Book 13: Catalyst

Book 13: Catalyst.



(also) by Laurie Halse Anderson
Farrar Straus Giroux
1999
Rating:
3.5


Amazon.com
Chemistry honors student and cross-country runner Kate Malone is driven. Daughter of a father who is a reverend first and a parent second ("Rev. Dad [Version 4.7] is a faulty operating system, incompatible with my software.") and a dead mother she tries not to remember, Kate has one goal: To escape them both by gaining entrance to her own holy temple, MIT. Eschewing sleep, she runs endlessly every night waiting for the sacred college acceptance letter. Then two disasters occur: Sullen classmate Teri and her younger brother, Mikey, take over Kate's room when their own house burns down, and a too-thin letter comes from MIT, signifying denial. And so the experiment begins. Can crude Teri and sweet Mikey, combined with the rejection letter, form the catalyst that will shake Kate out of her selfish tunnel vision and force her to deal with the suppressed pain of her mom's death? "If I could run all the time, life would be fine. As long as I keep moving, I'm in control." But for Kate, it's time to stop running and face the feelings she's spent her whole life racing away from.
What do I think?
I think I tried pretty hard to find an overview of the book that didn't give too much away.
I actually really liked this book. Whenthe tragety strikes, I cried. On the inside, but cried, nonetheless.
If you plan on reading this book, read Speak first. The main character shows up once or twice in this novel. It takes place in the same high school, too, which I thought was kind of a daredevl move. Nice touch.