“I call room service and order another Bloody Mary, which, I tell myself, is basically a salad.”

After being fired from working as an assistant at the MoMa, Elsa returns to California where she meets up with her college friends, including her ex-husband, Robby, who is dating a triathlete, and, though he seems happy with Jane, also seems to pine for Elsa. Her other friend, Charlotte “Charly” has a strained relationship with her husband.

Elsa constantly pops pills she stole from her mother. She doesn’t even know what the pills are—she makes guesses, and then washes them down with alcohol. Obviously alcohol and drugs keep a person in a haze where she doesn’t have to feel the pain of her married lover breaking up with her and firing her, but it also keeps her from being able to emotionally be there for her friends. The more we learn about Elsa, however, the more we learn that her lack of empathy came a long time before her downturn in circumstances.

Elsa is beautiful, and while that gives her some power, it also exacts a toll. This is a dark, well-written novel. It’s not a breezy beach read despite the fact the entire book happens in the course of a few days—at the beach.

CATALINA WRITTEN BY LISKA JACOBS

Elsa Fisher has just been offered a very generous severance package to leave her dream job in New York City at the Museum of Modern Art. Why was Elsa fired from the best job she has ever wanted? Her boss is a married man for 27 years named Eric who Elsa thinks she loves and she also thinks he loves her. Could that be the reason Human Resources is saying the museum is cutting back on jobs. Elsa leaves her beloved life and flies home to reunite with a group of her closest friends in Los Angeles. There is Charlotte and Jared who got married five years ago going through infertility problems. Elsa takes her time reuniting with Charlotte who Elsa considers living the domestic life is boring. Elsa makes a choice to spend some of her money staying at the Miramar Hotel where she sleeps around popping her mother's stolen cache of prescription drugs and getting drunk on alcohol.

There is Robby, Elsa's ex-husband who still carries a torch for Elsa, while he is presently involved with adventurous Jane. Tom is the owner of the sailboat that is taking the group out to Catalina Island. Nobody in the group knows that Elsa was fired. They all are under the impression that Elsa has returned five years later for a reunion of sorts with taking a vacation to party in Catalina. Elsa has flashbacks of her time spent with Eric.

Elsa is not able to share any real intimacy with her friends and she gives out fake names with fake phone numbers to the various men she has sex with. At first I didn't like Elsa or understand why she is so determined to live such a self destructive and shallow life. By the end of the book I felt sorry for Elsa. Something bad happens on the trip to the Island that will shake Elsa to her core.

This was the kind of book that took it's time to grow on me and at about 80 percent in I appreciated the author's choice to use unlikable character's and how they connected so well with the plot. The descriptions of the Ocean and all of the aquatic animal life were written with vivid prose. I read this spare novel in one sitting and the blurb on the novel hits a homerun when comparing the author's storytelling with Patricia Highsmith. A really well accomplished novel that has a satisfying ending and it is also thought provoking and is addictive.

Thank you to Net Galley, Liska Jacobs and Macmillan for providing me with my digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I am not sure why I liked this book as much as I did so its going to be a bit tough to review for me. The main character is not what I would call "likeable" or even "relatable." She has had an affair with a married man and is leaving NYC to take a break and go visit friends and family on the West Coast that she hasn't seen in over 5 years. This friend group includes her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. I think I enjoyed this book in the same way you kind of get "sucked in" to other people's drama. You are intrigued and loving following along the juicy story even though it has nothing to do with you. You want to know more. If you are the kind of person who needs to relate to a main character - I would probably skip this one. If you don't mind the crazy - enjoy getting sucked in to Elsa's vacation drama. I think this author did a great job of making Elsa a VERY REAL character. Her thoughts, although selfish and at times deplorable, are very honest. Well done.

Liska Jacobs has written a debut novel about a beautiful young woman who was on a rocket-fueled trajectory to success. She graduated from college, got married, divorced, went to NYC and landed a job at MoMA, all before the ripe old age of 30. Now, five years later Elsa is back in LA with a big severance payout in her bank account and a mission to self-destruct on alcohol and drugs. Elsa checks into the lavish Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica and begins a non-stop drinking binge, accented by pill popping from her mother's prescription drugs. She seems to know when she is taking Xanax versus Vicodin which mystifies me. The pills seem to be in a rainbow array of colors, and the binge drinking is kind of scary.

