Hi friends and happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m back with another classic read! Today I’m posting my reading update thoughts on I Capture the Castle by: Dodie Smith.

Through six turbulent months of 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least of which is that Cassandra is deeply, hopelessly, in love.

Goodreads synopsis

My next classic and for some reason I had a feeling this could have been a book I read in high school… but it’s really not looking like it. But that’s okay, because I’m enjoying this so far. I’ve read the first part and I’m loving the way this is told; it feels like our main character, Cassandra’s musings of the castle, which is giving the reader the ins and outs of the place and the people who live there. It’s great set up for whatever is to come. We’ve just met two American boys and I’m so curious if they’re going to stay in the story or if it was a brief stopover. Either way it was very entertaining and I can’t wait to read more!

It’s been a little while since my last update and I’m sad to say I’m not as far as I’d like to be, but what can you do? I’m starting to feel like I have a connection with Cassandra. There was one passage she was writing where she’s talking to her journal like it’s a person and I couldn’t help but laugh and think I do the same. 😂 I’m really enjoying this story, not just for its content, but also the way it’s told. Cassandra has this wonder to her, where she just writes things as she thinks them and it’s bold and carefree and I just love it. The whole Cotton family plot has been fun to read; I’m interested to see where it goes and how it all plays out. 

I figured I’d do another mini update before I finish this, since I hope to finish it soon (next week, 🤞🏻). This book is so easy to fall into the story so it’s been really fast-paced. The love triangles that are cropping up are truly blowing me away because I didn’t expect this book to be as scandalous as it’s been. I have to admit I love Cassandra and Simon, even though I feel like I shouldn’t, they’re just SO cute together! Rose bores me, but I think part of that is because we never really got to know her, and because it’s what Cassandra is telling us of her, that we haven’t gotten the best picture. I also feel that way about a lot of characters, especially Stephen. Nonetheless though, I’m enjoying this thoroughly because I never know what is going to happen!

Wow, what a novel! What started as a slow paced, quiet tale around the castle really changed quickly with all these twists and turns that I was 100% living for. My gosh, I had no idea how this novel would end, but the ride it took me on was so much fun! The heart ache and heart break, the betrayals and affairs, and the imprisonment, this had it all, yet it didn’t feel overwhelming in the slightest, which I feel like I’m making it sound. Everything had a reason for it and I really liked that this was a coming of age story where our main character, Cassandra really learned a lot about herself, which is what you want in a good story. So many emotions and so much drama, and it was all so good! I also really liked how this was told in diary entry format, it made it more personal and like Cassandra could really be herself, no holding back. This kind of meant that the secondary characters were very one sided, but it worked here. I could see myself reaching for this novel again in the future. 

 Have you read the I Capture the Castle? Let me know in the comments!