Published
by Putnam Juvenile (2014)
Hardcover
402 pages
Buy your own
Amazon
Book Depository
Ratings
Content: ★★★
Cover: ★★★彡
Summary
It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.
First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.
Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago . . .
Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s?
by Putnam Juvenile (2014)
Hardcover
402 pages
Buy your own
Amazon
Book Depository
Ratings
Content: ★★★
Cover: ★★★彡
Summary
It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.
First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.
Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago . . .
Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s?
I was so excited for this book. It was said to be a thriller, a mystery-horror novel, even. Some people classified it as paranormal, some others as realistic fiction. I wanted to know how a novel could be both. I wanted to submerge in Howe's world and fall in love with it. Sadly, it was not what I had expected.
Conversion was most definitely not a horror novel—I am pretty sure Goodreads is to blame for the confusion—and it is very far from being a thriller, too. I would call it a mystery, but that is because I didn't know much of anything about the events this book was based on.
The book tells the story of two girls: Colleen, a senior at St. Joan's Academy at Danvers, where a "Mystery Illness" has befallen, and Ann, a woman from Salem Village finally owning up to her role in the Witch Trials.
I liked Ann's story because it made me realize how little I know about the Salem Witch Trials. It peeked my interest, and it has made me spend some time researching it. I liked that it did have some truth to it, though Howe admits she took some liberties. However, her story is not as captivating as I wish it had been. There are parts that confuse me, which I don't feel add anything to the story. It also feels too prolonged, like it could have been shortened without loosing anything important.
I was more invested in Colleen's story—mostly the mystery behind the illness—but I still was not entirely satisfied by it. Colleen's personality falls flat sometimes, as do her relationships with her family and her best friend, Emma. I dislike how naïve she is, especially in the beginning. I dislike how negatively Colleen was portrayed when it came to school (e.g. her GPA) and college applications.
However, all of these things didn't bother me much as I was reading, instead coming back to me slowly once I was finished. I always ask myself how I felt about a book right after I finish it, and although I knew this was most definitely not one of my favorites, that it did not reach those levels of awesomeness, that it just wasn't that good, I definitely though more highly of it right then that I do now.
I liked the book, and it pulled me into the story enough that I wanted to finish it. But But I also had to make myself keep reading sometimes when I reached parts I wanted to skip in order to reach the good stuff. That's not saying I would not have finished it, just that it was not a smooth sail.
The main thing that sticks out as great is the romance. It is very light and realistic. There is no insta-love, or even I-can't-stop-thinking-about-him/her syndrome. It just, well, happens. It is not neglected, as it is in some books, but it also doesn't take over the story.
I also like how each character is different from the next. I had absolutely no trouble knowing them apart even though there were two stories and a multitude of characters that belong to each one.
There are three things I think negatively affect the story. I dislike the interlaced story lines because Howe does a poor job at actually bringing them together, showing why they are important to be told simultaneously. It seems to make sense at one point, until the reader realizes they actually don't relate.
Another was the introduction of the paranormal into the story. You either have it or you don't, but Howe writes Ann's story as though witches had absolutely nothing to do with the Salem Witch trials, while Colleen's story might or might not (but it might!) be associated with witches. Next time, just pick a side and stick to it.
Lastly, the ending. The climax is perhaps a bit overdramatic, and then everything is miraculously solved and the book is finished with a second-rate ending. Colleen somehow manages to not gain either valedictorian or salutatorian over two girls that stopped attending school throughout the commotion, and doesn't finish an essay she spends hours upon hours doing research for.
I would not say that you should not read this book, but don't go into it with high expectations. It was enjoyable, but not great. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read and I was happy to learn about both stories.
I do think, however, that you might enjoy the book more if you don't already have some background on the events the novel is based on. The plot line of Colleen's story, at least, follows the Le Roy Mystery Illness really closely, at least when it comes to the things related to the illness. Finding out more about it definitely kept me interested in the read.
Have you read Conversion? What did you think?
Conversion was most definitely not a horror novel—I am pretty sure Goodreads is to blame for the confusion—and it is very far from being a thriller, too. I would call it a mystery, but that is because I didn't know much of anything about the events this book was based on.
The book tells the story of two girls: Colleen, a senior at St. Joan's Academy at Danvers, where a "Mystery Illness" has befallen, and Ann, a woman from Salem Village finally owning up to her role in the Witch Trials.
I liked Ann's story because it made me realize how little I know about the Salem Witch Trials. It peeked my interest, and it has made me spend some time researching it. I liked that it did have some truth to it, though Howe admits she took some liberties. However, her story is not as captivating as I wish it had been. There are parts that confuse me, which I don't feel add anything to the story. It also feels too prolonged, like it could have been shortened without loosing anything important.
I was more invested in Colleen's story—mostly the mystery behind the illness—but I still was not entirely satisfied by it. Colleen's personality falls flat sometimes, as do her relationships with her family and her best friend, Emma. I dislike how naïve she is, especially in the beginning. I dislike how negatively Colleen was portrayed when it came to school (e.g. her GPA) and college applications.
However, all of these things didn't bother me much as I was reading, instead coming back to me slowly once I was finished. I always ask myself how I felt about a book right after I finish it, and although I knew this was most definitely not one of my favorites, that it did not reach those levels of awesomeness, that it just wasn't that good, I definitely though more highly of it right then that I do now.
I liked the book, and it pulled me into the story enough that I wanted to finish it. But But I also had to make myself keep reading sometimes when I reached parts I wanted to skip in order to reach the good stuff. That's not saying I would not have finished it, just that it was not a smooth sail.
The main thing that sticks out as great is the romance. It is very light and realistic. There is no insta-love, or even I-can't-stop-thinking-about-him/her syndrome. It just, well, happens. It is not neglected, as it is in some books, but it also doesn't take over the story.
I also like how each character is different from the next. I had absolutely no trouble knowing them apart even though there were two stories and a multitude of characters that belong to each one.
There are three things I think negatively affect the story. I dislike the interlaced story lines because Howe does a poor job at actually bringing them together, showing why they are important to be told simultaneously. It seems to make sense at one point, until the reader realizes they actually don't relate.
Another was the introduction of the paranormal into the story. You either have it or you don't, but Howe writes Ann's story as though witches had absolutely nothing to do with the Salem Witch trials, while Colleen's story might or might not (but it might!) be associated with witches. Next time, just pick a side and stick to it.
Lastly, the ending. The climax is perhaps a bit overdramatic, and then everything is miraculously solved and the book is finished with a second-rate ending. Colleen somehow manages to not gain either valedictorian or salutatorian over two girls that stopped attending school throughout the commotion, and doesn't finish an essay she spends hours upon hours doing research for.
I would not say that you should not read this book, but don't go into it with high expectations. It was enjoyable, but not great. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read and I was happy to learn about both stories.
I do think, however, that you might enjoy the book more if you don't already have some background on the events the novel is based on. The plot line of Colleen's story, at least, follows the Le Roy Mystery Illness really closely, at least when it comes to the things related to the illness. Finding out more about it definitely kept me interested in the read.
Have you read Conversion? What did you think?