Hmmm... where do I start with this book. That's not necessarily a very good way is it, lol. It's difficult to know where to start when something you have read leaves you with so much to say. Okay, let me start by saying that it was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2003, which is a fair achievement in itself. I admit, I am a tad sceptical of book prizes. Not a lot, but a little. They are kind of like the new years honours list for books. But who's to say what a good book is? In my mind, that accolade can only be given by the reader and their relationship with the story. Because of this, you get the impression that you should read it out of principle, to see if it really is that good...
.
The blurb on the back is what made me pick it up initially (I actually bought it from a shop, a real shop - and paid full price for once!). Sheba Hart, a 41 year old pottery teacher at St George's, is having an illicit affair with one of the 15 year old pupils in the school. Barbara Covett is her only confidante, a spinster in her sixties and fellow teacher who writes Sheba's story during the fall-out generated by the affair in order to 'record' events and show the 'complexities' of Sheba's character. However Barbara, subconsciously, has her own agenda and soon leaves you wondering who you can trust. The blurb goes on to say that this is a story about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. It probably wasn't until the very last paragraph that I truly understood what was meant by this statement.
.
Let me begin by saying that I did enjoy reading this book a great deal. Due to the character of Barbara and her superior attitude there are a fair few words within the text I had never come across before. Usually when this happens I go look them up in the dictionary but I was too involved in the book to be able to put it down long enough to do this. When I first started reading the book I was reminded of those books and extracts that they give you in GCSE and A level English Lit classes in school. The ones where you are asked to read the subtext and dissect the characters in order to gain the true meaning being issued. At this I remember thinking (in a rather chavish way I admit) that here was a book that was going to make me work hard and think too much, lol. I have never known this to ever be a bad trait for a book to have, but I think my mind got stuck in 'classroom mode' for a moment and suddenly I was being forced to read books and note subtexts in order to pass exams rather than for the pleasure of choosing too. No matter, it passed quickly :) Maybe my thought on this was influenced by the plot since part of it is set in a school atmosphere.
.
When I first started reading the story I thought the message being given out was that of True Love and how True Love has no boundaries, that it can not be tied to a specific age or character or the restrictions of society, and that when it comes it is relentless and all consuming. I think that for Sheba this may have been the case. She was in love with Connolly and I think truly believed that they had something special. But this is where Sheba's life and character have influence over her actions. Married at 20 to a pretentious know-all named Richard, daughter of a famous economist father and a mother who doted on her husbands success, you can sympathise with her need for affection and can begin to rationalise how she thought the relationship with Connolly could work. However, love is clearly not what Connolly had in mind. He sees her in the way that most 15 year old boys would see a pretty older woman - he fancies her, he has the opportunity to sleep with her, so he takes it - it's as simple as that for him. The way Heller describes the meetings between the two is spot on. I think we have all been with someone at some point in our lives who treats us with nonchelance and so we can relate to why Sheba doesn't just call it a day when he turns distant and cold and chooses not to see the decline for what it is. She is clinging to the remnants of something for what it once was rather than for what is has become.
.
Then there is Barbara. Her lonely and meaningless life seems to deafen you with it's quiet monotony. There is one line which encompasses the idea of it completely. Something along the lines of: married people (or people with meaning in their lives) can not know what it is to construct their entire weekend around a trip to the laundrette. It's classic! Heller knows exactly how to describe the situation in a way that you would think only someone who had ever been in that situation would be able to do. I've not read much about Zoe Heller, but I imagine what with being a writer and a columnist living in New York, having a screenwriter husband and two children her life would be pretty full. How could she ever be able to encapsulate what it must be like to be so lonely? But this is the type of thing that differentiates writers from good writers - just like actors and good actors. And probably why Notes on a Scandal was nominated for a Booker Prize in the first place (the book that won it must have been bloody marvellous - or else one of those really pretentious books with a hidden context that no one except ardent literary expects will ever fully understand - you know full well the ones I mean!). We've all been in a situation where we have nothing planned for the weekend, or no party to go to on New Years, but imagine living that existence day in, day out as Barbara does. So again, you can partly understand why she ends up betraying Sheba in a moment of furious rage and jealousy. With these characters in mind it is fairly safe to assume that Heller's choosing of Barbara and Sheba's surnames is no accidental coincidence...
.
Heller's writing is clever throughout. There are certain paragraphs and sentences that I read a number of times such was their ability to make me laugh or the point that they were making was so meaningful. Once obnoxious male character in the staff room at the beginning was described as sitting with his legs "aggressively akimbo" - the subsequent image making me laugh out loud. Other things that she says hit home in a rather unsettling manner, but only because you know what she is saying is true. Once such paragraph struck me as particularly insightful
.
"That's the thing about people who believe in God, isn't it? The love they have for Him never ends does it. He never lets them down. I read some writer once , who said that love - he was talking about romantic love - love is a mystery and once the solution is found, it evaporates"
.
I have to say that the ending is very smart. The very last line in particular of Barbara's narrative leaves you with a very sinister feeling... and you suddenly understand. You can't help but feel sorry for Sheba and what the future holds for her and Barbara. Submissive Sheba who sees the world in it's innocence, and lonely, calculating Barbara who having been on her own for so long is used to having things as she likes them. You know the relationship will never end happily. But on this, Heller leaves us to make up our own minds. It does however leave you with a very unsettling feeling as you close the back cover of the book... like you are somehow glad that you can close the chapter of Barbara and Sheba's disturbing futures and not have to think it anymore...
.
