Rating: 
Summary: Brodie the Baddy
Review: I was tempted to rate this book one star higher, mostly because it is so short and reads so quickly that it didn't waste much of my time or energy to finish.I kept waiting for this novel to amount to something. The potential was there--Miss Brodie could have been a deliciously compelling character, but Muriel Spark doesn't explore her possibilities very deeply. The only suspense comes from finding out which one of her group of select favorites is responsible for her downfall (this isn't a spoiler---you're told within the first couple of pages that this happens) and the answer when it comes is isn't very surprising nor is Miss Brodie's downfall very dramatic. This is a book that I feel doesn't have much to say to a reader who hasn't experienced something very close to the situations related in the narrative. And since I never went to a stodgy girls' school in Scotland in the 1930's, something was lost on me. That's not to say I couldn't have taken more from a story like this if another author had been in charge, but Spark doesn't give me much to work with. As for the character of Miss Brodie herself, she's really quite annoying and unlikable. I suppose that's the point, but once you get past that, there's nothing more to the character to make her interesting. By the end I was hoping we would find out she at least was hiding dismembered corpses in her basement or something---instead, I finished the book, closed it and thought, "So what?" That's the worst possible reaction a book can elicit as far as I'm concerned.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow!
Review: This is a great introduction to Muriel Spark. Her books always have a secret surprise for the reader that make them worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: "You are my vocation, I am dedicated to you in my Prime."
Review: Miss. Jean Brodie is a teacher of girls in the Junior Department of Marica Blaine School in Edinburgh. Even a cursory reading will alert anyone to the undeniable fact that she is in her "prime". This is the solemn refrain of the novel. What this means is left, largely, to your own discretion. The surface narrative, insofar as there is a surface, charts the influence that she has upon a "set" of five girls, the hand picked "creme de la creme" of her class, that become the "Brodie Set" marked indelibly by the imprint of her "prime". Funny and light, at the same time as being extremely dark and sinister underneath, it alerts us constantly to the illusion and refraction of truth in fiction and the inescapable effect of our lessons on our view of the world. As many other reviewers have been quick to point out "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is often the subject of university lectures and examinations. And there should be no surprise in that. This slim volume has a dazzling breadth of theme and expression composed almost singularly of one woman's personality. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is probably the most beautifully visual of Muriel Spark's novels, containing some dazzling natural and urban imagery. These are lovingly interspersed in the otherwise sharp, and blackly comic text. It is easy to understand why Muriel Spark claims that her "novels are just an easier way of writing my poetry". "The Prime" is also a comedy of some value (anyone who has seen the 1979 Maggie Smith film adaptation couldn't dispute it), and the childhood imaginings of Sandy and Jenny, two girls of the "set", certainly provides some laugh out loud moments. Like the classic imaginary love letter between Miss Brodie and her lover Mr. Lowther. Who could forget its wonderful conclusion - " Allow me, in conclusion, to congratulate you warmly upon your sexual intercourse, as well as your singing." The girls capture the eloquence and the ridiculousness of Miss Brodie beautifully and unknowingly. The most compelling aspect of the novel, however, is its undeniably sinister streak. Miss Brodie is a "born Facist", as one of her set eventually comes to realise. She speaks with fervent passion of the "wonderous" regimes of Mussolini and Hitler, while encouraging one of her young charges to become involved in the Spanish Civil War. She does all this with a stunted self-aware romanticism and a deluded clarity that cuts directly to the coldest heart of her personality. Her teaching, which literally amounts to an indoctrination in the values of bigotry and prejudice, is instilled into her "set", some of whom do not escape as unscathed as the others. To crown the glory is Spark's inventive narrative style, which feels free to skip and leap around the story of the rise and fall of Miss Brodie. The omnipresence of the author is always jabbing in another future event to permanently shape our view of the present. The holistic reading that emerges from this narrative assault allows for all kinds of realisations concerning identity, facism, illusion, truth and fiction. A thoroughly terrifying, enjoyable read, for all those who don't quite believe that seeing/hearing is believing.
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Summary: But can anyone understand it who is NOT in their prime?
Review: This book is frequently assigned as class reading. But can anyone really grasp what Muriel Spark is talking about here if they, themselves, have not yet had "their prime"? Miss Jean Brodie is a upper-crusty teacher of well-bred "gerrrrls" in an Edinburgh school. She is aware, suddenly, that she is in "her prime", that is to say, she realizes that she is no longer a young woman yet she has gained something more valuable than youth; experience, power and discernment. Her sense of power originates from knowing her motivations, her strengths, her foibles and her desires. She acts on these instincts. Some of her power is maternal (though she is unmarried) and she nurtures the best of her girls, the "creme de la creme" as she calls them, as if they were her own daughters. She seizes opportunity for love, she rebels against anyone who tries to reign her in. But, does she over-reach herself or is she being unfairly treated as that most misunderstood of all creatures, a middle-aged, intelligent woman? This is a highly perceptive book, but I sometimes doubt that anyone who is not at least forty years of age can truly fathom it. But it is worth a try! If nothing else, it will prepare you for middle age, when you reach your own prime.
Rating: 
Summary: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Review: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a very interesting book. There are many different themes and moods. And you never really know what to expect. The setting is mostly within the school that in which Miss. Brodie is a teacher but in the least sense of the meaning. Miss. Brodie is in her "prime" and doesn't really teach what she's is supposed to but what she wants too and what she feels is "important".
