Muriel Spark, The Finishing School

Muriel Spark is known for her work in the novella form, and her latest is yet another in that tradition. But The Finishing School seemed like it ended almost as soon as it started—all premise and no payoff. In this case the premise was a good one: Rowland Mahler, frustrated novelist and self-important teacher at a finishing school he runs with his wife Nina, grows increasingly (and literally insanely) jealous of one of his students, Chris Wiley, a prolific 17-year-old working on a speculative historical novel about Mary Queen of Scots.

Once she has established her sizable cast of characters (Rowland, Nina, Chris, numerous students, school employees, neighbors, and even a couple of publishers Chris woos with his still-incomplete manuscript), Spark can't seem to find much more for them to do than mutter sardonic comments at one another. Luckily, at 181 tiny, sparsely printed pages, this little book won't last long enough to bore anyone, but neither is it much of a diversion.

(P.S. Doesn't the cover design resemble Dai Sijie's somewhat?)

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