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alba_marie's review against another edition
3.0
Maria Edgeworth is a local writer who once lived on an Anglo-Irish estate (the concept of which she is critical in this book) about 45 mins from where I live in Ireland. This is my second book by her (I read her society novel, Belinda, first), and though the 500+ page Belindatook me months and this 95 page story only took a few days, I still think I preferred Belinda.
I actually found the analytical introduction and Edgeworth's Glossary at the end more interesting and readable than the novella itself, which I found to be jumbled, confusing and rambling. Long paragraphs combined with a lack of chapters and confusing dialogue indications made it hard to follow (though the pints of Guinness I was drinking while reading the bulk of the this book maybe had something to do with it!).
I appreciate the sentiment. Castle Rackrent is a satirical attack on the exorbitant leases, poor working conditions, and lack of humanity combined with largely absent landlords who gained their estates through British land-grabbing (the Brits called it plantation and reward for all the killing of pesky natives abroad, the Irish called it theft and genocide). Estates were managed by maniacal and downright terrible middlemen who ruled their starving tenants with an iron fist, leaving them homeless, starving, overworked and destitute for a small power trip, while the absentee landlord collected his rents from the middlemen (without ever really interacting with the tenants) and partied it up in London and Bath.
Maria was a member of this class but spent most of her life fighting against the unfairness and cruelty of the English alongside her father, and it was this attitude that saved her family's estate from looting and burning on 2 separate occasions.
So I appreciate the sentiment, and appreciate that she only sort of pulled her punches (she carefully set the book a few decades earlier and said that "these practices were of the past" though everyone saw through that). But I can't say that I enjoyed the way the book was written, and felt that it was a sort of "birds eye" overview approach to telling the story, instead of kind of novel-writing we are used to today.
Anyway, glad I decided to read it during the local Maria Edgeworth Festival, but think I'll take a break from Edgeworth for awhile!
I actually found the analytical introduction and Edgeworth's Glossary at the end more interesting and readable than the novella itself, which I found to be jumbled, confusing and rambling. Long paragraphs combined with a lack of chapters and confusing dialogue indications made it hard to follow (though the pints of Guinness I was drinking while reading the bulk of the this book maybe had something to do with it!).
I appreciate the sentiment. Castle Rackrent is a satirical attack on the exorbitant leases, poor working conditions, and lack of humanity combined with largely absent landlords who gained their estates through British land-grabbing (the Brits called it plantation and reward for all the killing of pesky natives abroad, the Irish called it theft and genocide). Estates were managed by maniacal and downright terrible middlemen who ruled their starving tenants with an iron fist, leaving them homeless, starving, overworked and destitute for a small power trip, while the absentee landlord collected his rents from the middlemen (without ever really interacting with the tenants) and partied it up in London and Bath.
Maria was a member of this class but spent most of her life fighting against the unfairness and cruelty of the English alongside her father, and it was this attitude that saved her family's estate from looting and burning on 2 separate occasions.
So I appreciate the sentiment, and appreciate that she only sort of pulled her punches (she carefully set the book a few decades earlier and said that "these practices were of the past" though everyone saw through that). But I can't say that I enjoyed the way the book was written, and felt that it was a sort of "birds eye" overview approach to telling the story, instead of kind of novel-writing we are used to today.
Anyway, glad I decided to read it during the local Maria Edgeworth Festival, but think I'll take a break from Edgeworth for awhile!
glenn_blake's review against another edition
2.0
A story narrated by the longtime steward of the Rackrent family. Thady the stewart tells the history of the family from the time of his grandfatherdown to about 1785. This may have been interesting when it was written 120 years ago, but i found it quite dull and boring
julia_w_m_a's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
benedettal's review against another edition
3.5
I was pleasantly surprised by the entertainment value of this one. As all very old novels, the story telling is not perfect yet but there is some great satire in this. It’s very experimental and had overall aged very well, so yeah good stuff.
cmbohn's review against another edition
3.0
"The first regional novel in English."
I'm not sure what that quote means, but this is an interesting story of a family of Irish landowners and the differing ways they ruin their lives and their estate. It's told by Thady Quirk, a sort of butler or estate manager, who has been with the Rackrent family through several changes. I was never crazy about any of the characters. Thady himself is the most likeable. He is honest and loyal. But he's too naive and gullible to be really sympathetic. The setting was well done, I thought, and the characters were certainly varied, but not especially believable.
I'm not sure what that quote means, but this is an interesting story of a family of Irish landowners and the differing ways they ruin their lives and their estate. It's told by Thady Quirk, a sort of butler or estate manager, who has been with the Rackrent family through several changes. I was never crazy about any of the characters. Thady himself is the most likeable. He is honest and loyal. But he's too naive and gullible to be really sympathetic. The setting was well done, I thought, and the characters were certainly varied, but not especially believable.
olymxnyx's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
I read this book for school and quite enjoyed how feminism was handled and the small references to French literature.
christythelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Maria Edgeworth, a tiny English woman at only 4 feet 7 inches tall, published Castle Rackrent when she was 33. Her writing career was encouraged by her father, who moved the family to Ireland when Maria was fifteen. Her resulting acquaintance the Irish people is displayed in Castle Rackrent.
