Muriel SparkThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: A Novel

I’ve read this book several times and although each time I found it intriguing, the writing feels more and more old-fashioned with each “read.”

In the years leading up and into World War II, there is a teacher at a school for girls in Edinburgh. Jean Brodie declared again and again that she is in her prime. Each year she selects a group to mold, but this particular group, known as the Brodie Set, became the most molded and given the most attention. She is not only their schoolteacher, but she seems quite set on molding a specific future for each of the six girls. And in some things those girls are created equals, in many they are not, but she leaves her mark on each of these impressionable young women. On the outside, she seems to be giving them life skills. It goes much deeper and further than that, however, and as time goes on, eyes begin to open.So this was a different sort of read. I think I saw the movie based on this book some years ago. This story is short. It’s difficult to say whether that is good or bad, it just is. One wonders more about the girls individually, but Muriel Spark got to the point. A little bit repetitive in places, but it also takes on a different result of the “Teachers that inspire or imprint on us” idea. The Brodie set felt wonderful and special, I’m not sure how many of them ever realized they were bring manipulated. Along with other side characters in the story. This story focuses the most on Sandy, which becomes clearer and makes the most sense as you get into it. I’m sure you’ll form your own conclusions on Miss Jean Brodie. It’s a unique book, to be sure.

For most of us, any formative teachers we may have had were people whose influence on us was in the classroom, where their inspiration was related to learning about the world. In Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, however, things are different. The titular Ms. Brodie cultivates a group of girls at their school in Scotland, seeming to be one of those "inspirational" teachers often idealized in books and film: she believes that what happens outside of the classroom can be just as important if not more so than what happens inside of it. She invites them (brainy Monica, pretty Jenny, sporty Eunice, sultry Rose, observant Sandy, and the poor scapegoat, Mary) to her home, takes them on cultural outings. But along with art and history, Ms. Brodie is also a big fan of fascism. And her interest goes beyond just being a role model for her girls...as they grow up, she begins to manipulate them.Ms. Brodie is a single woman, and falls in love with Mr. Lloyd, the married art teacher. Their mutual affection is never consummated, so even while Ms. Brodie carries on a relationship with the bachelor singing teacher Mr. Lowther, she schemes to get one of her girls to have an affair with Mr. Lloyd in her stead, confiding in Sandy about her plans. While Rose is her intended proxy, it is Sandy who winds up sleeping with him, and who adopts his Catholic faith and becomes a nun. It is from the convent that she is recounting her youth and the role Ms. Brodie played in her life.This is a brief work, only about 150 pages. As such, many of the characters are flat, even most of the "Brodie set" outside of Sandy. But generally speaking, it paints a vivid portrait of a time, and a place, and the people involved. Jean Brodie is a character who soars off the page, complex and interesting and so deeply flawed. For all her bluster and bravado and determination to avoid pity, she's ultimately a pitiful figure. And one who's careless of the damage she causes, inspiring a student to run away to fight for Franco, which leads to her death. On a lesser level, Sandy's assignation with her art teacher does not leave her without damage.I was of two minds about the length. On the one hand, I wish there had been more time to develop the other girls, and the relationships between them as well their connection to Ms. Brodie. On the other hand, I don't know that the plot would have the same power, the same feeling of a drive toward the inevitable conclusion, if it had to persist over a longer period of time. This is a solid book, and an unusual twist on the stories about teachers who change lives. I'd recommend it for a quick, engaging read.

”Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.”This story unfolds over three decades in the life of the delightfully charming Miss Brodie, who is, after all, in her prime, and has had many experiences in her life which she wants to share with the young women, girls, really, who she has been tasked with enriching their minds. Mind you, she isn’t your ordinary teacher, and she has several of these young women with whom she shares a close relationship. It is unveiled slowly, moving backward and forward over time, as these young women begin their tutelage by the inimitable Miss Jean Brodie, who is (in case you forgot) in her prime, sharing her stories of love and such, basking in the close bonds she’s formed.”One’s prime is elusive. You little girls, when you grow up, must be on the alert to recognize your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur. You must then live it to the full.”There will be a betrayal by someone, perhaps one of the girls, perhaps the art teacher, a man whom Miss Brodie has shared a very warm friendship over time, or perhaps someone else.”Outwardly she differed from the rest of the teaching staff in that she was still in a state of fluctuating development, whereas they had only too understandably not trusted themselves to change their minds, particularly on ethical questions, after the age of twenty.”This is a relatively short book, I believe around 120 pages or so, and was worth every minute of the time invested, and more. Miss Jean Brodie is one very memorable character, and I’m so glad I finally made time for this one.

Livro bonito capa dura

The book is a known classic. This edition is a good print. Slightly thinner pages but pretty much manageable.

The only time a grown man can read about teenage girls’ sexual fantasies and sexual encounters and not be put on a national list.

This book has been on my radar for years, but for some reason I’ve never got round to it or seen the iconic film version. I have read Spark’s ‘The Driver’s Seat’ which was brilliant and strange and shocking, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this.It’s also brilliant and strange and shocking. Spark is a writer who refuses to be bound by convention. She writes in the way she wants to write and this book is wonderful because of that. Miss Jean Brodie is one of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever read about, and the way she speaks and behaves are skilfully portrayed. The narrative moves back and forth, showing the teacher and her girls at various stages from when they are ten right through to when they are adults.The way Brodie manipulates and influences the girls is shocking at times, as is the behaviour of the girls themselves (and some of the other teachers). And the casual cruelties, particularly directed at poor, unfortunate Mary, reveal so much about human relationships. The interactions between the characters also reveal a lot about the conventions and social issues of the time, in the years leading up to the Second World War.The book is short but it packs so much in. The economy of the writing shows real skill. Spark manages to say a great deal in a few words – a lesson that many writers could do with learning. Her use of language is the epitome of every word having meaning. There are no whimsical meanderings here.Intelligent, dark, subtle and skillful – genuinely a classic.

It's even better than I thought, It starts as an innocent chronicle of the life of Jean Brodie and ends as a terrifying story