A review by serendipitysbooks
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

 
Catherine House is a gothic fever-dream set in an isolated school with dark secrets. Not my typical read but I picked it up due to one of my reading challenges. I struggled to connect with the story. My interest was piqued for a while and then tapered off, partly because I seem to have little tolerance for characters who self-sabotage and drift or escape in a sea of booze and sex. A little too much happened off page or wasn’t explained fully, leaving me slightly frustrated - I still want to know what happened to Ines before she arrived at Catherine House.

So not a bad book but not the book for me. But the dark atmosphere was spot on and if gothic is your thing then give this book a go.
 
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