Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal

Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller is a well written book, with a good story line. A great read!

Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal - A seductive, surprising, and subversive novel about a woman who goes "out of control" and a woman who "takes control." Sheba, a mother of two -- a morose teenage girl and a boy with Down's, married to a pompous academic, takes her first job in years as a ceramics teacher in a tough London school, and becomes involved with, or seduces, a working-class male student of 15. In spite of advice from the narrator, Barbara, a 60-ish colleague teacher, Sheba presses her affair. Barbara admits she has tried to get close to Sheba and provides advice, advice ignored or resented. The plot thickens. Scandal errupts. The novel is a composite of brilliant scenes, deftly drawn and written, studded with comic turns, with the tragedy left to the reader to decide. In passing, the upper class, academics, and "low rent" schools get Heller's knife, placed so deftly. A marvelous, rare novel, only her second. We will read, with pleasure, more from Zoe Heller.

Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal is a very clever, gripping story of obsession, loneliness and lust. I found the narrator, Barbara, quite repellent, but at the same time fascinating. She was essentially a sad old spinster, but there were darker elements to her, which were offered with great subtlety through excellent use of language and imagery from Heller (for example, who would guess that a dear sweet old woman would rub her cat's face in the mess it had made if it didn't reach the litter tray in time?) I was hooked from the very first page, although I have to agree that I would have liked a stronger ending. Very good, very different.