I finished I Capture the Castle last week in a flurry of page turning. It was so fantastic I couldn't put it down. It is clever, funny and truthful in its depiction of life as a teenage girl. Cassandra Mortmain, the novel's narrator, is my new favourite character from literature. She is a passionate writer, determined to 'capture' the world around her, including her eccentric family and the wonderful run-down English castle in which they live. So many of the characters are memorable. One of my favourites is Topaz, Cassandra's bohemian step-mother, a former artist's model who loves nothing more than communing with nature in the nude, frightening many a local villager in the process.
From the beginning I thought I knew how I Capture the Castle would end but, without giving too much away, I am really happy that Smith doesn't fulfill all the reader's expectations and chooses to end in a particularly strong and realistic way. For a moment I was disappointed, but as I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that the ending is perfect for the novel.
I have not seen the film version, but I remember the reviews being dire. Having enjoyed the novel so much I'll think avoid it. Has anyone else seen it?
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5 comments:
Will have to bump this up my TBR list!!
I hate to give anything a bad review, but I have to say that the movie adaptation does not live up to the book in this case. I really loved the book, though, so I had pretty high expectations! The book is very worthy of a reread, though!!
I am reading this book right now.
I adore this novel. I actually liked the movie, though the casting of the American brothers was dire. The costumes were lovely... Nothing can compare to reading Cassandra's voice though! I am so glad you enjoyed it too.
I have started to watch the movie twice and have soon lost interest and stopped. This may have been more about my mood at the time rather than a review of the film but I generally like this kind of work no matter what mood I am in. I am interested in reading the book one day.
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