Book Review
Title: Catherine House
Author: Elisabeth Thomas
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Rating: DNF
Review: Catherine House was the September pick for the Literally Dead Book Club, so I had to read it this month, but I didn’t know anything going into it except it had a school setting. We are introduced to our protagonist, Ines, by the time she arrives at Catherine, but we don’t know what. Ines doesn’t talk much about her life before, all we know is she used to be good student, fell in with the wrong crowd and things started to go horribly wrong. The only reason she even applied to Catherine was because her teacher, who she was in love with at the time, suggested she do it. The school has rules though, the students can’t have any contact without the outside world for three years in return for a free ride through Catherine and a promise of a better life on the other side and all have agreed to it. However, Thomas manages to paint a dark and eery atmosphere around the school, making you feel watched almost like it is haunted. Ines gets along fine with her roommate, Baby, who is odd herself but there’s nothing malicious about her especially after we learn she brought a snail from home, which is prohibited as it is both a pet and from outside Catherine and when she thought he was going to be discovered she killed it rather than letting it go which strikes me as very odd. So far, the setting is great, but we haven’t had much in the way of plot, but we are only at the beginning.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, months begin to pass but Ines doesn’t really do anything at all She seems to be drifting , floating on the surface of life at Catherine rather than getting stuck in like all the other students even the grumpy, non-conforming ones. That is until one of her teacher, M. Owens takes her aside and explains that her current attitude means in time she will be asked to leave the school but Ines can not allow that to happen, so she decides to be good and begin to apply herself and try to make something better of herself but from being inside her head we know it isn’t working. After the winter festival, the new student have their coming in to look forward to, but we don’t know what that is and the older student don’t say anything relevant or interesting about it. When the time comes, Ines and the others are pulled from their beds in the middle of the night and taken to one of the underground ballrooms. They are attached to various plasm pins, the crowning glory of Catherine’s experiments which they were apparently supposed to have stopped years before. Viktoria, the head of the school, then proceeds to hypnotize the students and gets them to talk about their lives before Catherine and what they felt and how that has changed since arriving there but one of Ines’ pins came loose so she isn’t under the spell like everyone else because she can’t stand to be trapped in her own memories and what she did, which is why it feels like she is having an almost constant out of body experience and Viktoria knows but she doesn’t seem to do anything about in that moment. At nearly 25% in, apart from this one cult-like hypnosis sequence nothing has happened so far, and I am hoping it picks up soon otherwise I will have to DNF this book.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, despite a monetary burst of energy allowing Ines to perform somewhat well in classes it quickly dies out leaving her in the same position she was before. However, this time she makes sure she does enough not to fail but her performance is still drawing attention she doesn’t want. She ends up being called to Viktoria’s office where she learns she is going to be sent to the tower, isolated from everyone else and she doesn’t really care and the first day is fine until a concentrator turns up with the plasm pins. Despite knowing there isn’t anything to fear from the pins, Ines is afraid of them and refuses to put them on meaning her stay in the tower is extended until she does and she last a long time for a Catherine student, five whole days before she gives in. However, when she has the pins on, she doesn’t feel the pleasure that the other students seem to experience, she doesn’t feel anything except the need to expel the poison from her body and when she does, she is released as simple as that. Upon returning, Baby was worried as she was gone for so long but there seems to be a subtle shift in Ines’ attitude as she seems more prepared to work and achieve that before. I also realised that this book is split over Ines’ 3 years at Catherine so I am inclined to believe she does make it to graduation but I am going to give this book to the halfway point as if nothing significant has happened yet then I am going to DNF it.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Ines seems to be doing very well after her trip to the tower, she hasn’t changed much in terms of personality she just has a bit more life in her now. However, she soon learns that Baby is going to spend two weeks in the tower for cheating on her chemistry exam and Ines for the first time experiences loneliness because even when she was withdrawn, Baby was always a constant for her and she is eager for her friend to return. It doesn’t happen this way of course as Ines is informed of Baby’s “suicide” but Ines’ reaction is what surprised me the most as she doesn’t seem too hurt or upset like some other students. Ines understands that if Baby did kill herself, it was her choice to do it after giving everything to Catherine and her life moves on as she is accepted in the History of Art concentration. Baby’s death marks the end of Ines first year at Catherine and before her lies the next two years and although I am eager to see the conclusion of Ines’ story and I am a little bored. Even when the next lot of students arrive at Catherine, Ines is still wandering around, not really doing anything and I feel like there was so much more Catherine House could have given us, it has so much potential with its setting and some parts of the story but it was so boring. Apart from Baby’s death nothing happens in the first half of the book and I had to put it down, a real disappointment.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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