Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Petals on the Wind, Part 3

There's an end in sight! This is Part 4 and Part 5 in the book, which are both relatively short, but loaded with crazy. Let's not waste any more time, and get to the snarking!

Cathy starts off this part with describing how much everyone loves Jory, who looks just like Julian. Chris, who wants to be Jory's father, tells Cathy they should get their own place. Fuck, Chris, how many times does she have to tell you she's not interested? Chris and Paul both want to be Jory's father, and spoil the hell out of him. Carrie has graduated high school and is working as Paul's secretary. She also spends a lot of time with Jory, but is sad because she thinks she's too small to have a baby of her own someday. Amy Roloff had 4 and she's shorter than you, Carrie! Paul wants to start doing Cathy again, but she says not with Chris in the house. Why not? Maybe he'd get the picture that you don't want him then. Probably not, though, if he hasn't gotten it by now.

Proving that he still doesn't get it, Chris pressures Cathy to move in with him again after he has finished his internship and has been accepted at a hospital that is not close. Cathy says if her life insurance policy would pay for Julian's death she could get her own place. Chris says she needs a good attorney. Then he says she can move in with him AGAIN and she turns him down AGAIN. She tells him to find someone else, and he says she is the only woman alive for him. Go fuck a corpse then, and leave your sister alone.

Cathy starts working as a dance instructor at Madame Marisha's, but soon finds it impossible to work with her. She finds out from her stalking that her mother is back in Bart's hometown (twin city to the town she's in), and decides that it's time for all her crazy plotting to lead to revenge. She also refuses to marry Paul, saying that Chris says she can't marry again until Carrie has. WTF is this, 10 Things I Hate About You? She decides she needs to move out on her own and find herself for awhile.

Cathy rents a small cottage halfway between the two cities, and sends off a blackmail letter to her mother demanding 1 million dollars. Cathy figures she's owed at least this, and I have to agree. Everyday she checks the mail to see if she's gotten her money, and everyday there's nothing there, so everyday she writes another letter. After waiting for a few months she gets the hint that the money's not goinhg to come, so she makes an appointment to see a local attorney, Bart Winslow. Yes, the same Bart Winslow her mother is now married to. She sluts up her clothes and he's in awe of her beauty, of course. He surprises her and tells her that he has seen her dance many times before, for his wife, who was not much interested in ballet before, never missed a performance she was in. Holy crap, Corinne was acting like a mother? Nah, maybe she was just trying to take credit for Cathy's success because Cathy wouldn't have been as good if she hadn't been locked up and had nothing to do but practice every day, and she wouldn't have been locked up if it wasn't for Corinne. Why didn't that crazy bitch have her own book? I would've loved to hear her logic. Anyway, Cathy tells him about her insurance problems, and he says he'll see what he can do. She then starts insulting him by saying that she bets his rich wife leads him around like a dog and some shit. Instead of throwing her bitchy ass out, he says he'll get the insurance money for her.

Bart keeps his word, and 10 days later comes into Cathy's dance studio with a check. She asks about payment and he says for her to be at dinner with him at 8, and to wear blue to match her eyes. I guess Corinne isn't giving up the goods any more. He leaves, and Cathy fights with Madame Marisha because now that she has money she can leave and go teach somewhere else. Madame Marisha doesn't want her to take Jory, who is now 3, away because she wants to teach him how to dance. Cathy says if Jory chooses to dance then she can teach him herself. Madame Marisha nearly pisses her pants at the thought of Jory not being forced to dance, and then they have a big huge fight and I don't really care.

Bart shows up at Cathy's place to take her out and is pleased that she's wearing blue. He takes her to a Chinese place and she starts insulting her mother by calling her stupid, old, and fat. Well, we know the stupid part is true, but we'll see about the others. Bart gets pissed and says he doesn't want to see her again and that he's setting up an office near Foxworth Hall. Cathy asks about his fee for taking care of her insurance matters, and he says he hasn't decided yet. It's a good thing Corinne is rich, because otherwise Bart wouldn't make any money if he collects all his fees like this one.

