Product Description

The elegantly styled classic story of a young, unorthodox teacher and her special--and ultimately dangerous--relationship with six of her students.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35840 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-01
• Released on: 1999-02-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From AudioFile
Geraldine McEwan tackles with aplomb Muriel Spark's rich tale of individuation among small-minded academics. Set in Edinburgh in the tempestuous political era of the 1930s, the story's universal theme of standing up against conventionality is still relevant and stirring nearly seventy years later. McEwan glides through Spark's text, adeptly altering her accents and intonations to suit each character. There is hardly a moment when it is not absolutely clear who is speaking. All this adds to the complete package of the audiobook, making it suitable for casual listeners and students of literature alike. R.A.P. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

-- Chicago Tribune
"A perfect book."

-- Times Literary Supplement
"A gloriously witty and polished vignette."

Customer Reviews

Hippy of the 1930's -- Chapter 3 described it all [76][T]
Imaginatively asking and answering questions to and for her students, protagonist Miss Brodie leads her set of six young women from the ages of 10 to 18 -- a journey that they define to be the "main influence of their school days."

Each girl in the set is different. Like the seven dwarfs, you could nickname the six girls: Rose Stanley (Sexy); Monica Douglas (Brainy); Eunice Gardner (Splits); Sandy Stranger (Pscho); Jenny Gray (Actor) and Mary MacGregor (Sleepy). This eclectic group of naive minds are entranced by the nouveau concepts and manners of Miss Brodie - a uniquely gregarious and open character of the feminine gender in the 1930's Scotland.

Chapter 3 starts with a definition of this woman and her peers. "It is not to be supposed that Miss Brodie was unique at this point of her prime. . . there were legions of her kind during the nineteen-thirties. . . who crowded their war-bereaved spinsterhood with voyages of discovery into new ideas and energetic practices in art or social welfare, education or religion." Such "normal women of the 1930's", who otherwise would be anomalies in their society, were brain trusts which excited and engaged the minds of their students. The author had such a role model with a Christina Kay whose personality was the foundation of this fictional character.

Amid the book, as the girls mature in age and mind, the secret society of the "set" grows stronger with Miss Brodie. They behave - say little (Speaking is silvery, silence is golden.) and reticently defy all inquiries by the headmistress of the school who only suspects the worst of Miss Brodie. She has sexual discussions with the "set" and liaisons with men. She is a free sexual being.

Adding to the sexual revolution of Miss Brodie is her political endorsement of America's and England's worst enemies: Italy's Fascism and Germany's Nazism. She even feels empathy toward Franco's socialist movement - Miss Brodie was not the common teacher at an upperclass girls' school in England, then or even now.

The administration's continual calumnious attack on Brodie's character fails, until she is betrayed by one of the "set." Miss Brodie, thought to be omnipotent, and who felt "my prime has brought me instinct and insight" fails to see the betrayal.

Juxtaposing the eight years among the girls, and adding their later years as well, the story comes to and fro about the interpersonal relationships, the associations between half truths and lies, as well as explanations for some stories or anecdotes delivered by Brodie to the girls. This is not a chronological recitation of the witch hunt by the administration against Brodie. Instead, the writing is a mosaic which abstractly tells this detailed story in a minimalist manner. It is a delight to read, a story beautifully told.

Hmm...
This book is definitely a unique read. It is not afraid to "tell it like it is," you may say. However, I found myself wanting to like the characters, especially Jean Brodie, much more than I actually did. I'm not saying that none of the characters were likeable, but I did have a difficult time feeling any sympathy or compassion for any of them.

Superb
This is art. There is not one unnecessary word in this novel. Miss Brodie is a mystery throughout the story and you just go on pondering about the characters long after it is finished.

And, you: Watch the film starring Maggie Smith, too. It's absolutely a masterpiece.