Catalina
A Novel
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3.7 • 7 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A magnetic, provocative debut novel chronicling a young woman’s downward spiral following the end of an affair
Elsa Fisher is headed for rock bottom. At least, that’s her plan. She has just been fired from MoMA on the heels of an affair with her married boss, and she retreats to Los Angeles to blow her severance package on whatever it takes to numb the pain. Her abandoned crew of college friends (childhood friend Charlotte and her wayward husband, Jared; and Elsa’s ex-husband, Robby) receive her with open arms, and, thinking she’s on vacation, a plan to celebrate their reunion on a booze-soaked sailing trip to Catalina Island.
But Elsa doesn’t want to celebrate. She is lost, lonely, and full of rage, and only wants to sink as low as the drugs and alcohol will take her. On Catalina, her determined unraveling and recklessness expose painful memories and dark desires, putting everyone in the group at risk.
With the creeping menace of Patricia Highsmith and the bender-chic of Bret Easton Ellis, Liska Jacobs brings you inside the mind of an angry, reckless young woman hell-bent on destruction—every page taut with the knowledge that Elsa’s path does not lead to a happy place. Catalina is a compulsive, deliciously dark exploration of beauty, love, and friendship, and the sometimes toxic desires that drive us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jacobs's bold debut novel opens as 30-something Elsa is fired from her executive assistant job at MoMA (where she was also having an affair with her boss). Shortly after, she returns home to California, jaded and angry, where she lives recklessly, self-medicating with a variety of pills stolen from her mother and engaging in casual sex before she and her friends board a boat for a weekend reunion in Catalina. Within the group are Elsa's ex-husband, Robby; his girlfriend, Jane; Elsa's childhood best friend, Charlotte; Charlotte's flirtatious husband, ad man Jared; and Tom, one of Jared's clients, who lives to provoke, needling Elsa throughout the trip and feeding into her hedonistic desires. Elsa is using substances during the majority of the book, but her devastating physical and emotional tailspin and the group's exploits are tempered by Elsa's memories of her past. These moments soften her character and add context to her destructive ways, shaping the book into a memorable character study.
Customer Reviews
Positively captivating!
From cover to cover Liska reels you in immediately and entraps you in this evocative tale that hits close to home for so many of us.
Almost immediately you feel as the reader, that you can relate to many of these characters, if not all of them on some level.
I️ read it in just about 24 hours and have been left longing for more..: BRAVO LISKA!! Can’t wait for the next one!!!!