The Finishing School

In this last rousing comedy by Spark, writ when she was 86, she confronts jealousy and hypocrisy with rapier-sharp results..."What is jealousy? I hate you because you have got what I have not got and desire." ~ "Is it difficult to be a hypocrite?" The reply: "Not very much. We do it in civilized soc......more

Spark’s swansong is a brief and inoffensive re-re-tread over old territory—obnoxious posh people have neuroses and behave in a silly manner amidst a lush European backdrop. Humour-wise, Spark’s well of cutting descriptions and scimitar-sharp dialogue is bone-dry—here she merely moves Sparkian archet......more

I 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 no......more

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......more