Name: Jacqui Spears's review of I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Item: I Capture the Castle
Rating: 5
Author: Jacqui Spears

Dodie Smith

I Capture the Castle

ella

In addition, I think religion has a chance of a lookin whenever the mind craves solace in music or poetry - in any form of art at all. Personally, I think it is an art, the greatest one; an extension of the communion all the other arts attempt.

Time takes the ugliness and horror out of death and turns it into beauty.

'I write this sitting in the kitchen sink...âe(tm) This is the diary of Cassandra Mortmain, which tells of her extraordinary family and their crumbling castle home. Cassandra's father was once a famous writer, but now he mainly reads detective novels while his family slide into genteel poverty. Her sister Rose is bored and beautiful, and desperate to marry riches. Their step-mother Topaz has habit of striding through the countryside wearing only her wellington boots. But all their lives will be soon be transformed by the arrival of new neighbours from America, and Cassandra finds herself falling in love... BACKSTORY: Get to know Dodie Smith, and be inspired to keep your own diary!

Michelle Mouton

Catrin Manon Roberts

Through six turbulent months of 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least of which is that Cassandra is deeply, hopelessly, in love.

I capture the castle

The first half read like Jane Austen - I loved the dreamy English village life, the 1930s formalities, and the general sense of romance that followed Cassandra and her eclectic family in the castle. I became a bit disenchanted when she fell to pieces from being obsessively in love, but the ending really brought it home for me. 

Jacqui Spears

Monicap

Great, great listening experience. Highly recommend. A very well-produced audio version of the story.

The story follows young Cassandra and her family, including her eccentric novelist father who's only written one novel, her model stepmother, and her sister Rose and her brother Thomas as they move to a remote castle in the countryside to ostensibly inspire their father to write. Throughout the story Cassandra and Rose deal with crushes and falling into tangled love triangle with their neighbors and friends and growing up.

It's really a charming story, though I'm sure since I did not consume the store in it's original format, I missed a lot of the context of arcs that were present in the novel. The audio production is only two hours, so surely some elements were cut out, and I might indeed revisit this book someday in it's intended format to try and get a fuller picture, but the audio production was pretty baller, I'm not gonna lie.

Sarah Sammis

My husband asked me last night what this book is about. Without giving a second thought I blurted out: "It's like The Great Gatsby." Then I had to take a step back and think to myself -- why the heck did that book come immediately to mind?

Nick Carraway, the narrator and protagonist of The Great Gatsby describes Jay Gatsby, all his excesses and his hangers on with a sense of detachment and mild amusement. Cassandra, the narrator and protagonist of I Capture the Castle takes the same approach with her description of the Cottons, who are visiting from America. In Cassandra's case, her family's extreme poverty heightens the divide between the two families and opens her eyes even wider to the oddities of the wealthy.

Christine

Laura Mauler

What a flop. It started off wonderfully, very charming and odd and funny, but about halfway through it went off the rails. Very bogged down in a plot device that didn't ring true, then out of nowhere the author throws a bunch of god stuff at us - most unpleasant. What a waste of a perfectly good start.

Meagan Fischer 

I honestly don't even remember this book that well and it was kind of a struggle to get through - I had some stops and starts - but I rate it highly for the way it transported me to a different time and place and experience.

Knowing nothing about the book when I started, I didn't expect it to be something of a 1930s Jane Austen novel. The most pleasant surprises were the elements of witchcraft/paganism sprinkled throughout, like a mild and sweet version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. There were many frustrating moments though, and I feel so bad for poor Stephen. He deserves the world and I would gladly love him! Overall a decent book and very well narrated on Audible by Jenny Agutter. 

Ashlyn

A delightful and introspective novel that explores the complexities of human relationships and the journey of self-discovery. 

Maya Ryvlin

Jeannette Ordas

Sarah Ryan

A very English coming-of-age novel set in the 1930s. Written as a journal by Cassandra over a 6 month period it charts her move from child to young women as her family experience a change in fortunes after an American inherits the nearby stately home. With shades of Pride & Prejudice and Much Ado About Nothing, while Cassandra herself is described by the vicar as “Jane Eyre with a touch of Becky Sharp”. A wonderful, gentle read with a naive narrator who grows to be a little wiser in her understanding of life and love, and to appreciate her own worth.

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

Sarah Escorsa

This was a lovely, light read. I had no idea what to expect when I first started reading and I guess the book is directed towards younger readers, especially teenagers. I did like the characters and atmosphere but didn't think the family was that eccentric or original. It might be because I've come across much more eccentric families in other books I've read!

Maria

Решила поднаверстать в области условной классики YA и взяла почитать эту книжку – уж очень её все любят, и ревьюеры на Goodreads, и Джоан Роулинг, и Галина Юзефович. Ну что я могу сказать – если в рецензиях написано, что книжка для фанатов Джейн Остин, то нужно к этому прислушиваться и книжку игнорировать, тогда и не нужно будет шипеть и плеваться.

