2010 Reading #105: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
Books 81-90.
Books 91-100.
101. Old Fort Snelling: 1819-1858 by Marcus L. Hansen.
102. Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Volume 1 by Roger Landgridge, Chris Samnee, and Matthew Wilson.
103. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith.
104. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu.
105. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I've been hearing about this book for a while now, most notably from Kelly Link; I'm glad that I finally got around to reading it. It doesn't slot easily into any particular category (which is always good)--it's a little bit family saga, a little bit romance, and a great deal of bildungsroman. Aside from all that, it's a pretty extraordinary book. It's told as a series of journal entries by seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, whose strong and idiosyncratic narrative voice is half the reason the novel succeeds so well. Her family--brother, sister, father, stepmother, and a servant lad/adopted son--live in a dilapidated castle in the English countryside in what might best be described as genteel poverty. Cassandra's family, and the other people in their story, are about the best cast of characters I've ever read about; arguably, the writer's lesson of this novel might be that there are no boring plots, just boring characters. And this novel is anything but boring--every time I thought it was headed down a familiar narrative path, it surprised me, even at the end. I'm trying not to give too much away, here; there are romantic misadventures with the flavor of Shakespearean comedy, tempered by some Middlemarch-like clear-headed perspective on how love can misfire. It's very good.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
Books 81-90.
Books 91-100.
101. Old Fort Snelling: 1819-1858 by Marcus L. Hansen.
102. Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Volume 1 by Roger Landgridge, Chris Samnee, and Matthew Wilson.
103. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith.
104. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu.
105. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I've been hearing about this book for a while now, most notably from Kelly Link; I'm glad that I finally got around to reading it. It doesn't slot easily into any particular category (which is always good)--it's a little bit family saga, a little bit romance, and a great deal of bildungsroman. Aside from all that, it's a pretty extraordinary book. It's told as a series of journal entries by seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, whose strong and idiosyncratic narrative voice is half the reason the novel succeeds so well. Her family--brother, sister, father, stepmother, and a servant lad/adopted son--live in a dilapidated castle in the English countryside in what might best be described as genteel poverty. Cassandra's family, and the other people in their story, are about the best cast of characters I've ever read about; arguably, the writer's lesson of this novel might be that there are no boring plots, just boring characters. And this novel is anything but boring--every time I thought it was headed down a familiar narrative path, it surprised me, even at the end. I'm trying not to give too much away, here; there are romantic misadventures with the flavor of Shakespearean comedy, tempered by some Middlemarch-like clear-headed perspective on how love can misfire. It's very good.