Catherine House

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I started reading this book as it was a dark academia recommendation online. It’s definitely not for everyone. It’s very slow and it’s like having a build up with no reward.

The whole time I was reading the book, I thought how lazy Ines was and the Catherine House was her escape from the bad deeds she’d done prior. She wanted a home to feel safe in and have people care about her. Even if it meant taking advantage of what was on offer. It was three years of no contact with the outside world, but Catherine House could offer everything that was needed within its walls.

This book was dark, atmospheric, explorative, gothic, cult-like and elitist. Everyone at Catherine House are there to obtain a degree but it’s not considered a college or university. It’s always considered a house or home if you will. Every student that passes through are experimented on because the vision is that everyone is connected like an organism that keeps evolving. No matter what they will face in the outside world, they still had Catherine House.

The ending is left open ended, which I took as an opportunity for Ines to truly find in the world what she was looking for. Her time at Catherine House in some ways was pointless, though it allowed her sideways thinking to remain untainted.