Muriel Spark
Paperback | Pages: 181 pages Rating: 3.04 | 1268 Users | 208 Reviews
Identify Books Concering The Finishing School
| Original Title: | The Finishing School |
| ISBN: | 1400077397 (ISBN13: 9781400077397) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Premio Elba (2005) |
Representaion As Books The Finishing School
College Sunrise is a somewhat louche and vaguely disreputable finishing school located, for now, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Rowland Mahler and his wife, Nina, run the school as a way to support themselves while he works, somewhat falteringly, on his novel. Into Rowland’s creative writing class comes seventeen-year-old Chris Wiley, a red-haired literary prodigy whose historical novel-in-progress, on Mary Queen of Scots, has already excited the interest of publishers. The inevitable result: keen envy, and a game of cat and mouse fraught with jealousy and attraction, both literary and sexual.Be Specific About Of Books The Finishing School
| Title | : | The Finishing School |
| Author | : | Muriel Spark |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 181 pages |
| Published | : | November 8th 2005 by Anchor (first published 2004) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. British Literature. Literary Fiction. Audiobook |
Rating Of Books The Finishing School
Ratings: 3.04 From 1268 Users | 208 ReviewsAppraise Of Books The Finishing School
Muriel Sparks last book. As the introduction says Muriel Sparks books may be short but, like a good dram, they have a long finish.The plot is set in Switzerland at a finishing school that is not really a school but a way for Nina and Rowland to make money in a fun way. They care little for the pupils but not in a nasty way and teach classes which have no rigor or reason. Rowland is trying also to write a novel but suffering writers block. Along comes 17 year old Chris who is writing an historicI loved Muriel Spark's "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" which was written earlier in her long career. This was her last novel written two years before her death. While not as deep and detailed as "Jean Brodie", I found this to be a fun, frisky read. The contentious relationship between writers who none the less feed off each other was great fun to see. Overall, not her best but I really liked it!
A small school relocates in Switzerland with its pupils and teachers. There is a fierce competition between one of the owners, a would be novelist, and one of the students, who is writing a historic novel about Mary Queen of Scots. The other owner offers special, short sessions of useless information. Sardonic and short, this was a fun read, but the story falls apart at the end."In case you are thinking of getting a job at the United Nations," Nina told them, "I have picked up a bit of
Although I like Muriel Spark, I found this one lacking. It was certainly the thinnest of her books I've read; the page margins seemed much larger than an inch. I found the plot--Rowland, medium-skanky teacher "trying" to finish his "novel", is stupefyingly jealous of his prolific student, Chris--to be underdeveloped and not very interesting. The additional characters--rich, stupid students, Rowland's wife Nina, and a selection of servants who seem to be there only to illustrate class
I like Muriel Spark's quirky outlook and, after completing an earlier book, felt that "more was more" and the more I read the more I enjoyed her writing. But, this book set me off that course.Instead of finding the situation and characters off-beat in THE FINISHING SCHOOL, I found them unsettling. Although this is a short book, I allowed myself to set the book aside, rather than running right through it. Spark is no doubt very gifted at setting a mood, but the mood is precisely what put me off.
The Finishing School by Muriel Spark - Very GoodThe last novel Muriel Spark ever had published. For me it brought me full circle.A married couple, Rowland and Nina, run a peripatetic finishing school, currently in Switzerland. They keep moving as they run up debts, constantly looking for cheaper premises to keep their costs low. They sell this as a feature, that the young people in their care see more places and experience different cultures, can immerse themselves in different languages. It is
Perhaps the title was meant playfully, since this was Muriel Spark's last book, but it seems not she'd begun another book just before she died aged eighty eight. When I first heard about that unfinished book, and before I'd read many of her books, I thought what a pity that we'd never be able to read it. Now, having read a couple of the later books, I don't feel at all regretful. She had her Prime, and the books she gave us in her Prime are more than enough.
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