Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

9 reviews

celery's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Body horror, Kidnapping, Blood, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

novelideea's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

edhyndman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing

homebodywitch's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, Alcohol, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, and Grief

f18's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, Death, Grief, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Drug use, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Alcohol, Car accident, and Cursing

mention student/teacher relationship

yaizacanopoli's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Grief, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Mental illness

vigil's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this book really worked for me because despite its marketing, because it, to my understanding, functions really well as a deconstruction of academia as a whole. this is probably why you see so many low scores from dark academia fans, who expected more exploration of that portion, namely the plasma mystery, and cultish behavior. however, the book is not, and has never been about that. it was about our main character, ines, and her journey. it is best understood as a character study on escapism, loss, and self acceptance, as you weave through an environment actively detrimental to you. 

i think in another kind of book, it would have put the mystery first, exposing catherine, understanding the full scope of plasm, shutting down the schools, and then have the protagonist reckon with their own internal emptiness afterwards, remarking on how solving the mystery didn't solve them. catherine house, does not share this typical format, having its protagonist get out. no school or mystery, creepy plasm cult or not, can nor should be your whole life.

what is plasm? i have no idea. it was explained to me and i still don't understand, so i wasn't bothered when that wasn't explored because i didn't care anyways.

i loved the way the author got the atmosphere across so clearly with very detailed, but uncomplicated prose. ines existed in this "sideways" and detached existence, with the author writing in the hazy aura ines clearly felt, until the end, when she starts getting (almost jarringly) clear. 

i will say, i think this book wasted a lot of time, but also didn't use enough. i don't like dark academia aesthetic so i'm biased, but the multiple descriptions of food, parties, buildings, and landscapes did bore me. there are multiple scenes in the book that i think are genuinely unnecessary and other technically not needed. however, i would describe this book as drifting along a stream, not building up to something bigger, so the extra scenes didn't bother me too badly. that being said, you can only half pay attention to this book and still get the gist, which i did myself in some places when listening to the audiobook. (which is fantastic btw.)

and i tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but i knew theo's ass was trash.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Alcohol, Grief, and Suicide attempt

sunsetcity's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Take that review with a grain of salt. This book was super bizarre and I'm not sure I ever really knew what was going on, but I read through it really quickly and enjoyed my time reading it. I think the ending was super unsatisfying and way too open ended for this kind of story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

chemicalpink's review

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Cursing, and Death