Catalyst

Rating:
Summary: Good if you have nothing else to read but...
Review: Catalyst is the first book that I read by Anderson. It took me a while to get into it. Since the main character, Kate Malone, is really into chemistry the book is filled with it. The author even breaks down what is in Kate's soap and lists the compounds.

Catalyst is about a senior in high school who is obsessed about getting into MIT. It is the only school that she applied to. Through more than half of the book Kate is talking about college and how she has to get into MIT since that is where her mother attended college. Her world is thrown upside down when Teri, the school outcast, and her younger brother Mikey move in. There house catches fire and Kate's father the local minister takes them in. One accident after another leads these two girls into the beginning of a friendship.

If you like Anderson's previous books then you should check this one out.

Rating:
Summary: Catalyst
Review: Catalyst
By Laurie Halse Anderson

Cross Country star, Kate Malone is the daughter of Reverend Jack Malone. Kate's mother past away when she was little, now Kate does many chores to help out her dad and her brother, Toby. According to Kate, her physical appearance tells people she's a 'Good Kate', but in the inside she's, 'Bad Kate.' Kate is driven to get into MIT, being that she's a straight-A student who excels in chemistry. Waiting for the acceptance letter causes Kate to have insomnia. Sorry to say that Kate got rejected twice from MIT. Kate's friends, Mitch (her boyfriend), Sara, and Travis help her get through tough times. Kate felt inferior to Mitch, since he got accepted to Harvard and many other colleges.
Teri Litch was a girl in Kate's grade who got picked on for being tough and chubby. People egged her on by calling her 'Tubby Teri'. She responded to this by being physical. She would punch and hit the people who made fun of her. Teri needed a friend and a shoulder to lean on. She was also a teenage mother with a young son. Teri found Kate's golden chain. Kate was ecstatic, since it was her mother's. She didn't want her memories to fade of her mother; the golden chain was all she had. When Kate went over to the Litch's house to retrieve the chain, she realized that they were poor and their house was dirty. Unfortunately, the Litch's house caught on fire, so Teri and her son, Mikey stayed with the Malone's.
This book makes you think about how you treat one another. It also makes you appreciate life and accept what life brings you. Even though Teri wasn't the nicest person, Kate's effort helped her through tough times, especially with her son. There were many bumps in the road during this book. Kate had to make quick and wise decisions. There were also consequences that Kate had to face too. For example, Kate's grades started to slip at the end of the year. This caused her to be grounded and no TV.
I would definitely read this book again. This book should be read by teenagers. The author, Laurie Halse Anderson uses her experiences of being a teenager when writing her books. While reading this book, you can relate to the situations Kate's in. Also, the author uses words that teenagers use so you will understand the book.
During the book, Kate and Teri are watching and are responsible for Teri's son. Does irresponsibility create an accident or something even more terrible? I can relate to this situation like Teri and Kate. For example, when I was babysitting twins, one of the twins got out of my site and almost stuck his fingers in an electrical socket. You have to be mature and responsible to take care of human beings or other living objects.
Overall, I thought this was an excellent book. I would read this book again. Hopefully you will enjoy this book as much as I did!

Rating:
Summary: Could Be Better
Review: Being the sister of an MIT student and having loved Anderson's previous novel Speak, I was prepared to be stunned by the author's next book, a novel about a girl who *gasp* wants to go to MIT! Maybe this was why Catalyst, a perfectly average (maybe even above average) teen novel came as something of a disappointment. While the author's wit, psychological insight and excellent writing remain, something is different.

The protagonist of Catalyst is Kate Malone. Preacher's daughter, brilliant student, lots of friends and a hot boyfriend who just got into Harvard. We should hate her--and hey! I do. I don't know where Anderson went wrong with Kate. In most respects, she's a fabulous portrait of a "perfect" person who's falling apart in the seams, breaking down from the inside. But I still can't help resenting the hell out of her--being jealous about her perfect grades, nice dad, faithful friends and great boyfriend. Anderson had a winner with Speak because the heroine, Melinda was someone almost everyone could either relate to or pity. Kate isn't relatable at all.