«Я захватываю замок» – это дневник семнадцатилетней Кассандры, её семья живет в английской глуши в 30-х годах, и первая треть книги посвящена описанию их нищего быта. В семье Кассандры никто не хочет работать – у папы-писателя творческий кризис и будто бы депрессия, мачеха-натурщица ездила бы в Лондон позировать, но кто тогда будет всех обслуживать, сестра ничего не умеет и не собирается уметь, и просто хочет замуж за деньги, ну и самой Кассандре не приходит в голову мысль «а не поработать ли». Только сирота Стивен, который тоже живет с ними, придумывает, как бы ему содержать всё это прекрасное семейство, не получающее никакого дохода и задолжающее всем лавочникам округи.

Но тут в деревне появляются два богатых брата-холостяка, и фокус дневника Кассандры съезжает с нищебродства на романтику. Сестра её пускается во все тяжкие, лишь бы охмурить одного из них – и сама признает, что ей все равно, какой он, хоть чудовище, лишь бы денежками в кармане звенел. Сама Кассандра тоже начинает испытывать романтический интерес к одному из братьев, и этому посвящены остальные две трети книги. Причем хоть ревьюеры и пишут, что это традиции Джейн Остин в декорациях 20-го века, на деле для Кассандры и её сестры 20-й века, кажется, так и не наступил, потому что и рассуждают, и ведут себя они как героини викторианского романа – Кассандра сама упоминает, что они особо не видели современных девушек и понятия не имеют, как те, например, одеваются, а их представления о мире черпаются из романов Остин и Бронте. 

В общем, какие-то абсолютно бессмысленные люди, ведущие бессмысленную жизнь – не то чтобы мы как человечество в принципе очень осмысленные, но эти товарищи просто какой-то экстремальный кейс. Не потому даже, что не приносят пользу обществу (кто из нас приносит, если разобраться), а потому что не приносят пользы даже самими себе.

Я со своей капиталистической системой ценностей с трудом выношу, конечно, такую жизненную позицию и не нахожу в ней ни капли очаровательного. Надо срочно заесть каким-нибудь кровавым фэнтези с пытками и беспорядочными сексуальными связями.

Grace O'Callaghan

I'm so sad I didn't write more thorough notes when I finished this book. Just know that it's a new favourite.

I Capture the Castle is Cassaandra Mortmain's diary about her life, her family and the rundown castle they live in. They are penniless as her once famous father doesn't seem to want to write another novel.

This book felt so nostalgic to me, even though I've never read it before. It perfectly encapsulates a feeling of childhood summer while also being a coming of age story and taking off the rose tinted glasses.

The descriptions of nature and the castle felt very vivid.

My favourite thing about the book was the characters. They're flawed and unlikeable but you also can't help but want the best for them.

The ending is also bittersweet so don't go into this book thinking it's a romance.

Welcome to the world of seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. Written over eight months and in three notebooks, Cassandra tells of her extraordinary and very eccentric family and their life in a crumbling ramshackle castle. What was a very quiet and unassuming life for the Mortmains is fast transformed by the arrival of new, wealthy neighbours from America and Cassandra finds herself falling in love. Set in the idyllic English countryside in the 1930s, this timeless classic will capture the heart of every reader, young or old.

Mayra Melo

This, in a way, is a coming-of-age story. In just a few months, Cassandra Mortmain learns pages and pages about herself – her capabilities and her flaws.

I found it no coincidence when the author, through Cassandra, expressed her views on endings that are too happy, those that close the story too shut, saying that with books like that you forget about its characters too quickly. How right she was, because after I finished her novel I spent about two hours lying in bed, resolutely incapable of going to sleep, just musing nonstop about the story, and all of them. Cassandra, Neil, Simon, Rose, Stephen…

It’s an understatement to say that this was a modern fairy tale. Because even though it had most of the ingredients – castles, towers, pagan rituals, metaphoric prince charmings, and so much of England’s picturesque charm – this novel was so many levels above the mere romance.

I’d say Dodie Smith not only captured the castle perfectly, but even more than their abode, she captured all the characters to such an amazing length. It had been too long since I last witnessed such expert character development.

A modern romance, set in an ancient castle in the English countryside, with characters so real and refreshingly human you feel they may actually exist: that’s how I’d describe I Capture the Castle.

Kate

This has made me rather terribly sad even though it was wonderful. I love sweet Cassandra and Stephen and Rose and Topaz and Neil and Heloïse and maybe even Simon. I'm glad it ended the way it did, even though it wasn't a completely tidy ending, because it rang true to the characters and was quite realistic without being too dreary. I can imagine all of the characters continuing their lives after the end of the book, being just as real as they were in the story. (It's quite a nice feeling after reading so many historical romances with neat epilogues where each couple is so ridiculously content that it feels false and disappointing. This made me a little sad, but those can make me feel panicked or listless. I'm enjoying wallowing a little in this book the way I did with The Bell Jar.) Also, I wrote this review vaguely in the style of Cassandra without really meaning to - this lovely book was evidently very affecting.

Jade Flynn

A portrait of English charm with a heroine worth rooting for. Best read with a cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge on a sunny afternoon. For fans of Elizabeth Gaskell.

“I shouldn't think even millionaires could eat anything nicer than new bread and real butter and honey for tea.”

Catrin Manon Roberts &
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

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