I struggled to get into Catch-22, so I set it aside, and dug into the Muriel Spark novel. I can see why Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene (2 of my favorite authors) sang her praises. That blending of the serious and comedic, the Catholicism, must have appealed to them. That, and she’s a damn fine writer.
The novel is more experimental than the film, with flash forwards, and curious repetitions, she emphasizes, for example, individual physical qualities of the girls (Sandy’s small eyes, for one). The film also streamlined and simplified and focused on the romantic angle, and less on Miss Brodie’s fascination with Mussolini and the fascists’
I’m really locked into it, it’s one of those page turners I can’t put down. If it finishes as strong, it might even unseat Solaris in The Best From Your Birth Year thread.