story was from the FITA book.  Aside from a few comments about Bart, I wish they would have mentioned more about what happened to Cathy's children.  The only thing I didn't like about the book was

the extent the teen-aged girl and her boyfriend went to re-enact the diary as they read it together.

 

I am curious as to how things are going to roll out in the next book.  I haven't read a VC Andrews book in a few decades (I think the last series I read was the Dawn series), but when I heard about this one, it peaked my interest.

[psychoticstate]

Corrine's version of things would be an interesting read. Probably packed full of why her parents won't let her marry her uncle, its true love after all and how mean Cathy is every time she goes to visit her in the attic. Doesn't she know how hard it is for Corrine out there going sailing and dating Bart? Although it would be nice to know if Corrine did plan to murder her children and when she decided to do that. I tend to believe Olivia on that one Corrine's actions around and after Cory's death were hardly the ones of your mother just murdered your child. And of course her words when she mistook Chris, for her dead husband.

 

It could be interesting.  Maybe she had a warped relationship with Malcolm?  Maybe she found out that Chris wasn't her half uncle? 

 

It would be fascinating to see firsthand what her reaction was when she found out the codicil to Malcolm's will about forfeiting her inheritance if she had children.  What went through her mind?  How did she tell Bart she couldn't have children and how did she keep it from happening?  What was their wedding like?  Clearly it wasn't at Foxworth Hall.  What did she think when she saw Paul's notice of adoption?  And received Cathy's letters?  And how about how she dragged Bart to Cathy's ballet performances with Julian?  How did she react when Carrie approached her? 

 

Then there is the entire fire at Foxworth Hall (did she do it) and her stay in the mental institution before buying the house next door to Chris and Cathy in California.

 

Questions, questions.

[andromeda331]

It could be interesting.  Maybe she had a warped relationship with Malcolm?  Maybe she found out that Chris wasn't her half uncle?

 

It would be fascinating to see firsthand what her reaction was when she found out the codicil to Malcolm's will about forfeiting her inheritance if she had children.  What went through her mind?  How did she tell Bart she couldn't have children and how did she keep it from happening?  What was their wedding like?  Clearly it wasn't at Foxworth Hall.  What did she think when she saw Paul's notice of adoption?  And received Cathy's letters?  And how about how she dragged Bart to Cathy's ballet performances with Julian?  How did she react when Carrie approached her?

 

Then there is the entire fire at Foxworth Hall (did she do it) and her stay in the mental institution before buying the house next door to Chris and Cathy in California.

 

Questions, questions.

 

All good questions. I do tend to think everything was really good until Christopher died. She had Malcolm spoiling her until they ran off and she seemed surprised that her parents wouldn't be happy that she wanted to marry him. Although what world would parents be happy about that one? On the other hand this is Malcolm its hard to believe even Corrine couldn't know what her father was really like. She knew from the beginning that her children would be locked up and she knew how her children would be treated. I'd love to see her reaction to the codicil as well did she really think her plan was working until that moment? And of course for the completely bitchy reason after the years of crappy treatment her kids got while she got married, money, and everything, it would have been awesome to see her reaction to that. Did she ever find out she and Christopher were siblings?

 

Her reaction to other things would have been interesting. She did go see Cathy's performances. What was her reaction to finding out Olivia had been whipped?    

 

Did she set the fire and why? I tend to believe she did start the fire but was it to get rid of Cory's body like many people thing or was it simply because she just lost everything with Cathy outing herself the money was gone, Bart would soon be gone with Cathy and raising their baby and there's a huge chance she was going to face criminal charges.

 

Oh and her reaction to Olivia's will? She did lose the money and it reverted back to Malcolm who gave it to Olivia, who then willed it to

Corrine.

Edited April 17, 2015 by andromeda331

[TattleTeeny]

Someone should seriously make a documentary about these books and the effect they had on people, man! I was an English Lit major and even after reading all sorts of "good" stuff, I'd still say that these books are  among my most memorable, despite their genre/style/"pulpiness"/whatever...and I find this to be true with many people I know. Just the fact that so many of us have the same story of reading these at an age significantly younger than recommended and sharing them with our friends. And, IMO, it was not even just the whole "whoa, incest!" aspect of it; there was more to them and whatever it was, it seems to have a created culturally profound result and my friends and I still get into conversations about them (usually mocking, I admit). It's crazy! Any documentarians out there? Get to work; I'll donate to your Kickstarter!

