Bill Muganda's Reviews > I Capture the Castle

“I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” The first line in this enchanting classic that follows 17-year-old Cassandra who practices her writing through her journal, as she tries to capture the essence of her peculiar family who resides in a castle but are ridden with poverty. We follow her as she improves in her skill and experiences complex emotions of love, class, religion and so much more by the end of the book the fourth wall has been shattered and the reader will feel like they are part of her life.

The reading experience felt more intimate, this was due to the main characters strong witty presence that flowed alive with emotions and curiosity. She was vivacious and found solace in her writing, her solitude, and love for her family. She did make very questionable choices but I had to remind myself that she was 17 years old that she needs to make mistakes in order to learn from them. The awareness of their poverty was so refreshing and it did show the family's true colors but they all worked together to make the best out of the little they had. The writing was so-so exquisite, I swear I wanted to drop everything sell my kidneys and buy a castle because the descriptions of sunsets on a warm summer day or the cozy feeling of the rain made me feel nostalgic ( and I have never lived in the English Highlands). The only issue I had was with some characters motives and some parts were too slow for my taste but other than that I think this book is fantastic. Some readers might not enjoy the tone of the book and I totally understand because I'm typically not drawn to these sort of books but I was pleasantly surprised. It goes so much deeper and the characters grow organically throughout.