The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
She thinks she is Providence ... She thinks she is the God of Calvin, the beginning and the End.
For once, I wished I had attended a lecture on this book before reading it. This slim book has so many books inside... It really is difficult to organize my thoughts about it, and I think I'm not getting everything the book conveys.
The plot doesn't say much. Jean Brodie, a spinster -a woman in her prime- is a schoolteacher in a traditional school in Edinburgh, whose unconventional teaching methods have her under the very close vigilance of the headmistress. She leads a group of six girls from childhood to adulthood, distinctively educated so as to be set apart from the rest of the school as the Brodie set. There is a love triangle: the art and the music teachers love Miss Brodie, whilst she is in love with the art teacher (Mr Lloyd), but sleeps with the music teacher (Mr Lowther).
I am fascinated by Jean Brodie. She is manipulative, fascist, talks in clichés and decides the fate of everyone around her. She is also flashy, funny, classy, artsy, romantic and dramatic. And ridiculous. It doesn't matter that she doesn't teach the curriculum, because her girls learn that and many more things. I like how open-minded she made the girls be. But, at the same time, she puts so much of herself in the girls, that they end up all having a Brodie core common to all of them, which is reflected when Lloyd paints them: We'd look like one big Miss Brodie, I suppose. Specially Sandy. Sandy inherits everything, even her manipulative ways and her love interest. In a way, it is very fitting that she is the one who'll end up betraying Miss Brodie, because, in spite of her words, she's been betrayed by Miss Brodie.
I am equally fascinated by Muriel Spark. This novel is subtle and deep, and humorous and witty. It flashes forwards and backwards and key events are announced before they are explained. Forget any kind of linearity. In the hands of any other writer, this novella would have been a mess. She's also capable of distinctly depicting and developing her set of characters in a few words. And the setting was just the ribbon to tie it all up. It was as if I was in Edinburgh again. This novella has a very definite Scottish air about it.
Instant favourite. It has left me wanting more Spark wit.
For once, I wished I had attended a lecture on this book before reading it. This slim book has so many books inside... It really is difficult to organize my thoughts about it, and I think I'm not getting everything the book conveys.
The plot doesn't say much. Jean Brodie, a spinster -a woman in her prime- is a schoolteacher in a traditional school in Edinburgh, whose unconventional teaching methods have her under the very close vigilance of the headmistress. She leads a group of six girls from childhood to adulthood, distinctively educated so as to be set apart from the rest of the school as the Brodie set. There is a love triangle: the art and the music teachers love Miss Brodie, whilst she is in love with the art teacher (Mr Lloyd), but sleeps with the music teacher (Mr Lowther).
I am fascinated by Jean Brodie. She is manipulative, fascist, talks in clichés and decides the fate of everyone around her. She is also flashy, funny, classy, artsy, romantic and dramatic. And ridiculous. It doesn't matter that she doesn't teach the curriculum, because her girls learn that and many more things. I like how open-minded she made the girls be. But, at the same time, she puts so much of herself in the girls, that they end up all having a Brodie core common to all of them, which is reflected when Lloyd paints them: We'd look like one big Miss Brodie, I suppose. Specially Sandy. Sandy inherits everything, even her manipulative ways and her love interest. In a way, it is very fitting that she is the one who'll end up betraying Miss Brodie, because, in spite of her words, she's been betrayed by Miss Brodie.
I am equally fascinated by Muriel Spark. This novel is subtle and deep, and humorous and witty. It flashes forwards and backwards and key events are announced before they are explained. Forget any kind of linearity. In the hands of any other writer, this novella would have been a mess. She's also capable of distinctly depicting and developing her set of characters in a few words. And the setting was just the ribbon to tie it all up. It was as if I was in Edinburgh again. This novella has a very definite Scottish air about it.
Instant favourite. It has left me wanting more Spark wit.