 

ETA: Found this article, which kind of articulates what I'm babbling about, in a Google search I did in the hope that maybe there was some kind of documentary already out there somewhere:

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/books/2014/01/flowers_in_the_attic_by_v_c_andrews_and_teenage_girl_readers.html

Edited April 19, 2015 by TattleTeeny

[Avaleigh]

So I'm finally going to watch this and I'm going to add comments to this post as I'm watching. 

 

Oh, and I've devised a drinking game for every time Chris/Jason Lewis pulls the bewildered expression. (It'll be referred to as the BE from here on out.) We'll see how coherent I am by the end of this.

 

One minute into the story and I'm already LOL at Cathy and Chris rolling up in the Car of Doom. (Sort of reminds me of the way Mary and Matthew showed up to Downton Abbey in a convertible after their honeymoon.) I'm assuming that this is the car that Chris ends up dying in. (Anybody who has read the VC Andrews recaps on Tumblr that OriginalCyn linked to a few pages back--I'm also thinking of the description the officer gave of Chris Sr's death and how mock-worthy that whole scene was. I'm imagining TV Chris swerving to miss a bunny or some shit, and then getting hit by a big rig or tractor trailer but only because his "correct defensive driving maneuvers" didn't work for some reason.)  

 

The actor playing Bart is super attractive no doubt about that. Love the Patrick Bateman/Vivaldi intro.

 

We get the BE from Chris right off of the bat as they're going back in to the replica of the house from their nightmares. Foxworth Hall still isn't grand enough for my liking but I'll take what I can get. (Both movies dropped the ball here IMO.) I'm amused by all of the alligator (?) heads on display? So Bart has a special room where he prays? I'm guessing we're going to see more of that. The swan bed totally sucks btw. The one in my mind is far superior. ;-p I was going to snark on Cathy and Chris not having any problems having sex in their mother's bed but I kind of get them wanting to spite the grandmother. Plus, it is technically a new bed. Still you'd think they'd be more weirded out than they were. Chris did pull his BE again so I guess I'll drink for that. 

 

Of course Bart says that other girls can't hold a candle to his mother and neither Chris nor Cathy even blinks over the creepiness of that comment. Maybe some other son could pull it off without making it sound creepy but not Bart fucking Dollanganger Winslow Sheffield Foxworth. Wow, with the shade throwing doctor comment. It would be nice if Bart were in a position where he personally needed Chris's medical expertise and Chris decided to charge him a fortune for his services. 

 

These people aren't even phased by the way Bart and Cindy talk to each other for the most part. She tells the parents that Bart is "effing hot" and Bart says that he's "distracted" by Cindy's dress. I know we're talking about Cathy and Chris but come on, lol. I expected more of a reaction even if it was only in a pointed exchange of looks. Instead it was more of an 'oh, these kids' sort of vibe.

 

Could they not have put Cindy in a better dress? These guys are all staring at her like she's the second coming and that multi colored dress is hideous. I don't get it. Even Bart's all over the dress? Wth am I missing? Cindy seems like a Valley girl who was just plopped into the messy Foxworth family. She doesn't seem like she was brought up with them. I know the character in the books was bright and bubbly but it seemed unrealistic then. This chick should be all full of angst and she certainly doesn't come across as a dancer by any stretch of the imagination. There isn't anything wrong with her body but that is no dancer's body IMHO. Even this red dress now looks totally cheap. The second dress might have been okay in white maybe. That dull blue sucked. 

 

Lol when Bart introduces Cindy to the audience as their adopted sister. That was some Royal Tenenbaums shit right there. (I can't remember if in the books Bart was responsible for filling the pillars with wet sand or something like that or if it was Joel. Someone with a better memory?) I was hoping for a little bit more from Chris and kind of wanted him to tell Bart 'I know it was you, you Malcolm possessed, wannabe motherfucker!' We did get the BE a few times though and I'm not sure that my liver will be able to last since we're less than thirty minutes in. 

 

Bart is really into Cindy, isn't he? I don't think that was in the books. 

 

"Careful! The babies!" Hase to be one of the funniest lines ever. Melody reminds me of the Farrah girl from Teen Mom.

 

Hee, Mr. Foxworth's Wild Ride. My favorite part so far.

 

Why is nobody quoting the freaking Bible at Bart when it comes to having sex with his brother's wife? Meanwhile there's incest in the Bible that they can point to as being exceptions to the rule. 

 

Love Cathy being tough with Melody. More BE from Chris comforting Cindy.

 

Cindy is supposed to be the normal one and she's more or less as fucked up as everybody else. 

 

LMAO that Melody leave the note for Jory downstairs where somebody else could easily read it. It's like the guy's in a wheelchair and you aren't going to put the note in his room.