Cathy knows now that she needs to move near Foxworth Hall. For some reason, she makes Carrie go with her, even though she doesn't want to leave. She probably just wants a full time babysitter so she can go slut around in peace. Cathy decides not to see Bart again about his fee, and puts a check for $200 in the mail and leaves town.

Cathy finds a small house she can afford near Foxworth Hall, and buys a dance studio from a retiring instructor. I don't believe that she'd be that lucky to find a house near Foxworth Hall and a dance studio, but this is a V.C. Andrews book so believablity is of little importance. They settle in, and Carrie gets asked out on a date by a guy named Alex. Cathy asks if she accepted, and Carrie says no, because she's too little. Damn it, Carrie, he wouldn't have asked you out if he thought you were a freak! Cathy tells her to invite him to dinner, and then makes Carrie feel better by saying she'll invite Paul so that Alex won't want her instead. Dinner's great, and Carrie and Alex go off to the movies while Cathy and Paul settle down and are making out when the phone rings. Of course it's Chris, who has a sixth sense that tells him when to cockblock any one that's getting close to his sister. He yells at her for moving near Foxworth Hall and tells her she better not do anything vengeful. Um, Chris? Weren't you locked up for 3 years, too? Doesn't Cathy have a right to be pissed off? Also, shut up and leave your damn sister alone.

Carrie is in love and for once it's not depressing to read about her. She gets herself a pair of platform shoes and cuts her hair shorter so that it makes her head not look so big. Wouldn't she have grown into her head by now? Then one night she's back to being all poopy again. Cathy asks her what's wrong and she says Alex has asked her to marry him. Isn't that a good thing? You can bet my recaps would be a lot more forgiving if my boyfriend asked me to marry him. Cathy is confused too, and then Carrie continues and says that Alex also told her that he wanted to become a minister. She's sad because she thinks that once Alex finds out she's Devil's Spawn (thanks a lot for saying that one, TG) he won't love her. Also, Julian convinced her to fool around with him, and she thinks Alex won't approve of that. Um, don't tell him? Cathy says the same thing, and says that it's her fault for not warning Carrie about Julian, but she told him never to touch her and thought he would obey. Julian didn't take shit from anybody, remember? He probably did it out of spite. Carrie says she's evil, and Alex is never going to change and is going to hate her when he finds out everything. Cathy lists all her good qualities and gives her suggestions, but Carrie turns them all down and is set in her ways.

Carrie stops eating, and is all weak and depressed and just not fun. She should go out and buy some new platforms. New shoes always make me feel better! She asks Cathy to leave Jory with her while Cathy goes to her dance studio to teach. Cathy is hesitant, but does so. She calls Carrie a bunch to check on her, and Carrie assures her everything is okay. Cathy goes back to her teaching, and turns around to discover Bart Winslow staring at her. He says he's been looking for her, and she tells him her day is over at 5 and he can sit and wait until then. He pulls out one of Cathy's blackmail letters to her mother from his pocket and says they need to talk. Busted! He gives her his business card and says he'll be keeping close tabs on her, so she better not try to flee.

Afterwards, Cathy goes home and finds Carrie really sick and laying down. Carrie has stomach cramps and a temperature. A neighbor offers to watch Jory while Cathy takes her to the hospital. At the hospital, Cathy calls Paul and Chris, who come out immediately. Carrie says she has bruises, her hair has been falling out, she has stomach cramps, nausea, and diarrhea. If this was a Lurlene McDaniel book she'd definitely have leukemia, but this is V.C. Andrews, so instead she gives Cathy a letter she's written in which she confesses to coating a package of powdered sugar doughnuts with arsenic and eating them. Why didn't you try cinnamon, Carrie? It's a lot better on powdered sugar doughnuts than rat poison.