Elsa takes her time in getting in touch with her best friend Charly and her husband Jared. She is hoping that the man she lusts for, Eric, her former boss will get in touch with her and call her back to New York, saying he has worked it out and she has her job again. She lost the job because of layoffs due to financial issues, or so she believes. There is nothing worse than watching a woman wait for a man to call, or text. The longer she waits, the drunker she gets, and the pills keep her in a constant state of mental numbness.

The narrative gets going when Elsa connects with Charly and a trip to Catalina Island is planned. Charly tells Elsa that her former husband, Robby and his girlfriend, Jane, will be with them for dinner and then on the trip to Catalina. The next character to enter the story is Tom who serves as the Greek Chorus to the thirty-something crew. Tom is rich and has been around. He quickly clues into each person's hot button and knows what Elsa is all about.

The drinking never ends, and Elsa's self-destruct button extends to her lifelong best friend, Charly. The character development is in one direction; Elsa looks down on everyone from her detached New York perch and begins to drag vulnerable characters like Charly and Robby with her. The trip to Catalina is an alcohol-fueled spectacle with Elsa still throbbing with rage and her need to have her job and her boss, back.

I couldn't help but feel empathy for Charly and Robby. They love Elsa, and she remains detached, telling them she is on vacation and celebrating with a bonus. Elsa deceives the two people in the world who care about her the most and who need her to show some love in return. Even though Elsa's recklessness inspired little empathy, I wanted things to turn around for her. In the end, I suppose the decision she made was the only option that would work for her. We can't help those who don't want our love.

Thank you, NetGalley and FSG Originals for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I thought this was going to be one of those hip and trendy novels.... and maybe it is - but it is also a heartbreakingly, painfully, honestly beautifully told story of loss of a job, family, friendships, and loss of love' an affair romanticized. All the things done to excess - pills, drink, and sex - when losing all of the above and realizing what was thought to be having it all was realizing you had nothing at all. I loved it.

Elsa, Elsa, Elsa... always running from her problems, which are mostly caused by herself and her total disregard for other people's feelings. It's not that she doesn't care, it's that she cares more about herself and what she wants. And what she wants is to run from the consequences of her actions. I couldn't put this train wreck down, except for when real life got in the way. Elsa is the main character you love to hate, but you can also relate to her. However, just when you start feeling bad for her and think she's about to redeem herself, she screws up again. I love how Ms. Jacobs pulls you in and envelopes you with Elsa's surroundings without overwhelming you with tedious, never ending descriptions and I look forwards to reading more of her work in the future.

I’m thinking, Who is this Elsa? Her name is so sterile and dead. It’s not me.

Elsa Fisher is a controlled disaster, her forbidden affair with her boss has reached it’s bitter end. She has been fired from her job at MoMA as executive assistant to the talented Eric Reindheart, what else to do but return home to Los Angeles and party with her friends, sail to Catalina and slowly self-destruct? With pills, booze, young hot guys, anything to keep reality at a distance, but as she sinks, she may will bring her friends down with her. She uses men along the way, young and old, high off her mother’s stolen pills. “He’s young and breakable and it would feel so goddamn good to break something.” Bitter, jaded, with her stale heart- she just can’t get out of her own way.

Her college friend’s lives have moved along, even her ex-husband Robby has a girlfriend, Jane- who seems so much lovelier than she did when they first met in New York. Jane, athletic, upbeat, just the perfect little package for her ex. The sort of woman that will glow in the intense focus Robby has to give any woman in his life. In the mix again, the men desire her. Her ex-husband Robby can’t seem to let go, always slipping back into an intimacy he should be long past. Questioning why things ended, jealous of male attention she receives, as if he still has that right. She almost enjoys the misery, the attention it garners from Robby. It’s hard to like Elsa, tangled so tightly in her own mess of a life, blind to the needs of her friends. Charly , her best friend, has been trying for children with her husband Jared. Jared is an over-grown flirt, at times adoring of his wifey Charly and others insensitive, but Elsa doesn’t see everything clearly, she is too wrapped up in her own victim mentality. With her bite, her vicious wit, her untouchable conscious she seems to only bring back destruction to the group. Telling her friends this trip is about a well needed vacation from her fast paced New York life, hiding the truth about her affair and being fired, sleeping with men, tossing back pills and booze, leading Charly astray, slowly the friends have to wonder- just why did she come back?

