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Summary
Summary
Meet Kate Malone-straight A science and math geek, minister's daughter, ace long-distance runner, girlfriend, unwilling family caretaker, emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it, as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all-or so she thinks. Then, like a string of chemical reactions, everything happens: the Malones' neighbors get burned out of their home and move in. Because her father is a Good Man of God (and a Not Very Thoughtful Parent), Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri's adorable, troublemaking little brother. And through it all, she's still waiting to hear from the only college she has applied to: MIT. Kate's life is less and less under control-and then, something happens that blows it all apart, and forces her to examine her life, self, and heart for the first time. Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak , Catalyst is a novel that will make you think, laugh, cry, and rejoice-sometimes at the same time.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Kate Malone is a high school senior, an AP chemistry student, and a runner. She does her best running at night, when she outruns ghosts and can soar in the comfort of anonymity. Since her mother's death, she has taken care of her father (a minister) and her brother. She is waiting for acceptance to MIT, her mother's alma mater, and feels that her very life depends on it. Teri Litch, a typical school bully, punches her way through most situations and is filled with rage that threatens to affect everyone she encounters. When her house partially burns down, she and her little brother, Mikey, are invited by the reverend to move temporarily into his home. Teri's world is imposed upon Kate's as they become locked in some type of cataclysmic mix that alters both of their lives. Eventually readers discover that some of Teri's anger comes from being raped by her father and, when Mikey dies in a tragic accident, they learn that he was really her son. Anderson uses great chemical titles and subtitles for the short chapters. However, there is too much happening too fast and readers are left with many unanswered questions, and an ending that seems neat but unlikely. This title has a good premise and some moments of fine writing, but it lacks the depth of characterization that made Speak (Farrar, 1999) so compelling.-Lynn Bryant, Great Bridge Middle School, Chesapeake, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Like its cross-country-running heroine, Anderson's (Speak) latest novel starts off promisingly, then loses its pacing about midway through. The narrator, 18-year-old Kate Malone, has placed all of her eggs in one basket: she has applied only to her late mother's alma mater, MIT. Calculus is a cinch, chemistry is her favorite subject, even physics comes easily to her, but when her MIT rejection arrives, it acts as catalyst for the slow unraveling of her delicately balanced life. A preacher's daughter, she struggles between "Good Kate" and "Bad Kate" as she singlehandedly keeps the household running (her mother died nine years ago). Anderson excels in conveying Kate's anxieties and her concomitant insomnia, and frequently intersperses evidence of Kate's sharp humor (she calls Mitchell A. Pangborn III "my friend, my enemy, my lust"). But Kate's relationships with others remain hazy. While this seems to reflect Kate's state of mind, since she slowly shuts everyone out as her MIT-less fate becomes clear, her detachment may create a similar effect for readers. This aloofness becomes most problematic in the dynamics of her relationship with Teri Litch, who once beat her up habitually. After Teri's house burns down, she and toddler Mikey Litch come to live with the Malones, and the action escalates to the point of melodrama. Yet another tragic event spurs a reconciliation between Kate and Teri, but the underlying changes in the individuals that lead up to this event remain unclear. Teens will take to Kate instantly, but as the novel continues, they may be confused about what makes her tick. Still, the universal obstacles she faces and the realistic outcome will likely hold readers' attention. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(High School) An unlikely friendship as a catalyst for change is a common element of adolescent literature, but Anderson's take on human relations succeeds through her fresh writing and exceptional characterization. High-school senior Kate is a self-described science geek, an outstanding student who also runs the house for her minister father and cares for her asthmatic younger brother. She has friends, rivals, a boyfriend, and one supreme ambition-to get into MIT. Kate is near the edge at admissions time, running miles or ironing laundry at night instead of sleeping-a ""super Kate, the ber-Kate,"" poised to collapse. Teri Litch is at the opposite end of the spectrum-a beefy girl in ""vo-tech"" who fights back with her fists when teased, regularly, by the jocks. Kate is appalled when her do-good dad brings Teri and two-year-old Mikey Litch home to stay with them after a fire, but changes are only beginning. The novel is gently shaped by the chemistry terms that are Kate's second language; section titles ""Solid,"" ""Liquid,"" and ""Gas"" are an apt metaphor for Kate's loss of grounding. Well-chosen quotes from a chemistry textbook foreshadow events and set the tone for things to come: ""The rate of a chemical reaction depends on the frequency and force of collisions between molecules."" The collision with the Litches proves enormous, as the many tragedies of Teri's life culminate in the most unthinkable one-the death of a child. Anderson treats the tragedy-as well as serious issues of abuse-with respect and a steady hand, always remaining true to her characters. The changes wrought are human-scale and fully believable. Anderson returns here to the same high-school setting of Speak (now-verbal Melinda makes a cameo appearance); readers will return for Anderson's keen understanding and eminently readable style. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Newton's law proclaims to every action there's always an equal reaction. For Kate Malone, life is a matter of scientific exactness, except that she is driven by her obsession to get into MIT. The conflict between running her life with the preciseness of scientific equations (calculations) and the religious beliefs and blessings of her minister father separates her into Good Kate and Bad Kate. When the rejection letter arrives (and she's forced to admit she didn't apply to any back-up schools), both Kates begin a meltdown; the catalyst is a destructive fire of a classmate's house and barn. Teri, the senior-class toughie and bruiser with whom nobody messes, and her two-year-old brother, come to stay at Kate's house while a corps of volunteers rebuilds theirs. An already combative relationship between the girls builds even as Teri throws herself into the renovation project. A terrible tragedy will shock readers as much as it threatens to unravel the progress folks have made. The first-person voice is gripping, with the reader feeling as though she's crouching inside Kate's head. Numbered like an outline, 2.3, 7.0, the chapters are labeled with scientific terms and safety tips that anticipate the introspective reactions. Intelligently written with multi-dimensional characters that replay in one's mind, this complex, contemporary story carries much of the intensity and harshness of Speak (2000). It confronts moral issues, religious conundrums, and the dynamics of emotions in young adult lives as two girls driven by the past and present realize their impact on the future. (Fiction. YA)
Booklist Review
Gr. 8^-12. Kate is many things--minister's daughter, caring sister, excellent student in science and math. She has staked her future on MIT, and when she's rejected, her world falls apart. But her catastrophe is overshadowed by the crises of Teri Litch, outcast of the senior class. Teri's house burns down, and Kate's father insists that Teri and her two-year-old brother, Mikey, stay with them. Teri is a foul-mouthed thief, and she's as unhappy with the living arrangements as Kate, who, nevertheless, grows attached to Mikey. Up to this point, the book is involving and incisive. Then, unfortunately, drama becomes melodrama: Mikey is electrocuted, and it is revealed that he is actually Teri's son. From then on, the girls seem to lose some of their identity. Readers involved with the articulate, witty Kate may find Teri an intrusion, and reasons to sympathize with Teri (Mikey is the product of incest) are often too subtle. Elsewhere, the writing is bright and sharp, and chapter notes make intriguing connections to the world of chemistry. Still, there's too much heat here, and not enough light. --Ilene Cooper