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Life With Mother Superior
The book that "The Trouble with Angels" film was based upon, of Hayley Mills fame. A collection of vignettes based on Trahey's experiences within a Catholic girls' school, this book is a humorous look at boarding school life when nuns are added to the mix.
210 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
February 21, 2011
One of my favorite comedies when I was a kid was The Trouble With Angels, about two rebellious high schoolers at a Catholic girls boarding school and their ongoing war against the formidable Reverend Mother. It wasn’t until recently that I learned the movie was actually based on a memoir by Jane Trahey, and many of the characters and incidents were real. So naturally I had to track down the book and get the true story.
The book itself is mostly written anecdotally. Each chapter tells a story of a particular incident in which Trahey found herself embroiled, either by chance or (more often) by design, during her years at St. Mark's school. Many classmates and teachers float in and out of the story, but the two constants are Jane’s best friend and partner in crime, Mary Clancey, and Mother Superior, who rules the school with a firm hand and doesn’t appreciate the constant disruptions caused by her two charges. It was fun to read this both as someone who is a fan of the movie and as someone who had at least heard the stories from my parents about what Catholic schools were like before Vatican II (since the girls graduated in 1940, it’s a great time capsule book in that regard). For someone who has neither seen the movie nor has any interest in the historical aspect, though, I suspect their verdict would be something like, "amusing but not very memorable." Trahey deliberately keeps things light, for one thing; she shows little interest in exploring even her own psyche most of the time, let alone anyone else’s, nor does she ever once tie any of her experiences (good or bad) back into her later life. It makes the book quick and fun, but not very deep or reflective. I am actually not surprised that the movie’s screenwriter chose to make Mary the central character rather than Jane (or "Rachel" as she was renamed for the movie), because even in the book Mary frequently seems like the more complex and idiosyncratic of the two girls, and we can see by the end that her years at St. Mark's have had a very profound effect on her life. With Jane, on the other hand, you get the impression that she's still more or less the same person when she graduates as she was when she arrived, older but not yet wiser (an impression only reinforced by Mother Superior's last words to her on graduation day). All in all, though, it was an enjoyable and often very funny book and I’m happy that I got the chance to read it.
The book itself is mostly written anecdotally. Each chapter tells a story of a particular incident in which Trahey found herself embroiled, either by chance or (more often) by design, during her years at St. Mark's school. Many classmates and teachers float in and out of the story, but the two constants are Jane’s best friend and partner in crime, Mary Clancey, and Mother Superior, who rules the school with a firm hand and doesn’t appreciate the constant disruptions caused by her two charges. It was fun to read this both as someone who is a fan of the movie and as someone who had at least heard the stories from my parents about what Catholic schools were like before Vatican II (since the girls graduated in 1940, it’s a great time capsule book in that regard). For someone who has neither seen the movie nor has any interest in the historical aspect, though, I suspect their verdict would be something like, "amusing but not very memorable." Trahey deliberately keeps things light, for one thing; she shows little interest in exploring even her own psyche most of the time, let alone anyone else’s, nor does she ever once tie any of her experiences (good or bad) back into her later life. It makes the book quick and fun, but not very deep or reflective. I am actually not surprised that the movie’s screenwriter chose to make Mary the central character rather than Jane (or "Rachel" as she was renamed for the movie), because even in the book Mary frequently seems like the more complex and idiosyncratic of the two girls, and we can see by the end that her years at St. Mark's have had a very profound effect on her life. With Jane, on the other hand, you get the impression that she's still more or less the same person when she graduates as she was when she arrived, older but not yet wiser (an impression only reinforced by Mother Superior's last words to her on graduation day). All in all, though, it was an enjoyable and often very funny book and I’m happy that I got the chance to read it.
January 4, 2022
I read and reread this book when I was 12, 13, & up. I really enjoyed the high jinks of the 2 teenage friends in a Catholic girls’ boarding school. It’s great fun, and it made me both laugh and cry.
