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Summary: I'll tell you
Review: What was she thinking? I'll tell you: She was thinking about what a great book this would be; and it is. With exlempary writing akin to that of McCrae in his "Bark of the Dogwood" or that of Min in some of her novels (think elegant and sophisticated without being overblown and stodgy), Zoe Heller has given us a wonderful story about human relationships or the lack thereof. Marked by great pacing, wonderful character development, and unusual twists, this remarkable read is bound to keep you up at night--a good thing.
Rating:
Summary: I'll tell you
Review: What was she thinking? I'll tell you: She was thinking about what a great book this would be; and it is. With exlempary writing akin to that of McCrae in his "Bark of the Dogwood" or that of Min in some of her novels (think elegant and sophisticated without being overblown and stodgy), Zoe Heller has given us a wonderful story about human relationships or the lack thereof. Marked by great pacing, wonderful character development, and unusual twists, this remarkable read is bound to keep you up at night--a good thing.
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Summary: Excellent
Review: What was she thinking? That's the natural response when someone hears of lurid stories on the news similar to that of the novel What Was She Thinking? In the novel, Sheba Hart, a forty-something teacher has an affair with a student at her school. The novel does not, as you might expect, tell us what Sheba was thinking at all, rather, Zoe Heller has focused on the thoughts of Barbara Covett, a sixty-something teacher at the school where Sheba also teaches. She is the narrator, and we get into her brain, so much so that the story isn't really about Sheba and young Steven Connolly, but about poor Barbara. Barbara has never married, has no friends, and is basically a social misfit. She is not the sort of person anyone would really choose to be friends with, but her position lends itself to an ability to tell a compelling story--about herself. She becomes obsessed with Sheba, even before she realizes what Sheba is doing with the student. The novel is really about their relationship, how it develops, and why, at least from Barbara's perspective, it develops. What Was She Thinking is a fascinating character study and moral tale that is reminiscent of Iris Murdoch's novels, as well as Ishiguro's Remains of the Day. I was very impressed with this novel, particularly because I thought it was just going to be about this student-teacher affair, when in reality, that affair serves as a springboard for a much deeper, more interesting story.
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Summary: A Romance and a Passionate Friend
Review: What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal is narrated by a late middle-aged teacher named Barbara. She has decided to write an account of her friendship with her former colleague Sheba in the hope of clarifying the events which led to Sheba's dismissal from their school. Sheba is a new pottery teacher who has been married for a long time with two children. Over the course of her first year teaching she strikes up an intimate friendship with a 15 year-old pupil named Connolly. The student's interest in learning is very welcome as Sheba's success with the rest of the students is minimal. Sheba's optimism about a student who actually cares about learning is quickly confused with feelings of lust. The two have an affair which becomes public and leads to Sheba's ultimate humiliation and isolation from everyone except the ever devoted Barbara. Although Barbara begins the novel professing to write about her friend Sheba, the narrative is gradually subsumed with details of Barbara's life. She is an extremely solitary individual prone to making sharp judgements about people. Her last close friendship ended abruptly. We can only infer that the reason for this was because Barbara became far too attached. Hoping to become the objective recorder of Sheba's plight, Barbara is revealed to be anything but an innocent bystander. Late in the novel Sheba gets a hold of these "notes" written by Barbara and denounces it all as lies calling into question the validity of Barbara's already suspect account. This tremendous novel was written with great subtlety and yields a fascinating plot fuelled by passion. It doesn't condone or condemn the legally inappropriate student-teacher relationship which takes place. Instead it illuminates the complexities involved where the moral line is blurred while making powerful statements about the nature of lust and obsession.
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Summary: Heller's crisp and razor sharp prose wins the day
Review: Zoe Heller has enjoyed extensive rave notices for "Notes On A Scandal (NOAS)". It was even considered good enough to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. I can see why. It is the uncomplicated yet articulate nature, and sheer precision and razor sharp quality of Heller's prose that impresses me most. She makes good writing seem so easy. That's because she hails from a tradition of fictional writing that includes icons like Muriel Spark. Don't expect the plot or the Sheba-Barbara relationship to develop along the lines of the infamous duo in "The Talented Mr Ripley". It is simply nowhere as sinister and readers expecting otherwise are bound to be disappointed. The story is also not about Sheba. She's only its nominal subject. It's really about Barbara, a strong touch of irony considering that she's the one telling us about Sheba's scandal but in the process reveals more about herself to us than the subject of her tale. Sheba is this attractive and middle class pottery teacher who shows her silly dippy side when she falls for an under-aged student who has a fleeting crush on her. Her disgraceful affair, once out in the public domain, wreaks havoc on her family and professional life. Lost, in shock and despair, she finds Barbara, her lonely spinster colleague who's in desperate need to be needed, just waiting by the side to step in and take charge of her shattered life. Barbara's prim humourless no-nonsense exterior betrays her own lower middle class insecurities. Her jealousy of Sheba's friendship with another teacher Sue doesn't in my opinion make her a closet or unconscious lesbian, more an embittered soul who's absolutely terrified of being an irrelevance to the lives of others. Funnily, or is it just my reading of it, the betrayal scene suggests that it isn't deliberate but accidental, an act of reflex precipitated by the feeling of hurt, embarrassment and jealousy. The novel winds down satisfactorily though a little unsteadily with just a hint of unnatural supremacy in a lopsided relationship. NOAS is indeed an excellent novel. It is good solid contemporary literature and deserves to be read and enjoyed.
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Summary: subversive! sly! sensual! superltive!
Review: zoe heller's booker shortlisted "notes on a scandal" is a masterpiece of fiction writing. great novels have this way of revealing more about yourself than you mighthave wanted to know. this is one such novel. in telling us the story of a teacher and her scandalous relationship with an underaged student through the eys of a 60 year old spinster, heller paints a subversive portrait of unhealthy obsessions. in turns poignant, pithy, funny and always revealing, heller's novel is a must read for fans of daring works of fiction.
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Summary: Controversial tale of twisted love and obsession.
Review: Zoe Heller's new book "What Was She Thinking?" is the daring story of Sheba Hart, a middle-aged woman who embarks on a torrid love affair with her fifteen-year-old student, Steven Connolly. Sheba is a married woman with two children, but her lust for Steven impels her to throw caution to the winds. She convinces herself that she is in love with the boy and that he reciprocates her feelings. Sheba's unhealthy obsession with Steven is matched by a fellow teacher's obsession with Sheba. Barbara is a dowdy and solitary spinster who is much older than Sheba. Aside from her cat, Portia, Barbara has no companions. Her prickly personality has driven away the few friends that she has ever made. She yearns for someone to love and care for, and she attaches herself to Sheba, soon becoming her close friend and confidante. Heller is a literate, precise writer. She has a sure ear for dialogue, a darkly comic touch, and a deep understanding of how perverse and irrational desperate people can be. The characters in "What Was She Thinking?" are funny, tragic, pathetic, and agonizingly real. We observe their misguided actions with horror, much as onlookers are mesmerized at the scene of a terrible car accident. Heller wisely picks Barbara as the narrator. Her recounting of Sheba's liaison with Steven and her description of the ebb and flow of her relationship with Sheba reveal as much about Barbara's demons as they do about Sheba's. All of the characters in this novel are well drawn, from the pompous school principal to Sheba's prickly and insolent teenaged daughter. Heller has written a controversial and disturbing book about an unpleasant topic. However, "What Was She Thinking?" is more than just a prurient tale of a love-starved teacher and her student. It is a fascinating and engrossing study of compulsive people on a path to self-destruction.
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