Thursday, April 7, 2016

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

I'm not sure where to begin with Miss Jean Brodie.  She's a teacher at the very proper Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, Scotland and she is in her prime.  She's passionate about her unorthodox teaching methods of impressionable young girls and makes sure they know she's in her prime, whatever that means.

The group of girls become known as the Brodie set for their loyalty to her.  They are highly sought after by the headmistress who hopes to glean information from them that will allow her to fire Miss Brodie.  She's in love with the married art teacher but carries on an affair with the single, but not so interesting music teacher.

Miss Jean Brodie tries her best to manipulate the set.  But the girls, well trained by her, are able to turn the tables.  The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie doesn't have much of a plot.  The reader is however, taken deep inside the ego of a woman who insists she's in her prime.  And we hike through the minds of children as they grow to maturity.  This novel is really a brilliant psychological mind trip.

I had no idea where this book would take me when I started reading it.  I often hoped for more twists and turns but in the end I was left feeling fully satisfied.  Unusual is the best word I can think of to describe a woman in her prime.  I'm still wondering if I'm in my own prime or if it as already passed me by.  Where is Miss Jean Brodie when I need her?


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