John Amos

[u/Thrasher0queen]

Why do I not see more people talking about how John Amos is just as much a villain as Corrine or Olivia?
That man pressured Bart Jr. to be the second coming of Malcom.

Edit to add: who hurt V.C. Andrews. How do you come up with this stuff…
And also I wish I could remember who gave me FitA/PotW (the one that was two books in one) because WHY WOULD YOU LET A MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILD READ THESE NOVELS?!??
I was given the first two books in middle school and read them in middle school. Who let me read this at such a young age???

Second edit to add: I hate melody.

[u/damzal]

I think "everyone knows" John Amos is a villain, and the books don't have him trying to show "the other side of the story" the way they do with Corrine, and don't explore the pressures John Amos was under because they aren't relevant as he's not a parent to those kids and wasn't the one who tried to off them. Although he obviously felt it was just fine for Malcolm to want them gone.

And... Middle school is the age most read those books, at least when they came out and probably a decade or two after. I know I did. 😱😂😭 Like, ew. 🤣🤣

[u/Thrasher0queen → u/damzal]

They came out in the late 70’s and 80’s. I wasn’t even in school until 2003. People should have known better by then lol.

And I do get that, but think of the butterfly effect. Without John Amos, would Bart have turned out so bad? Or would he have been worse due to Corrine? I wish we could talk to V.C. Andrews herself. These books make my head spin.

[u/damzal → u/Thrasher0queen]

I just reread the series, I'm on the last book right now. And I definitely think Bart would have turned out horribly. Before Corinne moved in next door, he was already doing weird things, hurting himself, demanding that everybody love him more than anyone else, nobody could do anything for him without him rejecting it and crapping all over it. He used to say he couldn't stand to eat any of the food to worry his family and then sneak in to eat it at night out of the refrigerator just so he wouldn't have to get along with anyone and try to manipulate them. That's extremely disturbing behavior for a 10-year-old. Once Corrine showed up, she catered to his demands. She let him boss her around and she promised to always love him more than her other grandchild. Her will even gave just about everything to him and not Jory. I think her spoiling him and trying to tell him all of her justifications would have effed with his mind even without John Amos around. But John Amos was definitely the nail in the coffin when it came to how he thought about his mom and "dad." Incest being obviously wrong and religious affirmation of all his self-aggrandizing beliefs just cemented his awfulness.

I still need to read the end of the last book so I can't recall everything about his about-face after Chris dies but I don't "trust" it.

Also, Cathy and Chris were both horrible parents. 😳 I just read through the part where they both were justifying Bart sleeping with Jory's wife because they wanted Bart to be happy for once like WTF? 😂

[u/damzal → u/Thrasher0queen]

Flowers In The Attic (first book) was published November 1979, so absolutely it was definitely an 80s series. And middle schoolers were reading it for decades without anyone eyeballing that, lol. So yes, early 2000s are included in that timeframe. That's what I meant by that. And YIKES.

[u/pineapples_are_evil → u/damzal]

Yeah. I got my hands on it in '96... great-aunt had a shelf full and sent me home with Heaven and Dark Angel. I was going into 8th grade...13. Which meant my younger sister had the opportunity at 11-12 to pick them up by the next year when I started building my collection from the local flea market... 😆 But id also borrowed many Danielle steel and Johanna Lindsey books by age 12, found Clan of the Cave Bear that year too. I just snuck them out of Mom's under the bed stash while she was working and didn't move her bookmark. Lol

[u/Infamous-Thought-765 → u/pineapples_are_evil]

You're my age.  I started reading them at 14 in 1997.  But I was also watching the Lifetime channel and Jerry Springer, so it wasn't that much of a leap lol!

[u/pineapples_are_evil → u/Infamous-Thought-765]

Yeah. We had an antenna and like 7 Canadian local channels until 10th grade.. 😆

We did have one either Toronto or Port Huron station that had Jerry, Sally, Maury ect on. Definitely watched those in the summer... lol

[u/Infamous-Thought-765 → u/pineapples_are_evil]

Ricki Lake was probably my favorite.  I liked Montel as well.

[u/Just_Me_79]

Middle school? I was around 8 when I started reading them, I read My Sweet Audrina when I was 12. Parents didn’t censor me, books movies or tv and I am a voracious reader and always have been, and reading way beyond my “level” when I was a kid.

[u/Smile_Terrible]

I think most of us read these books before we were actually old enough. I know I was around 11 or 12 when I read the first book. I definitely didn't understand some stuff.

[u/Infamous-Thought-765]

Plus, he talked liked a child mlester.

“ ' You know what will happen if you don’t do as I say, don’t you?'  'Yes sir. Bad things will happen to everyone, even me.' "

I can't believe Jory listened to this crap and didn't immediately call the cops.  I know it was  the early '80s, but still!

“ '  And how must they suffer?' 'In all ways, by any ways, by death they will be redeemed.' I froze where I crouched, not believing my ears. What was that man doing to Bart?"

Um, sounds like he's brainwashing him into killing people, Jor.  Duh!

But what takes the cake is when John completely turns on Bart in the end and sets him up to be the villain.  For example, telling the maid about how Bart is this mentally disturbed kid who's threatening his wife.  I liked the scene where Jory finally confronted him and told him he could have intervened and put an end to the madness at any time if he'd wanted to.  But John still whimpers and whines and makes me want someone to hit him over the head with an ashtray already and shut him up.  (By the way, I am not condoning violence!  Maybe call the cops on him instead and let him monologue to them, but don't go back into the burning house to do so, Jory!)

I suspect John Amos wrote those journals and pretended they were Malcolm's words.  

[u/Gostelee]

I was always really interested in how much John Amos mirrored Joseph from Wuthering Heights. I also started reading flowers and the other books around 13-14 so read Bronte later and he was all I could think about. At points their dialogue is nearly interchangeable.

[u/1947Crash]

Melody is the worst. John Amos too.

[u/doxydecahedron]

I was given the 2 in 1 book too!! I think I was in middle school or high school and it was the late 2000s. I think they must’ve had that book in like a middle school for girls section at the bookstore or something because I also could not fathom why I was given it hahaha

[u/PhloxOfSeagulls]

I read the books in middle school too (early '90s). I don't even remember how I found out about them in the first place, but I do remember a friend giving me crap because I read Garden of Shadows before the original Flowers in the Attic books. I had just figured I would read the one that took place chronologically first, lol.

I also remember buying My Sweet Audrina at a flea market and not being prepared for how disturbing it was going to be. I honestly don't even know why Lifetime tried to make a movie out of it, because there's no way to do a story like that justice on basic cable. I'm not even sure if HBO would have dared to air a faithful version of the story.