Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize Now the Major Motion Picture Notes on a Scandal<...
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May 16, 2008
Nico
rated it: 
An unforgiving, cold-eyed, wickedly beautiful little book.
A warning: if you have ever been crushingly lonely -- particularly if you have, on occasion, feebly attempted to rationalize that loneliness as a burden of your superior and isolating intelligence -- then I suspect that you, like me, will feel personally filleted by certain passages in this book.
Here's an example of Heller's brutally precise understanding of this manner of loneliness; what strikes me in this pass More...
A warning: if you have ever been crushingly lonely -- particularly if you have, on occasion, feebly attempted to rationalize that loneliness as a burden of your superior and isolating intelligence -- then I suspect that you, like me, will feel personally filleted by certain passages in this book.
Here's an example of Heller's brutally precise understanding of this manner of loneliness; what strikes me in this pass More...
Jan 30, 2012
Petra X
rated it: 
Wonderfully-written, brilliantly-drawn characters who each vie for the title of 'most despicable person in the book' as they live through a most despicable situation of a middle-aged teacher having an affair with a young pupil and the Machiavellian machinations of an older, bitter teacher, a repressed lesbian. I would imagine it translated better into a film, especially given the stellar cast of Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, than it read as a book.
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Nov 24, 2008
Judith
rated it: 
I very much enjoyed the movie so I was slightly nervous about reading the book ~ how could it be better?
Well it is ~ the narrative method is so much clearer and it makes for a wonderful read. Not only is there the fascination with Sheba and her affair, but also the layer created by Barbara's manipulation and brutal honesty about being so.
Well it is ~ the narrative method is so much clearer and it makes for a wonderful read. Not only is there the fascination with Sheba and her affair, but also the layer created by Barbara's manipulation and brutal honesty about being so.
Dec 02, 2008
Alison
rated it: 
Is it fair to say that a book is predictable when you've already seen the movie version? I think that anybody who's dabbled in the literature of stalker creepiness (e.g. Pale Fire) knows what it's all about: stalkers don't ever recognize themselves as stalkers; stalkers justify their stalkiness on the grounds that their superior understanding/compassion/intelligence/whatever must be captivating (ha literally) to whomever they're stalking. It's a discourse of exceptionalism, and the fact that
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Sep 17, 2011
Nicola
rated it:
I really enjoyed this one! It wasn't really anything like I expected it to be but I say that as a good thing. The writing is beautiful- it's intelligent without being clunky and flows incredibly well, making it a pleasure to read. Both Barbara and Sheba are portrayed brilliantly. They're complex and well developed characters and I felt like we got a good sense of who they are from all angles. Barbara tells her story well and honestly had me laughing out loud more than once which I love in novels
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Jul 28, 2008
Traci
rated it:
I thought this book was amazing and that the movie, while different, really got to the heart of what the book was about-- not an easy task for such a rich and complex read. The thing that I thought was really amazing about this theme, in both the book and movie, was the way that it questioned our preconceived notions of perversion and how those notions are affected by age and gender. If you want to talk legally Sheba was the only criminal, her affections were the ones that were inappropriate,
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Jul 23, 2007
Elaine
rated it:
Grim, grim, grim. Here's an unstinting, gaze-unaverted look at the nastiness, perversion and self-deluding aspects of human nature. One woman would do anything to keep a friendship, another would do anything to seduce a young pupil. Zoe Heller renders all of this in tense, compelling, page-turning drama, yet leavened by shards of brilliant dark comedy that is "humor in the jugular vein", to borrow a phrase from Mad Magazine. Barbara Covett, in observing the under-arms stubble of a te
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Jun 14, 2007
Erik
rated it:
I read the book then watched the movie. Okay, I did it the other way around, but this is practically a textbook example of how to succeed with a screen adaptation. Normally we're all whinging that the movie is not as good as the book, but here, playwright Patrick Marber’s screenplay is actually superior to the original. (Which is good too).
Author Zoe Heller is a well-known newspaper columnist in England, and for her novel examining an art teacher's illicit relationship with a fifteen year More...
Author Zoe Heller is a well-known newspaper columnist in England, and for her novel examining an art teacher's illicit relationship with a fifteen year More...
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Dec 16, 2009
Amanda
rated it:
Not a poorly written book, but I had a difficult time empathizing with the characters. When I read a book, typically I like to come away with something: more knowledge, deeper understanding, empathy, or just a riotous good time. None of that happened with this book. I just felt empty and sad, and very baffled by these characters. I could empathize in some aspects with Barbara, but try as I might to gain some sort of insight into Sheba's psyche and relate to even a shred of what motivated her, I
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Mar 31, 2009
Merty
rated it:
I'm reading The Believers right now. I'm so glad she came out with a new book. Zoe Heller is an amazing writer.
A social satire, a must-read.
A social satire, a must-read.
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Sep 04, 2009
Joe
rated it:
This book is outstanding! A writer's tour-de-force. One of the best first-person narratives by a deranged character since Edgar Allan Poe. Page 197 and the first paragraph of page 198 contain the greatest testimony of human anguish that I've ever read. Brava Ms. Heller!
