From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

Catherine House

Elisabeth Thomas

Start date: August 1, 2021

Finish date: August 30, 2021

Discussion: 2021 Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: August 2021 group read for "dark academia"…more
[close] August 2021 group read for "dark academia"

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2021 Monthly Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Feb 02, 2020 Jessica (BlogEared Books) rated it it was ok

Shelves: netgalley

I went through quite a few emotions while reading this but the one feeling that stay consistent was confusion. I just finished it and am so confused and honestly a little frustrated that I read the whole thing, hoping for something that made any kind of sense.

I love boarding house books- and when this book began I got a "Down a Dark Hall" vibe- my favorite book by Lois Duncan. The house was spooky, each person in the house seemed to have a certain talent and they referred to the house as if it I went through quite a few emotions while reading this but the one feeling that stay consistent was confusion. I just finished it and am so confused and honestly a little frustrated that I read the whole thing, hoping for something that made any kind of sense.

I love boarding house books- and when this book began I got a "Down a Dark Hall" vibe- my favorite book by Lois Duncan. The house was spooky, each person in the house seemed to have a certain talent and they referred to the house as if it was alive. I was intrigued.

But then a bunch of weird details were thrown in, I guess just because. I thought I'd get some answer at the end but came up blank. This was supposed to be a very strict school that strips you of your past but one of the students would wear new clothing items every day that she took from the daily shipments?? Why do they have days of only desserts? Why are all of the students plied with alcohol day and night?

After I realized this wasn't an updated version of Down a Dark Hall, I really got a connection to the book The Ruins by Scott Smith. The island comes alive- well they kept referring to the house "I am the house" chants... Ok, so I never got any answers about that either. And the chant wasn't spooky or believable. It was just weird.

Then we find out the main character (i don't even remember her name) has a sordid past - insert Alex Stern from Ninth House. But Alex is a badass and What's her name is clearly damaged and full of bad decisions but not really all that clever or brave. She is sexually fluid, which made me think a little of Wilder Girls by Rory Power... Sigh I didn't find a lot of individuality.

The parts that didn't remind me of other books were just confusing. Lots of details that never seemed to matter. No real explanation for ANY OF IT.

I hate being negative about books- I think authors are magical and doing something that I can never do which is write a novel! But in this case, this book did not work in any way for me.

Thank you #netgalley and #randonhouse for the complimentary ARC of #catherinehouse for an unbiased review. ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2021 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-schmiterary, fiction, broken, psych-psych-psych, all-time-favorites, just-for-the-cover

This feels like the perfect book. This is the book I’ve been looking for and didn’t know I was looking for.

Normally, this sort of repetitive action would drive me nuts:

I went outside. I walked in circles around the brown yard. I picked up a stick and put it down again. The sun disappeared behind the trees. I went back inside.

But in this book, the repetition has a point. Ines is directionless, she doesn't know if she wants to be here or not be here. She wanders. She is bored. She does t This feels like the perfect book. This is the book I’ve been looking for and didn’t know I was looking for.

Normally, this sort of repetitive action would drive me nuts:

I went outside. I walked in circles around the brown yard. I picked up a stick and put it down again. The sun disappeared behind the trees. I went back inside.

But in this book, the repetition has a point. Ines is directionless, she doesn't know if she wants to be here or not be here. She wanders. She is bored. She does the same things over and over again. She lies in the grass and stares at the sky. She sleeps late. She stays up all night. She isn't sure if she belongs.

I couldn't be here anymore. I couldn't be in me.

But I couldn't be anywhere else, either. I had nowhere else to go.

She is a girl without a home, without connections to anyone or anywhere. And slowly, the patterns of Catherine House - the clothes, the tea trays, the classes, the rituals, the meals - wrap around her, and connect her to the school.

You are in the house and the house is in the woods. The woods are in the house. The stairs are in the house. Down the stairs is the hallway, and at the end of the hallway is the ballroom. You are in the ballroom. The ballroom is in the house. You are in the house and the house is in you.

But what is going on? Is this house a safe and welcoming home for kids who belong nowhere else? Or is it a prison? What is the mysterious research being conducted in the labs? What is plasm?

Some secrets and motivations are revealed fully, but some are left to the reader to decide. I usually hate open-ended endings, but in this book, the answers weren't really the point.

One complaint: this is set in the deep woods in Pennsylvania, but fig trees are repeatedly mentioned. Fig trees do not grow in Pennsylvania (unless babied and pampered and sheltered for winter). The author is from Brooklyn, she should know better. I guess she knows her art history, but not her trees. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2020 Andrea rated it liked it

Shelves: giveaways

I enjoyed this book. It was more than a pretty cover. I give it a thumbs up as a debut novel. Fantastic idea and story line, there were some choppy parts, some characters I wish developed a tad more. I will read more from Elisabeth Thomas.

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