Her past is surfacing through her dreams, and in hazy painful memories of how she betrayed each of her friends in different ways, particularly when her beauty became ripe. She is remembering her father’s decline, the love she couldn’t muster for her first love Robby, every titillating moment she spent with Eric, her boss at MoMA. Tom has the boat the friends will all travel to Catalina on, a client of Jared’s, wealthy, smug and who has his eyes on Elsa, far more perceptive than any of her friends. He recognizes exactly what she is, exposing her hypocrisy, her needs, her cruelty and weaknesses. Before the trip is over, she will set off events that change each bond she has with her friends. Charly wants her best friend back so badly, possibly at her own detriment. Elsa’s heart is sour, she is a source of poison, and is too boozed soaked and self absorbed to see it. Rather than humbling herself, confiding in her friends, she pretends to be happy, carefree, and cynical. By the end of the trip, everyone will be changed, some will lose something vital to their future happiness, but will Elsa remained untouched by the damage she has birthed?

Publication Date: November 7, 2017

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

What a roller coaster of a book. Elsa, a pill-popping beautiful young woman has been fired at her job at the MoMA, is forced to leave her boss (who she is also having an affair with) and head back to California to her hometown and get her life together. However, that is not exactly what happens. Reuniting with her college friends, including her ex-husband, a healing journey is not what she goes on.

It's a beautifully written book, so beautiful that it succeeds in making me dislike the main character. She is selfish, self-destructive, and hopeless. However, the plot is incredible and the author does a fantastic job getting into the mind of someone at rock bottom. As soon as you start feeling sorry for Elsa, she will do something so incomprehensible that you are pulled right back into what's really going on. All of the characters are well developed and complex. The book is a fabulous debut from a novelist I cannot wait to read more of.

I'm between 3.5 and 4 stars here, so I'll round up.

Why is it so fascinating to read about people in the midst of crises, mostly of their own design? Is it like rubbernecking as you pass a gruesome accident on the highway, that can't-look-but-can't-look-away feeling? Or is it more the reinforcement of how lucky we are that our lives aren't that bad, a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God moment?

Whatever the reason, reading about people whose lives are a mess can be fascinating. And if you look in the dictionary next to the word "mess," you might find Elsa, the protagonist of Liska Jacobs' debut novel, Catalina. She's just been laid off from her dream job as personal and executive assistant to one the curators of New York's Museum of Modern Art after a torrid affair with her married boss, and she's trying to figure out her next move.

She heads home to Bakersfield, California, with designs on blowing through her "very generous" severance package. After a few days' visiting her mother, she leaves with most of her mother's prescription drugs, and retreats to a fancy hotel in Santa Monica, where she spends her days and nights in a drug-addled, alcohol-soaked haze, flirting (and more) with random men she meets, and leaving even teenage boys bewitched. But as high as she gets, it can't really numb the pain from losing her lover and her job.

As much as the she dreads the thought, she decides to reunite with her college friends, whom she hasn't seen since she fled for the East Coast more than five years before—her ex-husband Robby, who still pines for her and wonders where they went wrong, her childhood friend Charlotte ("Charly"), and Charly's flirtatious, overgrown frat boy husband, status-conscious Jared.

"I can almost feel my old self, that girl who loved art—museums especially—who dreamed of a career far from here. Poor girl, joke's on you. You're back. Your old life just waiting for you, like a second skin."

Elsa convinces her friends that she's on a much-needed vacation from the craziness of MoMA, and they mostly believe her, despite a smile that doesn't quite meet her eyes, manic mood swings, and overindulgence in both alcohol and random pills. The group plans to embark on a sailing trip to Catalina Island, along with Robby's super-outdoorsy, over-achieving girlfriend Jane, and Tom, a wealthy, arrogant client of Jared and Robby's, who owns the boat they will travel on. It's a perfect opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the island along with copious amounts of liquor and pills (at least as far as Elsa is concerned), and perhaps rekindle some of the fun they used to have.

It's not long before Elsa realizes her friends are having troubles of their own. Charly and Jared are struggling with fertility issues and Jared's mercurial moods, alternating between attentive and overly flirtatious, which puts Charly even more on edge. Charly longs to rekindle her friendship with Elsa but notices that Elsa doesn't quite seem to care about any of them, as much as Charly hopes that's not true. Robby, despite being happy with Jane, misses the Elsa he used to know, and wants her back, not this sharp-edged, high-strung addict she has become.

