This is just a quick review post. I was going to write more about the book as I enjoyed it very much, but the spring semester started. Which included a lot of the latter and none of the former.
Sometime in the past month I managed to start and finish Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle. I didn't not expect to like it as much as I did. I love those books in which nothing really happens, not in the greater schemes of things. Those are the books that really touch and change your mindset. Books like The Picture of Dorian Grey, Atonement, Azazeel, and Vernon God Little. I Capture the Castle is now on that list.
I believe one of the reasons I liked this book so much is how close its setting is to Atonement, and how the story is so different from it. There is the observant young sister, the glamorous older sister, the young studious side-lined brother, the live-in handsome and brooding young service man, and the big house in the English countryside. Unlike in Atonement, the Mortmains are broke and lead a very antisocial lifestyle.
The story is set into 3 journals written by Cassandra Mortmain. Although Cassandra is the narrator, she doesn't take the role of the protagonist. She mainly observes the castle and its residents and tries to capture them in her journal. She is very much like Briony from Atonement in that regard. Unlike Briony, Cassandra is a very likable character. She is on good terms with her family, takes care of some of the chores, and is a generally good character. She is very relate-able, as her character is very complex, but predictable. I like people who are both complex and predictable, and they are hard to find in a coming-of-age book character.
Another great component in this book is how the characters who are flawed have many redeeming qualities. Perhaps the one that seems the least so is Mortmain, as he only redeems himself by the end of the book. Topaz is an absolutely perfect character. She is smart, beautiful, weird, sometimes inappropriate, and very home-ly.
Sometime in the past month I managed to start and finish Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle. I didn't not expect to like it as much as I did. I love those books in which nothing really happens, not in the greater schemes of things. Those are the books that really touch and change your mindset. Books like The Picture of Dorian Grey, Atonement, Azazeel, and Vernon God Little. I Capture the Castle is now on that list.
I believe one of the reasons I liked this book so much is how close its setting is to Atonement, and how the story is so different from it. There is the observant young sister, the glamorous older sister, the young studious side-lined brother, the live-in handsome and brooding young service man, and the big house in the English countryside. Unlike in Atonement, the Mortmains are broke and lead a very antisocial lifestyle.
The story is set into 3 journals written by Cassandra Mortmain. Although Cassandra is the narrator, she doesn't take the role of the protagonist. She mainly observes the castle and its residents and tries to capture them in her journal. She is very much like Briony from Atonement in that regard. Unlike Briony, Cassandra is a very likable character. She is on good terms with her family, takes care of some of the chores, and is a generally good character. She is very relate-able, as her character is very complex, but predictable. I like people who are both complex and predictable, and they are hard to find in a coming-of-age book character.
Another great component in this book is how the characters who are flawed have many redeeming qualities. Perhaps the one that seems the least so is Mortmain, as he only redeems himself by the end of the book. Topaz is an absolutely perfect character. She is smart, beautiful, weird, sometimes inappropriate, and very home-ly.
One of the stylistic choices I really liked was Cassandra's dislike of open happy endings in books, and then, in relation, how this book ended. I thought it was awfully clever.
