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summersmess's review against another edition
4.0
A nice change to the "this is how you need to behave young lady" novels I've read from this period of English Literature. Very tongue-in-cheek and not too difficult to read.
gracer's review against another edition
3.0
Rather different from what I expected, but pleasing nonetheless, and quite interesting. A nice angle, the chronicle from the point of view of Thady - lower class, and therefore very educational and insightful with an idea of language, cultural norms, etc.
bucket's review against another edition
5.0
Written in 1800, this is a still-funny satire of a Irish aristocratic family's vices and downfall. The style, with it's tongue in cheek glossary and asides, is fun and unique - and the voice of naive, goody-two-shoes narrator Thady makes him a well-rounded character, even though he's more an observer of the story than an active participant.
I love this description from the author's preface of the characters that bring down the Rackrents: "the drunken Sir Patrick, the litigious Sir Murtagh, the fighting Sir Kit, and the slovenly Sir Condy."
I love this description from the author's preface of the characters that bring down the Rackrents: "the drunken Sir Patrick, the litigious Sir Murtagh, the fighting Sir Kit, and the slovenly Sir Condy."
silverliningsandpages's review against another edition
3.0
🌿Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
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I finished reading this today. Whilst it wasn’t long, I didn’t particularly enjoy the plot, so this is why I kept putting this book down. However, it has been insightful in terms of practices, customs and traditions of Irish Squires in the eighteenth century. What particularly interested me was the character of “honest” Thady. I was left with questions regarding his contribution to the downfall of the Rackrent family - collaboration or collusion? I’ll let you decide.
Rating:🌟3 #Rememberytreereviews
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I’ll return to the second novel, The Absentee in due course - I’m in the mood for something different!
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I finished reading this today. Whilst it wasn’t long, I didn’t particularly enjoy the plot, so this is why I kept putting this book down. However, it has been insightful in terms of practices, customs and traditions of Irish Squires in the eighteenth century. What particularly interested me was the character of “honest” Thady. I was left with questions regarding his contribution to the downfall of the Rackrent family - collaboration or collusion? I’ll let you decide.
Rating:🌟3 #Rememberytreereviews
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I’ll return to the second novel, The Absentee in due course - I’m in the mood for something different!
lawrenceevalyn's review against another edition
5.0
What an unexpected blend of comedy and real pathos. And so short! Very glad I read this
sputniksweetheart's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
yashirolevi's review against another edition
3.0
Absolutely nothing special and again, this proves that I just do not enjoy reading classics, for classes nor for pleasure.
lachesisreads's review against another edition
3.0
Castle Rackrent is an early satire on the Irish landed class. Told through the eyes of Old Thady, a servant of the family Rackrent, we read about the fates of three generations of Rackrents, all of whom are failures as landlords for different reasons.
From a literary and historical point of view, Castle Rackrent is a very interesting and important book. It shines light on the class structures and interactions between the classes at its time; talks about the niceties and intricacies of the legal system; it touches on the relationship between the Irish and the English (although the catastrophic development this relationship was later to take were still far in the future at the time of writing). This alone would make it worth its money as a historical document, but we also get this look at the ruling class through the eyes of a member of the lower classes, who is also an unreliable narrator, which lends another layer of interest to the narrative. And, finally, it was written by a woman - not in itself radical at the time, but unusual in that this book is not the typical love story/Gothic story, which were the more usual topics for women writers at the time.
For a satire, it is very unfunny - and I believe it's meant to be. This is the kind of cutting satire that is meant to make the laughter stick in your throat and choke you.
However, there is little narrative structure, and the story is extremely predictable - at no point did I ever care about any of the people involved (nor are you supposed to), and at no point was I ever interested to see how the story would unfold. There was little actual reading pleasure involved in reading this book.
I would recommend this to people with an interest in Irish history and/or 18th century literature.
I read this as the entry "A book by a woman author" for the Back to the classics challenge.
From a literary and historical point of view, Castle Rackrent is a very interesting and important book. It shines light on the class structures and interactions between the classes at its time; talks about the niceties and intricacies of the legal system; it touches on the relationship between the Irish and the English (although the catastrophic development this relationship was later to take were still far in the future at the time of writing). This alone would make it worth its money as a historical document, but we also get this look at the ruling class through the eyes of a member of the lower classes, who is also an unreliable narrator, which lends another layer of interest to the narrative. And, finally, it was written by a woman - not in itself radical at the time, but unusual in that this book is not the typical love story/Gothic story, which were the more usual topics for women writers at the time.
For a satire, it is very unfunny - and I believe it's meant to be. This is the kind of cutting satire that is meant to make the laughter stick in your throat and choke you.
However, there is little narrative structure, and the story is extremely predictable - at no point did I ever care about any of the people involved (nor are you supposed to), and at no point was I ever interested to see how the story would unfold. There was little actual reading pleasure involved in reading this book.
I would recommend this to people with an interest in Irish history and/or 18th century literature.
I read this as the entry "A book by a woman author" for the Back to the classics challenge.
littlenyssa's review against another edition
4.0
An early effort by this author. The memoir of an elderly Irish servant, praising the local landlords-- an unreliable narrator revealing the landlord's oppression of his tenants. I've begun 'the Absentee,' written 12 years later which deals with some of the same elements but in a much more developed way. This author reminds me of Fanny Burney and Anne Bronte.