Miss. Brodie picks six students and they quickly become her favorites and are know to everyone as "The Brodie set" Miss. Brodie seems to live her life through these six girls. She teaches them lessons about art, love, and how to be a proper woman. Not only does she teach the girls about all of this but she tends to demonstrate it as well. She encourages the girls to become sexually active and tells them of all the stories of the love of her life and how she would not do it, but always hinting that she had. She would take them to plays and tell them about the greatest writers and poets, but it would always have to do with how polite they were, never really with the artists themselves.
Miss. Brodie is a very unique women and doesn't care what others think. She knows that the head mistress of the school despises her and is willing o do anything to get rid of her but she needs some ones help. The book goes through the lives of the girls from when they were younger and in their "prime" until they are older and no longer associate with Miss. Brodie. The big plot of the story however is that Miss. Brodie gets fired and it is because of someone in her precious Brodie set.
The book provides you with lessons of individuality, group identity, loyalty, rebellions, love, and relationships. A good book for anyone to read.
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Summary: Creme de la creme
Review: Spark's book is written like a fairy tale. The story isn't vague. I was delighted by the eccentric Miss Brodie and her unorthodox methods of educating her "Brodie set". Jean Brodie's emotional and physical reliance on "her girls" is decidedly exploitive. I had no idea Muriel Spark is this talented. I'll have to read more of her work. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a tale with a sting on the end of it.
Rating:
Summary: Prime reading pleasure
Review: Miss Jean Brodie teaches at a girls' school, and is the psychological guinea pig in one of Muriel Spark's most famous novels, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Six of her pupils become known as The Brodie Set after developing a close, if not inappropriately familiar relationship with the woman. As her "creme de la creme" slowly grow up and gradually lose their childish fascination with sex to become--for the most part--little vamps themselves, Miss Brodie and the aesthetic and moral values she instilled in them continue to dictate their decisions. But Miss Brodie, whose lively speech and love of art and the classics are endearing if sometimes pedantic, loses her job in the middle of her prime. She is told by the headmistress that one of her own betrayed her. The mystery in the novel is not who betrayed Miss Brodie in the end, but why, and how did it lead to this? How this betrayal is slowly unravelled in the retelling of Miss Brodie's prime, from the girls' adolescence through adulthood, is the most ingenious writing manouver in the novel. Written loosely in the historical context of pre-World War II Scotland, the novel is also a glimpse into Edinburgh and the girls' school mileau. For such a simple story, Spark's novel has refreshingly complex structure which forced me to question characters without reason or abhorr others for trivialities. And as for the "prime" of the title, the way Spark deals with aging, coming to terms with the past, and living a full and meaningful life makes me find Miss Brodie all the more lovable.
Rating: 
Summary: READER BEWARE :: THIS BOOK IS AWFUL
Review: I consider myself a fairly inteligent high school student who is eager to be challenged mentally. The problems with this book are several fold. It jumps around like a five-year on a jolt cola bender. The characters are unimpressive and serve somehow or another to emulate each other and form some sort of omni-character - which i dont care to figure out. The plot is about as unsubstantial and insignificant as an ant taking a dump. [note: the reason i am so profane is due to my hating the book and having to analyze the non-existent humor in it for my AP literature class, apologies around] THIS BOOK IS THE ATTEMPT BY MURIEL SPARK TO ACADEMICLLY POSTURE HERSELF INTO A POSITION OF PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITY AND DISPLAY HER COMPLEX AND INSIGNIFICANT FICTION FORMAT. MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS BOOK IS ONE PRETENSTIOUS(sic) PAGE AFTER ANOTHER. a mad millburn lit student (2002-2003)
Rating:
Summary: A Novel which will be read as long as Novels are read
Review: Based on the real life Christina Kay at the James Gillespie school, this classic is a must for anyone who would like to be considered literate in English Literature. Miss Jean Brodie is one of the most complex, idealistic, self-deluded, vulnerable, vital, romantic, preposterous, lonely, gregarious, outspoken and solipsistic character you will ever meet. She is the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle whereas others are only the squares on the two sides. Listen to her lessons: "Phrases like 'the team spirit' are always employed to cut across individualism, love, and personal loyalitiies. Ideas like 'team spirit' ought not to be enjoined on the female sex, expecially if they are of that dedicated nature whose virtues from time immemorial have been utterly opposed to the concept. Florence Nightingale knew nothing of team spirit, her mission was to save life regardless of the team to which it belonged. Cleopatra knew nothing of the team spirit if you read your Shakespeare. Take Helen of Troy! ... Where would team spirit have got Sybil Thorndike? She is the great actress and the rest of the cast have got the team spirit. Pavlova..."
Jean if you are out there now, marry me. Please. You're my kind of woman.
Rating:
Summary: A coy bit of Spark-le
Review: The problem with this book is that it's so gnomic. That is, its compact style and size are, I suppose, purposefully wrought in this way so that we may come away asking ourselves profound questions on the meaning of a mentor/student relationship, social hierarchies, art, betrayal, pedagogy etc. It's, you know, like the kind of thing you get from an old white-bearded yogi sitting on the top of some Himmalayan mountain: "The crow flies in square circles."-Now, what's the meaning of life?
The problem with this type of book is that it never takes the time (or Spark doesn't)to grab hold of your heart and mind for long enough to make you care about the deeper questions involved (and they are clearly there). Rather, it flits around like some intriguing butterfly on a lazy afternoon and then just as quickly hovers out of sight.
In other words, Spark and the book are too coy by half. You forget about the lilting butterfly by nightfall.
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