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A review by lauriereadslohf
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
3.0
We read Catherine House for the July Ladies of Horror Fiction Readalong you can join the discussion here if you’d like: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/21529633-july-2020-readalong-catherine-house-by-elisabeth-thomas
I’m not going to get into a discussion about what is or isn’t horror and expectations and all that. I’m going to review this book as I experienced it. I like all kinds of things from the most extreme horror novel to the sweetest cupcake of a romance and my most favorite novels are those that grab me with a unique surprising plot and/or characters who keep me reading despite my distracted mess of a brain.
I liked some of this book and I am giving it a three after a bit of thought. The book is broken up into years. Year One was my absolute favorite. It set up the intrigue, secrets, described the grounds, the creepy interior of Catherine House, and introduced us to Ines and gave us a bit of insight into why Ines is so lackadaisical about everything. She’s the type who sort of floats through life without caring too much about anything or anyone but she has reasons for her behavior. Unfortunately, her attitude about life didn’t make her a compelling heroine for me after a while.
Book One was definitely my favorite part of the story. I was intrigued, I wanted to discover all the secrets and I wanted them to be AWFUL. But then Year Two occurred and I found myself a little tired of all of the talk of parties and bed-hopping and drinking and snack eating because none of it was interesting to me. I have nothing against any of those things if they enhance and add interest to the story but that wasn’t the case for me here. Talk of them just filled up too much space and I found myself desperate for more character connection and for more of the interesting secrets hiding within the house.
The final section of the book picked up but the ending didn’t thrill me after all of the build-up I was hoping for something a little more . . . I don’t know, shocking and less lifeless, I suppose. But it was indeed in character so it made sense.
I listened to this as an unabridged audiobook that I purchased from Audible. If you enjoy audios and are curious about this book I highly recommend doing it that way. I’m honestly not sure if I would’ve felt compelled to keep going after Year Two but the narration was done so well that it wasn’t a chore for me to keep listening. The voices are unique and fit the characters well.
This one is so hard for me to rate. The story itself is a two and a half for me but the narration was excellent so I’m going to compromise and give it a three.
I’m not going to get into a discussion about what is or isn’t horror and expectations and all that. I’m going to review this book as I experienced it. I like all kinds of things from the most extreme horror novel to the sweetest cupcake of a romance and my most favorite novels are those that grab me with a unique surprising plot and/or characters who keep me reading despite my distracted mess of a brain.
I liked some of this book and I am giving it a three after a bit of thought. The book is broken up into years. Year One was my absolute favorite. It set up the intrigue, secrets, described the grounds, the creepy interior of Catherine House, and introduced us to Ines and gave us a bit of insight into why Ines is so lackadaisical about everything. She’s the type who sort of floats through life without caring too much about anything or anyone but she has reasons for her behavior. Unfortunately, her attitude about life didn’t make her a compelling heroine for me after a while.
Book One was definitely my favorite part of the story. I was intrigued, I wanted to discover all the secrets and I wanted them to be AWFUL. But then Year Two occurred and I found myself a little tired of all of the talk of parties and bed-hopping and drinking and snack eating because none of it was interesting to me. I have nothing against any of those things if they enhance and add interest to the story but that wasn’t the case for me here. Talk of them just filled up too much space and I found myself desperate for more character connection and for more of the interesting secrets hiding within the house.
The final section of the book picked up but the ending didn’t thrill me after all of the build-up I was hoping for something a little more . . . I don’t know, shocking and less lifeless, I suppose. But it was indeed in character so it made sense.
I listened to this as an unabridged audiobook that I purchased from Audible. If you enjoy audios and are curious about this book I highly recommend doing it that way. I’m honestly not sure if I would’ve felt compelled to keep going after Year Two but the narration was done so well that it wasn’t a chore for me to keep listening. The voices are unique and fit the characters well.
This one is so hard for me to rate. The story itself is a two and a half for me but the narration was excellent so I’m going to compromise and give it a three.