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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
It's odd that I've never read this since I own both the movie with Maggie Smith and the 1978 miniseries with Geraldine McEwan (Maggie was good, Geraldine was perfect). They are quite different, so I was curious to see which followed the book closest, the answer is, neither does, particularly. They both used some things, left out some things, changed some things and made up new things. The book is sort of strange, it's chilly, I guess you could say. I felt kept at arm's length and never really allowed to fall into the story, even though I was already familiar with it. There are also some little artsy touches that annoyed me, such as referring to one girl's "little piggy eyes" almost every time she is mentioned, or telling you how a character dies as she is introduced then repeating it over and over.."Mary, who died in a fire"... Jean Brodie is certainly a great character, but I think she plays better on the screen than the page.
The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.
And who were the young lads talking to? None other than the hand-selected members of the Brodie Set--six young women under the tutelage and painstaking care of Jean Brodie, a woman in her prime. The girls are quite distinct: At that time they had been immediately recognisable as Miss Brodie's pupils, being vastly informed on a lot of subjects irrelevant to the authorised curriculum, and useless to the school as a school. And that's all due to their unconventional teacher, Miss Jean Brodie.
Brodie, an unmarried and rather unconventional (much to the alarm of her fellows) school teacher, lives for the selection and upbringing of her Set: female pupils beneath her sheltering and educating wings. Though this might sound a bit like the enlightening and heart-warming story that takes place during say, Dead Poets' Society, that's where the similarities end. With ever-present but tongue-in-cheek dry wit, Muriel Spark paints the picture of Jean Brodie, who insists upon cultivating these young women by reinforcing her own ideas and lifestyle choices upon them--to the point where her own interest trips the lines of obsession and perhaps even brainwashing.
This book took me by surprise if I'm being honest. Muriel Spark's sense of humour and candidness caught me by the first page and the description of the defensive posturing of the boys, talking to girls. I'll admit firsthand I really enjoy Brit humour--and Muriel Spark had plenty of it to spare, particularly when it came to the description of each member of her set. She takes no pain in painting them in broad strokes, ones that she drives home again and again.
"You did well," said Miss Brodie to the class, when Miss Mackay had gone, "not to answer the question put to you. It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word, neither black nor white. Speech is silver but silence is golden. Mary, are you listening? What was I saying?"
Mary Macgregor, lumpy, with merely two eyes, a nose and a mouth like a snowman, who was later famous for being stupid and always to blame, and who, at the age of twenty-three, lost her life in a fire, ventured, "Golden."
This is a short but golden wee story, enjoyable and light on the surface but also leaving some good messages in its wake about the impressionability of the young, and why perhaps it is best not to use them for your own vicarious lifestyle goals.
And who were the young lads talking to? None other than the hand-selected members of the Brodie Set--six young women under the tutelage and painstaking care of Jean Brodie, a woman in her prime. The girls are quite distinct: At that time they had been immediately recognisable as Miss Brodie's pupils, being vastly informed on a lot of subjects irrelevant to the authorised curriculum, and useless to the school as a school. And that's all due to their unconventional teacher, Miss Jean Brodie.
Brodie, an unmarried and rather unconventional (much to the alarm of her fellows) school teacher, lives for the selection and upbringing of her Set: female pupils beneath her sheltering and educating wings. Though this might sound a bit like the enlightening and heart-warming story that takes place during say, Dead Poets' Society, that's where the similarities end. With ever-present but tongue-in-cheek dry wit, Muriel Spark paints the picture of Jean Brodie, who insists upon cultivating these young women by reinforcing her own ideas and lifestyle choices upon them--to the point where her own interest trips the lines of obsession and perhaps even brainwashing.
This book took me by surprise if I'm being honest. Muriel Spark's sense of humour and candidness caught me by the first page and the description of the defensive posturing of the boys, talking to girls. I'll admit firsthand I really enjoy Brit humour--and Muriel Spark had plenty of it to spare, particularly when it came to the description of each member of her set. She takes no pain in painting them in broad strokes, ones that she drives home again and again.
"You did well," said Miss Brodie to the class, when Miss Mackay had gone, "not to answer the question put to you. It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word, neither black nor white. Speech is silver but silence is golden. Mary, are you listening? What was I saying?"
Mary Macgregor, lumpy, with merely two eyes, a nose and a mouth like a snowman, who was later famous for being stupid and always to blame, and who, at the age of twenty-three, lost her life in a fire, ventured, "Golden."
This is a short but golden wee story, enjoyable and light on the surface but also leaving some good messages in its wake about the impressionability of the young, and why perhaps it is best not to use them for your own vicarious lifestyle goals.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Mein erster Gedanke beim Lesen des Buchs: Man nehme den "Der Club der toten Dichter", verwandle die Schüler in junge Schülerinnen, ersetze Robin Williams durch Maggie Smith und - zack - hat man diesen Roman.
So einfach ist es natürlich nicht. Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass ich den Club der toten Dichter als wesentlich zugänglicher empfunden habe. Um die (zweifelsohne vielzähligen) Botschaften des vielgelobten Romans von Muriel Spark zu identifizieren, muss man für meinen Geschmack etwas zu tief in die Textanalyse einsteigen.
