Book Review: Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

I wanted to like Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas, a book that I decided to add on my TBR following various reviews in the media and among my Goodreads network. The topic sounded interested and the writing was not bad at all, particularly for a debut novel. However, from many points of view, various threads of the story simply did not get together well and the ending was disappointing enough to confirm my opinion about the book. Not a positive opinion, but given the quality of the writing, it makes me hope that maybe the next novel by Elisabeth Thomas will do much better than her first.

´What was Catherine, exactly? Let´s say, a community of minds. A crucible of experimental, reformist liberal arts study. Research-and-development institute for the most radical new materials sciences. A postsecondary scholl more selective than any Ivy League, and so terrifically endowed that tuition was free to any student lucky enough to be accepted. A tiny, pioneering, fanatically private place that by some miracle of chemistry produced some of the world´s best minds: prize winning authors, artists and inventors, diplomats, senators, Supreme Court justices, two presidents of the United States. A school and an estate: a complex confection of architecture and design, a house - a magnificent house - miles off the highway, in black woods, behind a long iron gate´.

The story is told by Ines, a rebelious girl whose past is haunted by an incident not clearly explained. She, like the other residents is supposed to go through a 3-year long isolation program, when the connection with her previous life, with her past, is completely cut. Ines does not have anyone to relate to anyway though - why, it is also not clear.

There is also a ´scientific´ plasm story, which is the mysterious connection between various incidents and whose abuse was apparently revealed in a report that did not produce any legal consequences for the schol. Experiments with plasma are done regularly on the students, some of them in high-secrecy in the laboratory. ´Plasm was not a substance; it was the beginning of substance. The fabric connecting all things and all people. The language that created me, the chandelier, the floorboards, the light´. However, too many explanations about it are not given and we are left to imagine - maybe way too much - how exactly it operates and what is the aim of those experiments - besides the fervour of the experiments themselves.

The curricula of the school is introduced as very eclectic, however, the students seem completely amorphous, without any intellectual oomph supposed by such an exposure to a mix of ideas. Their reaction is the same either it has to do with the multiplication table or some obscure art theories.

As for Ines, she has a potential of an unforgettable strong character - with all her flaws and lack of qualities. Her sexual encounters are mentioned, but as in the case of the intellectual exposure, they are just added stories for the sake of the novel development only, but it does not create any serious twists from the literary point of view.

Catherine House was a nice try but it haven´t impressed me at all. Which is fine for me, as it helps to think about those books and literary encounters that really resonate with my intellectual, particularly reading, standards.

Rating: 2.5 stars