Catherine: The Novel

by Ryo Kawakami, Ikumi Katagiri (Illustrator)

"Cheating men who spend their whole time playing around have nightmares and waste away to their deaths" ― Vincent, unable to give a definite answer about his relationship with his girlfriend Katherine, starts to have creepy dreams in which something is chasing him. Are they the dreams about which rumours are flying around town? Vincent meets Catherine, a beautiful woman with the same name as his girlfriend, and finds it difficult to shrug off her seductive charms, the two ending up spending the night together. To cheat, or to marry? The question plagues Vincent night and day. The game 'Catherine' finally appears in novel form!"

318 pages, ebook

First published May 20, 2011

About the author

川上亮

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best romance fiction for guys that I’ve ever read.

Based on the video game and a good compelling read that provides a good insight into further characters.

English fan translation can be found online.

[Ines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stuck somewhere between two and three stars. You really need to have played the game to enjoy this. The only reason this isn’t getting a lower rating is because this game is one of my guilty pleasures. This novel didn’t add an awful lot to the plot, it actually made many of Vincent’s friends unlikeable. The characterisation of Catherine also felt inconsistent with the game and just generally the rest of the things she says in the book.

[Célestine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely going to avoid cheating so I don’t end up climbing block towers in my underwear

Pretty good adaptation of the game. I liked the inclusion of chapters in the perspectives of side characters. I found the puzzle scenes to be kinda hard to visualize. So those parts were kinda boring for me.
I tend to be a pretty slow reader but I zoomed through this. Playing the game, I wasn’t a fan of Catherine or Katherine but reading this made me lean more towards Catherine.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is only good if you’ve played the game tbh, but I really did appreciate the fleshing out of the background characters that was really nice. But yeah it’s ok, the gameplay doesn’t translate that well to novelisation, but the dialogue scenes are ok

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read a fan translation.

Parts of the book had some poor prose but I really enjoyed the extended looks at Steve, Jonny, and Orlando.

[peace ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

since i am very normal about this game this was an automatic 5 star tbh.. love getting into the minds of the group