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Summary: I have fallen in love with this book!
Review: Well, everyone in the other reviews has done a good job of decribing it, but would just like to say that this is the best book I have read since last summer. I am ashamed to say that i have fallen in love with Stephen, if it's possible to fall in love with someone who doesn't exist. Read the book and see what I mean! I can't say I enjoyeed the ending quite so much, but i admit it was the only sensible way to end it.
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Summary: Cassandra captures the castle and her life!
Review: This is the moving, heartfelt, and funny tale of Cassandra, a seventeen-year-old girl living in a crumbling, cold, and bare castle in England. Her unique, spiritied family, the Mortmains, struggle daily with poverty, having little to eat. There's her eccentric father, James, an hermit-like ex-writer who has a huge case of writer's block. There is Cassandra's sister Rose, a vain beauty who longs for riches and something more in her life. Then there is her stepmother, Topaz, a towheaded artist's model who likes to play her lute and commune with nature (walk around outdoors naked with the elements). Lastly, there is the god-like beauty Stephen (but Cassandra says his expression is "a bit daft"), who helps around the house and is totally in love with Cassandra. Our heroine records events with wit, honesty, and cozy warmth. The Mortmain family meets the sons of the late Mr. Cotton, the rich landlord, Simon and Neil Cotton. Soon Cassandra's life and the lives of those around her begin to change. Rose becomes engaged to Simon Cotton. But does she actually love him? Rose had once told her sister that she would do anything to help her family out of the poverty they are in. Cassandra is a wonderful girl coming into her own, witty and likeable up to the very last word. I really identified with her, as a teenaged girl. This book may not deliver your standard happy ending (we never know who Cassandra really ends up with relationship-wise), but will certainly deliver a wonderful reading experience. It is a good book to simply curl up with.
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Summary: A perfect piece of literature...
Review: From the moment I first picked up this novel, I simply could not put it down. I instantly fell in love with Dodie Smith's style of writing. She describes the characters and the setting so well that you feel as if you are inside the book rather than reading it. What makes this book so great is that by the time you are finished you feel as if each character was a long lost friend and you feel so sad that the book has ended. This is definately a book that I will read again and again in the future, and I will most definately cherish it forever.
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Summary: Fabulous!
Review: This is a great story given to me by my mom. I read it when I was 15 and I think that every girl in her mid to late teens should read this classic. It is a story about a girl who lives in a castle in 1930/40s England. She keeps a journal (the book is in journal form) about her life and her family/friends. She hopes to be a writer one day and is very descriptive of what goes on around her. I this that this book will soon be a classic.
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Summary: A student's review of "I Capture the Castle," by Dodie Smith
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book! Cassandra is such a great character, very carefully crafted and written. I can relate to many of the feelings and experiences she encounters. I recieved this book as a gift and am so grateful that I did, it has now become one of my favorite novels. I would totally recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story and a character with a great deal of intellegence and affection. The other part of the book I really enjoyed was the plot, it is very easy to follow and written in a way that keeps you reading up until the very conclusion of the story, there is never a dull moment. Be sure to check this book out!
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Summary: This is why you read books...
Review: I Capture the Castle can be summed up in only one word- delightful. This book will "capture" your heart with its engaging characters and charming plot. Cassandra Mortmain lives in a rundown castle with her father, stepmother, brother, and sister. Over the course of a few months, she intends to "capture" each person in the castle- describing his or her personality, opinions, and other interesting quirks. Reading this book reminded me of reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The characters were just as likeable (or unlikeable) and the result was a story that shimmers like a fairy tale. My only complaints are as follows: a. The second half of the book gets a bit melodramatic at points, and you'll probably find yourself longing for the lighthearted wit from the beginning of the novel. and, b. The book is now over and I can't read it again for the first time. Read it once. Believe me, you will fall in love with Cassandra. She is literary heroine that I think I would actually want as a friend. How often can you say that about a book?
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Summary: A Magical Coming of Age Story
Review: I Capture the Castle is a wonderful coming of age story! It is the story of the Mortmain family, as seen through the eyes of 17 year old Cassandra, as she chronicles her and her family's life in a series of journals. The family is one step from poverty, living in a falling down castle, when Neil and Simon Scoatney arrive from America. The Scoatney's live in the manor down the road, and actually own the castle Cassandra's family is leasing. Once they arrive, things begin to change for the Mortmains. Rose, Cassandra's sister, is determined to marry one of the brothers, hopefully to lift her family out of poverty. The Father of the family, once a brilliant writer, is reclusive and non-communicative, until Mrs. Scoatney gets a hold of him! Topaz, the girls' step-mother, is beautiful in an unconventional way, plays the lute, and communes with nature in the buff. As Cassandra chronicles the goings-on of life in the castle, she tries to "capture" her life and her family on paper, in hopes of understanding who she is and what it means to be a part of her family. The author's rich descriptions of the castle and the surrounding countryside are so vivid and lush, I felt as if I was there, in the story, with Cassandra.
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Summary: Captured my Heart
Review: I Capture the Castle was a truly delightful book. Written in a journal format, in the voice of the seventeen year old Cassandra Mortmain, this book captures the angst of first love. It is hard to resist a book whose opening line has Cassandra writing while sitting in a sink. The setting of a ramshackle castle in the English countryside adds a certain whimsy to the story. It is not your usual run of the mill coming of age story. Cassandra's view of the adult world is also seasoned with a hard dose of reality. The story of Cassandra and Rose's sisterly love is also very moving. The book is a little dated, and the naiveté of Cassandra sometimes takes one by surprise, but don't let that stop you from reading this book, because you will miss a lovely story.
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Summary: A beautiful book that sums up my country's history!
Review: This is a wonderful book, perfect for 12 ups! It tells the tale of Cassandra Mortmain, and her eccentric family who live in a beautiful ancient English castle with their long-dead servant's son, who falls in love with Cassandra. Unfortunately the handsome, rich, American Cotton brothers turn up, whose family owns the castle, and plans go under way to marry Rose (Cassandra's older brother) to Simon (the oldest Cotton brother). Unfortunately, for Cassandra, she has fallen in love with Simon.......
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Summary: 5 STARS FOR NARRATOR EMILIA FOX
Review: This is a wonderful book but it comes alive under narrator Emilia Fox. (A nice abridgement) She is an artist and well worth listening to! I Capture the Castle!A whimsical, old fashioned type tale. Wonderfully well written and laugh out loud hilarious at times as well as very meaningful in others.
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