A review by leahloura
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

This book is such an unacknowledged classic. It's set in the 1930s in a run down castle in the English countryside. Its narrated from the perspective of seventeen year old Cassandra Mortmain, an aspiring writer living with her eccentric family in genteel poverty after her fathers career as an acclaimed writer dries up. This novel reads as a teenage girls diary, full of events, feelings, and conversations she's had,  full of beautiful and funny narration.
 
This book is such a warm read, from the family talks in their kitchen to the sisters performing midsummer rites and staying up in bed to talk, Topaz going to commune with nature, Cassandra's talks about God with the vicar, and Stephens huge crush on Cassandra. I loved them all and this book is 100% worth the read to get to know all those characters; Cassandra is one of the best and funniest narrators I've ever come across in a novel. The conversations in this book are hilarious and so sweet.
I will say that there is an age-gap relationship in this novel between Cassandra and Simon. Go about reading this novel as a coming of age that is about Cassandra and her family, and not about Cassandra finding love, though her feelings for Simon open corridors for her to understand herself better. This book is not a romance novel. Simon is her cannon event but from an outside perspective he's a weirdo.

(Spoilers and shit talk about Simon ahead)
Simon is a pedophile and I think the author intended him to be, hinting many times that he liked Cassandras youth and childishness. Since it's from the perspective of Cassandra, we see her confused over her feelings, curious about Simon, and enjoying the attention he gives her which are all normal feelings for a teenage girl. She begins to have feelings for Simon after he kisses her and begins to buy her lavish gifts. He honestly isn't in the story much, and I think his impact on Cassandra and the discoveries she makes about herself from having feelings for him are more important than his character. From his first encounter to the last he refers to her as a child. In the novel she says that his affection for her is because he misses Rose, but I think really he settles for Rose because Cassandra is so young and he knows it. I hated Simons character but he was necessary for Cassandras character development I guess. 
 
 
Also, justice for Stephen please!! He was so sweet and loyal to Cassandra and the family and he got his heart broken so bad and I loved him. Anyhow, read this novel, it's great and someday its gonna get the recognition it deserves as a classic.
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