Carrie gets worse and worse, and Alex is by her side. He's a complete mess, and says that if God takes Carrie away from him he will lose all faith. Poor Alex. Cathy talks to Carrie to ask her what prompted her to poison herself, and Carrie tells her that she saw their mother on the street and ran up to her and Corinne said she didn't know her. Carrie decided that if her own mother couldn't love her, no one could. I wouldn't base that off of Corinne, Carrie, because she only loves herself. Carrie dies soon after, and instead of Cathy being pissed at herself for moving near Foxworth Hall in the first place, she's even more pissed at Corinne. She vows to make Corinne pay. I don't know why she's just sitting around and writing letters, all she'd have to do was tell everyone that Corinne was her mother and she'd get her revenge. After herself, Corinne loves money best, so it would hurt her big time to lose it all. Do it now before Corinne can spend more on see through negligees! Oh wait, Cathy doesn't possess any sort of logic or common sense, I forgot.

After Carrie is buried, Cathy can't seem to leave her grave. Chris comforts her and tells her Carrie will be fine and that others need Cathy at home. As Cathy leaves she notices a woman in black with a string of pearls around her neck, and realizes it's Corinne. She watches her leave and decides to speed up her plans for revenge. It's about damn time, Cathy! If Chris wasn't such a puss, they could've gotten their revenge long ago when they first made the key to get out of the attic. That's how it happened in the sucky movie version of FITA.

We're finally at Part 5 of the book! I'm so excited! Chris decides to work at the University of Virginia so he can be closer to Cathy, and for once it's Paul begging her to move in with him. Cathy is in high demand. She says no, of course, and returns with Jory to her little house near Foxworth Hall. She gets back into the routine of things, and does her best to avoid Bart. Bart finds her anyway in a diner, and says he read about Carrie's death and is sorry about it. He asks what killed her, and Cathy tells him to ask Corinne. He gets all pissed and pulls out the blackmail letter from his pocket again. Does he just carry it with him all the time or what? He asks what the hell they're about, and Cathy answers him using the same voice and mannerisms of Corinne. Bart asks if she's related to Corinne, since they look alike and sound alike and have some smilar mannerisms. Well, aren't those clues that they're related, dummy? Cathy says you could say that they're related. Bart asks about the blackmail letters again and asks why Corinne should give her a million dollars. Cathy tells him again to ask his wife, and he gets all pissed. He says that every time Corinne receives a letter she freaks out and runs and gets a photo album from a locked trunk and looks through it and cries. Cathy is shocked that Corinne kept their old photo album, and I am, too. Actually, on second thought, Corinne's pretty stupid, so keeping a photo album of her children when she's not supposed to have any sounds about right to me. Cathy lies to Bart and tells him that Malcolm Foxworth had an affair that produced 3 children, and Corinne is her half-aunt. You wuss, you just messed up your chance of ruining your mother's life! He accepts her lie and takes her out for a walk.

They flirt a bunch, and I really don't like Bart. He claims to love Corinne, but has no problem being a man whore. Bart starts talking about lying in bed and hearing beautiful music overhead and dreaming of a lovely young girl dancing to it. He than asks Cathy questions about her childhood, and she counters with questions about his. He tells her some crap we don't care about it and then says she didn't pay him the fee he had in mind. She said she mailed him a check, and he says he's not talking about money. They have a semi-violent make out session, and he says he'll collect the rest of his payment later. You know, if she had proof, she could sue him for this and cause shame to her mother. Cathy doesn't think about this, though.

Cathy has Jory at her dance studio, and he's dancing and mega proud of himself. Jory asks why he doesn't have a daddy. Because Mommy's a ho and trying to steal Grandma's man! Cathy tells him instead that his daddy is in Heaven. Chris stops by, and Jory asks him if he is his daddy, and Chris says no but he'd like to be. Lay off, sicko! Chris yells at Cathy a bunch and tells her to quit screwing around with Bart and leave him and Corinne alone. Cathy grows a pair and tells him she's a big girl and he can stay out of her life. Of course he doesn't, and just continues to yell at her some more. He invites himself over for the weekend, and she makes him sleep in Carrie's old room, thank God. He's sad and pervy, as usual. I really don't like Chris, especially in this book.