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Jan 12, 2009
Carrie
rated it:
NB - I wrote this review before I saw the film (indeed, before there was a film, so I didn't mention it)
New book! - This is the story of a teacher, Sheba, who has an affair with her sixteen-year old student. It is told by her friend and colleague, Barbara, and it becomes clear over the course of the novel that the real story is Barbara's a she lets out her own failings while ostensibly telling her friend's story. The book is well written, in the sense that its eminently readable. The More...
New book! - This is the story of a teacher, Sheba, who has an affair with her sixteen-year old student. It is told by her friend and colleague, Barbara, and it becomes clear over the course of the novel that the real story is Barbara's a she lets out her own failings while ostensibly telling her friend's story. The book is well written, in the sense that its eminently readable. The More...
Sep 26, 2011
Alicia
rated it:
I was intrigued immediately, mainly because of the narrator. When Barbara started with her motives for writing the book I thought it was a bit odd.
I have so many things to write about this book that I don't know where to begin. But, I will attempt it!
First things first the characters: Though the book is about a scandal between a teacher and a student, it has an excellent plot because it focusses not so much on the affair itself, but the people and the aftermath. The story is More...
I have so many things to write about this book that I don't know where to begin. But, I will attempt it!
First things first the characters: Though the book is about a scandal between a teacher and a student, it has an excellent plot because it focusses not so much on the affair itself, but the people and the aftermath. The story is More...
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Sep 06, 2011
Jools
rated it:
This is one of those stories that you’ve read before. Or at least you think you have. A sexy new teacher, Sheba, joins the staff of a North London comprehensive school and within a few months has started an affair with one of her fifteen year old pupils, Steven. It would simply be a rehashing of tabloid fodder at best if that were the real story, and I’m not dishing up a spoiler there, you find out in the foreword what happens between the two of them and what happens once the affair is discovere
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Aug 29, 2011
Helen
rated it:
Oh we all know this one but in case you don't, here is a tiny synopsis. Yummy and desirable teacher, Bathsheba "Sheba" Hart comes to teach a "prole" school and ends up having an illict affair with a 15 year old. This tale is told through the eyes of retired History teacher, Barbara Covett.
I do admit I watched the film but I must say the book is miles better. I have read this book at least 10 times and I am still looking for some stability in this book. There isn't More...
I do admit I watched the film but I must say the book is miles better. I have read this book at least 10 times and I am still looking for some stability in this book. There isn't More...
Aug 12, 2011
Julianne
rated it:
Blurb;
From the first day that Sheba Hart joins the staff of St George’s, history teacher Barbara Covett is convinced that she has found a kindred spirit. Babara’s loyalty to her new friend is passionate and unstinting and when Sheba is discovered to be having an illicit affair with one of her young pupils, Barbara quickly elects herself as Sheba’s chief defender. But all is not as it first seems in this dark story and, as Sheba will soon discover, a friend can be just as treacherous as any More...
From the first day that Sheba Hart joins the staff of St George’s, history teacher Barbara Covett is convinced that she has found a kindred spirit. Babara’s loyalty to her new friend is passionate and unstinting and when Sheba is discovered to be having an illicit affair with one of her young pupils, Barbara quickly elects herself as Sheba’s chief defender. But all is not as it first seems in this dark story and, as Sheba will soon discover, a friend can be just as treacherous as any More...
Apr 17, 2011
Claire
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Oct 04, 2010
Mari
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Why do we raise our eyebrows at relationships between two people of markedly different ages? Why are we in such a hurry to classify certain romantic entanglements as being "exploitative", and can we ever be clear exactly who is exploiting whom anyway? These are just some of the questions you're likely to ask yourself while reading Notes on a Scandal.
On paper, this looks like a pretty cut-and-dried case: a 42-year-old married female teacher pursues a sexual relationship with More...
On paper, this looks like a pretty cut-and-dried case: a 42-year-old married female teacher pursues a sexual relationship with More...
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May 03, 2010
Chris
rated it:
Sex is a complicted subject. Sometimes, literature doesn't make it easier. Neither do movies or television. There is something to be said for this; honest truths about sex and embarassment would lead to less children; however, it is rare to find a book that looks at sex and actually has something to say besides the words "drenched in her honey".
Heller does examine sexual issues in this book, and the phrase "drenched in her honey" doesn't come up at all. She ta More...
Heller does examine sexual issues in this book, and the phrase "drenched in her honey" doesn't come up at all. She ta More...
