So is this the right book for me?!
**Close this window to return to S.H.E.R.O.E.S.**
| I Capture the Castle |
Rating:Out of 10 Stars |
| Dodie Smith |
Reviewer: hiddenmagic217 |
A few days ago I reread a book which my mother bought me out of the Scholastic Book Magazine for little kids, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. She bought it with the idea that it might somewhat resemble Smith's 101 Dalmations. Pleasantly enough, it did not.
The book centers around seventeen year old Cassandra Mortmain, the daughter of a depressed and out of work writer, who lives with her sister Rose, her brother Thomas, their eclectic stepmother, and their servant, Stephen, in a castle her father rents from a richer family down the road. (They haven't collected the rent due to them in several years, but still always send over a turkey at Christmas.)
Cassandra writes the book in a familiar style, describing hilarious events and "capturing" the personality of the different men and women in her life. Eventually she hopes to "capture" the castle for her reader, by making it come alive. She does. The entire story is vivid and interesting; besides a rather unsatisfactory ending, the reader is somehow drawn in to the odd lives of Cassandra's and her family.
In terms of mechanics, the book is well written. The sentences flow, and one can almost hear Stephen speaking when he says, "People look awful dancing -- I'd be ashamed," and Rose when she remarks, "I slapped Neil Cotton's face." Descriptions abound -- the kind of descriptions which are interesting and lend something to the story, and aren't mindless rambles or uninteresting details. In fact, one could almost wish for more descriptions once one has become accustomed to Topaz' queer ways, Cassandra's escapades, Stephen's silly hopeless love for the one girl who could never return his romantic regard, and Mortmain's morose moodiness.
The end of the book, however, comes as something of a surprise (though an acceptable one, perhaps.) Smith turns Cassandra's story around, and (beware spoiler) Cassandra ends her story unfinished. Not all ends are tied up; one can only guess where her future will lead her. Yet this becomes more understandable when one accustoms oneself to the fact that poor Cassandra does not end up with the man she loves.
While taking place in Britain in the 1950s, among castles and funny writers and girls who would not be out of place in Pride and Prejudice, the book has an uncanny application to anyone's life today. Rose's worries and fears and Cassandra's "coming of age" all seem realistic, and even understandable. It is most certainly worth a couple of dollars at the bookstore -- an almost-five out of five.
**Close this window to return to S.H.E.R.O.E.S.**