I received copies of Catalyst and The Impossible Knife of Memory (review to follow) by Laurie Halse Anderson from Scholastic publishing house and was very excited to delve into them because I have read another book by this author – Chains, which was very good.
Catalyst follows a girl named Kate Malone, she has it all: flawless grades, ideal track times and a ‘faultless’ boyfriend. Her life is seemingly perfect, but perfect is a word to be used only with caution and in reality Kate’s life is far from it. Daughter of a preacher, Kate set her sights on getting into her dream college: MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), in fact she was so certain that she would be accepted (with full scholarship no less) that she didn’t apply for any other colleges and when the letter arrives to tell Kate that she didn’t get in her world begins to fall apart. Things go from bad to worse when her Father takes in the family of Kate’s nemesis – Teri Litch, however will Kate survive?
Teri is the ‘catalyst’ of the title and I’d firstly like to say that I adored the way in which Laurie Halse Anderson portrayed her: with startling realism and truth. Teri was the character that I connected with the most throughout the book, partly through sympathy because of her haunting past, but also because I enjoyed her personality and even though she was not the narrator I feel that it was her story that was told throughout the book and this made me feel that Kate (the main protagonist) was an unnecessary add-on. I particularly enjoyed the way that things from Teri’s past were revealed slowly to keep the reader on their toes; particularly subjects concerning her father and Mickey.
I didn't find the story particularly gripping from Kate’s perspective. I found Kate extremely annoying; all she ever seemed to do was moan about how bad her life was, when there were so many more awful things going on around her. The division of Kate’s character into outward, conforming ‘Good Kate’ and inner sardonic ‘Bad Kate’ I felt were just vices to make Kate more interesting and if I’m being honest it didn't work. The real story being told was Teri’s and as I mentioned before I think she could have told it much better on her own. Towards the end of the book, Kate became a little less self-centered (I think that Kate was the way she was because of the deep pain caused by the death of her mother) after a series of catastrophic events she is forced to lower her ‘shield’ and she finally begins to understand what life really is about and faces her emotional issues.
Overall, I enjoyed Catalyst mainly because of Laurie Halse Anderson’s beautiful writing and although it did take a couple of chapters to get used to, it was fresh, deeply personal and delivered with striking realism and I felt that this combined with Teri’s story line really sold the book for me but because of Kate, I give Catalyst three stars.
I think this book is worth a read if you are interested in contemporary-coming of age books.
(Hi Sophia, my review of The Impossible Knife of Memory should be up later in the week and thank you very much for sending me To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, I just got it and can't wait to read it when I'm on holiday with my family next week). I hope you enjoyed reading this.
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