Notes on a Scandal

Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller


My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A good story but perhaps a bit morose for my taste. Dark, but not juicily so. Guilty, but not quite pleasurable.

Am I saying it could have been a bit more scandalous? Perhaps. I haven't seen the film so I don't know how it compares.

Lovely art teacher has secret affair with 15-year-old pupil... scandal ensues. Considering the ways all the other characters behave (despicably at times) I thought it was a shame to see this poor woman's life completely destroyed by her ill-advised dalliance. Surely she doesn't deserve to lose her job, her husband and children, all contact with her mother (and her money) and any hope of ever leading a normal life again, just because of an affair?

Our narrator, the sinister Barbara, of course offers her own views on things. Can't say I liked her, much, either...

All in all I would say a good summer read, but nothing too memorable about it. I can't even remember the art teacher's name, now, and it's only been a couple days.

I kept seeing her as Hannah Schneider from Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Now, see, I remembered her name even though it's been a year. She was memorable.

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