Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Catherine House

A student of Catherine House through their first, second, and third (final) year of the program. Just before admission they were involved in an incident where they witnessed a traumatic event, leaving them oscillating between catatonic mania and indifference.

Atmosphere 🫶: Claustrophobic, lost, ethereal with a sensory and emotional writing style.

Set at a secretive, elite academic institution in a remote area of rural Pennsylvania
Selective description of people, places, and things – lots of room for rich imaginings

Cred Rating 👌🧑‍🎓: Realistic and Magical Realism

Captures the angst and undertones of academia – jumping through hoops, uncomfortable limbo of being a "new adult", peers that are both moral support and a competitive threat, the whole maze of pretension, pressure, and potential
Secretive sci-fi feeling that seems purposefully underdeveloped, even magical. We don’t understand the science/magic exactly, how being a graduate allows for power and prestige, or how final the consequences of “failure” may be

Growls and Howls 🐺:

I get how this could be boring or too weird. Not much happens and yet a lot happens? It isn’t repetitive but also isn’t rooted in any specific plot.
The characters are strange…it isn’t that they aren’t well developed, but it’s that they seem like ghosts. They are likeable and I could identify with them sometimes, but they also seem slightly “off” somehow. I loved it, but if you aren’t in the mood or a fan of that type of read, then it could be disconnecting.
Dosing could make a big diff in the reading experience. I read it all one cold, rainy day. If I had to take extended breaks I can imagine being confused or forgetting where we left off.

Reading Journey 👌: Passenger on an overnight drive through a dark, unfamiliar place. Discussions, music, falling in and out of sleep, never quite being comfortable, lucid dreaming, wake up to the dawn feeling like somehow minutes and days have gone by.

Mood Read Match-Up:

Character-driven studies in isolated settings
Mash up of absurdist, magical realism, dark academia
Mad scientist sci-fi / witchy soft fantasy energy
Subjective commentary on academic institutions, education, and student experience
Speculative fiction filled with symbolism, similes, metaphors
No plot, only vibes

Vibes: 😶‍🌫️😵‍💫😎

Content Heads-Up: Symbolism around suicide, depression, and addiction

Format: Hardcover

😍 This was one of my Favourite Books of 2023

Content Warnings

homebodywitch's review

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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

Content Warnings

hue's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

1.0

Well that was . . . strange.

Content Warnings

brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

f18's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

If you’re in the mood for a slow, unsettling atmospheric read with an interesting premise and maybe aromantic main character, check this out! I didn’t end up liking it, though. It needed some serious trimming. There’s a ton of fluff in here that seemed so unnecessary that it took away from the story. Everything that did matter took way too long to pay off, and was hard to care about because of Ines’s detached haze. The college cult itself also just feels like what a high schooler things college might be like.

Content Warnings

yaizacanopoli's review

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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

Content Warnings

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