After Chris leaves, Cathy puts on a sexy jogging suit and starts running out in the woods near Foxworth Hall. Of course Bart catches up to her and she runs faster, making him chase her. This is all cool until the clumsy bitch trips and falls. I laughed so hard, guys. Bart says he's lonely because Corinne is at a beauty spa trying to lose weight and stuff. TG is in a wheelchair and can't talk and is completely helpless, and I'm sad. How can she do her favorite things now, like whipping people and calling them Devil's Spawn, packing up picnic baskets, and checking everything for sins? Poor TG. Cathy says she's lonely too, and Bart tells her to put Jory to bed early tonight because he's coming over for dinner. Way to invite yourself, Hornball Mc Rudes.

Cathy makes herself look hot for Bart, and gives him a scotch and a good dinner. They start dancing together afterwards and talking, and then Bart gets horny and decides to do Cathy, whether she wants to or not. He holds her down and undresses her, and the grabs her hand and forces her to pull down his zipper. I started laughing because the sex is described as "He entered, and had his too-quick satisfaction, and pulled out before I had any!" Hahahaha, Bart's a Premature Peter! Cathy throws him out, and he laughs at her and tells her what to cook for dinner the next night. He's pretty confident for a man who royally sucks in bed.

The next day, Cathy receives three dozen roses from Bart. She doesn't want them, but Jory does, so she keeps them for him. After picking Jory up from nursery school later, he tells her about one of his little friends whose mother slapped him for copping a feel. He touches Cathy there, because he's been hanging out with his uncle Chris too much, and is happy that she doesn't smack him. She says she loves him, and I'm just creeped out by the whole thing. She stops at the post office and Bart is in there. He asks her how she likes the roses and she says they suck. When she returns home, a box is delivered to her with a diamond rose inside and a not saying that perhaps she'll like that rose better. She doesn't.

That night, Cathy deliberately makes herself look ugly to show him that he can't control her. She wears old sweats and ties her hair up in a bun. Bart comes over and the diamond rose is on his plate. He doesn't really care because he's excited for the dinner he ordered her to make. She lifts the lid off the tray of food on the table, revealing a hot dog and a little bit of baked beans. She let the meal become cold, too. Bart's all like, "WTF is this, bitch?" and Cathy tells him that's what she and Jory ate earlier, and she saved some because if it was good enough for them it would be good enough for him. Bart is pissed, but eats it anyway. She hands him a box of animal crackers for dessert, and he angrily gobbles those down, too. He starts yelling at her for not cooking the meal he wanted or dressing up, and she tells him he can GTFO. He tells her he loves her, and this time they have good sex, including him sucking her toes. God, that's gross.

Bart and Cathy continue to meet and have sex, until one day he says Corinne will be returning soon. Cathy doesn't see what the big deal is, and neither does Bart's penis because he decides to keep on seeing her. A few days after that, Cathy uses the old key Chris made and walks into Foxworth Hall. The lock on the outside door is the same lock as a bedroom one? I'd think they'd have better security than that. Also, how did she not lose the key after they left? I'm surprised Julian didn't find it and destroy it. Cathy goes to TG's bedroom, where she is laying on a bed, unable to move. Cathy starts berating TG for not ever bringing them hot soup in the attic, and I say bitch should shut up because she's lucky she got fed so well (except for those 2 weeks). Cathy paces around the room and brings TG up to speed on what's going on with them; She was a famous ballerina, Chris is a pervy doctor, and Carrie's dead. She brings out a long braid of Carrie's hair that she had collected from the hospital because she couldn't bear to see it go. Cathy undresses TG, and looks at disgust at her body. She's old, Cathy, of course she won't look like a supermodel! There's lots of gross descriptions of a naked old woman, and it's all really unnecessary. Oh, and her vag is called a "mound of Venus." Seriously, someone find a V.C. Andrews book that says penis or vagina. Cathy rolls her over, and whips her once. It causes TG to piss herself and pass out. Cathy feels bad, and starts crying and cleans TG up and puts a salve on the welt. She runs out, grabs a candle, and puts about 6 or 7 drops of melted wax in what's left of TG's hair and then stops. She runs out again to leave, but remembers Carrie's hair, and runs back to the room to find TG staring at it with tears in her eyes. Cathy feels she has now gotten her revenge on TG. She should've just given her a hug and a kiss; TG loves whipping, but hates affection!

