YA in Review: Catalyst (Laurie Halse Anderson)

This post will essentially be Spoiler Free, however comments by other users may possibly contain information that spoils portions of the plot, so read at them your own risk. Catalyst is a companion novel to Speak, occurring in the same environment, but with an entirely different set of characters.

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What it's about:

Kate Malone is a straight-A student, preacher's daughter, member of the track team, and has a gorgeous, brainiac boyfriend. Yet, more than all of that, there is one thing that defines her - she belongs at MIT - she just has to wait for her acceptance letter. Yet, even though Kate might be waiting, life is still zooming forwards. After her classmate's house burns down Kate is forced to share her room with bully Teri Litch and her young brother while they rebuild. Now, Kate is dealing with classes, relationships, waiting to get into school, sharing her home, taking care of her own brother, getting noticed at cross-country meets, and helping kleptomaniac Teri. But she can handle it for a few more months...can't she?

Why it's worth a read:

• It deals with a lot of important emotional issues that teenagers and new adults can relate to. Delving into stress, the struggles of university applications, different forms of grief, dream fulfillment and disappointment, abuse, acceptance, and rebirth, it is an emotional journey.
• Although it covers a wide range of difficult issues, the book isn't endlessly stressful or depressing. It is able to balance neutral content with the difficult moments, allowing it to be very readable and not something you dread picking up.
• From the title alone, you know that this book won't be a smooth ride, but everything hits suddenly in a perfectly realistic way, and it makes it all the more incredible and emotional.

Where it disappoints:

• The writing can be a bit juvenile at points. Although it is about a highschooler, occasionally it has some middle grade feeling moments. However, I can't recommend this to a younger age group for two reasons: when it isn't feeling middle grade, it is definitely for 17 year olds, and the subject matter wouldn't be overly relatable to a younger group.
• It feels like it takes a long time to actually get to the point, and then resolves it too quickly. Although I can't really fault where the events happen in the book, it would benefit from a little less content in the beginning and a little more in the end..
• If you want a feel-good, happy book, then I would really shy away from this one. There are very few moments that are not stressful, frustrating, or anxiety-ridden. This isn't a bad thing, but it can be rather overwhelming. There is mention of anxiety and different forms of abuse in this book.

Final Thoughts:

I'm glad I read this book. It definitely had a real emotional impact for me, and resonated a lot in several areas based on things I experienced in my teens and early twenties. I think that it would have been better had I read it around that time in my life, but I wonder whether or not that would have caused greater anxiety. It is a bit juvenile in some ways, but also incredibly mature in others - which fits the voice of a high school senior (like the main characters are). Absolutely a worthwhile read, and easy to put down and pick back up if it's too much to handle all at once. For fans of the book Speak, the main character Melinda makes a brief appearance, as this occurs at the same school.