I Capture the Castle in Around the Year in 52 Books

Aug 26, 2014 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, youngadult, diaries, literary-fiction, classics, 100-book-challenge-2014, re-reading, book-club

This is my second reading of "I Capture the Castle." My first reading was around 2002. Although most of the people in my book club complained about it being "slow" and having "nothing happen," I found that it held up to a second reading for me. But being in the "minority opinion," I found myself having to delve a little deeper to discover why I fall on the side of those who love this book.

The writing is absolutely beautiful, and that's something even those who weren't fond of the book conceded. This is my second reading of "I Capture the Castle." My first reading was around 2002. Although most of the people in my book club complained about it being "slow" and having "nothing happen," I found that it held up to a second reading for me. But being in the "minority opinion," I found myself having to delve a little deeper to discover why I fall on the side of those who love this book.

The writing is absolutely beautiful, and that's something even those who weren't fond of the book conceded. It's also written in a diary format -- the narrator is a seventeen-year-old girl who is recording her own life in an attempt to become a better writer. And therein lies one of the things that I love most about this book. As a writer and a journaler myself, I tend to really like books that incorporate the act of telling your story into the book itself -- a book that is "self-aware" about its being written, if you will. Although this gives a certain amount of distance to the events unfolding -- since by definition the narrator must write about them after the fact -- I find that the added layer of reflection makes this a more than acceptable trade-off. And although one must often suspend one's disbelief for the sake of such narration -- who really has time to write SO MUCH detail about their lives? -- this book does it more believably than most, recording the narrator's cramping hands and the long hours that pass as she writes. Add to that the quietness and general uneventfulness of her days, and it seems possible that she could spend six hours reflecting on her life in great detail.

And while the story unfolds in a quiet, ordinary way, this does not make it a book in which "nothing happens." Instead, it's a book in which the majority of the action is internal, not external. The plot revolves around the small upheavals in Cassandra and her sister's life when two "eligible bachelors" move in to the residence nearest their isolated home in a dilapidated castle. And with these new people come new perspectives, new feelings, and ultimately lives and hearts that will never quite be the same afterwards.

It has one of those ambivalent endings that so many people hate but that sit quite nicely with me. It's one of those books where the sum of its events may look unimportant to people on the outside, but that mean everything to the heart in which they occur. ...more

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Jul 11, 2007 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it did not like it

Shelves: kids-classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I think I detested this book. it's hard to give it a one star rating, because I'm not saying the writing was bad. but more than once this book gave me flashes of Wuthering Heights, somehow, and considering that is one of my least favorite books ever, it is NOT a compliment. Yes, as all the gushing quotations on the front and back cover say, Cassandra Mortmain is a very charismatic and well-rounded protagonist. The author did a good job creating her. I didn't dislike her. I detested Rose, though, ...more

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Sep 16, 2017 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: audio, era-early-1900s, coming-of-age, classic, fiction

I listened to a full cast BBC production of this book. The audiobook is two hours long, so I have to assume the dramatization is an abridged form of the book, and so maybe it's not fair of me to rate the book based on this because some of the issues I had would be fixed in a full-length book. Primarily: I was confused about who some of the characters are. Who is Steven and why does he live with the Mortmains? Also, I initially thought Rose was engaged to Neil, so it was startling to realize I ha ...more

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Jun 16, 2017 Christine H rated it really liked it

This was lovely and funny. I feel so much affection for Cassandra - she's at her best when she's sharply witty in her observations, and I can forgive her boring wallow in teenage romantic self-pity, since it doesn't last too terribly long, and only occurs after I've gotten to know her well. It also winds up in a very artful way, in my opinion.

This book reminds me of two other books in very different ways.

First, this seems like an inside-out version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle - first-p ...more

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Jul 19, 2012 martha added it

Shelves: year-2004

[Review from 2004.] Kind of fluffy, but I liked the narrator and the descriptions and will admit I kept reading for the who-ends-up-with-who factor as much as the rest. Is the film any good?

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Feb 24, 2009 Maggie rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-reread, young-adult, favorites, historical-fiction, read-2009, 2009-spring-challenge, classics

I loved this book. It made me start keeping a journal again! Although I'm not nearly as diligent as Cassandra.

I thought the writing was so wonderful and vibrant. I could easily picture the castle, characters and their lives. It's a great coming of age story...funny, charming, touching. Perhaps not quite realistic, but still great. ...more

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