In this very brief novel (about 85 pages total), an old Irish peasant by the name of Thady Quirk narrates the “Memoirs of the Rackrent Family” – a tale that encompasses several generations of Rackrents whose imprudent marriages and greedy, foolish estate management brings about their ruin. Thady Quirk is an unreliable narrator, glossing over the faults of this family to whom he is loyal, betraying more about them than he realizes. (Though another review that I read says that perhaps Thady is being tongue-in-cheek and knows that he is subtly belittling the Rackrents. I can buy that.)
The novel’s main strength and my favorite aspect is the voice of Thady Quirk: the cadence of Edgeworth’s writing means that I could just about hear the lilt in Thady’s narration. Here’s an excerpt from Thady’s description of Sir Murtagh Rackrent’s surprising marriage to a widow from a family called Skinflint.
"I knew how it was; Sir Murtagh was a great lawyer, and looked to the great Skinflint estate; there, however, he overshot himself; for though one of the co-heiresses, he was never the better for her, for she outlived him many’s the long day – he could not see that to be sure when he married her. I must say for her, she made him the best of wives, being a very notable, stirring woman, and looking close to everything. But I always suspected she had Scotch blood in her veins; any thing else I could have looked over in her from a regard to the family."
I’m not sure that you can actually catch the cadence from just that bit – it seems to be a cumulative effect while reading straight through. But the excerpt definitely shows the humor of the writing.
I was a little confused by the footnotes and endnotes attached to the story. At first I thought it was something added for this 1964 edition of the book, but they are actually additions made by Maria Edgeworth herself. The notes are mainly used to explain Irish terms and customs that the English person would presumably not know. She launches off into little stories in the endnotes that are amusing in and of themselves.
Bruce Teets, in his introduction to this edition, writes “Castle Rackrent is notable as the first regional novel of any consequence.” This statement and others in the introduction posit that Maria Edgeworth’s work is important as precursors to other authors’ work, as an influence on other authors. It’s the kind of praise that doesn’t really seem like praise at all, but more of a nod of acknowledgement.
I did like this insightful statement from Teets in the introduction though:
"By choosing Thady as her narrator, [Edgeworth] was able to use to advantage another technical device – the minor-character point of view. Again she loses something: the dash and heroics, the color and romance of high life above-stairs. But none of that was to her purpose, which was to depict the Ireland of the majority of the Irish and from their point of view. And most people are, in life, minor characters."
I read this book in a couple of hours. I found it pleasant but I can’t see any reason why someone should necessarily run out and read it. However, if the idea of an old, humorous novel set in Ireland appeals to you, then you might want to check it out.
In this very brief novel (about 85 pages total), an old Irish peasant by the name of Thady Quirk narrates the “Memoirs of the Rackrent Family” – a tale that encompasses several generations of Rackrents whose imprudent marriages and greedy, foolish estate management brings about their ruin. Thady Quirk is an unreliable narrator, glossing over the faults of this family to whom he is loyal, betraying more about them than he realizes. (Though another review that I read says that perhaps Thady is being tongue-in-cheek and knows that he is subtly belittling the Rackrents. I can buy that.)
The novel’s main strength and my favorite aspect is the voice of Thady Quirk: the cadence of Edgeworth’s writing means that I could just about hear the lilt in Thady’s narration. Here’s an excerpt from Thady’s description of Sir Murtagh Rackrent’s surprising marriage to a widow from a family called Skinflint.
"I knew how it was; Sir Murtagh was a great lawyer, and looked to the great Skinflint estate; there, however, he overshot himself; for though one of the co-heiresses, he was never the better for her, for she outlived him many’s the long day – he could not see that to be sure when he married her. I must say for her, she made him the best of wives, being a very notable, stirring woman, and looking close to everything. But I always suspected she had Scotch blood in her veins; any thing else I could have looked over in her from a regard to the family."
I’m not sure that you can actually catch the cadence from just that bit – it seems to be a cumulative effect while reading straight through. But the excerpt definitely shows the humor of the writing.
I was a little confused by the footnotes and endnotes attached to the story. At first I thought it was something added for this 1964 edition of the book, but they are actually additions made by Maria Edgeworth herself. The notes are mainly used to explain Irish terms and customs that the English person would presumably not know. She launches off into little stories in the endnotes that are amusing in and of themselves.
Bruce Teets, in his introduction to this edition, writes “Castle Rackrent is notable as the first regional novel of any consequence.” This statement and others in the introduction posit that Maria Edgeworth’s work is important as precursors to other authors’ work, as an influence on other authors. It’s the kind of praise that doesn’t really seem like praise at all, but more of a nod of acknowledgement.
I did like this insightful statement from Teets in the introduction though:
"By choosing Thady as her narrator, [Edgeworth] was able to use to advantage another technical device – the minor-character point of view. Again she loses something: the dash and heroics, the color and romance of high life above-stairs. But none of that was to her purpose, which was to depict the Ireland of the majority of the Irish and from their point of view. And most people are, in life, minor characters."
I read this book in a couple of hours. I found it pleasant but I can’t see any reason why someone should necessarily run out and read it. However, if the idea of an old, humorous novel set in Ireland appeals to you, then you might want to check it out.
tabby2920's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75