I wonder which is worse. The voyeuristic feeling I've had while reading Zoë Heller's Notes on a Scandal--furiously turning pages, unable to get enough, or the spectacularly bad behavior of the characters in the book. I want to say particularly Barbara, though maybe Sheba as well. Maybe Sheba was worse. It's hard to tell. There's lots and lots of bad behavior in Notes on a Scandal. It's easy to see why Heller was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Notes in 2003, however. This is an absolutely wonderful, though also disconcerting character study of two women. I hesitate to call what they have a friendship. Perhaps it began as a friendship, though it became something twisted and obsessive, and Heller's portrait of them is both nuanced and psychologically adroit. It's not many an author who can have her characters' actions be so utterly contemptible at times yet the reader remains somewhat sympathetic towards them despite it all.
You might already be familiar with the story? I saw the movie long before I even realized there was a book, or at least I had no interest in reading the book at the time. The notes of the book's title are the notes on Sheba's scandalous behavior that Barbara has taken to setting down on paper complete with a timeline and little gold stars to highlight the really important bits. All this is unknown to Sheba, who at the beginning of the story is living at her brother's with Barbara while he's away. You see she's been thrown out of her own house after her affair with one of her students comes to light.
Sheba Hart is a newly hired pottery teacher with good intentions but bad judgement. Unfortunately she's well out of her league with the students at St. George's school, who can smell an inexperienced teacher a mile away. Perhaps it was thanks to this, her inability to get on well as a teacher, that set her up for falling for the seemingly sweet intentions of one of the male students. Sheba has an ethereal quality to her with her gauzy skirts and hair pulled back into a wispy bun. With two children and an older husband, I'm not sure she even realized how unhappy she was in her life until she met Steven Connolly. Once she caved in to his overtures, there was no semblance of control. Her affair with him became obsessive and all-consuming.
And Babara's interest in Sheba could very easily and rightly be construed equally as obsessive, a little bit freaky really, and worse--manipulative. Barbara Covett is an older, experienced teacher at St. George's with a sharp eye and an even sharper tongue. A spinster teacher, she seems very proper and often standoffish. When she sees that Sheba doesn't fall in easily with the other members of the St. George staff she believes her to be a kindred spirit. The most significant relationship Barbara has in her life is with her cat, Portia. She's not only alone but she's lonely, and it's this that is at the heart of Barbara's obsession with Sheba. Whatever her faults, though, and there are many, Barbara is a keen observer and perceptive as well.
Sheba and Barbara's friendship takes on a bizarre twist by story's end (though we have only Barbara's questionable narration to go by), but in the beginning things were normal enough. Barbara, a seasoned teacher, comes to Sheba's aid when a pair of students hassles her in the hallway. Barbara has a certain assuredness that Sheba lacks, so her help is appreciated and awarded. The two begin lunching together with another teacher. It's obvious that there's something simmering below the surface with Barbara as there's a certain proprietorial sense she exudes towards her friendship. Barbara has a tendency to look down her nose at everyone else, their characters studied and always found wanting. Sheba has a certain charm, even an innocence about her that Barbara is drawn to. When Barbara catches on that Sheba's relationship with one of the older boys at St. George's is anything but platonic, jealous feelings will cause events to steamroll with disastrous results.
I happened to read a UK edition of the book, which is titled simply Notes on a Scandal. The American edition goes by What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal, which is very apt as it could refer to both women and their actions in their story. Although in many ways a disturbing read, it was also an extremely gripping one, too. I loved the way Heller parallels many of the themes in the story, looking a them from different angles. As racy as the premise may seem there is a lot of depth to the story and Heller's writing. And while the behavior of the characters was in many ways inexcusable, there was the tiniest glimmer where you could see where it might, given human nature, just happen and understand why. This one is highly recommended.