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imyerhero's review against another edition
4.0
I was a bit skeptical at first concerning this book. I love Pearl S Buck as an author – her book “The Good Earth” is one of my favorites. And this book is nothing like any of Buck’s other works. This one is set in England, not China. It’s somewhat suspensful, not an epic life story or a story of hardship. I love the characters. And Lady Mary is one of the most wonderful characters I’ve come across in a long time, although she isn’t really a primary person. After reading it, I feel like I could travel to Starbourough and meet them and feel perfectly at home.
juliwi's review against another edition
3.0
Death in the Castle is one of those books I was aware of, wanted to read, and yet never got around to it. I jumped at the chance to read it when Open Road published this edition, but once again I let it grow dusty. For that, I must apologize. Because Death in the Castle is a delightful little book. In no way as serious as Buck's other works, it is the kind of book I that feels like a sunny afternoon. Thanks to Open Road Integrated Media and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My sincere apologies for the severely delayed review.
Death in the Castle is a very light book and yet one theme it ponders on is rather heavy. This is one of those books that evokes the end of an era, specifically the end of landed gentry and nobility in the UK. Castles are immensely expensive. We all know this, but I saw it myself when I went on a castle tour in Scotland in 2016. None of these castles can be upkept properly. They are too vast, with too many rooms and too much history, for any one family to look after. Even England's National Trust isn't able to support all the different historic landmarks and buildings that populate the English countryside. Death in the Castle takes place in one of these crumbling castles, but it also shows the crumbling of this "upper class". Sir Richard is still responsible for the people on his lands, they depend on him for new roofs, plumbing, money, food, survival, everything. While it is a responsibility he technically takes seriously, it is also one he feels entitled to. It is a fascinating, if, again, mildly humorous, insight into the mind of a man who considers himself superior to the point he loses touch with what is real and normal. England is a modern country, but I would argue it still has quite some people wandering around whose mindset relies on this kind of feudal reality in which an elite takes care of the working people. Seeing an American author dissect it so clearly and use it for entertainment was, honestly, kind of funny.
Sir Richard and Lady Mary are the owners of an aging castle. With no children, there is no heir for the castle and its vast estates and so they stand before a choice. Sell it to the government and have it turned into a prison or raised for an atomic plant, or, perhaps, sell it to an adventurous American who plans to take it with him to America. (I've got a bridge to sell him...) Supporting them are Wells, an old butler, and his grand-daughter Kate, who is somewhere between an adopted daughter and maid. As negotiations over the future of the castle take place it becomes clear that neither Sir Richard nor Lady Mary are entirely in touch with reality. Kate is most definitely the protagonist of the novel, in that it is her fate, her life, that the reader will care most about. She is a delight, but she is also a damsel. John, our American interloper, is the perfect potential knight in shining armour, but he has his own baggage. This is very much a light novel, despite some of its more Gothic-leaning scenes. It's Gothic-light!
Pearl S. Buck is a Nobel-prize winner, but Death in the Castle is not a capital-l Literary effort. It is a fun book, well-written, with characters who know exactly what kind of book they're in. To a certain extent all the characters are caricatures, the Nobleman, the Spiritual Wife, the Mysterious Young Woman, the Old Retainer, the Exciting Newcomer, etc. Each of these is recognisable and is a staple for anything Gothic-related. And Death in the Castle definitely plays with elements of the Gothic genre, setting up jaunts into the damp dungeons or hinting at unseen spirits and hidden rooms. But at its heart, Death in the Castle is a jaunt through a mildly dark forest with a sunny valley within sight. And it is perfect for that. This novel doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. It moves with ease between banter over dinner, lovelorn glances, and haunting appearances at midnight, and all of it is enjoyable. Whether I should have picked this as my introduction to Pearl S. Buck, I don't know, but I did have a delightful two hours reading this. I did very much enjoy the added bibliography and photos of Buck's life which elevated the Open Road Integrated Media edition for me!
Death in the Castle is a delightful romp of a tale. It is full of sunshine, dark dungeons, attractive Americans, and decaying nobility.