 

Walking in the woods--this is definitely V.C. Andrews My Sweet Audrina territory.

 

Cindy is leaving so more BE from Chris. Cheers.

 

...and now we're in Warren Jeffs territory with Bart with all of the faces scratched out in the pictures. 

 

I guess I was wrong about Chris meeting his demise in the convertible since he ended up dying next to it. BE til the end.

 

Isn't it great that the world of televangelism translates to redemption in V.C. Andrews land?

 

I actually thought this was the best adaptation apart from FitA as far as the entertainment factor. Mostly fun and not as boring as PotW and ItBT. All four movies were letdowns but one I changed my expectations I mostly enjoyed them for what they are. If Li

 

If Lifetime is up for doing a series on Lizzie Borden then I'd still like a Dollanganger series and or the Heaven movies. 

 

I'm shocked about all of this stuff about Cory being alive. Ugh! ?The worst thing is I want to know more and am probably going to have to go around looking for a more detailed summary somewhere.

[methodwriter85]

I'm shocked about all of this stuff about Cory being alive. Ugh! ?The worst thing is I want to know more and am probably going to have to go around looking for a more detailed summary somewhere.

 

I haven't read the books, but going with what people have said about the ghostwriter, I'm thinking that

Amnesia!Cory will grow up with a rich family and then have sex with an adopted sister. Seriously though, what's the point of Cory being alive since we know that Cathy is never going to have a chance to react to it?

[psychoticstate]

Avaleigh, please check in and let us know that you haven't had alcohol poisoning or liver failure with all the BEs you had to endure.

 

Someone should seriously make a documentary about these books and the effect they had on people, man! I was an English Lit major and even after reading all sorts of "good" stuff, I'd still say that these books are  among my most memorable, despite their genre/style/"pulpiness"/whatever...and I find this to be true with many people I know. Just the fact that so many of us have the same story of reading these at an age significantly younger than recommended and sharing them with our friends. And, IMO, it was not even just the whole "whoa, incest!" aspect of it; there was more to them and whatever it was, it seems to have a created culturally profound result and my friends and I still get into conversations about them (usually mocking, I admit). It's crazy! Any documentarians out there? Get to work; I'll donate to your Kickstarter!

 

ETA: Found this article, which kind of articulates what I'm babbling about, in a Google search I did in the hope that maybe there was some kind of documentary already out there somewhere:

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/books/2014/01/flowers_in_the_attic_by_v_c_andrews_and_teenage_girl_readers.html

I've always felt that V.C. Andrews was Stephenie Meyer before Stephenie Meyer was Stephenie Meyer.

 

Meaning that while Andrews wasn't the best writer in the world, girlfriend could tell a story with characters that would cause global obsession.   It's been 35 years since I first read FITA and I'm still fascinated with Cathy and Chris and the story.  Go figure.

 

I haven't read the books, but going with what people have said about the ghostwriter, I'm thinking that  Spoiler A

r Amnesia!Cory will grow up with a rich family and then have sex with an
adopted sister. Seriously though, what's the point of Cory being alive since we
know that Cathy is never going to have a chance to react to it?

 

 

Exactly.  Corinne never knew, Cathy and Chris never knew and maybe most importantly, Carrie never knew.

  So WTF, Neiderman?

[TattleTeeny]

I have to confess, you guys, I am reading the first of the Christopher Diaries and I like it! Am I OK? Maybe it's because I read and write for a living so I enjoy having something mindless to read at home? And speaking of Stephanie Meyer, I am picturing the protagonist looking like Kristin Stewart. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I finally had time to watch Seeds of Yesterday and oh lord is it unintentionally hilarious! Between the terrible script and the terrible acting (both of which I expect from Lifetime movies), I went back and forth between cringing and laughing.

 

First the most obvious WTF: Cathy and Chris are supposed to be in their 50s but the makeup people made no effort at all to age them so they look like the 40 year old parents to a 25 year old Bart which makes no sense at all. I know that everything in the house was a replica but ewwww to Cathy and Chris doing it on the swan bed.

 

I love that the four indications that this movie is supposed to take place in the 90s are (1) Bart telling Chris that the new Foxworth Hall has all the latest technology including dialup internet (2) CIndy's hideous dress when she arrives at Foxworth Hall (3) Bart giving Cindy a discman for Christmas (4) Chris's huge cell phone.

 

Only on tv would a dancer knot the ribbons of her pointe shoes together and then sling them over her shoulder. Dancers never do that in real life. I found it ludicrous in both the book and the movie that Cindy could step into the role of Delilah on such short notice. That wouldn't be enough time to learn the choreography let alone polish it to performance level. But why did no one have an issue with Jory and HIS SISTER playing the parts of Samson and Delilah, doomed lovers? Having two siblings play a couple is just bleeech to me. And what was with that cheapass stage/set? Bart is loaded!

