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Loading... Notes on a Scandalby Zoe Heller
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Story of teacher having affair with student - subject matter not really my cup of tea. But I did relate to the lonely, single teacher who befriends her. 1   noblek | Sep 20, 2009 |  Review for the Audio CD (Abridged). The CD is read by Anna Massey, whose voice, while sometimes a bit upper crust and annoying, is totally suited to the part of Barbara as narrator. The cloying, patronising character of this 60 something teacher oozes out of the speakers as she tells the story of her much younger teacher friend, Sheba. Sheba is a pottery teacher with an uninspiring home life, who falls for the whiles of 15 yr old Connolly when he does little more than show an interest in art. We know from the start that this is all going to end in tears, the question is just how and when. I enjoyed the insight into the staff room squabbles and interactions but the strength of this story is the way it is told by Barbara, who then becomes as much a character in the tale as Sheba is. Cleverly done. I may well read the book at a later date. (  )1 DubaiReader | Aug 19, 2009 | Notes on a Scandal is another book that was damaged by my having seen the movie first. this is an intriguing book, full of twisted ideas of love. but the narrator's obvious despair and loneliness overshadows much of the story and whole sections felt unneccesary. where the book wobbled, the film excelled. this is worth reading, it's just not really a page turner. ( ) atlargeintheworld | Jul 10, 2009 | Good in the beginning: about a love affair between a teacher (female) and her male 15 year old student, as observed by an older, slowly revealed as a lesbian, teacher. It would have been better with more suspense about the reliability of the observer - and this could have ameliorated the rather flat ending. (  )1 bobbieharv | Jun 24, 2009 | Notes on a Scandal is an immensely readable novel—Heller has a way with irony that's almost vicious, and very peculiarly British, as well as impressive skill at using an unreliable narrator. Barbara, a lonely older woman—the kind of woman who wants a friend so desperately that she drives people away, who is capable of true venom if she feels threatened—observes the affair which her 'friend' Sheba embarks on with a fifteen-year-old student. Things progress much as you might expect, and while that produces a slight lack of tension in the climax, Barbara's narrative voice makes this a delicious, if discomfiting, read. (  )1 siriaeve | Jun 12, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0805073337, Hardcover)A lonely schoolteacher reveals more than she intends when she records the story of her best friend’s affair with a pupil in this sly, insightful novel Schoolteacher Barbara Covett has led a solitary existence; aside from her cat, Portia, she has few friends and no intimates. When Sheba Hart joins St. George’s as the new art teacher, Barbara senses the possibility of a new friendship. It begins with lunches and continues with regular invitations to meals with Sheba’s seemingly close-knit family. But as Barbara and Sheba’s relationship develops, another does as well: Sheba has begun a passionate affair with an underage male student. When it comes to light and Sheba falls prey to the inevitable media circus, Barbara decides to write an account in her freind’s defense—an account that reveals not only Sheba’s secrets but her own. What Was She Thinking? is a story of repression and passion, envy and complacence, friendship and loneliness. A complex psychological portrait framed as a wicked satire, it is by turns funny, poignant, and sinister. With it, Zoë Heller surpasses the promise of her critically acclaimed first novel, Everything You Know. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:18 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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