Notes on a Scandal
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Zoe Heller juggles journalism and novel-writing successfully in Notes on a Scandal and manages to say something interesting and complex about moral panics and the people who get caught up in them.
Pottery teacher Sheba lets herself be talked into an affair with 15-year-old pupil Connolly; part of what is admirable about this novel is that there is no real attempt to extenuate this--it's wrong and she knows this from the start, enough to lie to herself and others about it. It's an abuse of her very limited power--he is one of the few of her pupils interested in art, not interested in perpetually disrupting her lessons.
Sheba is not alone in abusing power, though, and Heller forces us to confront this unpleasant truth about the moralising, managerial headmaster, the husband freed by Sheba's action to seduce his own very slightly older students, and the relatives who never liked her much and can now disown her. Above all, she devotes most of the novel to Barbara, the older colleague who becomes Sheba's confidante and slowly manipulates the situation to make Sheba entirely dependent on her. This is a brilliantly gloomy study in obsession--and the obsession in question is not actually Sheba's with her underage lover. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Fascinating, brilliant, horribly addictive (Guardian )
Outstanding, brilliantly understated and blackly funny (Daily Telegraph )
Brilliant, nasty, gripping (Zadie Smith Observer )
Deliciously sinister (Daily Mail )
Compelling, dark, sexy (Observer )
Deliciously perverse, laugh-out-loud-funny (Vogue )
Outstanding, brilliantly understated and blackly funny (Daily Telegraph )
Brilliant, nasty, gripping (Zadie Smith Observer )
Deliciously sinister (Daily Mail )
Compelling, dark, sexy (Observer )
Deliciously perverse, laugh-out-loud-funny (Vogue )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A tale about two very different female high-school teachers, one old and frumpy, the other young and attractive. The frumpy one becomes obsessed with her observations of the new young teacher, who gets involved in a scandal that could ruin her career.
I ordered and read this book back in 2004 on the basis of its MAN Booker award nomination, having no idea of its subject matter. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, and it might not be for those who, like me, usually buy murder mysteries or crime thrillers - but I liked it from the very beginning and by the end, I loved it. Zoe Heller has a real talent for character development, and manages to portray the self-denied loneliness of a sixty-something spinster/schoolteacher in a sensitive and non-condescending manner in combination with a good deal of tragic humour as well. I must have completed two-thirds of the book before I realised that it wasn't the woman at the heart of the scandal who was the central character, but her note-maker and grateful friend who tells the story itself. The personalities of both women are artfully and painstakingly developed, along with their working colleagues and families, and for this reason I strongly recommend Notes on a Scandal as an education for other writers on how to tell a story with characters who readers can totally believe in. An astute observation on the trials and tribulations of the lonely, this book deserves its prize nomination and gets my strong recommendation.
In 2007 the story was released as a film, which I have seen twice. It's hard to imagine anyone other than Judi Dench in the role of the elderly spinster and notemaker - she was just perfect. For once, this was a film that managed to pretty much equal the high standards of the novel on which it was based.
I ordered and read this book back in 2004 on the basis of its MAN Booker award nomination, having no idea of its subject matter. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, and it might not be for those who, like me, usually buy murder mysteries or crime thrillers - but I liked it from the very beginning and by the end, I loved it. Zoe Heller has a real talent for character development, and manages to portray the self-denied loneliness of a sixty-something spinster/schoolteacher in a sensitive and non-condescending manner in combination with a good deal of tragic humour as well. I must have completed two-thirds of the book before I realised that it wasn't the woman at the heart of the scandal who was the central character, but her note-maker and grateful friend who tells the story itself. The personalities of both women are artfully and painstakingly developed, along with their working colleagues and families, and for this reason I strongly recommend Notes on a Scandal as an education for other writers on how to tell a story with characters who readers can totally believe in. An astute observation on the trials and tribulations of the lonely, this book deserves its prize nomination and gets my strong recommendation.
In 2007 the story was released as a film, which I have seen twice. It's hard to imagine anyone other than Judi Dench in the role of the elderly spinster and notemaker - she was just perfect. For once, this was a film that managed to pretty much equal the high standards of the novel on which it was based.
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Zoe Heller's novel about a slightly absent-minded teacher having an affair with her young pupil takes a sinister tone from the start. Told through her 'ever so devoted' best friend we discover a woman who has become the obsession of her doting carer. Heller flawlessly reveals Barbara's obsession through dark and very observational humour. This is a literary Single White Female with the narrator as a lonely old bitter, jealous and sinister woman living vicariously through her friend, taking advantage of her situation with chilling overtones that makes you really believe that she is sitting at night rocking and wearing her friend's clothes. Excellently written, very funny, dark with twinges of scary. Highly recommended as a very believable account of an obsessive woman and her strange life!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - it is gripping and easy to read. Pick it up and you won't put it down until you've finished it - it's that engaging.
Zoe Heller has drawn two very interesting, complex protagonists in her character-driven drama, with its issues of loneliness, family and sexuality driving the prose. Heller is interested in the psychology of those issues, and she has considered their implications to great effect through her characters.
My only real gripe would be that occasionally it felt like the author prioritised brevity at the expense of backround and detail in order to make this a very tight, well-paced read. Perhaps this was down to her journalistic backround editing her a little over-zealously. But really this is a compliment because I could have happliy continued had there been another 200 pages !
Highly recommended.
Zoe Heller has drawn two very interesting, complex protagonists in her character-driven drama, with its issues of loneliness, family and sexuality driving the prose. Heller is interested in the psychology of those issues, and she has considered their implications to great effect through her characters.
My only real gripe would be that occasionally it felt like the author prioritised brevity at the expense of backround and detail in order to make this a very tight, well-paced read. Perhaps this was down to her journalistic backround editing her a little over-zealously. But really this is a compliment because I could have happliy continued had there been another 200 pages !
Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A clever story
I very much enjoyed reading this book. The story is well constructed and the plot opens out nicely as the book progresses. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Jonny Monny
Disturbing, thought provoking read
I read this book when it was first published and as I was in between books, picked this up again and re-read. It has lost none of its allure second time round. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lindsey
gripping and well written
I missed this book first time around when it won all the prizes. But I had enjoyed the first half of the film recently. So I bought the book to see how it finished. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs R Cook
very overrated book
Storyline of an art teacher falling for a pupil. Another teacher who is infatuated with art teacher threatens to reveal her secret. Read more
Published 4 months ago by anna
definitely worth a look
Zoe Heller weaves an interesting and dark tale from beginning to end in Notes on a Scandal. This fictional but sinister drama gripped me from the first few pages and held me... Read more
Published 5 months ago by dani
Surprised me
I do not go for this type of book generally. But having caught the last 30 minutes of the film on TV, I decided to give the original book a chance. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Louis the First
very enjoyable
I picked up this book with no idea of the subject matter having never seen the film-I was pleased with the engaging writing style it flows very easily and the pages go by... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Ladyg
Beautifully sinister
I caught the film on TV a year ago and loved it, however, the book is so much better. Beautifully sinister, I could not bring myself to put this down.
Published 8 months ago by Maisie
Zoe Heller's Notes On A Scandal - Audiobook
Bought the 3CD Audiobook of Zoe Heller's "Notes On A Scandal", after seeing it profiled on the BBC's "Faulks On Fiction" series last year. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Musical anorak
Oh Barbara
The story is told in the form of memoirs of a elderly spinster teacher, Barbara, and is about a new teacher starting at the school and having an affair with one of her pupils. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Alice in Wonderland
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