Notes on a Scandal
What Was She Thinking?: A Novel
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4.1 • 42 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Now a major motion picture from Fox Searchlight starring Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench
Schoolteacher Barbara Covett has led a solitary life until Sheba Hart, the new art teacher at St. George's, befriends her. But even as their relationship develops, so too does another: Sheba has begun an illicit affair with an underage male student. When the scandal turns into a media circus, Barbara decides to write an account in her friend's defense—and ends up revealing not only Sheba's secrets, but also her own.
Customer Reviews
Gripping read, lacking in vision.
Upon reading this novella for a class, I fully expected a boring drawl of chapters. In actuality, it's rather quick and taut - Heller has a gift for cutting the fat yet still waxing poetic.
The sexual subject matter is also refreshingly well dealt.
So why just three stars? Simply put - it's too short with little to no conclusion. It flips between the present and past events, yet the present timeline never advances more than a few days' time. And within that time, no conclusion or culmination occurs. The end is painfully abrupt - leaving me to wonder what meaning the previous 300 pages even held.