The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. Nevertheless, I would recommend it for readers who are interested in a short yet complex character study.We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice. Most readers won’t love these characters and not a lot actually happens. I have utter faith in Dame Smith’s acting ability but she looks like such an intelligent woman, I just can’t imagine how she portrayed flighty Jean Brodie. There’s an old movie starring Maggie Smith (Yes, Minerva McGonagall) as Miss Brodie. I would happily listen to her read more books. Miss Brodie sounded high-minded and a bit silly, Mary sounded dull-witted, Monica sounds angry, etc. She voiced her characters with subtle differences that were pitch perfect. Speaking of audiobooks, I truly enjoyed Miriam Margolyes’s narration. I shouldn’t have worried though there were plenty of unobtrusive clues in the text to help me follow along.

I don’t generally follow audiobooks quite as well as I do print books so I was a little worried when I realized how much the story shifts around in time. The girls blindly follow suit, as they do in so much of life. One poor girl is at the bottom of the pecking order, largely because Miss Brodie relentlessly treats her as an idiot. The group of six students seemed interchangeable at first and I was worried that I would never keep them straight but there are really only two or three who are important.

I looked around to find out if it’s ever been banned (references to “sexual intercourse” in a book published in the 1960s seems like a recipe for a challenge) but if it has, I can’t find evidence of it. I would love to discuss it with a book group. This was a short, accessible classic but it packed a punch. In a story that moves back and forth through time, the reader learns more about the dynamics of this group and what led to the infamous betrayal. All is well in the Brodie circle until one of her students betrays her. They stick together as a “set” and spend much of their free time in Miss Brodie’s company. Teachers who encounter her students in later years find them to be singularly lacking in concrete skills but full of an intangible…something. Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher at Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh.

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The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark