Cornflower Book Group - I Capture the Castle

   

    Reading Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle was - for me - like looking at a beautiful piece of old chintz: there are patches where the glaze still holds and it shines, parts which are faded, where the colours are washed to a mellowness, some bits worn threadbare and elsewhere areas which are still crisp and intensely vivid. There is texture to touch and pattern for the eye to follow, and with so much richness I was quickly drawn into the book's shabbily comfortable world and wanted nothing more than to linger there.

    All in all I found it romantic, eccentric, charming, spirited, quaint, nostalgic, magical and mad! I can see why Ralph Vaughan Williams named it as his book of the year in 1949, and Christopher Isherwood said "you can live in it, like Dickens". I can see just as clearly how 'the wrong reader', if I may put it that way, would be irritated - though not bored, I should think - mystified by its enormous success and puzzled by its characters' responses to the situations in which they find themselves.

    Which camp are you in?

    (The book's cake, by the way, is here).

Comments

[Julie Fredericksen]

I had been meaning to re-read this book for a couple of years now (which tells you what camp I'm in). Thanks for giving me a timely opportunity to do so.

For those who enjoyed ICTC, you will also like "A Brief History of Montmaray", by Michelle Cooper, about the FitzOsborne family and set in 1936 on a fictional island between England and Spain. The FitzOsbornes also live in a crumbling castle and they too are impoverished, eccentric and(in one case at least)quite mad.

I also recommend "The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets", by Eva Rice, set in England in the 1950s. It is a glimpse into the world of high society seen through the eyes of yet another impoverished young lady.

[Oxslip]

I love this book above many others, it's a perfect evocation of growing up, falling in love and being English. Terribly romantic without ever being schmaltzy, it also has a perfect ending (in case anyone hasn't finished I won't say why).
Like many people I keep it as my SSRI in print form and it recently featured when India Knight surveyed her readers' ultimate comfort reads
http://indiaknight.posterous.com/ultimate-comfort-reads
I can't fault I Capture the Castle, though I'm sure it has many, one of my favourites.

[Barbara]

One of my favourite books and I didn't need to re-read it for the discussion. For once, I love the film adaptation, too.

I like the way the castle and the landscape seem to be characters. If you read Valerie Grove's biography Dear Dodie you can see it as an exile's book, which accounts for the lyricism about the English countryside.

As so often, the parts of the book I like best are the hardship chapters at the beginning, where they are managing virtually without money. I think you have to agree that Cassandra is 'rather too consciously naive' but I still enjoy the narrative.

[Barbara]

PS I second the recommendation of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets. I've read it twice.

[Ros]

I'm another long-standing lover of this book. I was given it by a dear friend for my birthday when I was in my early twenties and I fell in love. With Cassandra, with the castle, with the idea of Jacob Wrestling and also with the book he's 'writing' during ICTC, with the romantic Americans. I agree with you that it's not a book for everyone but I love it. From the kitchen sink onwards.

I'm another who enjoyed The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, though I wouldn't put it on a par with I Capture the Castle.

[ctussaud]

ICTC rates a re-read every few years, often when I'm a bit under par and need a "literary cuddle", or when I simply cannot settle to the next book on the TBR pile! It is pitched perfectly with excellent characterisation all through, even to Heloise the bull terrier, and long ago I stole the concept of "Buffer State"; usually to describe some peacekeeping mission I was engaged upon, rather than as a physical space.
The first of Victoria Clayton's novels, Out of love, reminds me of ICTC but lacks that defining spark of genius.

[m]

I'm in the other camp! It was several years since I'd read it, so I did give it another try but I find all that fey, self-conscious charm very easy to resist and was irritated by what a family of shameless scroungers they are; wouldn't you like to slap them when they're sponging off poor Miss Marcy! No, I'm definitely the wrong reader because I felt a strong urge to wrestle the whole feckless bunch of them down to the Job Centre! And no stopping off to scrounge free drinks in the pub on the way!

[adele geras]

It's amazing how many writers cite this as a favourite book of theirs and one that got them started on writing or at least wanting to write. I'm one of them, too. I adore this book and a 'literary cuddle' is exactly what it is. The movie version is fine,(adore Bill Nighy!) but not a patch on the book, I don't think because it's her voice which is so charming (or annoying if you're in the other camp!) Anyway it was great to have it as a Cornflower read and now I'm going over to see what the cake is!

[Dark Puss]

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I think its strength is the narrator and I felt (though how would I know who has never kept one) that the sort of comments she wrote in her journals were very plausible. I think that what is, in some ways, a rather conventional story is told in a fresh way, although some of the eccentricites of the characters were over done. I particularly didn't like the "bear" episode which just seemed implausible and ridiculous - a piece of slapstick that felt quite out of place.

I feared, wrongly as it turned out, that we'd get a conventional ending where the "girl gets her man" and I applaud Smith for not resolving the story that way. I liked the references to reading Proust, which struck some personal family chords for me, and Cornflower will understand my interest in the developing relationship between Stephen and the photographer Leda Fox-Cotton!

