Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller

I read and finished another book. I'm not going to give it it's own post because, well, the book was just too disturbing for me. This one was called Notes on a Scandal: [What was she thinking] by Zoe Heller. (It was made into a movie too with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench.) This was about a teacher (Sheba Hart) in London who has an affair with one of the 15-year old students at her school (EWWWWWW) and of course she gets caught. The book is told in the voice of her "friend" (Barbara Covett) who is supposedly writing the whole thing down in order to have a "factual" written account of the circumstances. In the end, Barbara winds up revealing Sheba's secrets as well as her own.

I have a hard time saying I liked this book. It was a quick read and it was good writing but it was just such a disturbing subject and there were about 15 times when I wanted to put it down and...go take a shower so I could feel clean again. I think maybe that was sort of the point the author was trying to make though. The characters in the book downplayed the seriousness and sliminess of Sheba's actions and as an outsider looking in the reader gets a real sense of just how effed up these people are. I don't know, I'm just glad I finished reading it. I can't imagine what made me put this on my list...it had to be a result of the reviews I had read. Anyway, if you can stand the subject matter, have at it.