And our January Book of the Month is...I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith (discussion Tuesday 27 January)

[TillyBookClub]

We'll be chatting about our Book of the Month, Dodie Smith's much-loved classic I CAPTURE THE CASTLE, on Tuesday 27 January from 8-10pm.

Don't forget you can order your copy here

Keen to know how the votes turned out? Have a snoop at the results here

And, for anyone who missed them first time round, here were January's book choices

Glad I'm not alone in getting the brothers mixed up

I think I mostly feel desperately sorry for Rose in that she's programmed to marry a rich man & has no choice, given her sheltered upbringing & slight knowledge of the outside world

Psycho said earlier that teh poverty reminded her of Ballet Shoes. i think i liked Ballet Shoes more (though I haven't read it in many a year!) as the women in it actually got off their backsides and did something to earn some money. What annoyed me most intently about this was the way they just seemed content to sit around, sell things off and wait for the rich men to appear - especially Rose. i didn't like her at all either!
(sounds a bit harsh, sorry)

I think Rose is desperate to get out of what she sees as the wrong life - perhaps when she's off and married she will calm down and mature a bit. I found her far less mature than Cassandra. I don't see her as a calculating gold-digger, because the whole family were behind her, encouraging it, and she says to Rose that she wants the money to help them and put food on the table.

i think when she's married she'll be fairly lazy, maybe a bit stroppy and possibly spend too much money. Cant' see her having kids..

It's quite hard to like any of the characters as much as you like Cassandra. Perhaps that's a by-product of it being her diary.

What did everyone think about the diary style? I love the way it hops about, and you can feel her trying to understand herself, and to stop being bogus or false to her true feelings. It makes the book incredibly honest.

I can't remember, how old were Neil & Simon supposed to be?

When you think about it, Simon is a bit pompous really.

Oh, when Stephen gives C the radio - heartbreaking.

He (Stephen) wouldn't have been right for her though... or would he?

Yes I think the reliance on men is reflective of the times they book was set in (and when Dodie's career was at its peak). I hadn't thought about Stephen being the exception to this (maybe that's because he's considered a lower class? ). I also like the theme of people settling for someone because they can't have the person they really love, eg Simon loves Rose but tries things with Cassandra, Cassandra loves Simon but then kisses Stephen, Stephen loves Cassandra but does something with the Cotton Fox woman.

I don't see Rose having kids either, Tilly.

Strawberry, I see what you mean, but the girls have been brought up to see the world in a very old-fashioned way by Topaz - it's referred to when they make Rose modify her behaviour so that she doesn't "...tap them on the shoulders and say 'Fie, fie!'"

Oh I don't know, Psychobabble, in the 1930s/40s? Especially if she were living in the US? Have you not read The Group?!

I agree with Psycho - the diary style was great - not a diary like the Bridget Jones one, but something that gave you more to anticipate. A journal rather than a diary??
Scamp - I understand the by-product of the times & up-bringing for the reasons for their behaviour, but I found it frustrating. because Topaz seemed so liberated in one sense - the artists model - but then terribly 'don't do anything to put off the men' in the next breath. I think i expected more of her, showing the girls how they could be more 'modern'

I think Rose would've had kids, but I'm not sure that she would've made a great mum.... I also don't see Rose as having a life plan and wanting to do anything really...

I loved the division of the book into the types of notebook, I share Cassandra's love of new books and her delight at the special one Simon had sent her.

Oooh, and while I think of it, am I alone in thinking 'Tilly, please don't suggest we read a Mortmain book for bookclub'

I also got the brothers confused, and the pets. I felt the ending was still a bit too pat, in that both sisters (almost) ended up with the brother they were meant for. I think I imagined that Cassandra grew up a bit and realised that Simon wasn't for her and life moves on.

I'm sure Rose would have had kids but also a nurse and at least one nanny looking after them for her while she didn't do much else with her life! She def didn't have a life plan and agree it was her upbringing and background that sort of bred it out of her. The girls' father wasn't much of a role model was he?

I loved the description of how Rose had learnt to act around men from novels -all that herione nonsense - thought that was really well observed/funny as well as poignant/sad

What did we think of the dad and the whole locking him up thing?

No, Rose was definitely not going to get off her arse and do anything, but Topaz did her own thing (and suggested she carry on doing it, when they all try and find ways to make money). I think their opportunities were just a bit scarce, stuck in the middle of nowhere in that era.

The comedy is brilliant in this book. The timing is perfect - it always offsets a sad or insightful or dramatic moment.

They girls don't really have a choice other than sitting around waiting for something (i.e. a man) to turn up to get them out of their poverty - as they discuss when they have their "board meeting" with the school mistress, they have no means of earning any money. They can't afford to leave the village to get a job (even if they could overcome the problem of not actually being qualified to do anything) - they would need tickets to get there, clothes, money to live on while they found a job, etc etc - even Topaz, who at least has a means of earning money, can't really save anything while she's away from home. I think the book gives an amazing sense of really being trapped by poverty - while there are some romantic aspects to it in the book, like the appreciation of a new journal, there really is no escape (like when people become homeless and so can't get a job becuase they have nothing to wear to an interview and no address to put on the application form). It is very romantic, and I love the castle, but what would have happened to them if Simon and Neil hadn't turned up?

great minds whistlejacket - wouldn't have wanted him for my dad (or subject for English O level) that's for sure.

Had she had them she would have had enough money to not have to bring them up herself.

Topaz wasn't modern though really. She was Bohemian but sort of lost in time too. Anyway, Bohemian women had a bugger of a time - always had to give up their 'art' in order to look after the man & children. Look at Augustus John's wife, she died in childbirth after having about 7 children...

Carriemumsnet, I thought locking dad up was one of the funniest parts of the book! Throughout the story I was hoping his behaviour could be challenged by someone and he got what he deserved. I also liked the way Thomas emerged from the shadows to help Cassandra with it.

God, no Jacob Wrestling for bookclub I promise. Just the sort of book I'm not willing to tackle these days.

I thought the dad was too indulged by everyone, and locking him up was probably a good antidote to that. But then who knows what happened in prison? Perhaps he did have a terrible time there and ended up permenently damaged. I wondered again whether it mgiht be slightly autobiographical - when he says that if the desire to write goes away completely then he might go insane, I thought Dodie may have had those feelings.