Notes on a Scandal

Book Title: Notes on a Scandal

Author: Zoe Heller

Publisher: Penguin

ISBN: 978-0-141-03995-4

No. of Pages: 245

 “You never appreciate what a compost your memory is until you start trying to smooth past events into a rational sequence.”(Barbara Covett) This is a fictional memoir of a history teacher at St. George named Barbara Covett; it is a memoir which is also psychological thriller. Barabara Covett is the close confidante of Sheba Hart aka ‘Queen of Sheba’ who seemed to her like “some magical lake in a fairytale: nothing could disturb the mirror-calm of her surface”. However, the memoir unfolds her tragedy and by the end, she is left drooping and howling. Queen of Sheba is found guilty of having an affair with one of her pupils, Steven Connolly!

Zoe Heller has written the book in the first-person point of view. The language is colloquial and makes it a brilliant prose to read: it is straightforward; tinted with interesting wisecracks such as “you know how you sometimes have another drink even though you know you’re going to have a hangover tomorrow?”; smooth and flowing like silk which makes it gorgeous. (The book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003.) The colloquialism is in keeping with the fact that Barbara Covett is no professional writer; she was writing a manuscript to ‘help with the court case.’

The book is a prism considering the sundry themes that it has! As the title suggests, though the surface-theme is that of an exposure of a scandal, the theme of a strong friendship, of married life as opposed  to the life of a spinster, of the trivial yet ruthless politics of a school run along. What is noteworthy in the book is the crystal-clear reflection of how easily the society (including media) blames and destroys the reputation of innocent people! The media goes to the extent of calling Sheba: “a trendy prof who gives sexy seminars on how to read dirty magazines.”

The characters are real to life. Queen of Sheba, of course, being the most interesting. By the end, one does not know whether to slap her on her face or to sympathize with her misfortune. It must have taken a lot of skill on the part of the writer to write such a stirring, titillating and clear prose. This book is barborously brilliant!

                                                                                                                       -Kriti Malhotra