Fueled by a lack of inhibition and depression over the shambles of her life, Elsa blunders from one bad situation into another, leaving her perplexed and concerned friends in her wake, until she starts to stir up trouble among the group. The false joviality and sense of nostalgia gives way to rehashing old hurts and frustrations, not to mention new ones, as Elsa is only interested in self-gratification, and she doesn't even know what will make her happy anymore.

Despite the somewhat depressing nature of Elsa's downward spiral, Catalina is immensely readable. I devoured the book in about a day, and although I wondered exactly when (and if) Elsa would hit rock bottom, and what (and/or whom) she'd take with her, I couldn't look away. You can't believe one person could make such a mess of things, and you wonder whether she'll realize she's only making things worse, but her path of self-destruction is fascinating, even while it's pathetic.

Even though Elsa's story is familiar, Jacobs' does a terrific job drawing you in, hooking you on these characters that aren't particularly likable, who can't seem to say the things they want to. At times she shifts the narrative into flashback mode, or in her stupor Elsa imagines certain things happening, so I got a little confused occasionally. But Jacobs' has created a soapy, messy story to get lost in, and her use of language in describing the beauty of Catalina borders on poetic.

Beach season may be over for part of the world, but it's never too late for a beach read! I enjoyed this a lot, and can't wait to see what comes next in Jacobs' career.

NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Elsa Fischer is taking refuge from her fractured life in Manhattan. Armed with her friends in Santa Monica, bloody mary's, and Mother’s pharmacy Elsa is trying to deal with a recent breakup and job loss. The affair ended abruptly, as well as the job, as they were part of each other. But Elsa is a category five hurricane of self-destruction. Only her friends and her ex-husband are unaware of the gale force winds on the sail to Catalina Island.

She is Ingrid a wine rep from Portland or Susanna from San Diego. What she wants to be now is not in her life. An illusion. She will pretend that she is on vacation, see old friends and blow off some steam.

The plot is about an Elsa escape through a slur of pills and alcohol. As she journeys with her friends to Catalina, the cast and crew are also suffering their issues and dysfunctional qualities. But it is captain Tom that is the most psychologically sober and can see through Elsa. The trip becomes bittersweet as everyone sheds their jacket of protection and indulges in their demons.

During the narrative, we are a witness to flashbacks of Elsa’s youth, memories of trips, of friendships but also to her parent’s marriage. A mother waiting up long hours for a husband that shows up late in the night and the subsequent arguments and hushed tones. A mother medicating herself with alcohol, to push away the thoughts of unfaithfulness. But what her parents do not know is that they set Elsa up for life without coping skills and a moral compass. These memories bring realism to the main character, making her relatable even though she is dark.

The narrative is well-written with images that put you at the moment with the main character. “I let the pills dissolved under my tongue and wait for the covers to creep up around me, the promise of hotel sheets..starchy stiff like beaten egg whites.” Jacobs has a beautiful way with words without getting lost.

The setting of Santa Monica, the Pier, Catalina Island and Joshua Tree takes you on vacation. The Pier dominated by the Ferris wheel in an atmosphere rich in fried food and cotton candy. Gazing into the starry nights that blanket you in the national park. And the description of Catalina Island, from the eroded bluffs, electric blue waters, to the schools of the orange Garibaldi fish.

When I first chose to request this novel I was attracted to the darkness of the story. And I walk away with something richer. I have a greater love and appreciation for the climate, topography, the ambiance of California.

Excellent novel and I highly recommend it to everyone. Thank you, NetGalley, and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Caitlin follows a woman named Elsa as her life spins out of control following the end of an affair. This book goes into very, very dark places and with little reprieve. I didn't quite connect to Elsa and found the overall effect to be too sad and dark in it's entirety.

Catalina is not a feel good book.

It’s beautifully written, lush, and incredibly depressing.

I didn’t like Elsa. There were times I almost liked her, but in the end I hated her.

The book has shades of Valley of the Dolls. The characters are so very desperate to not feel anything at all. Elsa in particular lives on pills and admiration – she barely allows herself an identity beyond those. And it’s so very sad that so many men want to sleep with her, but also hold her in contempt.

As you read about the beautiful, but desperate people – and the even more beautiful world of Catalina – you’re aware of a build up to something dark and tragic. It makes for a very unsettling read.

A very well written book that left me feeling very sad.