#### SPOILER ALERT ####
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
I thought this was going to be about a girl who was going to capture a castle so was imagining all kinds of bloody battles, heart wrenching deaths and screams in the night. Turns out there is a whole other meaning of the word captured I had not considered so I got a different story to the one I thought I was going to get. But, that was not necessarily a bad thing. The kind of capturing that Cassandra is doing is describing the people who live with her in the castle and it makes for a good read. In order to capture everyone she has her note books and has learnt speed writing. Often events are interrupted because she has to do something or she runs out of natural light to write by. It is not really a diary but it does chronicle part of Cassandra's life.
What we have here is a family that is down at heel and living in a castle that the father seems to have bought on a whim. When he was still trading on his good name and making a living as a writer that was all very well and good. But after the incident with the cake knife and a spell in prison all his inspiration seems to have gone and even marrying a young talented model has not turned his fortunes around. The new wife, Topaz is suitably dramatic and ethereal.. and a bit useless at facing reality. But she has managed to keep the kids in clothes and food so she must be quite resourceful too. There are the children, Rose, Cassandra and young Thomas. Thomas is still at school and you get the feeling that he will be alright whatever happens to the rest of the family. Then there are the two girls. I have to be honest and say that both of them got on my nerves at times. Which was a shame as one of them was the narrator of the story and the other has a major part to play in the main events in the book. Rose is this kind of floaty, unfocused, spoilt and lazy kind of girl who does not seem to do anything useful with her day whatsoever. Then there is Cassandra who seems to be a bit more practically oriented and thinks about food and clothing and the future and how things will fare for them if father does not produce a book any time soon.
Both girls seem to have an highly romanticised idea of how to behave around men and generally seem to be a bit out of ouch with reality. I remember thinking at one point that they almost seemed like the characters in Pride and Prejudice.One sister dreamily pretty and perhaps a bit too distantly dramatic for her own good and the other one a practical tomboy. Maybe that is what living in a castle does to you?
Anyway.... the girls seem to be destined for the poorhouse but lo and behold there on the horizon in their iron steed arrive two handsome men. the fact that they happen to own the deed to the castle and therefore the potential happiness of the entire family is just a happy coincidence. Simon and Neil seem not sure what to make of the girls at first but they strike up a friendship and especially Simon seems to be interested to see if he can help the family improve their fortunes. Rose is chosen to be the object of his affections but throughout the story you are never really sure if she actually likes or loves him. Cassandra is infatuated with Simon but is doing the noble thing and standing aside as Simon has selected Rose as the object of his desire. Although I have to say his heart does not always seem to be in it from the start and he seems to have more in common with Cassandra. But... Rose is the pretty one and they always get the guy! Cassandra has an admirer though but she is not interested in him at all. She tries to treat him fairly in her own sweet way but the lad never has a chance. It is really sweet how Stephen tries to win her over or at least make her notice him. But is all comes to nothing. He comes to something though and goes off to London to pursue a movie career.
And as for Rose... well, it turns out she does not really fancy Simon that much in the end and she runs of with Neil... at least this keeps it in the family though and all the money on her precious trousseau seems not to be entirely wasted.
One of the most fun bits of the book is when Cassandra and Thomas decided that it time to take some drastic measures to get their father back on the writing track again. This is when you can really tell they are really just kids with the naive and innocent ideas that children have. Cassandra decides that in order for her father to get back to writing he just has to be in a place where there are no distractions. With the help of her brother they lock him in the bottom of the tower of the castle, give him some food and lost of paper and tell him to get on with it. Interestingly enough he does!! By now you know enough of the dad to know that the book will probably be another one destined for the sales bin two weeks after it is published and it will have a high ranking in the "most obscure books ever written" list but... if it gets them out of trouble then at least he has done what a breadwinner is supposed to do... provide bread and this he seems to be able to do.
At the end of the book it seems that everyone is slightly better of than they were and peace and harmony is restored to the castle although Casandra still seems somewhat dangerously obsessed with Simon.
Title: I Capture the Castle
Author: Dodie Smith
410 pages
Red Fox
ISBN# 0-09-984500-8
Books to be read: 150
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