Two critics have dubbed this novel the perfect thing to read at the beach. Before delving into
the story, however, I would just like to ask: What qualities must a book possess to be considered “beach material?” I once brought Kostova’s The Historian to the beach and it wasn’t a very good decision because, however average that novel turned out to be, I ended up stealing into our hotel room every chance I could get because I was afraid of being chased by vampires. That being said, here is what I think beach reading should be like:
- Not too absorbing because if you can’t put a book down, then you shouldn’t have gone to the beach in the first place. It isn’t to say, however, that beach reading should be dull. Hopefully you know what I mean.
- Easy in the sense that you can take it up again and again and be able to pick up the pace from where you left off, in between distractions.
- If possible, it must contain a fair amount of references to food and drink, in order to whet one’s appetite, which makes #2 very important.
(Off the top of my head: Fitzgerald, Fforde, Murdoch, Winterson… feel free to add to it)
So. Notes on a Scandal.
Set in London, we meet Barbara Covett, a single and newly-retired schoolteacher of favorable repute who takes friendship very seriously. Having previously been burned by a friend who thought she was too clingy, Barbara has spent the latter half of her teaching career shunning co-workers she thought were too beneath her. In between her job and her life at home (with nobody but a cat to keep her company), she thrived on scheduled trips to the grocery and other errands. When Bathsheba Hart came to St. George’s to teach pottery, it became Barbara’s mission to take her in and, what with her gauzy outfits and problematic children ensconced in a huge house, Sheba exuded a tragic glamour that Barbara wanted in on.
The novel is about Barbara’s chronicling Sheba’s affair with a student, the news of which turns her into an object of national scandal. Barbara shows an obsessive (to the point of being manipulative), detailing of the rise and decline of the illicit “romance,” and her efforts to protect Sheba by moving in with her, making sure she’s bathed and fed, etc. As one reads further, it is Barbara who dominates the novel, over and above the sexual encounters between Sheba and her student. Sheba’s downfall is Barbara’s triumph – her gaining not a friend but someone utterly dependent on her, something she welcomes all too eagerly.
I enjoyed the book for a number of reasons, the first of which is Barbara’s character. Initially pitiful, she turns out to be the stronger figure in the end, however evil. She reminds me of Annie Wilkes in Stephen King’s Misery: consumed with good intentions but on a psychotic level. Even the language used in the novel is very characteristic of Barbara – smart and biting. Particularly memorable to me is the part where Barbara goes to Sheba’s house for the first time. She chooses her outfit meticulously and even buys new shoes for the occasion but it ends embarrassingly, with her foot bleeding amidst Sheba’s amusement and Polly’s (Sheba’s daughter) disgust.
As mentioned earlier, I enjoyed the language in which Heller wrote the novel. It is full of little tirades on relationships, youth and sexuality. In this passage, she scoffs at “regular” females:
In my experience, newcomers – particularly female ones – are far too eager to pin their colours to the mast of any staffroom coterie that will have them …
She scoffs at house décor:
Hanging on the wall were several paintings – the sort of gimmicky modern abstracts that aren’t my cup of tea – and a primitive wooden instrument, possibly African, which looked as if it might be rather smelly if one got too close to it. The bookshelves housed a decent but not very inspired collection of fiction, suggesting the strong influence of newspaper “Books of the Year” lists. You could tell there weren’t any real literature lovers in the family. The mantelpiece was a gathering point for household flotsam. A child’s drawing. A hunk of pink Play-Doh. A passport. One elderly banana.
Notes on a Scandal is an unassuming but strangely charming novel. I was a bit skeptical at first because it just came with a three-piece set and truth be told, I would never have cast a second glance at it if I saw it at the bookstore, not even if I saw that it was shortlisted by the Man Booker Prize 2003 (which it was). I’m glad I was wrong.
So, is it perfect beach reading material? You bet.
