I had a go at this very early novel and, like many other very early novels, had much difficulty following exactly what was happening. The scenes seem to shift without warning or signposting and all of a sudden, the action will be somewhere else. If you aren't concentrating when reading a book like this, you constantly reread parts thinking 'where did his person come from??'. Still, an interesting snapshot of 18th century Irish land holding life. ( )

Maria Edgeworth, 1768 - 1849

The Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth wrote the first ‘Big House' novel - ‘Castle Rackrent'. Maria was very much influenced by her father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth. On the family's Longford estate Richard was a liberal, reforming landlord who campaigned for Catholic emancipation. He also had a passion for education and began to educate Maria almost as an experiment. The father and daughter became a writing partnership – but it was the daughter who emerged as the more accomplished.

from BBC Ulser, the Book of Irish Writers:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/...

This is a quick read. However, I didn't like it that much. What annoyed me was all the specifics about money and accounting and the agreements made on these matters. What slows down the story are the very very long sentences that are used by the narrator. It does seem to get better towards the middle of the story though. Overall, there didn't seem to be much of a point to the story. Maybe I would've appreciated the story more knowing what it's meaning is in literary history. ( )

Late 18th-century satire on British landlords in Ireland, supposedly written by a trusted longtime servant. Edgeworth paints an intriguing portrait fo corruption and its effects on both the haves and have-nots. ( )

I'm going to start off this review by saying I was forced to read this book for a class, which is never the best way to find books you like.

That said, Castle Rackrent wasn't too bad. It was more boring than anything else. The book is being told as if Thady, the Rackrent's butler (for lack of a better word) were narrating to you out loud the history of the family. You go through four generations of Rackrents and learn about their good points and their bad, how some were good people but weak-minded and how one locked up his wife for eight years because she wouldn't give him her diamond necklace.

That's about it. An okay story, but it just seems there wasn't a point to it. I can appreciate what this did for literature as a whole, being the first Anglo-Irish novel and whatnot, and there were some very funny parts, especially the names of places (such as Crookaghnawaturgh, Gruneaghoolaghan, and Allballycarricko'shaughlin, to name a few) but I doubt I would have read it if it wasn't for a class and I doubt I'll read it ever again. ( )