Dec 28, 2009
trishtrash
rated it:
This is, at its core, a novel about obsession; the narrator’s for her young colleague Sheba Hart, and Sheba’s for the fifteen year old pupil with whom she is having an affair. There is something slightly lunatic and sad about these two women; At 60, spinsterly, closeted lesbian (closeted, or not inclined to admit it in her notes, or maybe just unaware of her own tendencies, it’s cleverly left for the reader to judge) Barbara pins all her hopes of finding a connection, of no longer being alone,
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Aug 04, 2009
Cindy
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Barbara Covett, the narrator of Heller's novel, appears to be an opinionated but harmless, even kindly, older woman who has taken an interest in the naiive struggling new teacher Sheba. It is only as the novel progresses that the reader begins to realize Barbara's true nature, that she is in fact malicious, condescending, deceitful, conniving, and consumed with spite and hatred toward almost everyone she meets. Since she is the narrator, however, she relays her opinions of others as if they are
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Jul 13, 2009
This is one of those disquieting novels that proffers its apparent theme then cunningly reveals itself to be about something else altogether. As its title and first pages suggest, its surface plot concerns a tabloid-pleasing sizzler of a scandal. Sheba Hart, a 41-year-old pottery teacher, arrives at a dreggy north London comp trailing the kind of tarnished glamour that sets the school's sex-starved males mildly abuzz. The suitor who presses his case first is 15-year-old Steven Connolly, a reason
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Jul 12, 2009
Jenita
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 05, 2011
Laura
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I loved this book and read it in two sittings. Although the blurb describes this book as being based around Sheba's relationship with her pupil, it actually turns out to be about the relationship between two women; Sheba and her friend Barbara.
Zoe Heller writes the book from Barbara's perspective, so you never are quite sure whether to trust her voice or not, never sure which 'side' you're on. That changes as the story progresses and Barbara's thoughts change. The opposing lives of b More...
Zoe Heller writes the book from Barbara's perspective, so you never are quite sure whether to trust her voice or not, never sure which 'side' you're on. That changes as the story progresses and Barbara's thoughts change. The opposing lives of b More...
Mar 30, 2009
Catherine
rated it:
"Notes on a Scandal" tells the story of two slightly with completely skewed and slightly perverse world views. One obsessively justifies her love affair with a fifteen year old, and the other chronicles her betrayal of her best friend without realizing its implications. It was very dark, but not totally disturbing. While I certainly cannot empathize with starting an affair with a highschooler, I enjoyed reading about Sheba's twisted mindset, and seeing her from her own point of view
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Jan 11, 2009
What was she thinking: Notes on a Scandal, by Zoe Heller. B-plus.
Downloaded from Audible.com. Narrated by Nadia May.
This book was made into a movie. Somehow I think the movie would have been better than the book. But this is a character study really of a middle-aged single female teacher who is lonely, opinionated, can’t keep friends because she interferes in their lives. She befriends a new teacher, Bathsheba, (known as Sheba) who seems at first to need help handling her studen More...
Downloaded from Audible.com. Narrated by Nadia May.
This book was made into a movie. Somehow I think the movie would have been better than the book. But this is a character study really of a middle-aged single female teacher who is lonely, opinionated, can’t keep friends because she interferes in their lives. She befriends a new teacher, Bathsheba, (known as Sheba) who seems at first to need help handling her studen More...
Jan 06, 2009
Allison
rated it:
If there is one book a single woman in her 30s should not read, it’s this one. Not that I’m in my 30s, of course, but I have always been told my maturity exceeds my age, so for all intents and purposes, I may as well be 30. I hang out with people in their 30s. Who have husbands. And ex-husbands. And children.
In any case, the reason no single middle-aged woman should read this book is because it so poignantly depicts the lonely, solitary life of its protagonist. Yet the novel itself i
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Sep 01, 2011
cheryl
rated it:
It is rare for me to see a movie and THEN read the book but the reviews suggest I'm not alone in doing this with Heller's book. I saw the movie some time back and I do recall it being good but I honestly didn't seek the book out because of it, instead I just happened upon the title online and decided to order it.
The book is narrated by Barbara, a long-time teacher who says she wants to chronicle the true story of her colleage Sheba's affair with a teenage student. The narrato More...
The book is narrated by Barbara, a long-time teacher who says she wants to chronicle the true story of her colleage Sheba's affair with a teenage student. The narrato More...
Jul 16, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
Barbara Covett is a single and rather lonely teacher at St. George’s school. When Sheba Hart joins that staff as the new pottery teacher, Barbara takes notice of her and anxiously waits for Sheba to notice and become friends with her. As their friendship develops, unbeknownst to Barbara, Sheba also began a relationship with one of her students, Steven Connolly. When the affair is discovered and Sheba’s life is turned upside down, Barbara is there to take care of Sheba and chronicle her secret
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Apr 15, 2011
Patrick
rated it:
I can tell I will really like this book. For me this book has a similar feel of the Ishiguro's Remain's of the Day in which the real story remains in the subtext of the story which I love about British writers. The ending I thought was disappointing and anti-climatic.
Sheba Hart seems to be a artistic dreamy personality that is both quiet and mysterious although her silence seeming proper manner hides her warmth and irreverent nature once she is comfortable with the company she is w More...
Sheba Hart seems to be a artistic dreamy personality that is both quiet and mysterious although her silence seeming proper manner hides her warmth and irreverent nature once she is comfortable with the company she is w More...