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2022/10/review-death-in-castle-by-pearl-s-buck.html
Death in the Castle is a very light book and yet one theme it ponders on is rather heavy. This is one of those books that evokes the end of an era, specifically the end of landed gentry and nobility in the UK. Castles are immensely expensive. We all know this, but I saw it myself when I went on a castle tour in Scotland in 2016. None of these castles can be upkept properly. They are too vast, with too many rooms and too much history, for any one family to look after. Even England's National Trust isn't able to support all the different historic landmarks and buildings that populate the English countryside. Death in the Castle takes place in one of these crumbling castles, but it also shows the crumbling of this "upper class". Sir Richard is still responsible for the people on his lands, they depend on him for new roofs, plumbing, money, food, survival, everything. While it is a responsibility he technically takes seriously, it is also one he feels entitled to. It is a fascinating, if, again, mildly humorous, insight into the mind of a man who considers himself superior to the point he loses touch with what is real and normal. England is a modern country, but I would argue it still has quite some people wandering around whose mindset relies on this kind of feudal reality in which an elite takes care of the working people. Seeing an American author dissect it so clearly and use it for entertainment was, honestly, kind of funny.
Sir Richard and Lady Mary are the owners of an aging castle. With no children, there is no heir for the castle and its vast estates and so they stand before a choice. Sell it to the government and have it turned into a prison or raised for an atomic plant, or, perhaps, sell it to an adventurous American who plans to take it with him to America. (I've got a bridge to sell him...) Supporting them are Wells, an old butler, and his grand-daughter Kate, who is somewhere between an adopted daughter and maid. As negotiations over the future of the castle take place it becomes clear that neither Sir Richard nor Lady Mary are entirely in touch with reality. Kate is most definitely the protagonist of the novel, in that it is her fate, her life, that the reader will care most about. She is a delight, but she is also a damsel. John, our American interloper, is the perfect potential knight in shining armour, but he has his own baggage. This is very much a light novel, despite some of its more Gothic-leaning scenes. It's Gothic-light!
Pearl S. Buck is a Nobel-prize winner, but Death in the Castle is not a capital-l Literary effort. It is a fun book, well-written, with characters who know exactly what kind of book they're in. To a certain extent all the characters are caricatures, the Nobleman, the Spiritual Wife, the Mysterious Young Woman, the Old Retainer, the Exciting Newcomer, etc. Each of these is recognisable and is a staple for anything Gothic-related. And Death in the Castle definitely plays with elements of the Gothic genre, setting up jaunts into the damp dungeons or hinting at unseen spirits and hidden rooms. But at its heart, Death in the Castle is a jaunt through a mildly dark forest with a sunny valley within sight. And it is perfect for that. This novel doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. It moves with ease between banter over dinner, lovelorn glances, and haunting appearances at midnight, and all of it is enjoyable. Whether I should have picked this as my introduction to Pearl S. Buck, I don't know, but I did have a delightful two hours reading this. I did very much enjoy the added bibliography and photos of Buck's life which elevated the Open Road Integrated Media edition for me!
Death in the Castle is a delightful romp of a tale. It is full of sunshine, dark dungeons, attractive Americans, and decaying nobility.
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2022/10/review-death-in-castle-by-pearl-s-buck.html
vsbedford's review against another edition
2.0
Feels like an "easy reader" mystery; stock characters with precious little interesting action or dialogue and a large heaping of class chafing. This was a real slog for me and I had to huff and puff through the final third. A hard pass.
I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
missmesmerized's review
3.0
Sir Richard Sedgeley and Lady Mary have lived in Starborough Castle for many decades. Yet, no heir has ever arrived and the couple has problems of maintaining the castle. They even have to admit tourists to the old building to get along. An American investor seems to be the solution; he wants to buy the castle to transform it into a museum. However, only when John Blayne arrives do they understand that his plan is to dismantle everything to transport it to Connecticut. Kate Wells, the maid, is strongly against it and begs her master to think it all over. Lady Mary quickly brings forward that this idea must be strongly against their will, leaving it to John Blayne to understand who “they” are. In the night, strange things happen at the castle and the next morning, people are not the same anymore.
