I Capture the Castle

Rating:
Summary: A complete treasure!
Review: My mother gave me this book when I was a teenager thinking (I'm sure) that I would develop a love of reading. Well I do love reading, and I especially love reading and rereading this book. I'm always enchanted by the clever plot, the teacher with the blinky eyes, the white dresses the sisters wore in London when everyone else was wearing black, the image I have of Cassandra's stepmother floating like a ghost while communing with nature and the crinoline tossed over Cassandra's shoulder as she walks down the lane. Sometimes I think I can even smell the musty, dank hallways of the castle. In my many moves over the years, I lost the copy of the book my mother gave me, and was heartsick about it because I had planned to give it to my two daughters when they become teenagers. I'm thrilled that the book has been reprinted! I hope it becomes our family tradition to pass this book on from mother to daughter.

Rating:
Summary: Charming!
Review: I read this based on two or three articles in the press and was somewhat hesitant about it on that basis -- after all, hype is never trustworthy. However, like so many other reviewers, I was delighted once I began reading. Age tends to teach us that love and art do not respond according to plan and Cassandra's experience is a charming reminder of what it is to be seventeen and just learning that lesson for the first time. I do wish I'd found it as an adolescent. This is an unsung delight. Buy it for a young girl you know and keep a hardcover copy on your own shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, life-affirming, beautifully written
Review: I hate when books are hyped out of proportion but, in this case, believe the hype. I rarely react to a book so strongly that it leaves me with a pleasant glow days after I have read it. Magically, this book manages to be the warmest, most positive, least cloying story I have ever read (even the end is satisfying without being a cop-out). It is beautifully written with an amazing sense of place, atmosphere and character. Who couldn't fall in love with Cassandra with her quick wit, intelligence and unconventional outlook? I have rarely read such an unpatronising, accurate and positive account of a girl on the brink of adulthood. Read ICTC for the cleverly constructed plot. Read it for the descriptive passages and the evocation of time and place. Read it for the distinctive and endearingly eccentric characters, especially the narrator, Cassandra. Just read it. And don't think you have to be a woman to love this book. I am a guy in his late twenties who intends to pass on my copy of the book to most of my friends - male and female - under the strict condition that it is returned in mint condition!

Rating:
Summary: Witty.
Review: This is my all-time favorite book! I'm glad it's back in print again. Dodie Smith also wrote and directed it as play. I think it would make a wonderful musical. Anyone interested?

Rating:
Summary: This is my favorite book of all time!
Review: This is the most wonderfully enchanting story! I first read this book when I was 12 or 13, a Book of the Month Club selection from the 1940's that belonged to my grandmother. I have probably read it least 50 times since then (I am now 47). I would love to find another old volume of this book as mine is lovingly worn. I was so delighted when I found out that it was being reprinted. I have purchased a new copy and recommend it to all of my friends. It is wonderfully written and Cassandra Mortmain has captured my heart for all time. Was there ever a sequel written? Did Cassandra love Simon for all time? Did Simon ever return that love? And what of Rose and Neil? Did they live happily ever after? How I wish I knew; I have wondered all my life. I wish I could thank Miss Smith personally for her lovely story that has brought me so much happiness.

Rating:
Summary: A Pride and Predjudice update
Review: Two poor but nice girls live in poverty near the affluent owners of their decrepit rented castle. It keeps you guessing until the last page. No telegraphed punches. Even tho I'm a octogenarian, I identified with the 17 year old narrator. Dodie Smith is an artist and a joy to read again after 51 years

Rating:
Summary: It has a permanent place on my nightstand.
Review: I've been re-reading "I Capture The Castle" for more than 25 years. It's one of the books of which I have to keep two copies: one to lend to friends, and one to keep safely on my nightstand. The prose is delicate without being unbearably sweet, the story is a constant delight, and Cassandra's dry humor is perfect. I can't imagine a life of the mind without this book!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After reading a glowing report of this book's reissue in my newspaper and the raving reviews of other readers on this website, I was dying to read I Capture the Castle. And I enjoyed it at first--I loved Cassandra and could definitely identify with her. But it all fell apart for me when she fell in love with Simon. Maybe it's because I don't like that name, maybe it's because I couldn't get the image of his ugly beard out of my head even after he shaved it off, but I think the main reason I was disappointed was that I never quite understood what she liked about him in the first place--he seemed nice and benevolent and all, but hardly desperately attractive. I'm disappointed to be disappointed though!!

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Summary: This book is saving my sanity!
Review: I thought until I met Cassandra that I was the only sixteen year old girl who'd ever fallen in love with a 28 year old man who liked the same books she did. ICTC isn't just wonderful, it's miserable, magical, comforting, cheerful, beautiful... it isn't anything ordinary, but I think most people will find it deeply familiar. Thank you, Dodie, thank you thank you thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun - a good read
Review: Thanks so much all of you who previously wrote reviews - it's due to you that I bought this book! I had never heard of it before, but thought that with all these great reviews it would be worth a try. It was. Wonderful characters, interesting plot - a great coming-of-age story. I enjoyed particularly Casssandra's father, although I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed his books! I wondered if the fact that it was written in 1948 when the British were still enduring rationing has anything to do with the many descriptions of food and clothing which were written with real longing.