Jeez I have gone on forever and ever! I do apologise :) I finished reading the book this morning so I guess all the ideas and impressions left on me are still fresh in my mind. I feel I must also apologise for the minimal effort I put in on my last book blog (Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone). It's not that it wasn't as good - just different. And I am the kind of person that if I have something constructive to say then I say it. But if I haven't... then I don't :)
.
The blurb on the back is what made me pick it up initially (I actually bought it from a shop, a real shop - and paid full price for once!). Sheba Hart, a 41 year old pottery teacher at St George's, is having an illicit affair with one of the 15 year old pupils in the school. Barbara Covett is her only confidante, a spinster in her sixties and fellow teacher who writes Sheba's story during the fall-out generated by the affair in order to 'record' events and show the 'complexities' of Sheba's character. However Barbara, subconsciously, has her own agenda and soon leaves you wondering who you can trust. The blurb goes on to say that this is a story about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. It probably wasn't until the very last paragraph that I truly understood what was meant by this statement.
.
Let me begin by saying that I did enjoy reading this book a great deal. Due to the character of Barbara and her superior attitude there are a fair few words within the text I had never come across before. Usually when this happens I go look them up in the dictionary but I was too involved in the book to be able to put it down long enough to do this. When I first started reading the book I was reminded of those books and extracts that they give you in GCSE and A level English Lit classes in school. The ones where you are asked to read the subtext and dissect the characters in order to gain the true meaning being issued. At this I remember thinking (in a rather chavish way I admit) that here was a book that was going to make me work hard and think too much, lol. I have never known this to ever be a bad trait for a book to have, but I think my mind got stuck in 'classroom mode' for a moment and suddenly I was being forced to read books and note subtexts in order to pass exams rather than for the pleasure of choosing too. No matter, it passed quickly :) Maybe my thought on this was influenced by the plot since part of it is set in a school atmosphere.
.
When I first started reading the story I thought the message being given out was that of True Love and how True Love has no boundaries, that it can not be tied to a specific age or character or the restrictions of society, and that when it comes it is relentless and all consuming. I think that for Sheba this may have been the case. She was in love with Connolly and I think truly believed that they had something special. But this is where Sheba's life and character have influence over her actions. Married at 20 to a pretentious know-all named Richard, daughter of a famous economist father and a mother who doted on her husbands success, you can sympathise with her need for affection and can begin to rationalise how she thought the relationship with Connolly could work. However, love is clearly not what Connolly had in mind. He sees her in the way that most 15 year old boys would see a pretty older woman - he fancies her, he has the opportunity to sleep with her, so he takes it - it's as simple as that for him. The way Heller describes the meetings between the two is spot on. I think we have all been with someone at some point in our lives who treats us with nonchelance and so we can relate to why Sheba doesn't just call it a day when he turns distant and cold and chooses not to see the decline for what it is. She is clinging to the remnants of something for what it once was rather than for what is has become.
.
Then there is Barbara. Her lonely and meaningless life seems to deafen you with it's quiet monotony. There is one line which encompasses the idea of it completely. Something along the lines of: married people (or people with meaning in their lives) can not know what it is to construct their entire weekend around a trip to the laundrette. It's classic! Heller knows exactly how to describe the situation in a way that you would think only someone who had ever been in that situation would be able to do. I've not read much about Zoe Heller, but I imagine what with being a writer and a columnist living in New York, having a screenwriter husband and two children her life would be pretty full. How could she ever be able to encapsulate what it must be like to be so lonely? But this is the type of thing that differentiates writers from good writers - just like actors and good actors. And probably why Notes on a Scandal was nominated for a Booker Prize in the first place (the book that won it must have been bloody marvellous - or else one of those really pretentious books with a hidden context that no one except ardent literary expects will ever fully understand - you know full well the ones I mean!). We've all been in a situation where we have nothing planned for the weekend, or no party to go to on New Years, but imagine living that existence day in, day out as Barbara does. So again, you can partly understand why she ends up betraying Sheba in a moment of furious rage and jealousy. With these characters in mind it is fairly safe to assume that Heller's choosing of Barbara and Sheba's surnames is no accidental coincidence...
.
Heller's writing is clever throughout. There are certain paragraphs and sentences that I read a number of times such was their ability to make me laugh or the point that they were making was so meaningful. Once obnoxious male character in the staff room at the beginning was described as sitting with his legs "aggressively akimbo" - the subsequent image making me laugh out loud. Other things that she says hit home in a rather unsettling manner, but only because you know what she is saying is true. Once such paragraph struck me as particularly insightful
.
"That's the thing about people who believe in God, isn't it? The love they have for Him never ends does it. He never lets them down. I read some writer once , who said that love - he was talking about romantic love - love is a mystery and once the solution is found, it evaporates"
.
I have to say that the ending is very smart. The very last line in particular of Barbara's narrative leaves you with a very sinister feeling... and you suddenly understand. You can't help but feel sorry for Sheba and what the future holds for her and Barbara. Submissive Sheba who sees the world in it's innocence, and lonely, calculating Barbara who having been on her own for so long is used to having things as she likes them. You know the relationship will never end happily. But on this, Heller leaves us to make up our own minds. It does however leave you with a very unsettling feeling as you close the back cover of the book... like you are somehow glad that you can close the chapter of Barbara and Sheba's disturbing futures and not have to think it anymore...
.
Jeez I have gone on forever and ever! I do apologise :) I finished reading the book this morning so I guess all the ideas and impressions left on me are still fresh in my mind. I feel I must also apologise for the minimal effort I put in on my last book blog (Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone). It's not that it wasn't as good - just different. And I am the kind of person that if I have something constructive to say then I say it. But if I haven't... then I don't :)
