I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't imagine why this book isn't wildly popular. My niece, Melanie found it on a list of books with great opening lines: "I write this, sitting in the kitchen sink." It is the journal of Cassandra, a seventeen- year-old girl in the 1930's, who lives with her destitute family in an ancient, dilapidated castle in England. Her relentless ambition is to "capture" the castle in which they live and her family members in her writing. As it turns out, she does a pretty good job of that, but mostly, she captures herself and allows the reader to know her intimately and watch her grow up in the course of her year-long journal writing. Though her circumstances are anything but delightful (she's hungry, cold, has a dysfunctional family), Cassandra is a delightful, funny, and believable child who we watch evolve into a woman.
This book is a lot more than just description and character analysis, though. It comes complete with adventure, romance, joy, sorrow, and even a "made-for-movies" chase scene.
And now, here I find myself trying to "capture" this book in writing this review (though I'm in a soft computer chair- not with my feet in a kitchen sink!) I see your struggle, Cassandra. This is hard! Okay, here's my attempt at "capturing" this book: It's "Jane Eyre" meets "Little Women" meets "Pride and Prejudice"(which, in all honesty, I haven't actually read, but I've seen both versions of the movie more than once. I know- I need to READ it!) meets "The Glass Castle." If you liked those books, you'll probably like this one.

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