The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in Retro Chapter Chicks

May 22, 2016 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, concierge, movie, audio, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, scotland

Audio book performed by Nadia May.

Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher at conservative girls’ school in 1930s Edinburgh, Scotland. The school has a prescribed curriculum, but Miss Brodie prefers to inspire her “Brodie set” – the handful of girls she has chosen as her crème de le crème – with stories of her trips abroad, posters and favorable remarks about Mussolini, comments about sex, and field trips to museums and gardens. She is, after all, “in her prime,” and she wants to instill in them passion, i Audio book performed by Nadia May.

Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher at conservative girls’ school in 1930s Edinburgh, Scotland. The school has a prescribed curriculum, but Miss Brodie prefers to inspire her “Brodie set” – the handful of girls she has chosen as her crème de le crème – with stories of her trips abroad, posters and favorable remarks about Mussolini, comments about sex, and field trips to museums and gardens. She is, after all, “in her prime,” and she wants to instill in them passion, independence and ambition. The girls adore her and remain faithful followers even after they have progressed in school beyond the grade Miss Brodie teaches. And yet, one of them ultimately betrays her.

Spark moves from time frame to time frame, or from reality to imaginative fantasy, frequently without any transition. One moment we are reading a realistic scene in the 1930s, the next we are far in the future when Miss Brodie is in a nursing home. In the space between the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next, the story moves from a real-life encounter between the girls and Miss Brodie to an imagined conversation one girl is having with a character in a book.

I recognized several people I know in Miss Brodie, including parts of myself. She is strong-willed and determined, intelligent and independent, and yet she is vulnerable because she wants so desperately to be loved and revered by “her girls.” There are times when I am simply appalled by her behavior and other times when I want to cheer her on. Miss Brodie cannot – or will not – see the realities of her relationships and situations.

I’ve had this on my tbr since the movie came out in 1969. I have to wonder what my reaction would have been had I read it back then, when I was still a teenager.

Nadia May does a fine job performing the audio version. She has good pacing and is able to differentiate the characters. My only difficulty in the audio version came with the abrupt changes in time frame or reality vs fantasy. Until I got used to Spark’s technique I kept thinking I had skipped or missed something important.
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Jun 20, 2023 Celia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2023-kindle-counted, historical-fiction-read, kindle-list, 1001-challenge, classics, ten-year-challenge, wholesale, 2022-greatest-books, 52-2023, 2023-read

It is the the 1930's in Edinburgh Scotland. We meet Miss Jean Brodie, a teacher at Marcia Blaine School. She provides her students with an energetic yet unorthodox education.

And the students are: Sandy Stranger, Rose Stanley, Mary Macgregor, Jenny Gray, Monica Douglas, and Eunice Gardiner. These girls come to be known as the Brodie set, whom Miss Brodie culturally develops and confides in.

My favorite quote stated by Miss Brodie:

"To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the p ...more

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Jul 04, 2022 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction

“To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul.”

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | novel by Spark | Britannica

Miss Jean Brodie is considered an exceptional teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh; she even has her group of carefully selected and crafted girls, the Brodie set.
Miss Brodie has unconventional teaching methods, methods to bring out the best in the girls she teaches. She passionately teaches her students about arts, politics, and relationships while in her 'prime.'
I cannot say that I wholehearte ...more

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