August 1, 2011
One of my favorite books ever. This book, written by Jane Trahey, was loosely based on her high school experiences as well as her experiences at Mundelein College, a college for woman in Chicago. Having communicated with Trahey's friend and accomplice, "Mary" in real life, I learned tha the book is only very loosely based on Jane Trahey and Mary's real experiences, but it is still a delight to read. It is also the book upon which the movie "The Trouble With Angels" is based (Trahey's character is "Rachel" in the movie). Even without the movie, the book is a joy to read and hysterically funny.
March 31, 2009
I sought this book out after seeing the charming and funny film 'The Trouble With Angels' on TV. You know what I found? An even more charming and funny book!
This book made ME (who has always referred to her Catholic School Days as "the worst 3 years of my life") feel a short desire for cleaning blackboards and singing alleluias in the choir. Trahey managed to capture the wit, the angst and loneliness that I felt at that time. A terrific coming of age story!”
This book made ME (who has always referred to her Catholic School Days as "the worst 3 years of my life") feel a short desire for cleaning blackboards and singing alleluias in the choir. Trahey managed to capture the wit, the angst and loneliness that I felt at that time. A terrific coming of age story!”
February 5, 2017
My dad gets credit for finding the book The Trouble With Angels was based upon on Open Library. It meant I read it with a few pages missing, but it didn't make the read any less fun.
Being a fan of the movie first, there's a lot of fun about this book. First, I love that the story is at least semi-autobiographical and that Mary Clancy was in fact a real person. That makes her antics that much more enjoyable. The movie does not deviate much from the source material. In a few places the stories were changed or embellished for laughs or added emotion.
Near the end of the book, we end up with a larger number of stories that don't make it into the film. Some are a shame (watching the girls attempt to dance with the boys of the local Catholic school would have been a treat) and others rightfully cut (Jane sneaking out to Chicago for a scholarship contest). It was fun to compare/contrast.
Being a fan of the movie first, there's a lot of fun about this book. First, I love that the story is at least semi-autobiographical and that Mary Clancy was in fact a real person. That makes her antics that much more enjoyable. The movie does not deviate much from the source material. In a few places the stories were changed or embellished for laughs or added emotion.
Near the end of the book, we end up with a larger number of stories that don't make it into the film. Some are a shame (watching the girls attempt to dance with the boys of the local Catholic school would have been a treat) and others rightfully cut (Jane sneaking out to Chicago for a scholarship contest). It was fun to compare/contrast.
April 2, 2018
I love old movies and one of my favorites is "Trouble with Angels". When I found out it was based on a book, I decided to check it out.
The author, Jane Trahey describes her life at the all girls catholic boarding high school in the 1930s. It was an interesting view into another time and another way of life. It is written anecdotally with each chapter describing a specific incident with almost all of them involving her BFF Mary Clancy. More than once, I laughed out loud imagining the events she described.
I think the book would have been better set chronologically, with more insightful retrospection of Jane and Mary. With her less than thorough descriptions, I felt lucky to have the actresses from the movie as references. It was a quick, easy to read well written book without a lot of depth. Still funny and interesting, but it could have been better.
The author, Jane Trahey describes her life at the all girls catholic boarding high school in the 1930s. It was an interesting view into another time and another way of life. It is written anecdotally with each chapter describing a specific incident with almost all of them involving her BFF Mary Clancy. More than once, I laughed out loud imagining the events she described.
I think the book would have been better set chronologically, with more insightful retrospection of Jane and Mary. With her less than thorough descriptions, I felt lucky to have the actresses from the movie as references. It was a quick, easy to read well written book without a lot of depth. Still funny and interesting, but it could have been better.
July 4, 2018
This book was great . I loved it. Got it through the library, but wish I could get a copy of my own. I really like the movie " The Trouble With Angels ". When I read the book I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face ! It's based on a true story.
February 13, 2013
For some reason, I find books about nuns and convents and boarding schools really interesting. Although I know that there are a few schools that still have nuns in habit as teachers, it's pretty rare—and in a decidedly different world than it used to be. So to me, stories like this are time capsules of an extinct environment in a bygone era. That, and the fact that I love the movie
The Trouble with Angels
, which was based on this book, are the reasons I picked this up.
There are a lot of similarities with the film, but as a whole I think the cinema version of this story is tauter and better told. I think if someone hadn't seen the movie, and thus wouldn't picture the cast members as characters or have some idea of where the plot was going, the book would not be as interesting. There are a few stupid Hollywood touches to the film that I could do without (the brassiere scene, etc.), but as a whole I like the movie better than the book. The screenplay draws in all the funny parts of the book and ties them together in a way that is more of a narrative, rather than the somewhat disjointed collection of incidents that make up the book. Also, the book is very weak in character analysis or development. While it is certainly witty at turns, it's not terribly polished, and there's really no depth or scope to the story.
I also found the writing to be rather clumsy. The grammar—such as referring to “St. Mark’s” as “St. Marks”—is uneven, and there are details of the story that seem to contradict one another or be anachronistic. There is also a little swearing (mostly from Jane's ill-natured father).
Despite the thoroughly misleading note at the beginning of the book (". . . what I found fun and amusing to write about my days at St. Marks . . ."), apparently this book more fiction than it is memoir. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trou...
There are a lot of similarities with the film, but as a whole I think the cinema version of this story is tauter and better told. I think if someone hadn't seen the movie, and thus wouldn't picture the cast members as characters or have some idea of where the plot was going, the book would not be as interesting. There are a few stupid Hollywood touches to the film that I could do without (the brassiere scene, etc.), but as a whole I like the movie better than the book. The screenplay draws in all the funny parts of the book and ties them together in a way that is more of a narrative, rather than the somewhat disjointed collection of incidents that make up the book. Also, the book is very weak in character analysis or development. While it is certainly witty at turns, it's not terribly polished, and there's really no depth or scope to the story.
I also found the writing to be rather clumsy. The grammar—such as referring to “St. Mark’s” as “St. Marks”—is uneven, and there are details of the story that seem to contradict one another or be anachronistic. There is also a little swearing (mostly from Jane's ill-natured father).
Despite the thoroughly misleading note at the beginning of the book (". . . what I found fun and amusing to write about my days at St. Marks . . ."), apparently this book more fiction than it is memoir. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trou...
The Trouble with Angels was based on the memoir, Life with Mother Superior by Jane Trahey about her own high-school years at a Catholic school near Chicago in the 1930s. While in the novel the school was portrayed as a boarding school outside the city, Trahey actually attended what is now Providence-St. Mel's High School, which was only a day school. Many of the incidents mentioned in the book were actually based on Trahey's experiences at Mundelein College in Chicago, Illinois. The character of Mary Clancy (Mills) was based on Jane's actual friend, Mary, who later became Sister John Eudes, a Sinsinawa Dominican nun.A Mundelein College website (scroll to 1966 on the timeline) also references the institution's influence on the book and subsequent film.
August 10, 2015
I'm giving this a 3-star "I liked it" although the book really only deserves a 2-star "it was okay" and that's mostly because the book inspired The Trouble with Angels movie, one of my favorite movies of all time. This slight memoir contains most of the seeds of the movie's plot but little of its heart, depth, and conviction. That's mostly because real life reflects what happens while storytelling offers what should happen, enabling filmmakers and authors to craft a coherent narrative. I'm not sure if it was Ida Lupino or Blanche Hanalis who should be credited with the movie's success but if ever if there was a fantastic woman's story, the movie was it.
Before I return to the book, let me explain my love for the movie. It's basically a typical '60's broad comedy about an immature girl and her friend who get shipped off to catholic school, kick up larks, and grow over time with a touch of sentiment. It's also one of the best crafted bildungsroman stories, where we get to see a selfish child become a young woman who accepts a role, a cause, and a calling greater than herself.
It's a narrative of cloistered life seen through glimpses by a resentful child who passionately does not want to be there and finds herself over time growing away from her misperceptions by the compassion and convictions of those around her. Mary Clancy journeys from a child who, when surrounded by the inescapable realities of aging and death, declares she wants to die young, beautiful, and rich, to finding herself drawn to the simple life of faith of midnight masses and the unbreakable bonds of love and friendship that grow in a culture set apart from men.