On a number of occasions I felt some plot and character affinity with Cold Comfort Farm which is much, much funnier and I think less likely to irritate. Stephen and Seth must I think be long lost brothers.

Some aspects I found surprising, for example the general view that the young women exist just to be "swept of their feet" and married off without any thought of independence or further education or income. I found that quite surprising given the fiestiness of Cassandra and the era in which the novel is both written and set. Sex, both potential and actual, is dealt with in a somewhat curious way too!

Not a flawless book by any means, but overall an interesting and rewarding read. I'm closer to Cornflower's view of it than that expressed by m although I don't like chintz faded or otherwise!

I'd like to thank the Cornflowers for digging out their spare copy for me to read when we met up in Edinburgh recently. It will be returning home shortly.

[Mr Cornflower]

Cold Comfort Farm (see Dark Puss) was one of the comparisons I made too; there are also hints of Gormenghast and the Famous Five. There's lots to enjoy in the book - lines like "what with swimming in a six hundred year old moat, the music and the moonlight I felt romance had had a jolly good leg-up" - but a more ruthless editor might have pruned about a hundred pages.

[Julie Fredericksen]

DP,

I must now seek out Cold Comfort Farm and read it.

[Danielle]

Alas I didn't get this read though it still sits next to my bedside. I loved it the first time around, but don't recall enough details to join in the discussion, but I still want to reread it--and suspect it will hold up well a second time around. I agree with Dark Puss in that I was happy that the ending wasn't a conventional one, but happy all the same.

[Sandy]

I'm in the 'wrong reader' category, although until now I didn't know there was such a thing!

It's great that this book has been so memorable & inspiring for so many readers and there are books in my life that have stayed with me always. They are one of the wonderful things about literature.

We're 'all the same but different', as the counterfeit sellers say...

[Sandy]

I had thought myself that it was a blend of Cold Comfort Farm and Pride & Predudice. But for me the parents outshone the offspring.

[anne]

I read this book many years ago and remember enjoying it very much, although at the recent re-read there were loads of parts I had forgotten. I bought it one christmas for a daughter as I thought she would enjoy it as a much as me and was surprised to find that she was finding it hard going. I think if you accept the bohemian ideas of the family with the eccentricities it is an absorbing and "comfortable" read. I felt that the ending was a bit ambiguous and wondered what would become of Cassanra.

[Susan in TX]

Well, I guess I'm in a "middle" camp. I can't say I loved this book enough to reread it annually or anything, but I did enjoy it. I think the thing that bugged me most was the lack of initiative shown by the girls to go out and earn some money themselves. I agree with Dark Puss -- I was glad that the "girl didn't get her guy" in the end -- that sort of ending would've definitely ruined the book.
Thanks for another good selection - I've yet to be disappointed reading along with ya'll. Oh, and it was fun to find out that the author of 101 Dalmatians had written adult books as well. :)

[Jill]

I found ICTC through an article about Dodie Smith that was in a newspaper colour supplement some years ago and was not disappointed. I have read it a few times now and agree with ctussaud that it is a great comfort read...I like the idea of the literary cuddle. I also think that there are elements of Cold Comfort Farm and thought of the moat swimming when I read William Fiennes wonderful book The Music Room. I approached the film apprehensively but was delighted and relieved that it seemed to 'capture' the book, and Bill Nighy was wonderful, as usual . I suggest that if you like ICTC then a re-read of 101 Dalmatians is timely; it is not just a book for younger readers and uses some beautiful language and images.
Thank you again Cornflower!

[Julie Fredericksen]

I wanted to address the subject of "the wrong reader".

I'm pretty sure that Karen put the phrase in quotation marks because she knows there is really no such thing. There are certain people who will never warm up to certain books that are greatly loved by the general reading public. That does not make them "wrong readers". Sandy and "m", you are not wrong readers, you are readers who know what you like and will not go along with the crowd when you are sure of your true feelings!

If there were actually "wrong readers" I know I would be put in that category by the Jane Austen-ites (or whatever they are called). I just simply cannot warm up much to Jane. I have read "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility" and "Persuasion" (the best of the three). While I cannot say I either hated or even truly disliked these books, I do not looooove them, as so many people do. If that makes me a "wrong reader", so be it!! (If you want to talk to me of intense dislike, talk to me about "Middlemarch").

(BTW - I greatly enjoy the various cinema/TV treatments of Jane Austen works).

It seems that I am and always will be more of a Bronte-ite than an Austen-ite, although it appears (after some brief research today) that the author of "Cold Comfort Farm" pokes fun at both types of the English novel, as well as other types. To those of you who mentioned Cold Comfort Farms, our library has it so I will be picking it up tomorrow. I am looking forward to reading it.

[Lyn]

This was a book I had missed out on as a teenager so I read it for the first time because you chose it for Book Group. I loved it but I agree that it could have been 100pp shorter. Cassandra's voice is what took this from an ordinary romantic novel to something quite special. I enjoyed the early parts best, when they're struggling on no money & I agree with those who see elements of Cold Comfort Farm, a book I love with no reservations at all. I'm glad to have read it so thanks for choosing it.

