Catherine House
As is no shock... another outfit post and book review! I try to be consistent, what can I say.
In this post I am reviewing another horror novel from 2020, Catherine House By Elisabeth Thomas. Our story follows Ines who has recently run away from it all to attend a prestigious nontraditional college... Catherine House. However, attending Catherine House means that for three years you give up all contact and articles of the outside world. Doing so promises great success and fame, which is what Catherine House is known for, it is said it has created presidents and famous stars. Yet, this dark academia novel has a much darker side to it then just going to college.
A lot of people talk about Catherine House for its atmosphere and setting, which is by definition a great example of Dark Academia™, but it is so much more. While I do love the setting, which continues to build over time and become it's own character, there were other elements I loved about this book. To me it again feels quite gothic like Plain Bad Heroines. However, where this book differs is the authors ability to wholly encompass readers. We really feel the passage of the three years with our main character Ines. We see her struggles, along with her classmates. We feel their loss of reality. We also feel the dark manipulative powers of Catherine House. While not to spoil anything, the school engages in radical, nontraditional, and arguably abusive methods to get their students to peak performance. This dark story is a great example of a character study and what one might do if they were given a shot when they had nothing else. I love it and the story reminds me a lot of the main character Dani, from the movie Midsommar, who faces a similar story of isolation and desperation. I gave the book 3.75 stars. And again, this ending may not be for everyone but as I said before - I am really loving these open ended stories.
One other thing I want to point out (because I work in a museum!!!) is the attention to detail around art, art history, and academia. Thomas herself works for a museum and you can really feel her love for art through Ines who choses takes an art history track. This part of the story I feel like often gets lost on other readers but feels so important to me. I also get the feel for the importance of prestigious colleges and secret societies. Thomas herself went to Yale (and I believe is third generation, with her grandfather and father having gone.) A lot of this story feels like part of Thomas's lived experience and I can only imagine how difficult it has been existing in worlds that are often very white facing and not open to others. I can totally understand how these experiences could influence her to write a horror novel. Have you been to Yale? Those secret society buildings have no windows and are wedged between several amazing museums.
That said, I wanna share the outfit portion of this blog post. My partner and I, on a lovely spring day, went out to a few socially distanced estate sales and ended up at a new to us historic house site and garden! These photos were taken at a fifteen floor tall water tower. And to no shock I am wearing Vixen By Micheline Pitt. It's my favorite ethical and slow fashion brand. I chose to wear the Miss Kitty Bad Girl Swing Dress (in an XS) for comfort and warmth because spring weather can be tricky. However, I lucked out because both the historic house/garden and outfit were a perfect match to Catherine House. I love when that sort of thing happens.
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