Bart comes over and brings Jory some cowboy boots and a poodle. Jory asks Bart if he is his daddy and Bart says no but he wishes he was. Bart tells Cathy that some sadistic idiot put wax in TG's hair and made a welt on her ass that won't heal. TG's circulation is bad because she can't walk, so she has to lay on her stomach for 2-4 hours every day to try to get the welt to heal. Bart's pissed, but not too pissed because he starts undressing Cathy and they have sex again. He tells Cathy later that Corinne has come back and looks hot again, and Cathy stops dressing and turns to him, and he decides she doesn't look that hot and does Cathy again.

Cathy is with Jory at the post office one day and her mother is there. Jory marches up to her and says hi and tells her she's pretty. That's the fastest way to Corinne's heart! He asks her if she dances, and she says no, and he says his mommy can teach her how. She says she's too old to learn, and Jory says she's not and then asks her if she has a little boy he can play with. She says she doesn't have any children, and Cathy steps in and says some women don't deserve children and grabs Jory's hand and leaves.

Cathy has missed a period, and is happy because being pregnant with Bart's child was part of her crazy ass master plan of ruining her mother's life. Her life would be ruined more if she lost all her money! Cathy says she'll tell Bart she's pregnant when she knows for sure.

I guess she knows for sure now, because she tells Bart at her house while calmly knitting baby booties. Bart freaks out, and says she said there was no need for precaution. Bart, you know Cathy's a crazy bitch, why would you believe her? Cathy tells him he has two options: he can divorce Corinne and have the child he's always wanted, or he can stay with her and Cathy will take the baby far away and he'll never get to know his child. This is so straight out of Maury, a woman getting pregnant to keep her boyfriend with her. It never works, ho! Bart can't decide what to do.

Cathy goes shopping and gives a dressmaker a sketch of a the same dress Corinne wore when she met Bart at the Christmas party Cathy and Chris had watched the first year they were locked up. She then gets her hair cut the same way her mother's had been. She forgot a few minor things, so a few days later she calls Chris up and asks if he'd like to go shopping with her. Chris says that until she quits screwing around with Bart Winslow he doesn't want to see her. Cathy - please stay with Bart forever.

Cathy gets ready for her special appearance at the annual Foxworth Christmas party. She has Jory's babysitter style her hair as her mother's had been, but her instructions are so ambiguous that I have no idea how it was done. She tells the babysitter to wave it back softly from her face and then catch it high at the crown with a cluster of curls and to make sure a few hang long enough to brush her shoulders. What? She gets dressed, puts on the same perfume as her mother, and is ready with everything except her jewelry. She gets that from Corinne's hidden jewelry box after she slips into Foxworth Hall using her magical wooden key. She wants to make her entrance at midnight, so she hangs out in the attic until then.

At midnight, she slowly descends the stairs into the ballroom. Her mother sees her and stares in shock. Cathy announces to everyone that she is Catherine Leigh Foxworth, the second child from the first marriage of Corinne Foxworth, and she is wearing the same gown her mother wore years ago when Cathy was 12, and watching the party from a hiding place. She says there is also her older brother, and her dead younger siblings, and they were all locked up in the room upstairs for 3 year before they escaped. Before she can say anything else, Bart announces that she is a famous ballerina who happens to look like Corinne, so he hired her to play this little joke to liven up the party. He then grabs her and makes her dance with him. He asks what the hell she's doing, and she asks him how she would know what dress Corinne wore and what she and Bart said to each other when they met if her story wasn't true. She tells him the combination of Corinne's jewelry box and all sorts of other crap, and Bart still doesn't believe her fully. Bart's stupid. Cathy pushes him away and reiterates her previous announcement to the crowd, only to be stopped this time by an angry Corinne. Bart grabs Corinne and Cathy and pulls them into the library. TG is in there, sitting in her wheelchair. What, TG can't go to the party? If she could move her arms she'd totally whip Corinne for not inviting her. Corinne keeps on denying everything, until Cathy tells her she has the birth certificates. Ruh-roh! Corinne admits to everything, even poisoning them with the arsenic doughnuts.