Hatte ich alles im Germanistik-Studium, möchte ich jetzt nicht mehr machen müssen - da bin ich ehrlich.
Im Kern ist der vorliegende Roman ein Gesellschaftsporträt der 1930er, in dem Muriel Spark die frühen Anzeichen einer faschistoiden Ideologie abbildet.
Besonders bemerkenswert sind die vielen ausgeklügelten Stilmittel, mit denen Spark nicht nur den Plot spannend vorantreibt, sondern auch ihre Figuren - insbesondere die beiden Protagonistinnen Jean Brodie und deren Lieblingsschülerin Sandy Stranger - facettenreich ausarbeitet.
Für mich persönlich war der Text - im englischen Original gelesen - einfach zu anstrengend und die Botschaften ein bisschen zu gut hinter all den Pro- und Analepsen versteckt. Wer jedoch Spaß an der Textanalyse hat, wird hier sicherlich auf seine Kosten kommen. The Prime of Miss Brodie ist nicht umsonst typische Schullektüre in England oder deutschen Englisch-Leistungskursen.
So einfach ist es natürlich nicht. Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass ich den Club der toten Dichter als wesentlich zugänglicher empfunden habe. Um die (zweifelsohne vielzähligen) Botschaften des vielgelobten Romans von Muriel Spark zu identifizieren, muss man für meinen Geschmack etwas zu tief in die Textanalyse einsteigen.
Hatte ich alles im Germanistik-Studium, möchte ich jetzt nicht mehr machen müssen - da bin ich ehrlich.
Im Kern ist der vorliegende Roman ein Gesellschaftsporträt der 1930er, in dem Muriel Spark die frühen Anzeichen einer faschistoiden Ideologie abbildet.
Besonders bemerkenswert sind die vielen ausgeklügelten Stilmittel, mit denen Spark nicht nur den Plot spannend vorantreibt, sondern auch ihre Figuren - insbesondere die beiden Protagonistinnen Jean Brodie und deren Lieblingsschülerin Sandy Stranger - facettenreich ausarbeitet.
Für mich persönlich war der Text - im englischen Original gelesen - einfach zu anstrengend und die Botschaften ein bisschen zu gut hinter all den Pro- und Analepsen versteckt. Wer jedoch Spaß an der Textanalyse hat, wird hier sicherlich auf seine Kosten kommen. The Prime of Miss Brodie ist nicht umsonst typische Schullektüre in England oder deutschen Englisch-Leistungskursen.
Review: https://clife.blog/2022/08/26/book-review-the-prime-of-miss-jean-brodie-by-muriel-spark/
This novel takes us to Edinburgh in the ‘30s. Where a teacher/mistress named Miss Jean Brodie has taken an interest in 6 of her students who are known as ‘The Brodie Set’.
Jean loves to go on about being in her prime throughout. It doesn’t matter what age you are, everyone reaches it at different times. Anyone in her classes are being taught in her own unorthodox way of life.
With the particular ‘Brodie Set’ they see Jean outside of school hours for plays and such. Be aware these kids are only 10 at the start of the novel. Jean goes on to discuss what they will be like in the future. Speaking of 10 year olds and talking about their sexuality was a little disturbing for myself.
It is so weird the amount of influence she has over these young women. I found it so interesting to see how these women turned out as they were growling during their impressionable age.
I really wished we could have seen more of an insight into Jean’s thoughts as we could only see from the kids points of views. I really did not agree with Brodie when she called a married man the ‘love of her life’ when clearly he a pervert luring after young children and later sleeping with one of them! She had one kiss with the man and deemed him as the love of her life, really?
Apart from that and the influencing of making them have sex with the teacher, it was an intriguing read.
This novel takes us to Edinburgh in the ‘30s. Where a teacher/mistress named Miss Jean Brodie has taken an interest in 6 of her students who are known as ‘The Brodie Set’.
Jean loves to go on about being in her prime throughout. It doesn’t matter what age you are, everyone reaches it at different times. Anyone in her classes are being taught in her own unorthodox way of life.
With the particular ‘Brodie Set’ they see Jean outside of school hours for plays and such. Be aware these kids are only 10 at the start of the novel. Jean goes on to discuss what they will be like in the future. Speaking of 10 year olds and talking about their sexuality was a little disturbing for myself.
It is so weird the amount of influence she has over these young women. I found it so interesting to see how these women turned out as they were growling during their impressionable age.
I really wished we could have seen more of an insight into Jean’s thoughts as we could only see from the kids points of views. I really did not agree with Brodie when she called a married man the ‘love of her life’ when clearly he a pervert luring after young children and later sleeping with one of them! She had one kiss with the man and deemed him as the love of her life, really?
Apart from that and the influencing of making them have sex with the teacher, it was an intriguing read.
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
medium-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:
Complicated
2.5 stars. I need to stop just reading things because they're compared to Dead Poet's Society. That being said, I loved the Edinburgh descriptions throughout. Just a bit sad that it dragged on as much as it did for such a short novel.