Dodie SMITH : I capture the castle

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. 

It started out not too badly, but when I finally closed the book, my first thought was : it took her two years to write this ? Did I miss something ? Why is it a favourite for so many people ?

 

Readers recommended me this novel with such enthusiasm that I put it on top of my TBR. The first half was nice enough, Dodie Smith could capture some atmospheres and places, but the story itself and the characters failed to impress me. It was like reading a young girl's diary (she feels younger than 17), where she writes absolutely everything she sees, does or think, yet is it worth reading this minute, uninteresting recount of every day ? I liked the idea of an eccentric family, but I found her father, for instance, more selfish than anything else. These people were starving and the only one who took action to remedy that was Stephen (not an official family member).

 

And don't start me on the second part with the "love stories"... I dearly wanted to skip the pages when I got there yet forced myself to keep reading. Quickly. It was worse than a YA romance with love triangles. 

 

I anticipated reading this novel with excitement, it totally let me down. But don't let my review keep you away, lots of people love this, why not you ?