Catalyst is a solid effort in other aspects. While Kate lacks the witty, cynical humor characteristic of Melinda (Kate's humor is rather perkier), it's still better than the fluffy idiocy one finds in "Angus, Thongs...Snogging" and its ilk. What disappointed me about Catalyst, however was that we didn't get as comprehensive a view of all the different cliques and people that make up high school as we did with Speak. Kate was not as observant (or in my opinion, as intelligent) as Melinda. Anderson also showed a tendency to overdramatize, something which was mercifully absent from Speak. While Terry's brother's death was handled with the understated, not-too-flashy sorrow that made Speak so enjoyable, many other incidents got much more description than they warranted. Overall though, still 100% better than the average teen book.

Rating:
Summary: Alright, but...
Review: This book isn't that good. I like books that I think about a long time afterwards, thinking about the characters, what could have happened, what happened, etc. Those are my kinds of books. But this book just went by. I was waiting and waiting until some thing worth any thing happened. The only thing that I still think about is I wish she had been at least a little nice to her good boyfriend.

The girl (i forgot her name) applies to one college. At school, she meets an obnoxious rebel that drives her up-the-wall. But because her Dad is one of the local preachers, he decides to take the girl, Tracy, I think, and her family in for a short while when they're trying to rebuild their house after a fire that destroying their home. Slowly, and she never lets you forget at college, the girl becomes friends w/ Tracy. Her, her friends and alot of people in the neighborhood are helping rebuild Tracy's house when some thing terrible happens. I won't ruin it for you if you do read it, but I was slightly surprised.

This was okay. But the main character (who is narrating) is constantly telling you and never, ever, ever letting you forget about the college issue: How worried she is, how she doesn't sleep at all, so she runs miles and miles, how it's affecting her relationships with her friends, her boyfriend, her family, etc. It really is pretty ridiculous. But the book in general is ok.

Rating:
Summary: deals with seemingly insignificant traumas
Review: Being a long distant runner myself, I, like the main character, Kate Malone, use running as an excuse to escape the troubles and mishaps of my life.

In truth, unlike Louise Halse Anderson's fist book, 'Speak', Catalyst deals with extremely common problems in the teenage life, problems that seem small and unimportant, and it may seem with the emotional input, for some simply being told about this book, that the problem Kate is facing has been blown completely out of proportion, but I can tell you it is not so, but so very human to think so.

There is a very large amount of pressure upon Kate Malone to make it into MIT, the university her mother made it to before her. Now, left with not but the faint and faded memories of her deceased mother, Kate knows that the only dream she is worth having is to make it into MIT, and then everything will be okay.
But she does not make it to MIT, despite the fact she is an A student, rated third in her class, a genius at physics and Biology, and loves her mathematics. The letter is just too thin.
Instead of slipping into deep depression as many have done in such a common case, Kate completely denies t, and tries to block it out, always finding something else to think about. But it becomes worse and worse, the girl who used to beat her up every day in primary school, has moved in, and suddenly Kate has found herself caring for someone else and discovering emotions she did not knew she had.

This book had intrigued me in many ways, the most significant is in an emotionally way that perhaps only a reader and one who had experienced or is experiencing such problems can comprehend. Most certainly a book that is not to be taken lightly, and may take a while to recover from and one may find themselves thinking about Catalyst days after they'd finished, and that is truly a mark of genius.

