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greatexpectations77's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Something was missing from this book for me, and I still can't quite put my finger on what it was. The novel covers Ines' whole time at Catherine House, which is 3 years. And that's a lot of time to fit into a single ~350 page book. Part of my trouble with this may have been the time period. I think focusing on about 1 year at CH would have allowed a deeper connection with the week-to-week experiences of the characters. But I also understand that Ines' journey of finding out what was goin' on at this place would make sense to take several years. I didn't love that we don't ever get the full backstory of Ines' life before CH . I guess feeling like Ines kind of didn't care about anyone or anything made me not deeply care about folks either. I think the creepy "What the hell is going on??" feeling is hard to achieve because an author has to give a little and withhold a little. And I think there was too much withholding. I'm still not sure I get the whole plasm deal. So, for me, the end was really unsatisfying. I am fine with an ambiguous ending, but when the whole book has felt ambiguous, it just feels like more of the same. I would try this author again, but this one wasn't quite what I was looking for. Like why was Ines there? How did she get away with so much?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Medical content, and Pregnancy
shellshellshell's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this, and initially I did. It lagged a lot in the middle, with Inez going about her daily life and not pushing the story forward. By the end, I was so over it. There wasn't enough insight into the plasm experiments—Inez was too far away from it, so she couldn't give much insight into it, and with only one main character, that hamstrung the book. With the intrigue around what plasm is and what kinds of experiments were going on in Ma Neptune's lab being a driving force of what the book promised to be, it was overall a letdown.
asm349's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
gaylandtoo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
this could easily be 5 stars but for some reason i cannot take the word plasm seriously. one of the only recent novels i've read that captures the unreliable narrator tone of dark academia perfectly. huzzah, elisabeth thomas.
marldinamama's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ensis's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
hicrant's review against another edition
4.0
oh catherine house
okay so this books seems plotless and slow and i mean yeah but the vibes were amazing it turned out to be a really enjoyable read. it kind of had a plot the school is an important character in this and seeing ines go through three years at the school was the plot?
it kinda manages to be intense and almost claustrophobic, hazy and almost dreamlike. catherine house was a pretty much a cult and reading about the school ugh i loved it. from the very first page you realize that smth is incredibly wrong about this place but you still can’t completely figure it out. we follow our main character dealing with her ptsd and depression and moving through this strange place and how it changes her. she is terrified half of the time .. the other half she is completely indifferent to everything and other times she is almost in a drugged state and in complete bliss..
nothing graphic or grotesque happens and it was still creepy .. honestly i don’t know what more to write but i liked it!
and no i didn’t completely understand plasm but i don’t think that was the point anyway
okay so this books seems plotless and slow and i mean yeah but the vibes were amazing it turned out to be a really enjoyable read. it kind of had a plot the school is an important character in this and seeing ines go through three years at the school was the plot?
it kinda manages to be intense and almost claustrophobic, hazy and almost dreamlike. catherine house was a pretty much a cult and reading about the school ugh i loved it. from the very first page you realize that smth is incredibly wrong about this place but you still can’t completely figure it out. we follow our main character dealing with her ptsd and depression and moving through this strange place and how it changes her. she is terrified half of the time .. the other half she is completely indifferent to everything and other times she is almost in a drugged state and in complete bliss..
nothing graphic or grotesque happens and it was still creepy .. honestly i don’t know what more to write but i liked it!
and no i didn’t completely understand plasm but i don’t think that was the point anyway
brittbat's review against another edition
3.0
I found it difficult to engage fully with this book because the narrator herself is so disengaged from the scene she inhabits, or at least, she speaks to the reader as though she is. I spent 300 pages with characters who never felt like more than vague acquaintances, wondering about an experimental science that was never really explained. This book is an incredibly slow burn that builds to an unsettling conclusion, but turning the final page feels somewhat anticlimactic... But I would absolutely watch a film adaptation, if it granted the story some objectivity that the book lacks as a result of being filtered through the narrator’s skewed perspective. I want little glimpses of how people perceive her, and how the house really is, earlier in the narrative to contrast with her ideas of reality.
Maybe I’ll appreciate this more the longer I think about it.
Maybe I’ll appreciate this more the longer I think about it.
lgeraghty13's review against another edition
4.0
Really, really unique and interesting book. I totally see how it might not be for everyone, but for me it was a refreshing change from what I usually read.
Ines gets accepted into a very unusual college called Catherine House. Tuition is free. Everyone there is supposedly brilliant in some way but running from something. The students give 3 years of their lives to the school, and they cannot leave. They can’t have visitors, cell phones or even TV. They are totally cut off for the outside world during their years at Catherine House which makes this cult-like story so interesting. Ines begins to discover the school’s secrets which comes at a price.
This book is strange and a little surreal, but I couldn’t stop reading it. Elisabeth Thomas has a very unique voice and I will be keeping my eye out for her next book.
Ines gets accepted into a very unusual college called Catherine House. Tuition is free. Everyone there is supposedly brilliant in some way but running from something. The students give 3 years of their lives to the school, and they cannot leave. They can’t have visitors, cell phones or even TV. They are totally cut off for the outside world during their years at Catherine House which makes this cult-like story so interesting. Ines begins to discover the school’s secrets which comes at a price.
This book is strange and a little surreal, but I couldn’t stop reading it. Elisabeth Thomas has a very unique voice and I will be keeping my eye out for her next book.