I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I have your next Summer read! It's a sweet and captivating coming-of-age tale of first loves, family dynamics, and growing up in a castle: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

I Capture the Castle was a book I picked up because I thought it was pretty. Honestly, this happens quite a bit, but it is a fifty-fifty chance that the book will end up being one I enjoy. After all, you CAN judge a book by its cover, but your initial judgement may not be accurate by the time you finish it (for better or worse).

In this case, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith turned out to be a lovely little tale that was perfectly charming and cozy.

It is written as if you are reading Cassandra Mortmain's journal. Cassandra is a 17 year old girl, living in a rundown castle, with an eccentric and burdened father, an older sister with whom she is very close but who is angry at the family's poverty, a loving albeit vain stepmother, a quiet younger brother, and a handyman (boy) who is head over heels for her.

We have all been 17 before, and know the pitfalls. When you are 17, everything is bigger, the joys and the sorrows. You hardly know who you are, and yet you also feel quite confidently that you know exactly who you are. You stand between the final remnants of childhood, and face the terrifying expanse of adulthood, with no true guide but your own heart and what everyone tells you to think. Also, I feel 17 is the age when one genuinely might first fall in love. Being 17 in a lot of ways is wonderful, but I would also never go back.

I Capture the Castle is a coming of age story. We follow approximately a year of Cassandra's life, in her own words, as she aspires to be a writer one day. She navigates her changing relationships-- with her sister, as her she pursues marriage, and also with herself as she feels childhood slipping slowly away. She makes mistakes, using poor Stephen; she falls in love with someone she can never be with and properly pouts about it for awhile. She acts like a child one moment, and like an adult the next. Truly, being 17 is a wild ride, and Dodie Smith captures it perfectly.

Somehow, for a day-in-the-life type story, I was engaged the entire time, as the Mortmain family grows apart and together, as they meet new friends (who subsequently change the course of all of their lives), find their passions again, and ultimately, as Cassandra truly grows into who she is and will become; as she captures the castle, per se.

Living in poverty in a castle is an irony that perfectly mirrors what it is like to be 17. Cassandra feels as if she can accurately judge everyone in her life, and yet everyone around her consistently surprises her, even herself. People are often deeper than we give them credit for, and realizing this is a major milestone in growing up.

Perhaps my favorite part of this story, though, is that the story is not JUST about Cassandra. Her sister Rose wrestles with finding a way to provide for her family, harboring resentment against their father for not doing the same. Mr. Mortmain grows increasingly more eccentric, forcing his children to fend for themselves, but he carries his own burdens. Topaz, Cassandra's stepmother, though vain and insipid, has more awareness than seems initially possible. Stephen, too, grows up in his own way, and though Thomas might be the youngest and often overlooked, he proves to have his own type of wisdom. And the newcomers, Neil and Simon, fight their own battles at a distance, building lasting relationships with the Mortmain family, for better or for worse.

So maybe I Capture the Castle isn't really a coming-of-age tale. Maybe it is simply a good story, describing beautifully the complexity of first loves, family, growing up, and finding yourself in the midst of it all.

My only reservations about this book, that can easily be chalked up to the era in which it was written, is that one of the romances takes place between a 17 year old girl a 20-something year old man. That was uncomfortable to read, though nothing happens beyond a kiss. And, though I won't spoil the ending, it all works out well! Still definitely a "it doesn't make it OK but it was written in a different time" type of moment.