I Capture the Castle

Rating:
Summary: I Capture the Castle is a great book
Review: Life in the castle for Cassandra Mortmain has been a hard one lately since no more money is coming in from her father's only bestseller. When two young American boys inherit the mansion neighboring the Mortmain's castle, Cassandra's life and her sister Rose's will change drastically. Dodie Smith uses seventeen-year-old Cassandra's journal for the narrative perspective that creates a fresh, but sometimes cynical view of life. Ms. Smith utilizes foreshadowing in the beginning of the novel as Cassandra hoists her sister up to try to wish on the gargoyle high up above one of the castles windows. The reader never finds out exactly what Rose wishes for, but one can assume it is for a better life or just good fortune to come to her and her family. Rose's wishing foreshadows that the Mortmain's lives do take a turn for the better when the neighbors move in. The Midsummer Rights ceremonies that Cassandra and Rose perform symbolize their immaturity and innocence, as time goes on in the novel, the reader notices changes in the ceremonies as the girls get older and those changes show how they're characters have aged and matured. The castle in which the Mortmains live represents their unique lifestyle. Ms. Smith places the Mortmain family in a castle because without this unique setting the Mortmain family would not be half as intriguing or interesting. I enjoyed this book very much and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys coming of age novels that have a fresh view of the world and that let the reader enter the novel as if the reader were truly there in the castle.

Rating:
Summary: so not worth it!
Review: its about this teenager, cassandra, she lives in this romantic castle but her family is increadibly poor. her father used to be a writer but is suffering from writers block and cassandra, who wants to be a writer, starts a journal to improve her skills as shes not suposed to be very good. then this rich family moves near them with two men. cassandra's sister and the rest of the family see them as a way out and rose(the sister) sets out to grab herself a man and some money.

its really not all that. i read it because i heard about it in another book but i was very disapointed. the books long without much story and the characters are without charisma. the only thing i can say for it is that it does have some rare points of good description.

i'm warning you, if you want a good story, whether your into action, horror, comedy, fantasy or even romance, this will not be it!

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Summary: Cassandra Captures The Essence of Being Young, But . . .
Review: I read this book because it was the monthly selection of my book club. The glowing reviews on amazon captured my imagination and did not prepare me for the disappointment ahead. I think the book might be truly appealing...if you are younger than sixteen. For a middle-aged mother of college students, the love-starved 17-year old Cassandra Mortmain, a heroine totally at the mercy of her heart, left me untouched.

The author did a wonderful job of capturing teen-age angst over unrequited love, but none of the characters were what I would call appealing, or even mildly sympathetic. Cassandra Mortmain, the heroine whose journal we as readers are privvy to, lives in an ancient castle with her father, step-mother, brother, and sister. The family is now dirt poor thanks to a writer father who was a one-hit wonder and does nothing now but hole up in his private gatehouse. The sister is busy batting her eyelashes as she really wants to marry a wealthy man who will save her from her life of poverty and the brother is never completely developed, though we do get inklings near the end that he may be the most normal of the family. Only the stepmother has any desire to help herself. While the rest of the family consider themselves too good to do an honest day's work, the stepmother travels to London and earns money as an artist's model. The others had rather sit home and munch on old bread crusts while bemoaning their plight. It was really hard for me to empathize with such a group.

The book is very reminiscent of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" though it is set later, in 1940's England. It is very much a coming of age story of a young girl who, through the course of the novel, finds love, loses love, rejects love, and yet "captures" all the feelings and characters around her as she spends hour after hour writing in her journal as an exercise in teaching herself how to write.

In the opening pages, Cassandra tells the reader that she will capture all the conversations, feelings, and characters in her life. That she does, but for this reader, it was a disappointing story that failed to interest me.

Rating:
Summary: I was disappointed
Review: I think I started this book with my expectations too high. After all the glowing reviews I really expected a book that would grab me and not put me down, or at least one that would make it onto my bookshelf as a favorite. It's a good book. The characters are interesting and involving. Maybe if I'd read it when I was a teenager the unrequited love angst (well-written though it was) would not have put me off so much. But from my middle-aged perspective it let the book down. So my recommedation is to give this book to your teenage daughters and nieces, and to take the glowing reviews with a grain of salt.

Rating:
Summary: Captured Innocense. Delightful.
Review: This is the delightful story of 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmaine, who records in a series of journals what could be an ordinary life of a young girl teaching herself how to write. But instead the narrator develops an extraordinary coming-of-age-fairy tale set in a deteriorating castle outside London. We explore sibling relationships, parent-child relationships and the powerful feelings associated with first love.
Filled with a cast of well drawn characters who are both down-to-earth and sublimely eccentric, I was captivated from page one by Cassandra's charming innocence. It can easily be compared to Jane Austin's work and now fifty-five years in print, it's appropriate to label it a classic. I highly recommend this book.

Submitted by the author of "I'm Living Your Dream Life," McKenna Publishing Group

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly good book!
Review: First of all, this book is done in a journal format. However, please dont let this deter you from reading it. I thought I would really dislike the style, but you will hardly notice it once you start the book. The book has a good pace to it, its definitely a leisurely summer read. The main character is Seventeen-year-old Cassandra. Throughout the book she has do deal not only with her crazy family, but also first love. My favorite thing about the book is that it really goes against the perception of many young girls today that all your problems get fixed if you get married, but it doesnt rub your nose in it either. Cassandra's sister is one such girl, and its a nice comparison to see how Cassandra handles her problems compared to how her sister hopes to handle them. I highly recommend this book, it has beautiful language and a wonderful setting, a castle in england. There are no bad scenes in the book, nor bad language. Both young and old will find the book very delightful.

