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| Maria Edgeworth |
Castle Rackrent
Maria Edgeworth
1800
4/5 stars
This short novel is the rambling account of four generations of an Irish landowning family told in first-person by a long-serving retainer.
The often unreliable narrator is well-written, and Edgeworth used the vernacular to great effect, while still painting a vivid, intelligible picture of the characters and situations. The satiric footnotes and word definitions added so much to the overall tongue-in-cheek humor.
I had expected a more serious book, given that the subject is irresponsible and negligent landlords, but I laughed out loud several times and found it to be quite enjoyable overall.
My only complaint was the brevity of the tales of the first three Rackrent lords. Had that been expounded on, with the same wit and style, it would have been a five star read for me.
- read for The Classics Club and Reading Through the Centuries -
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