Helpful Score: 8
I found this book rather abrupt and, sorry to say, pointless. It is written like a memoir and the scandalous headline could very well come from the modern day tabloids. However, this book did too good a job reining in the emotions. There's many subjects implied but never elaborated (for example, the jealousy the narrator feels when Sheba befriends another female teacher) and what we get is the antiseptic story of a teacher having relations with a minor. There's not even a clear picture of why the narrator decides she is going to stick by Sheba, or even if she plans to continue to stick with her until the scandal dies down.
Helpful Score: 2
Very interesting and wickedly funny narrative of a scandal involving a teacher/pupil relationship. Basis of the upcoming movie with Cate Blanchette. I really enjoyed it - finished it in one day.
Helpful Score: 2
Love this book. The characters are written with so much depth. It kept me reading long after I should have gone to bed.
Eileen G. (dulcimerlady) reviewed What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal on + 334 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I found this novel a compulsive read, very well written, an unusual twist on a scandal between a teacher and her teenage student, set in London. This talented writer's insights are truly spellbinding and spot-on.
Brandon J. (bran-flakes14) reviewed What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal on + 72 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This is a nicely-written account of two fictional, yet disturbing, relationships: one between a schoolteacher and her 15 year old student, and the other between a reclusive and lonely older teacher and the younger teacher having the affair. Written from the older teacher, Barbara Covett's, point of view and presented as a chronicle of the illegal affair, "What Was She Thinking?" analyzes the role that sensational stories have on the public, yet the truly more engaging story involves Covett's unfolding obsession over the younger woman. A good study on the effects of loneliness with a horridly disturbing, yet oddly emotional, ending, that is well worth reading. The explosively-acted film version starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett is a marvel, too!
