Whoever wrote the jacket copy for Catherine House should have written the actual book.
Although I don’t usually request ARCs, I couldn’t help myself when I saw the offer for Catherine House pop up.
Billed as a suspenseful, atmospheric, modern Gothic novel about a young woman who suspects her elite university is hiding a sinister secret, it sounded right up my alley. I hit “request” and eagerly awaited my copy in the mail.
The ARC arrived. I breathlessly took in its beautiful front cover and grew even more excited.
The clincher was reading the inside note from the HarperCollins Executive Editor. Her fantastic description of the plot, her excessive praise for the book, and her compelling information about debut author Elisabeth Thomas had me completely sold on believing Catherine House would be a book I’d LOVE.
I pushed aside everything on my TBR shelf and plunged into the world of Catherine House.
Ummm. I DNF’d it at 100 pages. And, it was rough getting there.
At first, I thought Catherine House was just a slow burn. A really slow burn.
We all know slow burns are not my forte, so I resolved to double my 50-page rule and give this one extra time to win me over. After all, the classic Gothic novels I enjoy so much are also slow burns. I was determined to love this book that held so much promise.
I continued reading, stopping occasionally to peruse the “Enthusiastic Early Acclaim” printed on the back of the ARC. The reviewers lauded Catherine House as “brimming with dread”….”immersive” and “intoxicating”… “completely seductive and atmospheric.”
I blinked, wondering if we’d all read the same book.
At page 100, I lost faith and poked around on Instagram to see what other book bloggers were saying about Catherine House. There wasn’t much yet since I was reading this shortly after the ARCs had shipped out. But, I found one blogger who completely echoed everything I was feeling — or, NOT feeling — and I decided to abandon ship.
I really wanted to like this book. Like, REALLY. The reality is, though, that I think the editor’s description of Catherine House is way better than the book itself. I’d been expecting an atmospheric, twisty-turny, engrossing novel. Instead, I got…
I don’t know what I got. But, it’s not what I was promised, that’s for sure.
Everything about Catherine House fell completely flat for me. The writing, the characters, the house, everything. Even the parts of the story that are clearly supposed to be suspenseful and disturbing completely failed to deliver for me.
You should know that I wouldn’t usually post a review of a book I disliked this much. I hope to be an author one day, and I know I’d be devastated if someone completely hated what I’d poured my heart and soul into.
But, I was given a complimentary ARC of Catherine House “in exchange for an honest review,” so…here we are. And, my honest opinion of this book is that it completely missed the mark.
Meanwhile…if that HarperCollins editor ever publishes her own novel, sign me up! I’m totes on board for anything she writes.
Have any of you read Catherine House? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it if you have!
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas will be available for sale on May 12, 2020 from HarperCollins. Although I received a complimentary advance copy of this book, all opinions expressed in this review are my own, and I was not compensated in any way for this review or for any other promotion/publicity I’ve done related to this book.
Hey CJ, I totally agree with everything you’ve said. I stopped reading halfway through despite being interested in finding out more about the school itself. For me, I can get through disappointing or eh books if I really enjoy or find characters compelling or if the atmosphere and world building are great. Unfortunately, the book fell flat in all these areas for me and I started thinking about another book called “Vita Nostra” which is also similar in depicting bizarre schooling. I think another reason I left the book was because it lacked an intensity I thought I would get from the synopsis. One of the things I did like was how the protagonist has a darker motivation for being at the school and how she’s kind of an observer and not a willing participant in the strange things going on. It felt refreshing because characters in this genre usually get sucked in from the beginning, but I can also see how this would also turn people off from the book. I feel like there’s a great, intense book waiting in the one we both read and found flat.
Hi, June! I agree — there’s totally a great story in there somewhere; it just didn’t appear in the book that was published. The concept seemed great, and yeah, it was nice to have a slightly different protagonist in this type of story. I just wish she had been a bit more endearing so I would have cared what happened to her! Lol.
Hi! I did finish it but was left with so many questions that I came searching today for other feedback! There was so much left unsaid that would have helped the entire story that I felt I must have missed it, but after reading many reviews I am sad to say it wasn’t just me. I re-read the last page a couple times thinking I must have missed a page. I also agree that the person who wrote the description read a different copy of the book 🙁
Yes. YES! Seriously, what book did the copywriter read?? Because it sounds fantastic! Kudos to you, Anne, for finishing this one. And I’m also glad to know it seems I didn’t miss much by not finishing it, haha. Interestingly, this book review has become one of my most visited ones on the site since Catherine House was published; I think a lot of readers are similarly scratching their heads on this one. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experience!!
Yes! Totally agree! This was selected as part of a book group I’m in & the reader (Whose taste I completely trust) could not say enough good things about it. So I read…and read…and kept on reading (it was a slog), expecting something wonderful. When I finally finished I was so totally underwhelmed and disappointed. Ugh, I hated this book. And I do NOT say that lightly. Based on the original reader’s full throated recommendation I figured I had to be missing something, so I went online, searching for some elusive symbolism or theme that would give the book meaning. Nope, nothing. It’s such a bummer, when there was so much potential there.
Hi Sarah! Ugh, it is the WORST when a book group picks a book that you’re not excited about! That’s actually why I’ve vowed never to join book groups again, haha. It’s so strange what appeals to some people and not to others. I feel like you’ve encountered a rare creature in the wild — a regular ol’ reader who genuinely liked this book! And, liked it enough to rave about it and recommend it to others. I feel like the critics are all over it as being amazing, but most general readers are like “Meh,” lol. Admittedly, maybe the whole thing just went over my head; maybe there’s some elusive symbolism, as you said, that is just going over ALL our heads. 😉 I hope your next read has you more intrigued!
I see that I’m more than a year late to this thread, but if anyone is reading: I understand how so many people feel like they missed part of the book, and I agree that the jacket cover description is completely misleading. I have seen so many reviews in which people felt underwhelmed or struggled to read the book because it was so slow paced. However, I absolutely loved Ines’s detached view and thoughts – the glamour in the mood of the other character’s conversations and interactions with Ines, as well as the long whirling descriptions of Catherine, that change based on Ines’s current state of mind. I think it’s interesting to see how the supporting characters change throughout the book, however Ines remains the same – even to the end. When she arrives, she is running, and when she leaves she is running. She left her friend behind overdosed and dead in the hotel room and she left Baby pinned in an experiment as well. She parties through her nights with friends who don’t understand her just as she did before Catherine. In this (technically marketed as) “science fiction”, it seems much more like literary fiction. I thought the writing was so beautiful I would read it without any plot at all. The ending, her leaving Catherine – leaves the readers unsure if she even makes it. But that’s not the point, because throughout the book Ines was looking for something more than the life she already had. Victoria Varga, simultaneously the villain and sort of mentor figure for Ines (she is an art historian who had the kind of whimsical and creative mind that Ines did in her youth before hardening and becoming calculated) wants to entrap Ines especially into her plasm experiment and tie her to the house forever. And by the end, it is known that she succeeds, because while Ines may not be physically there anymore, she is still pinned to the house – Ines will never tell any secrets because she believes the house is hers. Ines’s journey deeper and deeper into the Catherine experiment IS the whole plot (which I get may not be enough for some people).
Hi Amelia!I I definitely read all my comments, even if it takes me a little while to respond to them. 🙂 I’m glad to hear from someone who could appreciate Catherine House. I agree with you about it being more literary fiction; that’s my literary death blow and is probably why I couldn’t get through this book, lol. Thanks for the insight into everything I missed by DNF’ing this one!