Rating:
Summary: A surprising treasure
Review: How can you not love a book that opens with the line, "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink"?

I fell in love with every single one of the characters. Although set in the 1930's, the story is timeless ... and a true test of a writer's skill in avoiding that "dated" tone. Dodie Smith's novel is as fresh and vivid as if it were written today. I actually took this book to work with me so I could finish it on my lunch hour.

Thoroughly original and engrossing.

Rating:
Summary: Winningly Original
Review: The thing about this book is its unique voice. Tied up in the first person narrative of a seventeen year old girl keeping a journal so to hone her writing skills, "capturing" dialogue, character and action is a groundswell of comedy, cultural satire and dramatic irony, not to mention some sharp insights about love and coming of age. There are whiffs of a number of literary forebears and contemporaries such as Nancy Mitford, William Dean Howells, Shakespeare, P.G. Wodehouse, Stella Gibbons, and Jane Austen, but thanks to the inimitable voice of Cassandra Mortmain, this reads as if it were the first story about mixed up love or sisters whose once well-established family has fallen on sore times.

The plot, so much as can be easily and fairly revealed: between the wars in rural Suffolk, the Mortmain family lives in a 13th century ruin of a leaky castle that was somewhat fixed up in the 17th century, with some remuddling by the Victorians. The father is a one-book genius who after an unfortunate moment with a cake knife, the humor of which escaped the judge, entered into writer's block. There have been no residuals from the book in some time. The household he is not supporting also consists of Cassandra's bohemian stepmother Topaz, Cassandra's older sister Rose, her younger brother Thomas, and Stephen, the orphaned son of their former maid who has a crush on Cassandra and is also the only one in the household who is capable of producing the slightest income. The women troop about in odd costumes made from disintegrating wardrobes. For Cassandra, this is simply the way it is, and for Rose, it is a horror from which to escape. Enter the wealthy American heirs of the recently deceased landlord, two brothers and their family dynamics. A number of plot lines take off: Will both Rose and Cassandra find true love and with whom? Will father write again? Will Cassandra figure out what makes people tick, an essential component to writing? The plot complications are endless.

This is smart, unsentimental, and often very funny. The secondary characters are well-defined and a hoot, too. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: This book captured me!
Review: My friend recommended the movie, and I went to the web and found its website, which intrigued me into finding a used copy on amazon.com. I also did investigations into the other writings of Dodie Smith, and was entranced to know that her fame came largely from "101 Dalmatians".

Well, my trade paperback copy arrived and I immediately plunged into the tale of the crazy family of Cassandra Mortmain, the story teller, and their state of poverty of the upper class in England. Actually, it is amazing that her father, James, a one book author now stymied by writer's block, should submit his second wife and three children to such an austere life, one that is supported by the son of a now deceased housekeeper that the family took in during better times.

Cassandra's sister, Rose, plots to marry the property's rich owner, which leads one into an examination of the truth of intentions: money over poverty in the guise of love. And the seduction of Simon Cotton, landed gentry with American background, gives Cassandra quite a tale to tell.

Cassandra is the love object of Stephen, the serving woman's son. And she dodges his determined suit, though touchingly receiving his gifts. His dedication to the Mortmains and to Cassandra in particular parallels a knight who serves the damsel in tales of old.

There is remarkable strength in the character of lively Topaz, James Mortmain's second, and much younger, wife. She truly holds the family together, and the three Mortmain children seem to respect her as a step-mother who is not much older than they. In fact, the whole Mortmain family is oddity personified; yet, they are deliciously quirky and enjoyable. The setting of Scoatney Castle and the remains in which they live, horribly cold in winter, lacking light and adequate food, but rich in spring and summer, is as much a character as any of the cast.

And the American heirs, the Cottons, contrast with the very English Mortmains in social customs and income. The lavish circumstances that Rose enjoys with Simon's family once they go to London gives off visions of a lively between-the-wars British society in dazzling costumes of the 1920's and '30's.

I am so glad that I ordered this book. It kept me reading day and night for a couple of days. It swept me into Cassandra's world and into a vivid period of her coming of age. The honesty of its telling made it even more delightful.

Now, I am ready to see the movie. I only hope it holds up to Dodie Smith's original book. If it fails, I still have my personal vision of the novel to satisfy me. How nice to discover another lovely read and to be captured by it!

Rating:
Summary: What a family!!
Review: After seeing the movie trailer for "I Capture the Castle," my interest was sparked & I devoured this book. Before I knew it (and to my very great dismay), the book was over just as I was getting to know and become fond of the narrator and heroine, Cassandra Mortmain. I was enchanted by this story of a bright young girl and her first love though I was often times quite aggravated by her very eccentric family and neighbors - most particularly her mad father and marriage-minded sister. Yet, in the end the characters are part of what made the story so enjoyable. As portrayed in this book, life in a castle in 1930's England, was quite an experience. An ideal read to curl up with on a rainy day!!