I don’t think that spoilers matter here, to be honest – the narrator regularly refers forward to things that haven’t happened yet, and I knew the plot going in and still loved it). (Note – it’s difficult to review this without talking about character development, which really drives the plot, though I have avoided details. It is really a superlative book – as can be seen in this very long post about a very short book.
If I had written this review and thought it all through before I wrote my Five Favourites post for 2021, it might well have been on my list. The novel is set in the early-mid 1930s, before the outbreak of war, and it covers politics, religion, love, Renaissance art, and psychology – all within 115 pages. It follows “the Brodie set”, a group of six Edinburgh schoolgirls taught by semi-liberated spinster Miss Jean Brodie for two years as impressionable preteens, and singled out by her for special attention and care throughout the remainder of their adolescence. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark, is the work that made her famous, and the first of her books that I’ve read (though it definitely won’t be the last). Though based in the 30's and written in the 60's there still.is a dated quality that makes me appreciate its brevity.I’ll be honest – I only picked this little novella up from my shelves because I wanted to reach 52 books on Goodreads before the end of 2021. Choosing the #audible option, the book is very short and that's probably a good thing. Though only teaching these girls for a year, she continues a close relationship with some for decades who both defend and defame this most unconventional teacher. Set in an Edinburgh school for young women, teacher Jean Brodie has an unorthodox teaching style gathering around her a loyal set of acolytes who adore and are intrigued by her tales of a great love lost in the Great War, passionate indulgences in art and music and the men who make it and her fascination with European despots.
And while certainly not of a pornographic nature, it is a story that illustrates the sexual frustration of post-Victorian #scotland at a time when women were carving out there own paths. As it was #76 on the #modernlibrarytop100novels, I finally was faced to confront my bias. I was pretty young and new nothing about it but my overly creative mind was convinced that the book was "dirty" and that residual impression remained long after I knew better. A Story Past Its Prime The first time I ever encountered #theprimeofmissjeanbrodie by #murielspark was as a young elementary school student reviewing my grandmother's book collection.
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