Book Talk

The following is the transcript for a book talk I did for my English class. This was in 2001. I got an A.

BOOK TALK

I read Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews. The characters were the four Dollanganger children - Cathy, Chris, Cory and Carrie - and their mother Corrine and their grandmother.
    Cathy dreams of being a ballerina, while Chris is determined to be a doctor first and an artist second. Cory is a talented musician and Carrie is firm with her opinions.
    On the day of his 36th birthday party, Christopher Dollanganger is killed in a car accident. He leaves behind his wife Corrine and his four children - Chris, age 14; Cathy, age 12; and the twins Carrie and Cory, age 4.
    Their money running out, Corrine writes to her parents, and her mother lets the five come and live with them. Corrine tells Cathy and Chris that their real surname is Foxworth. None of Corrine's siblings are alive and now she is the sole heir left, even though she is disinherited. The Foxworths are high in society and Corrine stands to inherit many, many millions if she is rewritten into her father's will.
    The children are led to believe that living in the Foxworth mansion will have them pampered and waited on. Instead, they creep in the night to the Foxworth mansion. The old woman, Corrine's mother, leads the children quietly into the room upstairs in which they will stay in for an undefined time.
    Laden with strict rules, they find peace in the attic above their room, where they do their best to brighten it up with the paper flowers they make.
    Corrine tells her children that their father was Corrine's half-uncle. They are to stay hidden until Corrine's father, Malcolm Foxworth, can forgive her and accept her children.
    But then Corrine says that she can only inherit if no children begin to lose faith in her. During their time in the attic, the children endure whippings, tar in Cathy's hair and no proper meals for two weeks.
    When they finally get food, they are surprised to find four powdered-sugar doughnuts, which end up deadly. After 3 years, 4 months and 16 days, only three of them escape the mansion alive.
    The major themes are staying together to cope with situations and anyone - even family - can turn against you.
    The story is told from Cathy's point of view. She's writing a book based on what she wrote in old memorandum journals.
    The story continues in other books. Petals on the Wind continues the journey from where it left off. If There Be Thorns is told from Cathy's children's points of view. Seeds of Yesterday sees Cathy and her family living in the Foxworth mansion. And Garden of Shadows is the prequel - it is told from the grandmother's point of view and tells of what really happened in the past.

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