The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)

I would have given it a 2.5 if that were possible. I found it somewhat disappointing and bland. It was very short or I might have abandoned it as the story seemed to be going nowhere. I think it helps if you can put this in the context of the 60s and early 70s when the sexual liberation of young women was all the rage. In the end all I saw was a pathetic school-marm spinster who made a wreck of some young lives along the way.

One of the weaknesses of this novel for me is that you never feel the least involved in either Jean Brodie or the young narrator, Sandy. If you cared about either of them the story would have a different depth of meaning. As it was, Sandy seemed vacuous and in the end vindictive and cruel and Jean a clueless and shallow pedant who is less interested in guiding her charges than in touting herself by telling stories of her exploits that are more fiction than fact.

One point Spark does make well is that we are influenced greatly when we are young by those who have authority over us and some of those people remain in our minds and find their way into our image of ourselves. Miss Brodie's effect upon the six girls who become her followers is long-lasting. How can poor Mary ever be expected to think well of herself after years of being told she is stupid and clumsy? Why does Sandy become a nun, when it is obvious that her religious leanings are weak at best? I think this is a way of trying to compensate and forgive herself for her ultimate betrayal of Jean, but I reach this conclusion despite the fact that Spark does not paint her with any brush of remorse. Nor does Jean seem to feel any remorse for sending Rose out to fulfil her own lusts after the art teacher...only a total preoccupation with knowing who gave up her secrets to the headmistress.

I could not help comparing this book to other books set in schools of this age. [b:A Separate Peace|5148|A Separate Peace|John Knowles|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1528860889l/5148._SY75_.jpg|39755] came to mind. Such a mental comparison serves to diminish this book even farther in my view. Having been aware of this book for a long time and promising myself to read it, I know that it is well respected and has a following. I must say it is perhaps just not the book for me. ( )

“To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul.”
― Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

rating and review of this quirky and fun book to follow.

It took me forever to read this. Once I did though I could see what all the fuss is about. Miss Jean Brody is such a vivid character. I so enjoyed reading about her.

This book has been compared to Dead Poet Society but they are not really anything alike in my humble opinion. In DPS, The teacher is an unsung hero . Not so with the quirky Jean.

She can be lovable and full of fun but can also be quite cruel as well as strange. And always, there is a feeling of pity for her mixed with a tinge of admiration at our bold Miss Brody for daring to be different.

That is what sets this book apart. Jean Brody is such a complicated character. I enjoyed the book greatly although I still had some unanswered questions at the end.

Highly recommended. Don't wait as long as I did to read this book. ( )

A very strange little novel set around WWII in Edinburgh. I have no idea what the purpose of this book is, and how it could be turned into a movie of any kind. Easily read, but I wouldn't bother.
One thing the author did that I found interesting; recounting the same scene exactly at different places in the book, so the reader get to experience it once without context and once with context, making it a very different read. ( )

I read this book years ago, and now on re-reading it for my book group I’m struck not so much with how evil Jean Brodie is, but how ridiculous. She pontificates about love, art, and of course the marvels of Mussolini, in such a preposterous manner that one wonders why the adults don’t just laugh in her face. Perhaps that’s why she only associates with 10=to-12-year old young girls. And why do these men find her irresistible? She must be REALLY good in the sack.

This was one of Spark’s earliest novels and her portrait of the Marcia Blaine School was based on her own experiences at James Gillespie’s High School in Scotland. This short novel packs a punch. ( )

Jean Brodie is in her prime. At least that is what she says. She regularly informs her girls, her special set of students whom she is developing into the créme de la créme, that when one is in one’s prime, as she is, all manner of art and beauty is open to one. Mostly, however, her girls assume she is talking about sex. Maybe not when they were 10, when she first took them under her wing, but increasingly through the years in which they stay in close contact even after the two years she taught them directly. Her girls range from the bright to the dull, from the beautiful to the plain, but they all share an absolute devotion to Miss Brodie. Any act of betrayal on their part is almost inconceivable. And yet…

The writing here is marvellously subtle and playful as the narrator jumps between characters and over time-spans to reveal, early on, outcomes for the various girls. It is so light and knowing that you will be astounded at Spark’s reinvention of the school novel. If it is your first direct encounter with her writing, as it has been for me, you will immediately want to commit yourself to reading everything that Spark has written. But you’ll probably find yourself returning to Jean Brodie in her prime simply to admire the craft and sparkle of Muriel Spark’s prose.

Certainly recommended. ( )