 

I could not believe that Bart and Cathy just stood in the doorway watching Jory and Melodie dance and make out. Obviously these people have no boundaries which was made even more obvious when Cathy later heard sex noises in a bedroom and then decided to OPEN THE DOOR. Who does that? I mean, you know there are only so many people in the house so it has to be one of them. You really want to see that?

 

Hilarious dialogue from Jory: "The doctors say I may never function...sexually again." I laughed so hard at the terrible line as long as the actor's terrible line reading. He and the actress playing Melodie were so terrible. Their performances were Soap Opera 101, like Joey Tribbiani style. Her acting out started horrible and got even worse when she started crying after Jory's accident. Her most hilarious line was "It's been so long since I've had a man inside me."

 

Sadly, Jason Lewis is also really bad. Half the time he sounded like he was reading a shopping list for all the emotion and interest he put into it. Cathy's most hilarious line: "Cindy, I never told you this but I used my body for the wrong reasons when I was younger."

 

I hated Bart in the Seeds of Yesterday book because I found him such a bossy hypocrite jerk. But James Maslow injected some charm into his personality which made Bart much more tolerable. I mean he was obviously still batshit crazy but at least I understood why people put up with him. On the other hand, I loved Jory in the book because he was so sweet and optimistic but in the movie he was so boring. And book Jory never would have tried to kill himself by driving his wheelchair into the pool or told Bart that he was a total screw up.

 

I was on the fence about Cindy in the book because she was a brat but she was also a teenager so that's to be expected, especially with a judgmental dick of a brother like Bart always making rude comments. But what kind of person gets up from a family dinner and says she is going to show her new boyfriend around? You give him a tour before or after dinner, but not DURING dinner. Rude movie Cindy!

 

Also rude: Bart deciding to baptize the kids without asking Jory first.

 

In the book, Corrine's will said nothing about the entire estate reverting back to Christopher if Bart was institutionalized again (but that's partly because in the books, Bart was never institutionalized, although he did see a few different psychiatrists beginning in ITBT and continuing until he was 18).

 

Cindy and Bart hooking up was so WTF for me. Even if you ignore the fact that they were raised as siblings from the time that she was a child (in the books, she was 2 but in the previous movie she looked about 4 or 5), the age difference is still an issue for me. Cindy is a 16 year old high school student and Bart is a 25 year old adult. Cindy's best line: "Pray for yourself, dickhead!"

 

Also hilarious was Chris's wardrobe of old man sweaters. The one he was wearing in the opening scene was the only indication that he had aged. And why was Cathy dressed like a real estate agent when she told Melodie to get her shit together?

 

Another change I didn't like was Melodie saying Jory wanted to have kids and she didn't. In the book, Jory was the one who wasn't ready to have kids because he wanted to dance for at least a few more years first while Melodie was the one who wanted to get pregnant. I guess this change suited the movie's "Melodie is depressed" storyline more. I know it's wrong but I could not stop laughing at full term Melodie wearing a nightgown totally sprawled out on a chair while everyone else opened Christmas presents.

 

I wish they had kept the storyline where Jory made that clipper ship and then gave it to Bart for Christmas only to have Joel secretly smash it. Jory's painting of Foxworth Hall wasn't nearly as interesting.

 

I laughed SO HARD when Melodie dropped a water balloon on the floor to show that her water broke. Why would she leave her goodbye note to Jory in the kitchen? Was she just being even more of a passive aggressive bitch because she wanted the servants to find it first?

 

Why would Bart have such a small bed in his room? For someone so ostentatious, you'd think he would have a double wide mattress with custom red satin sheets.

 

Hahaha, why was everyone pronouncing the girl twin's name as "deer-dree"?

 

I was cracking up that Bart scratched out everyone's faces in the family portrait and then left the frame askew but on the wall. That whole scene in the chapel was ridiculous between the creepy kneeling, Bart holding a knife to Cathy, and then Jory flying out of his wheelchair.

 

And Chris dying made Bart realize he and Cindy were meant for each other? What he holy hell? So am I supposed to assume that all he needed was the love of a good woman to cure his mental illness? Dude, it's not about pushing people away. It's about doing crazy things like trying to stab your mother and calling your sister a whore (who you then called "my beautiful wife and partner in Jesus").

 

The very end was weird. So everyone left Cathy at Foxworth Hall but they very thoughtfully covered all the furniture with sheets before going?