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"Notes On A Scandal" finished
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| "Notes On A Scandal" finished |
| 02.22.05 (5:26 am) [edit] |
First of all,let me say I liked and enjoyed this book a lot.I`m not surprised at all that it was shortlisted for Booker Prize.The story and the characters are drawn with true mastery.The characters and events are developed with psychological depth which make the novel much more than an ordinary read.
I saw the following line in Amazon`s reviews,and cannot agree more with it:
"A lonely schoolteacher reveals more than she intends when she records the story of her best friend’s affair with a pupil in this sly, insightful novel".
The story sounds simple.Barbara Covett- a teacher and a spinster,tells us the story of her friend Sheba and her love affair with a pupil at the college. Safely protected in her dried decent life,in her impeccable reputation,Barbara offers us,as she thinks,a truthful,unbiassed account.
At first,Barbara seems like being in the back,on the second line; she is only a voice,a narrator,a documentalist who is taking notes to preserve the events and help the process.She pretends to be a loving and comforting friend-the only one left. But as the story develops,Barbara moves more and more to the centre and we see that she is far more complex and controversial person.Unhappy spinster, Barbara lives with the feeling of personal failure and unsatisfaction.Little solace she finds in being a senior and respected teacher at St. George`s College. Given up the hopes for men to come into her life,she tends to form intense and demanding friendships with women in which she likes to dominate.
To make a friendship with Sheba becomes not an easy task.Barbara feels that Sheba is elusive; she guards herself from dependency and doesn`t allow Barbara to rule.I think the Sheba`s cautious attitude makes Barbara even more ambitious to "conquer" her. I would say that Barbara`s friendship with women bear a certain homosexual character;not in action but in motivation. She wants to conquer women because no man has ever wanted to conquer her;she wants a friend to be totally dependant on her and she gets bitterly jealous about the friendship of Sheba and Sue,for example. Barbara is also jealous about the love affair between Sheba and the 15-years old Steven.All this reveals her as a bitter,dark person who is ready to thread on people`s lives in order to get some guilty,miserable satisfaction in seeing them fall,in seeing their lives falling apart.When the scandal finally bursts out,Barbara sees certain advantages for her. Sheba is rejected by Barbara`s two enemies and rivals: Richard (Sheba`s husband) and Steven. In fact,she is rejected by everyone.Now Barbara rules.Now she is in charge.But it is a bitter and shameful victory.
Few words about Sheba. I symphatised more with her although she was not so pleasant all the time.She ruined her family for the sake of a doubious short-lived pleasure.She acted stupidly many times. She didn`t know how to change her life,how to bring more joy in it and took wrongly the persuasions of Steven as a new beginning.I think Zoe Heller has done and excellent job depicting the various stages in the affair with the teenager.At first,Steven is attracted by her,as it often may happen when a boy is a hormonal mess and unexperienced in love.He wants sex,he thinks it would be super cool to be with such an attractive,experienced,ma ture woman.Then his passion subsides,he finds Sheba too demanding,too possessive.He wants her but at the same time he is repulsed by the very fact of her submission to his needs.Gradually,he senses her weakness; he feels endangered by her. There is a huge difference between the motives for this relationship: for Steven,Sheba is just the beginning of a sexual and love life. For her,however,he is perhaps the last love affair. So it was pretty normal that after some time he turned to other girls and forsake her.
Once more,I enjoyed the book and devoured it in a very short time.A recommended and refined read.
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