Here's the very best part of the book! Corinne turns everything that she did around to a pity fest for herself. I guess she's not so dumb after all, because it takes brains to come up with this. She says that her father knew about the kids and that he beat her and was mean to her all the time, and then actually has the nerves to tell Cathy that she thought she had it so tough being locked away and missing out on everything, but at least she wasn't being controlled by her father. Cathy and Bart both call bullshit on Corinne, saying how she could do whatever she wanted and Malcolm thought she was perfect and gave her everything. Oh, and he was way too frail to have ever beaten her. Bart says she sickens him, and Corinne thinks for a minute and then comes up with a new excuse. She poisoned the kids because she wanted them just to get a little sick so she could rush them to the hospital and then tell her mother that they had died. And then do what, dumbass? You live with your parents! Cathy again tells her she's full of shit, because Malcolm was long gone when Corinne started poisoning them. Shit! Corinne says that the butler knew everything and would tell and she'd lose her inheritance. Kill the butler then, not your kids! Cathy asks her what she really did with Cory's body, because no medical records show a boy of 8 dying and being buried around that month. Corinne says he died on the way to the hospital, so she threw the body into a ravine and covered it with sticks and leaves. Cathy says no, she always thought there was another way to get into the attic, and she moved one of the dressers in the room they had stayed in and there was a small room with a dead and rotting odor. Corinne can't come up with any more lies, and is now speechless.

The door to the library opens, and Chris walks in. He used his incest radar to find Cathy. Corinne thinks she's seeing the ghost of her first husband and starts apologizing and shit and Chris asks if she loved them so much why did she feed them arsenic. Corinne screams and runs out of the room. Bart asks Chris if he is Cathy's brother and if Corinne is their mother and Chris says yes, and she was once the mother to twins named Cory and Carrie, too. Bart asks if she had locked them in the attic, and Chris confirms it to be true. He then wishes TG a merry Christmas and tells Cathy they have to leave. Bart says she can't leave because she is pregnant with his baby, and "the blinders have been lifted from his eyes." Cheesy! Suddenly they smell smoke and realize the house is on fire. They escape and then Corinne starts bitching about TG being left in there and Bart runs back in for her. I have no idea why, no one liked TG except for me, and she was pretty close to death anyway. Corinne starts yelling at Cathy, and Chris comes to her defense. Corinne snaps and starts saying al the promises she used to say to Chris while they were in the attic, that it would only be a little while longer and they'd have all the riches of the world and that shit. A paramedic grabs her and throws her into the back of an ambulance. They take her away in a straitjacket.

Bart's body was found soon after clutching TG on the first floor. Both had died from smoke inhalation. Cathy watches the house burn to the ground, and then Chris remembers why he came to get her in the first place. Henny had a stroke and Paul had a heart attack while trying to save her. They leave and go to him.

Now we skip forward. Cathy has Bart's child, a boy she names Bart Winslow Sheffield. Jory is now 7, and Cathy is married to Paul, who is very weak and pretty much bedridden. Cathy says they didn't even have sex on their wedding night. Whatever shall she do? Paul must be on some crazy medication, because he tells Cathy that her sons need a father, and he won't be alive much longer so he can't be it. He tells her to be with Chris, and that Jory knows he is his uncle now but will soon forget and think he is his stepfather. It's not like he's a baby, a 7 year old won't just forget like that!

Cathy talks to Chris later while they take Bart and Jory fishing. She says that she and Paul had sex for the first time since they were married 3 years ago, and then asks if it's safe. Shouldn't you make sure it's safe before you do it? Chris says it is as long as it's not too intense. Cathy says they took it easy. Well, that doesn't sound like much fun! Apparently the boys think they have two dads, because Jory says just that. Weird. They go home to find Paul asleep on his front porch, just as he had been the first day they arrived. Cathy bathes the boys and then comes back to check on Paul and finds out he has died in his sleep.

