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Loading... I Capture the Castleby Dodie Smith
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Who could resist a novel with a first line like, "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink"? I adore "Capture the Castle," from cover to paisley cover (not least because it's about writers, or because one of the characters shares my name)--and by the last page (that last page!) yours truly is almost always groping around for a kleenex. (  ) soliloquist | Dec 21, 2009 |  I can't believe this passed me by when I was younger - I would have loved it. As it is, I was completely gripped and savoured every page. Deservedly an enduring classic. (  ) samsheep | Dec 16, 2009 | A novel about a girl named Cassandra who journals about her family's life in a dilapidated English castle. Reminiscent of Jane Austen's plot lines, perhaps deliberately so, but her style is slightly different. Ending not what I'd predicted, nor wished... but the story *is* so endearing. A good all-around adjective for it, I think, is "sweet." ( ) KendraRenee | Dec 10, 2009 | Bought this book at the Secret Garden Bookshop in Seattle. Had never heard of it before; discovered it via those little hand-written "Staff Picks" tags stuck to the shelves. Also, the giant J.K. Rowling blurb on the cover was hard to miss: "This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met."And I agree with Ms. Rowling. Cassandra Mortmain is a wonderful narrator, full of contrasts (blunt/poetic, naive/wordly), never insincere, and always well aware of her own shortcomings. The early chapters seem very Austen-ish (Cassandra herself draws parallels between her family and the Bennets), but as the novel wends its way through unrequited love and happily-ever-after-ness, it also becomes a meditation on religion, creativity, love, and beauty. I doubt I'm explaining it well. It doesn't seem at all contrived.Highly recommended.Added: Cassandra's dog, Heloise, made me think of this photo. ( )1  catalogthis | Nov 24, 2009 | Really enjoyed this coming of age book! Nice pace to the book. Great book for busy times. Enough going on in the book to keep one's interest... not so much that one has difficulty keeping up with it. It's just right. Fun book. ( ) bridgetmarkwood | Nov 24, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0312201656, Paperback)Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain wants to become a writer. Trouble is, she's the daughter of a once-famous author with a severe case of writer's block. Her family--beautiful sister Rose, brooding father James, ethereal stepmother Topaz--is barely scraping by in a crumbling English castle they leased when times were good. Now there's very little furniture, hardly any food, and just a few pages of notebook paper left to write on. Bravely making the best of things, Cassandra gets hold of a journal and begins her literary apprenticeship by refusing to face the facts. She writes, "I have just remarked to Rose that our situation is really rather romantic, two girls in this strange and lonely house. She replied that she saw nothing romantic about being shut up in a crumbling ruin surrounded by a sea of mud."Rose longs for suitors and new tea dresses while Cassandra scorns romance: "I know all about the facts of life. And I don't think much of them." But romantic isolation comes to an end both for the family and for Cassandra's heart when the wealthy, adventurous Cotton family takes over the nearby estate. Cassandra is a witty, pensive, observant heroine, just the right voice for chronicling the perilous cusp of adulthood. Some people have compared I Capture the Castle to the novels of Jane Austen, and it's just as well-plotted and witty. But the Mortmains are more bohemian--as much like the Addams Family as like any of Austen's characters. Dodie Smith, author of 101 Dalmations, wrote this novel in 1948. And though the story is set in the 1930s, it still feels fresh, and well deserves its reputation as a modern classic. --Maria Dolan (retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:47:04 -0500) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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