<i>Catherine House</i> is set over the course of three years at a super secretive, selective, and even more isolated college where something sinister is taking place. Even though this premise is right up my alley, unfortunately, the unsettling experiment is never fully (or even partially) explained. Ultimately, while I found <i>Catherine House</i> to be super atmospheric, with very lush and immersive prose, the debut novel suffered from sometimes clunky dialogue and a really slow moving plot.

This is a sideways book about a sideways girl in a sideways school, and no I don’t mean Wayside School. This book reads like a dream and is just as ephemeral. Recommended for fans of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.

Catherine House is a very unique place. It's a college of sorts, a three-year full year program that requires complete dedication and devotion from its students. Once you're in the gates, you don't leave for the next three years. You have no contact with the outside world (the book is set in 1996, so cutting off contact is much easier than it would be now). You do not leave the campus. Your tuition and board are covered by the school. You work tirelessly, but you also make lifelong connections, and if you can keep up to the rigorous academic standards, you join an elite group of leaders, academic, and creatives who have graduated from the school.

Ines enters Catherine House, fleeing a difficult year. We never learn the full details of the trouble she was in, but she applied to Catherine House at the urging of a favorite teacher. To her surprise, she's accepted. It's an odd place, a combination of high school and a small liberal arts college. There's no contact with the outside world, but the students have considerable freedom within the gates. They all wear the same clothes, but there's an endless supply of wine. There are no drugs and little rock and roll (they're not allowed to bring in any music from outside, but can earn points to buy limited supplies of music at the school commissary), but sex is easy to come by.

I think this is a book that is not going to be to everyone's taste, but I really enjoyed it. Ines is a rather detached narrator. She's clearly suffering from some previous trauma, and she sort of stumbles through her first year, numbing herself with sex and alcohol. But after being told she's in danger of expulsion, she pulls her act together and starts to embrace her time at the school.

This book definitely falls into a dark academia vibe. There's an undercurrent of weirdness about the school. The most exclusive concentration at the school is the study of plasm, a sort of scientific endeavor that raises a lot of questions for Ines. Although she's chosen art history as her concentration, she is fascinated by the study of plasm and by the secrecy that surrounds the concentration.

The book reminds me a bit of The Secret History and The Magicians. It's got the same sort of weird vibes of both schools in those books. It also captures the magic of college in a lot of ways: the intense closeness with friends, the insular atmosphere, But there's also a weird sense of dread, of something not right abut the school. It's a really compelling story.

I was completely enthralled with the first half of this book about a young woman, Ines, who is accepted into an intense three year college which boasts an impressive pedigree of graduates, but comes with highly stringent rules, the two biggest being:
Providing you don’t fail out, you can’t leave before your three years is up, and you can have no contact with family or friends outside the school.
All the kids seem exceedingly bright, sexually adventurous, but with dubious pasts. First time novelist Elisabeth Thomas doesn’t go into specifics about any of this, even with our protagonist, simply alluding to an awful memory of her waking up next to a dead girl which immediately piqued my curiosity, but it never became anything. In fact, lots of things are unrolled, but don’t seem to amount to much. Red herrings perhaps?
There’s clearly something not right at Catherine House but its secrets don’t get revealed until well into the second half. Is it worth it? Maybe.
What makes it hard connecting as a reader, is how disconnected her protagonist is. Spanning three years, it’s hard to tap into Ines. Her friendships, approach to classes, and sexual conquests are all tossed off with a ‘whatever’ twenty something attitude that while a bit amusing certainly don’t endear. The whole thing has a dreamy patina over it, making you wonder what’s real and what’s not, and feels similar in tone to the books of Marissa Pessl.
And yet her dreamlike narrative did keep propelling me forward, and I wanted to find out what was going to happen. Additionally I did appreciate Thomas resisting the urge to wrap things up neatly, and instead take an intriguing final act, and true to the form of the book leave it vague, which some will clearly be frustrated by.
I was never bored with the book, it just lost some steam at the midpoint for me, however I’m interested to see what she turns out next. I’d be curious your thoughts if you’ve read.

If you like creepy, fantasy/sci fi then this book is for you! I wasn't sure what to expect from the book, but it turned out pretty good. It was a little slow in spots, but overall a interesting book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins and Book Club Girls for an advanced copy of Catherine House in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, Catherine House was a DNF for me. I read to 40% before I called it quits. It sounded really interesting from the summary but unfortunately it was boring and weird and I just couldn't get into it.

People are not going to like this book. Complaints will range from "I hate the main character" to "it's too slow" but here's the thing - GOOD. This is a book for people who like to escape into a dark world - where it takes time to set up a location, to build a world.

Catherine House is a special school for special students. Former students have gone on to successful careers in every field. Students are put under rigorous interviews and exams just for entry. Everything is provided to the student - food, clothing, etc. Everything must be earned.