Paul left everything to Cathy in his will, including the house, but if she should ever decide to sell the house his sister Amanda was to have the final bid. Cathy does sell it, but makes sure Amanda has to pay a lot for it. She and Chris move to California, where they raise Bart and Jory together as husband and wife. I think in another book it says that they are married, but it doesn't in this one. Every summer they visit people back east, like Madame Marisha and Madame Zolta. They also visit the graves of Bart, Julian, Paul, Henny, Carrie, and their father. Last they visit Corinne in the nuthouse, but Cathy can't see her because Corinne starts pulling out her hair and screaming and shit. She doesn't react well to Chris either because she thinks he's under Cathy's control. If she ever recovers she won't be charged with murder because Chris and Cathy both deny Cory ever existed. I don't understand why. Also, they never say what happened to her money.

Chris is all happy now that he gets to live with Cathy, but Cathy has done some weird ass things. She put two twin sized beds that were big enough for her sons up in the attic but doesn't remember doing it and wonders how they got there, and has purchased a picnic basket like the one TG used. Cathy says she's not like her mother and fears the worst in herself and would never lock away her sons, even if Jory someday remembered that Chris was really his uncle and told everyone. I think they should book a room for Cathy next to Corinne.

And so ends Petals on the Wind...finally! Man, that was a long ass book. Here's the front cover:


A little creepy because they're brother and sister, but not too bad. However, the inside cover, with it's obvious mistake, is mega creepy:

Chris totes wants to touch Cathy's boob. It's a mistake that Chris is even pictured, as he wasn't there when Cathy went to confront TG, but the biggest mistake is Carrie's presence, because she was dead by then! Maybe the artist didn't want to spoil the fact that she died, and if that's the case a different scene should've been picked. Also, TG scares the hell out of me.

Cover images taken from The V.C. Andrews Cover Gallery at http://www.madteaparty.dreamhosters.com/vca/index.php because I'm too lazy to go upstairs and scan my own.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great recap...my favorite parts were Chris having a 6th sense of when to cockblock, and the revelation that Bart totally sucks in bed. I have read POTW about 100 times but that never really occured to me.

I actually was kind of intrigued by the idea that Cathy sort of went nuts by the end of the book. After everything she's been through, locked away, beaten and raped by nearly every man in her life, widowed twice, etc. it only makes sense she'd be a little nuts.

I always found If There Be Thorns a pretty major disappointment though. Cathy's descent into madness was totally overshadowed by her crazy ass son's.

Jen said...

fabulous recap of the last part of the book! I am so totally with you on everything. Cathy could have gotten her revenge years earlier all she had to do was make take the birth certificates to the correct people and not only would Corinne lose all her money but she'd have ended up in jail were she belonged! Would have been a better revenge than having her step father's child.. ew! lol.
God, Carrie's whole story depressed me, you just feel so bad for her.. then again to commit suicide the way she did was kinda stupid. Ok yes your mother denied knowing you,but think about it, she was old enough to remember her not showing up when Paul adopted them and if not then why not ask Cathy or Chris why she would act that way,why just assume oh my mother doesn't love me I must be the devil's spawn! I guess living with Cathy causes loss of all common sense and logic.

ames said...

Like, I don't even know what to say. This book is so, so, so effed up. I mean, I cannot recall being so confused by a plot EVER. Also there is no real, you know, STRUCTURE, there's just lots of sex and men wanting Cathy, and then at some point we get a flashforward and it's over. WTF!

meredith said...

TG looks like Gollum!

The recaps are hilarious; I'm really really glad you're doing these.

snappleaddict said...

If you think this one's confusing plot-wise, try reading the next one. It switches from Jory to Bart every other chapter or so, and 95% of Bart's is insane fantasies. Bart makes Cathy look sane, and I'm not even exaggerating.

ames said...

Is that one If There Be Thorns? I hope you're already making plans to recap it, woman.

snappleaddict said...

Yes, it is If There Be Thorns, and I agree, it is perfect for a recap. I'll probably wait a bit, though, just to spread things out. I actually started doing this series just so I could get to ITBT. It's just so perfectly snarkable!

ames said...

Ohhh good. But I think you're wise in taking a break before tackling it. Too much V.C. will probably wreck your brain.

Anonymous said...

Reading this has made it pretty clear to me that If There Be Thorns is by the ghostwriter. Le sigh.