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A review by marthaos
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
3.0
I listened to the audio version of this book. The dialogue in this book is very clearly voiced and greatly enhances the book, really bringing the story to life.
The book tells the story of a teacher, Miss Brodie in a renowned academy in Edinburgh in the 1930’s and “her set”, a group of girls taught by Miss Brodie. The story follows this group of six girls from ages 12 to 18 and briefly into their adult lives, by which time, the group have dispersed, each girl following their own pursuits. Miss Brodie, at her time of teaching the girls, was in her “prime”, and had quite idealistic views about education not common at the time. She considered education a “leading out” of what was already there rather than the prevailing idea at the time that education was a “putting in”. The impressionable girls were very much influenced by Miss Brodie’s teachings, and were for a long time connected on these grounds. Miss Brodie shared stories of her travels to Italy and beyond, her passion for art, her enjoyment of music, her unusual and contrary opinions on various political figures and movements of the time. It was this last, her sympathy to Fascism that was to lead to her forced retirement shortly after her teaching of this “set”. The books central focus then, is the question of whom of this set betrayed her.
This short novel sparks with wit, razor sharp dialogue, precision of detail and a cast of truly authentic characters, as these girls come of age under the tutelage of Jean Brodie. It brings Edinburgh and it’s history to life in the descriptions of Miss Brodie’s art and history tours of the city. The love interests of their teacher is another major focus for these young girls, and unusually, Miss Brodie is very open in sharing her feelings for Mr Lloyd and Mr L with her set, who of course speculate more and more, penning imagined love letters, making up stories etc. The reader is led to believe that it is on these grounds and her idealistic approach to education that would lead to her downfall.
Religion is another theme of the book, Miss Brodie espousing a very strong Catholic faith in words, yet not adhering in practice one particular faith, seeing what other religions had in offer at church services. Her keen interest in learning is displayed in resolving to learn Greek in her 40’s and arranging for two of her girls to alternately impart their week’s learning to her on a Saturday.
I enjoyed this book, a book which I had been meaning to read for a long time and which I started on one occasion but lost interest early on despite its brevity. I enjoyed the audio version more, but overall it was a very good book, wonderfully told and beautifully brought to life.
The book tells the story of a teacher, Miss Brodie in a renowned academy in Edinburgh in the 1930’s and “her set”, a group of girls taught by Miss Brodie. The story follows this group of six girls from ages 12 to 18 and briefly into their adult lives, by which time, the group have dispersed, each girl following their own pursuits. Miss Brodie, at her time of teaching the girls, was in her “prime”, and had quite idealistic views about education not common at the time. She considered education a “leading out” of what was already there rather than the prevailing idea at the time that education was a “putting in”. The impressionable girls were very much influenced by Miss Brodie’s teachings, and were for a long time connected on these grounds. Miss Brodie shared stories of her travels to Italy and beyond, her passion for art, her enjoyment of music, her unusual and contrary opinions on various political figures and movements of the time. It was this last, her sympathy to Fascism that was to lead to her forced retirement shortly after her teaching of this “set”. The books central focus then, is the question of whom of this set betrayed her.
This short novel sparks with wit, razor sharp dialogue, precision of detail and a cast of truly authentic characters, as these girls come of age under the tutelage of Jean Brodie. It brings Edinburgh and it’s history to life in the descriptions of Miss Brodie’s art and history tours of the city. The love interests of their teacher is another major focus for these young girls, and unusually, Miss Brodie is very open in sharing her feelings for Mr Lloyd and Mr L with her set, who of course speculate more and more, penning imagined love letters, making up stories etc. The reader is led to believe that it is on these grounds and her idealistic approach to education that would lead to her downfall.
Religion is another theme of the book, Miss Brodie espousing a very strong Catholic faith in words, yet not adhering in practice one particular faith, seeing what other religions had in offer at church services. Her keen interest in learning is displayed in resolving to learn Greek in her 40’s and arranging for two of her girls to alternately impart their week’s learning to her on a Saturday.
I enjoyed this book, a book which I had been meaning to read for a long time and which I started on one occasion but lost interest early on despite its brevity. I enjoyed the audio version more, but overall it was a very good book, wonderfully told and beautifully brought to life.