Catherine House is also full of secrets. There's drinking, sex, nudity. There's more to the school than meets the eye.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I finished this just in time for it to count towards my April TBR round up, so I’m happy about that! I still don’t know what to think though. On the one hand, the beginning was strong! I was entirely engrossed in the novel, and I couldn’t wait to see what kind of mystery would unfold. But I got lost along the way, and the story kind of fizzled out for me. I think the momentum from the beginning just wasn’t there about halfway through.

The plot itself though is an interesting concept. I mean, university-age students secluded from the lives they know in a really exclusive school where you have to go through a rigorous process JUST to be accepted? I love the idea! But the style was just not my thing.

If you love gothic stories and sc-fi, I can probably guarantee that you will enjoy this book a lot more than I did! The sci-fi part I struggle with, but Elisabeth Taylor’s descriptions of Catherine House really do bring the gothic elements (and the house) to life!

What did Ines sign up for when she entered Catherine House? A school set in the woods, it's meant for the years after high school (although many of the characters convey as teens). Everyone must agree to leave everything- absolutely everything- behind and be locked in for three years. Think about that length of time as you're quarantining! There are unusual classes and a libertine atmosphere that rivals the biggest party school. Nothing much happens until Baby, Ines' room mate and friend dies. This forces Ines to think about what she's signed up for and to explore the darkness. No spoilers but this is gothic creepy (great atmosphere with regard to the house) more than a thriller. Ines does mature over the course of the novel, especially in her self realization. This won't be for everyone due to both the subject matter and the writing, which at times feels detached. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Interesting and a good debut.

I am typically game for a “campus” novel, so I was excited when I read the premise of this book. While this has some of the intrigue of a book like The Secret History, I think you will see this is quite different.

Catherine House is a place of higher education that you have likely never seen before. A liberal arts school secluded from the world with a unique curriculum. Ines Murillo is accepted to this school, and while she was looking for a change to her life, she did not expect the regiment of this unorthodox place of higher education.

Thomas wrote this story in 3 parts, one for each year of the program. Part 1, spends great detail about the classes, the people and sets up the rest of this story. As the story progresses, not everything appears as it seems. Ines learns of experimentation but to what extent, we are not sure.

This was an interesting read, and it kept me going. However, it did not quite live up to my expectations. Even at the apex of this story, I was kind of like…meh.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC of this title.

I'm a sucker for books where there's a exclusive private academy full of secrets, or murder, or murder-secrets, it seems. I've read good ones, I've read bad ones, and I've somehow yet to read The Secret History, which gets name-dropped in the promotional materials for every. single. one of them. This drew me in with sort of a speculative fiction thing going on beneath the surface, and read quickly enough that I got through it in a few sessions over the course of a day.

_Something_ is going on at the exclusive Catherine House (which is some sort of Deep Springs/Bennington-y experimental studies program), and the book does a good job of pacing out what that reveal is, but it's going to be a slower burn than some readers will want or be willing to sit through, especially if you can't connect with the characters. I would have loved multiple narrators in this - Ines (our only narrator) is kind of a burnout, which helps with building a sense of unreliability and ramps up the gothic-y tension, but I also would have loved someone with clearer perspective confirming some of what's only hinted at. There's also a bit too much depth on the classes Ines is taking - it adds to the worldbuilding of Catherine House and I liked seeing Agnes Martin's minimalist paintings get name-dropped, but it also didn't really add anything narratively.

2.5 stars rounded up.
Anything with boarding schools always catches my attention and when you add my name to the title- I’m hooked.
I had such high hopes for this book but I was quickly let down. It starts out good and then it just flatlines. I would get so distracted with the weirdest class subjects, what exactly was expected of you, all the mindless “lollygaggling” around, and the chanting that it took a whole lot of the book away. There is no explanation for so many things, it’s as if they were forgotten about but they were pretty big parts of the storyline so I really just don’t understand that. I wanted to DNF this several times but I pushed through and the ending made me even more frustrated with this book. It should not have the descriptive label of thriller because it is most definitely not. Sure there is mystery and few seconds of suspense, but nothing that had me in the edge of my seat.

okay this book was really cool and had a great premise that i've never read in another book. i twas haunting and ethereal and i loved it so much. i really enjoyed this one.

Read this book through netgalley. The beginning and middle were really good and I found the story line so interesting. The student’s interactions were well written. The problem for me was the ending. There really was no conclusion. What happens with these experiments, the graduates and Ines. Maybe it was left this way for a sequel but if not, that was not a good ending.

I think my biggest issue with this book was it didn’t know what it wanted to be. It has aspects of sci-fi, fantasy, and a coming of age story, but didn’t seem to commit to any of them. The writing itself, especially aspects setting the stage were gorgeous. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to save it for me. Overall, Ines’ time at Catherine felt disjointed and incomplete. I think the premise was good but it didn’t live up to what I hoped it would be and I was left feeling lost.