Rating:
Summary: Kate Malone--Annoying, Arrogant Geek
Review: I listened to this book on tape (read by Samantha Mathis) and found the main character to be very unsympathetic. The biggest annoyance for me was the frequent overly dramatic comparisons between chemistry and the events happening in Kate's life. It almost felt like the character was mildly psychotic--"gravity ceased to exist," "the stars elongated around me as I went into warp drive," etc. She was also pretty egotistical--she couldn't seem to accept that MIT had turned her down. I guess I just couldn't relate to her. It was disappointing because I really enjoyed "Speak" by the same author and read by Mandy Siegfried. In "Catalyst," Kate has a brief meeting with the main characater, Melinda, from that book. Both books take place in the same community and high school. Catalyst is not completely without merit, but Speak is a much better book.

Rating:
Summary: Stop the naggings!
Review: After reading the many reviews on Catalyst, i really think some of the reviewers have very minimal experiences on reading the different genres of fictions. i found catalyst to be a very true, down to earth portrait of any typical teenage girl with very high self standards and the pressure of applying for an university. For those who think this book is crappy because of all the inner thoughts of the protangonist, i think u just cannot relate to the book on a personal level!

Rating:
Summary: Anderson does it again
Review: From Fever to Speak and now to Catalyst, Laurie Halse Anderson continues to amaze. This book is not speak, but it deals with the same issues. You get a book from a high school senior's perspective, so I definitely would not suggest it for younger than high school because of the strong sexual innuendo. Otherwise, I have nothing but praise for this book and Anderson's others. The writing may be choppy, but it is supposed to be Kate's thoughts. Most of the YA books seem to just be springboards for bringing up issues in the classroom, and Catalyst does that just fine. Speak is one of my favorites and that will be hard to top, but this book is still amazing.

Rating:
Summary: Lacking Action, among many things
Review: After reading speak, I expected this novel to be just as amazing. I quickly learned that if you set expectations, you're bound to be let down.

I dont need to rehash the plot, as many others have already done so, and I'm assuming that you've already read the book. I really felt no sympathy for the main character, which I'm assuming we're supposed to. I was a perfectionist in high school as well, but I couldn't feel any sympathy for somebody that let her life pass her by and was more concerned about whether she could run or not than her future college career. At many points throughout the novel, it doesn't even seem that the story is about Kate, although the author makes it clear that she is supposed to be the center of our attention.

I read this book as part of a YA Lit Education class and we were asked to analyze whether it was suitable for high school students. I can't, in good conscience, recommend this for anybody under the age of 15. There are several issues, however subtle they are, that really don't need to be addressed with younger teens, such as the incest issue.

Overall, the book is decent. If you haven't read speak yet, I doubt that you'll be let down by this novel, just don't expect any huge revelations by the end.

Rating:
Summary: Catalyst Observations
Review: Catalyst is about a teenage girl, (Kate Malone), who is having trouble with her life. She was rejected from the one college that she applied to and has become seriously depressed because she has no future. She has no mother to talk to and needed this connection with her mother's college to make her feel like she is in some way like, her mom. Her friends, boyfriend and reverend father are very concerned about her but all she wants to do is run. Suddenly a person who has bullied her since kindergarten (Teri Litch) begins to have her own troubles. Her house burns down and she is made to stay with Kate. They don't get a long at first, but a tragic accident pulls them together. They learn a lot from one another in this period, and teach each other new lessons.
I liked this novel because Kate Malone was a fun character to read about. She was full of surprises and was a person who you could relate to. With her continuous problems, she makes you really think about the traumas of life. The writing style, which was quick and choppy, went well with Kate's speedy role. I loved how Teri and Kate are brought together by destiny and create such a sincere friendship. They are such different people, but they balance the story well. I didn't like this novel, though, because it went a little bit too fast for my liking. Some of the questions that I had were never answered and I was confused about some of the background characters. The characters were not very positive, and they seemed to switch moods really fast. Most of the events that happened in this book were depressing, and made you focus on the negative side of life.
I felt that this book was a sensational novel but that it was depressing. At times I would stop reading it because I wanted something lighter to digest. I do not recommend it, and would try for something much lighter and happier. However if you are looking to be inspired for a dark, teenage novel this is a good book to look into.