Pearl S. Buck is mainly known for her novels set in China which also awarded her the Nobel prize for literature in 1938. This novel here, however, is quite different form the writings you’d expect from such a laureate. “Death in the Castle” is much more in the tradition of classic ghost stories of the 19th century. It provides all the ingredients necessary: an old spooky castle, an elderly couple, a young woman open for paranatural doings, the butler who seems to hide something and the outsiders who come to spend a night in the old walls. We have some peculiar and inexplicable things happening in the small hours giving the characters the creeps.
Despite all this, I did not really find the story that thrilling. Most of it seems to be too much of a construction to flow smoothly. The characters are too flat to really raise any interest and there is not development at all. Even the love story between Kate and John Blayne is not convincing, he is immediately attracted by her, but she seems to be either stupid or too distracted to really understand what is happening. All in all, most of the novel is oversubscribed to my taste and thus too stereotypical, especially for an author of Pearl S. Buck’s reputation.
Pearl S. Buck is mainly known for her novels set in China which also awarded her the Nobel prize for literature in 1938. This novel here, however, is quite different form the writings you’d expect from such a laureate. “Death in the Castle” is much more in the tradition of classic ghost stories of the 19th century. It provides all the ingredients necessary: an old spooky castle, an elderly couple, a young woman open for paranatural doings, the butler who seems to hide something and the outsiders who come to spend a night in the old walls. We have some peculiar and inexplicable things happening in the small hours giving the characters the creeps.
Despite all this, I did not really find the story that thrilling. Most of it seems to be too much of a construction to flow smoothly. The characters are too flat to really raise any interest and there is not development at all. Even the love story between Kate and John Blayne is not convincing, he is immediately attracted by her, but she seems to be either stupid or too distracted to really understand what is happening. All in all, most of the novel is oversubscribed to my taste and thus too stereotypical, especially for an author of Pearl S. Buck’s reputation.
gretel7's review
3.0
I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.
Sir Richard and Lady Mary need to sell the thousand year old castle which has been in the family for hundreds of years. John Blayne, an American, wishes to buy the castle, but he wants to take the castle apart piece by piece and bring it to Connecticut and make it into a museum.
Lady Mary and Kate, the butlers granddaughter, are trying to communicate with the ghosts in the castle, they need to say where the treasure is hidden, then they won't have to sell the castle.
Originally published in 1956. Clean language and appropriate for younger teens, a sweet ghost story.
3☆
Sir Richard and Lady Mary need to sell the thousand year old castle which has been in the family for hundreds of years. John Blayne, an American, wishes to buy the castle, but he wants to take the castle apart piece by piece and bring it to Connecticut and make it into a museum.
Lady Mary and Kate, the butlers granddaughter, are trying to communicate with the ghosts in the castle, they need to say where the treasure is hidden, then they won't have to sell the castle.
Originally published in 1956. Clean language and appropriate for younger teens, a sweet ghost story.
3☆
veereading's review
1.0
I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I struggled so much when reading this novel. I could not get past the immature writing style that seemed so at odds with the story and its setting. I couldn't take it seriously at all. The characters are not well developed at all; the novel just jumps straight into dialogue, and I found myself rereading quite a few pages to understand what exactly was going on. I also didn't really feel the historical vibe; in fact, there were aspects where it was quite "modern". While the writing jumped in terms of conversation material, the plot itself moved at a very slow pace. At the end of the day, it took a great deal of effort to concentrate and finish this novel, and it wasn't worth all of that for me.
I struggled so much when reading this novel. I could not get past the immature writing style that seemed so at odds with the story and its setting. I couldn't take it seriously at all. The characters are not well developed at all; the novel just jumps straight into dialogue, and I found myself rereading quite a few pages to understand what exactly was going on. I also didn't really feel the historical vibe; in fact, there were aspects where it was quite "modern". While the writing jumped in terms of conversation material, the plot itself moved at a very slow pace. At the end of the day, it took a great deal of effort to concentrate and finish this novel, and it wasn't worth all of that for me.
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