Catherine House offers an accelerated program, free room and board, and free tuition. Graduates go on to illustrious careers. But is Inez willing to pay the price of total isolation from her old life and no contact with the outside world?

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher, Custom House Books, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Catherine House is the dark tale of Ines and her experiences at the Catherine House school over the required 3 years. Getting accepted to the Catherine House program is highly prestigious, but no one really understands what happens after the students step foot on campus, only that when they leave, they become some of the most successful people in society. Told in parts representative of each year, Ines first experiences the freedoms the school brings her through the relatively lax rules, but then she starts to notice and feel certain things. When she starts looking into what is really going on, she may not like the answers she finds.

The concept of this story really grabbed me, and I knew I wanted to read this one. Who doesn’t love a quirky, gothic, campus novel? However, in execution, this one just didn’t work for me. At times the narrative felt a bit aimless with endless pages filled with descriptions of napping, drinking, eating, class-skipping, and sex. I get that some of that was needed to hone in on the apathetic nature of Ines, but there was just so much of the same over and over again. Instead of that, I would’ve liked to hear more about her back story and what drove her to Catherine House. It is hinted at, but never really fleshed out. Additionally, the narrative establishes a super creepy chanting ritual as well as ceremonies where pins are stuck into the students’ bodies, but because it never becomes clear what the purposes of the plasm/new materials are, it takes away from the reader’s understanding of the truly sinister goings-on at Catherine House. I feel like I could describe more about the dietary habits of Catherine House students before I could even begin to talk about this central mystery of the plasm for which the students are all there to begin with. It’s painful to write this review because it really was one of my most anticipated releases for early 2020. I do look forward to seeing more from this debut author because I do appreciate the creativity of the concept.

At face value, Catherine House should be right up my alley. I love Dark Academia so anything that involves private, old, extremely selective colleges immediately puts a book on my radar. Not only does Catherine House check all of those boxes, it’s also a school shrouded in mystery. It’s surrounded by high gates that only students, staff, and faculty can enter. No one in the outside world really has a clear idea what’s going on inside.

Sounds amazing right?! Unfortunately, Catherine House fell a bit flat for me. I had trouble enjoying any of the characters, or even really understanding who they were as people. It’s mentioned by other characters many times that Ines, the main character, is “super cool” but I never really saw anything to evidence that. I didn’t see much evidence about her personality at all, honestly. She’s kind of into art, she’s kind of a bad student, she’s kind of inquisitive, maybe she’s kind of cool. I still don’t really know who Ines is as a person.

If Ines was lacking character personality, the side characters were made of cardboard. I honestly couldn’t tell you what type of people any of the side characters were, with the exception of Theo because his actions, however indirect, at least helped move and shift the plot and kept it exciting.

I loved the actual story. A college doing experiments on its students and studying a brand new, very new-age technology is a rad concept and I greatly enjoyed the few times Ines interacted with the professors and the director, Viktoria. But I feel like the story was stunted by how much time the author tried to fit into it. Three whole years of college is a lot to try and fit into one novel’s time and it ended up feeling rushed and curt. This ended up making the prose feel a little sophomoric. Parts of it read more like a middle grade book to me, but then in the very next sentence two characters will be fucking or a character will be talking about masturbating. It was a very jarring dichotomy.

I’m giving this book three stars because I very much enjoyed the concept and the college itself. I also enjoyed the ending, even if it did feel rushed. I found myself wishing the college was populated with students who had a bit more of a personality.

I was provided a free galley of this book through HarperCollins and NetGalley for the purpose of this review.

Catherine House is out May 12, 2020!

There was a lot of potential with CATHERINE HOUSE, and while I really liked some of the quirky details and some of the more dreamy moments, overall I couldn't get into this book. I think that part of the problem was that I didn't feel that it totally committed to the themes that it was trying to explore. Ines is a protagonist that has clear baggage and a lot of sides to her, but we don't really get to see many of those sides outside of a superficial lens. When her roommate Baby dies, we are promised that it is going to make Ines start to question her environment. But I didn't feel that there were any specific moments of her actually doing that, or even feeling much about it one way or the other. There were other aspects of the plot that weren't fully committed to, and because of that I wasn't pulled in or invested in the outcomes of the story.

CATHERINE HOUSE had promise, but ultimately it didn't deliver for me.

A boarding school for college where you are separated from your friends, family, tv, and movies. An intense curriculum and stressful classes. A boring story that let me wishing I picked something else up. Skip this one unless you enjoy a gothic book full of teenage rebellion with storylines that don't really go anywhere. Thank you to Harper's Collins and Net galley for my advance copy. All opinions are my own.