Reading the Classics discussion

Discuss part one of I Capture the Castle.

I'm feeling mostly joy, with a bit of trepidation, that this book was chosen. I love Dodie Smith's The Hundred and One Dalmatians, which is a delightful dog fantasy book with a couple of well-handled cats among the excellent characters (relatively rare in dog books). However, I was less enthused about the sequel, The Starlight Barking. The Hundred and One Dalmatians, although admittedly dated, is a well balanced fantasy; The Starlight Barking throws science fiction in the mix, and political commentary to boot, which throw the whole thing off kilter IMHO.

While I have avoided spoilers pretty much, I do know that I Capture the Castle is supposed to be a "coming of age" sort of story, and if it has any fantasy or s-f elements it's news to me. Smith's strengths, IMHO, are her evocative prose and characterization, which are good strengths to have with that sort of plot, so I'm pretty hopeful.

On the downside, The Starlight Barking was just as good at creating scenes in my mind and engaging my feelings as The Hundred and One Dalmatians had been -- I just didn't think the story was put together well, and also thought it got preachy, which latter trait has ruined many a potentially good "coming of age" book.

Thoughts on the first few chapters:

CHAPTER ONE
Did not expect first person. Prose still evocative and I still like that.

CHAPTER TWO
If she keeps up this "start here, ramble a bit, go back there" format for every chapter, I'm going to get annoyed.

CHAPTER THREE

quote: "When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it -- or rather, it is like living it. It makes reading so much more exciting, but I don't suppose many people try to do it."

I would have guessed most people who enjoy reading do that. Probably because that's not something I try to do, but something I always thought was part of reading. I do know people who read mysteries "for the story" (meaning they're only interested in the plot), and some who read science fiction for the ideas, but I've always considered them a minority.

How do they afford a cat and a dog when they're so poor? Cat I can actually understand -- cats will feed themselves if they have to -- but dogs have a harder time of it.

Yes, I had been wondering about the dog especially, Sheryl.

My guess is that they had the dog before they became poor and then afterward they couldn't just give her away...

I'm really loving this book!! The writing style is beautiful and I feel as if I can see the whole thing happening before my eyes.
I really hope that Cassandra realizes what a catch she has with Stephen. There's a section of the book that confuses me on that subject though. Cassandra's Father is talking to her about Stephen and how he's so glad Stephen isn't devoted to her. What did he mean by that?
And then he tells Cassandra to be brisk. Does that mean to let him down now and tell him she's not interested or just the opposite? I thought she didn't like him romantically but she also lets him dote on her...

I wanted our group to read I Capture the Castle because I'd scarcely heard of it even tho' I'd thought I was pretty well up on 20th-c. British fiction. When I was a schoolboy there was a copy on my mother's bookshelf. Wonder if it was a Book of the Month Club selection. May have glanced at it when I was about 12 expecting from the castle in the title to find tilting furniture, caparisons & steeds but would quickly have put down the romantic ruminations of some girl. Now I find Cassandra most attractive. Just been reading Emma Smith's wonderful Green as Grass & was struck again how English girls in the old days combined such worldly innocence with so much intellectual maturity. Still, Cassandra is sometimes a little too good to be true & occasionally the mask slips to reveal her creator - a very successful middle-aged West End playwright. When the book appeared, Dodie Smith was living in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (home to my brilliant niece Violet) & I wonder if she was feeling a little guilty to have escaped the privations of wartime & postwar Britain. The poverty of the Mortmains seems to be almost an allegory of the then state of Britain. (So too BTW is George Orwell's contemporaneous 1984.) It's amusing when Cassandra overhears Simon terming her 'consciously naÏve' - quite a good authorial trick. When you're afraid your audience may be suspicious of a character, have another character voice the same doubts. Utterly disarms the audience.

So far a lot of fun & I'm glad we're reading it.

Lauren said:

"My guess is that they had the dog before they became poor and then afterward they couldn't just give her away..."

That was my conclusion as well, and, if I remember rightly, later they discuss food they shared with the dog, but I've certainly known people *now* who had to sadly find a new home for their pet because they just flat couldn't afford it anymore (lost a job or whatever). If you can't properly feed the pet, and if there are people around who can, sometimes that's the most loving choice.

Bill:

Thanks for the background info on Dodie Smith! I didn't even look for any this time 'round, but when I was looking her up for my book club's discussion on The Hundred and One Dalmations, never found much.

My notes on the rest of Part I:

CHAPTER FOUR:

I really have no patience with this mock devil worship stuff. I'm fine with even the more unstructured wiccans or other pagans, and I have a certain respect for the more thought-out forms of manipulative witchcraft and satanism (although I think trying to take control over others is fundamentally wrong), but this sort of "we're too cool for organized religion, but still like to play at satanism" thing always annoys me.

CHAPTER FIVE:
As predicted, the "start chapter here, go back there" thing is getting on my nerves.

Also, I quite disagree with the statement about the five Bennet sisters at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice -- the older two (and perhaps even Mary) certainly gave thought to the real facts of marriage. Unless "real facts of marriage" is code for "sex", which would be pretty ironic in light of her statement that the girls were "simply waiting to raven the young men at Netherfield Park," since that use of "raven" goes back to the same root word as rape.

But even there, I think Jane and Elizabeth considered the sexual aspect of marriage, although they're too polite to discuss it. Jane is too sensitive and Elizabeth too sensible not to have thought about the sexual ramifications when they were both culturally expected to marry.

END NOTES

While my notes tend negative, I really enjoyed this first section. Cassandra is an appealing character thus far, and I like Topaz and Stephen quite a lot. I am having a hard time getting a grasp of what Rose is like as a person, though.

WHY did she have to name two major male characters Simon and Stephen? I can keep the characters straight in my brain, no problem, but keeping the right names attached is a challenge.

I actually don't mind the "start chapter here, go back there" thing that Sheryl mentions. This is supposed to be Cassandra's journal, and most journals are not very structured. I think it helps us to believe that our narrator is just what she is: a flighty, romantic, and naive teenage girl who is doing her best to 'capture' her life. I'm definitely enjoying this book so far.

Bill wrote: "I wanted our group to read I Capture the Castle because I'd scarcely heard of it even tho' I'd thought I was pretty well up on 20th-c. British fiction. When I was a schoolboy there was a copy on my..."

Great background info on Dodie Smith, Bill. Very interesting!

I, unfortunately, have made no more progress with too many books vying for attention in the midst of many other distractions! I hope to get back to it soon though. :)

Jenn wrote:
I actually don't mind the "start chapter here, go back there" thing that Sheryl mentions. This is supposed to be Cassandra's journal, and most journals are not very structured.

Have to agree with all your points, but it still bugged me initially.

Somewhat ironically, after I vented my ire in Chapter Five, I never noticed it again! Thinking back I'm pretty sure the pattern continued, but I guess I finally adjusted.

I got used to the style fairly quickly, maybe I've just read a number of other similar stories so it just didn't sway me too much?

I'm enjoying it, although frankly the father miffs me a bit: you'd think he'd notice his family is slowly beginning to starve to death and start doing something about it. I get that he has grief over the mother of his children, but at some point you have to step up. And why hasn't he raised his children to have any skills at all? I know it was published in the 40s, and women pretty much weren't expected to do much beyond the house at that point, but still. It's like they can barely do house chores!

I do Topaz, despite her eccentricities, but Rose just irritates me.

I would be so hurt and embarrassed over the Cotton situation. How sad for the household, after finally getting some excitement for a change! But I guess Rose just got overwhelmed with the change. Poor thing!