[GeraniumCat]

Because I've loved ICTC since my early teens I can't agree that it should have been more ruthlessly edited - I wouldn't cut a word, even the bear scene which makes me cringe with embarrassment. Equalled of course by the ghastliness of Cassandra's night in London.

Mr C's comparison with Gormenghast is interesting, and one I'd never thought of, although I first read that trilogy at much the same time, and love it as much. I shall ponder on that, though I suspect there wasn't a lot of laughter amongst the Groans, whereas, even allowing for Rose not having much of a sense of humour, the Mortmains are a good deal more cheerful.

Perhaps it helps that my own family was pretty eccentric - green arms would have been perfectly possible - and like Cassandra, I knew to tread carefully round my father, so I identified hugely with her. And to be fair, Dark Puss, in the 30s, when the book is set, it was quite normal for girls to expect to be swept off their feet, and not to work, but by the end of the book, Cassandra is making plans for earning her own living, at least while she learns to be a writer. She'll be joining the world of Topaz, and Miss Marcy and Leda Fox-Cotton, all of whom were working women. It's only Rose who, Cassandra tells us, ought to have been born in an earlier generation, that we really expect to just fall into marriage, and even she, by the end, has become part of a more modern world.

[Dark Puss]

I think my surprise was precisely because of the girls interactions during their formative years with Topaz and Miss Marcy; thus I had expected a less "romantic" (naive?) outlook. Point taken of course about the era.

[jodi]

I enjoyed this book-especially the midsummer's eve part. I could visualize it so well. The last chapter was confusing only because I didn't understand what kind of writing the father was working on but I liked that Cassandra was going on to do her own thing before getting married.

I loved the writing. Thank you for another good reading choice.

[Sarah Bussy]

This was my third reading of the book. The second was about four years ago when it was my turn (in the summer) to choose for a book group to which I belong in Hampshire. Everyone enjoyed it except the most literal-minded among us (1 person).

I think that a great deal of its charm derives from the honest, funny and shrewd narrative voice of Cassandra. The author's pretence that Cassandra is writing everything up in her journal as it happens or as it has recently happened is something else that makes it such a lively, fresh read.

I like the fact that although the story is almost a fairytale it nevertheless deals lightly with some of the more serious aspects of life. I particularly like chapter XIII where Cassandra is in the deepest misery about her love for Simon: her conversations with the Vicar and her attempt to make connection with God in the empty church; the image of her in her vest and black school knickers sitting up at the bar in The Keys drinking her port; Cassandra's realisation that as soon as she begins to wonder how she 'does' Miss Blossom, Miss Blossom sniffily takes the form of a London barmaid and disappears through a door away from her for ever.

[One presumes that Cassandra had very undeveloped breasts because one can't imagine a bra under her vest. Quite apart from anything else, where one earth could she have procured one?]

I would describe ICTC as a warm bath of a book. On almost every page I find myself wanting to read out funny bits to anyone else who happens to be around. The only thing I don't like is the incident of Rose disguised as a bear. I don't find that funny; just plain silly and rather embarrassing.

I found it interesting that so many readers felt the book carried echoes of Cold Comfort Farm. I was saving up that comparison for our next book (Troubles) where nasty things aren't safely outside the house in the woodshed but concealed in the cupboard right next to your bed. Dodie Smith's references to Northanger Abbey, which was itself a satire on Gothic novels,prove how deliberately she borrowed from the Gothic horror tradition but subverted it by leaving out the horror, as does Jane Austen.

I imagine this is a book rarely read by men although they'd probably enjoy it if they gave it a go.

[Penny]

Although I've known of the existence of this book for many years, somehow I only got round to reading it recently when I saw it reviewed on another blog. I LOVED it. I found it totally charming and engrossing and found myself thinking of what would happen after the end of the book (but can't divulge my thoughts as they'd be 'spoilers'!) I'm now waiting for my daughter to read it so that we can watch the DVD together.

[Delyn]

I`m not sure which camp I`m in - probably somewhere in the middle. I began by liking it , then got irritated. I haven`t finished it yet as I`m on holiday, so I might change my mind either way by the time I get to the end. So, I must reserve judgement.

[Simon (Savidge Reads)]

Well I have to thank you for making me finally read this book at last as I have always wanted to and never gotten round to it. I thought it was a great book, not one of my all time favourites (so I dont think I fall into either camp on that one) but one I really enjoyed because of the narrator. Without Cassandra I dont think this book would have been anything special, its wonderfully written regardless and I wouldnt take that away from it. I just think in some books a certain voice rings out and you just love the character for it. This is one such book.

P.S Sorry am a little late to the meeting I was under orders for an internet free weekend.

[Amy]

Oh I absolutely love this book. I re-read it a few years ago and you put it quite nicely. Some parts weren't as good as I remembered, but other parts were just as good or better!

[Simon T]

Of course you loved it, Karen! How could you not?