I Capture The Castle: Dodie Smith

[poliphilo]

There's a wonderfully engaging 17 year old narrator. She lives in a falling-down castle in Suffolk with her father, a modernist genius with a chronic case of writer's block, her silvery, professional muse of a mother-in-law, her more worldly sister Rose, her schoolboy brother and the adopted brother-cum-servant whose earnings keep them all from starving. Then the Americans arrive.

This is another of those 20th century artworks about what we English have left to fall back on after ceasing to be top nation. It's a wonder Powell and Pressburger didn't film it. It has just their blend of ruralism, mysticism and deep but non-militaristic love of country. It's also very funny. The only snag is I couldn't see what any of the young women saw in any of the young men- but perhaps that's what Dodie intended.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Love that book.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Have the book from the 2012 Worrd Book Night but not read as yet.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'd advise you to get stuck in. It's brillient.

[aellia.livejournal.com]

I think I've started this book about four times now. I must finish it!
x

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. You'll like the bit towards the end where they do a Midsummer ritual.

[sovay]

It's a wonder Powell and Pressburger didn't film it.

Yes!

I like the 2002 film, but Romola Garai, Tara Fitzgerald, Bill Nighy.

The only snag is I couldn't see what any of the young women saw in any of the young men- but perhaps that's what Dodie intended.

Nobody can. The film version can't. I think it must be part of the point.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose one of the things she's telling us is that love is blind...

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Is what you call a mother-in-law what we call a stepmother? I'm having trouble following the family relationships.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh dear- that's simply a mistake. I should have written "stepmother".