There are almost no men in the movie -- a couple of fathers, an uncle, a music teacher. All the friendship, love, friction, and role modeling take place purely on female terms. It's a breathtaking and unusual place for a movie to exist, far away from the female movies of today where no matter how dominant the female presence in the cast list, the shadow of men, their wants, their needs, and their story is felt throughout.
The book, in contrast, is sweet. It's a fine little memoir but there's no depth to it. I was surprised to learn that the book centers on Jane, the character who becomes Rachel in the movie, and not on Mary Clancy, although it makes sense. Writing about your autobiography is always going to be selfish in nature, where the eye lingers on what you've seen and what you've done. The entire arc of growth and journey is an artifact that could only be created by another author, adapting that experience.
The writing was fun and felt authentically of the time and period, with many wry anecdotes that weren't limited to Mary's journey. Many of the details simply did not translate to the story I expected but were welcome nonetheless in what the book presented.
On finishing, I found the book acceptable but wanting. This is contrary to my experience with so many other books where I feel a movie cannot deliver the richness and full experience of a book-based narrative. In this instance, that's reversed. A masterpiece of cinema (silly 60's comedy bits and all) arose from a book that's light as a feather and about as substantial.
Before I return to the book, let me explain my love for the movie. It's basically a typical '60's broad comedy about an immature girl and her friend who get shipped off to catholic school, kick up larks, and grow over time with a touch of sentiment. It's also one of the best crafted bildungsroman stories, where we get to see a selfish child become a young woman who accepts a role, a cause, and a calling greater than herself.
It's a narrative of cloistered life seen through glimpses by a resentful child who passionately does not want to be there and finds herself over time growing away from her misperceptions by the compassion and convictions of those around her. Mary Clancy journeys from a child who, when surrounded by the inescapable realities of aging and death, declares she wants to die young, beautiful, and rich, to finding herself drawn to the simple life of faith of midnight masses and the unbreakable bonds of love and friendship that grow in a culture set apart from men.
There are almost no men in the movie -- a couple of fathers, an uncle, a music teacher. All the friendship, love, friction, and role modeling take place purely on female terms. It's a breathtaking and unusual place for a movie to exist, far away from the female movies of today where no matter how dominant the female presence in the cast list, the shadow of men, their wants, their needs, and their story is felt throughout.
The book, in contrast, is sweet. It's a fine little memoir but there's no depth to it. I was surprised to learn that the book centers on Jane, the character who becomes Rachel in the movie, and not on Mary Clancy, although it makes sense. Writing about your autobiography is always going to be selfish in nature, where the eye lingers on what you've seen and what you've done. The entire arc of growth and journey is an artifact that could only be created by another author, adapting that experience.
The writing was fun and felt authentically of the time and period, with many wry anecdotes that weren't limited to Mary's journey. Many of the details simply did not translate to the story I expected but were welcome nonetheless in what the book presented.
On finishing, I found the book acceptable but wanting. This is contrary to my experience with so many other books where I feel a movie cannot deliver the richness and full experience of a book-based narrative. In this instance, that's reversed. A masterpiece of cinema (silly 60's comedy bits and all) arose from a book that's light as a feather and about as substantial.
December 23, 2010
Sometimes you accidentally come across a book that brings you delight. Life with Mother Superior certainly did that for me. It's not just growing up Catholic that does that for you ... in my case it's about a well-loved movie, The Trouble with Angels, and spending at least some of my childhood within a mile or three of locations where the film was shot. All of the adventures of the movie are here, and a few besides. My biggest surprise is that I only recently learned that the movie was based on a book ... I watch movie credits like a hawk and have searched down many books that movies were based on (and suffered through a number of novelizations).
There's no suffering in this book, well, unless you count that of Mother Superior. What there are are a lot of laughs, expressed simply, laughs and experiences that even 47 years after publication, you can identify with ... teenage pranks and pratfalls, school uniforms, and institutional food.
There's no suffering in this book, well, unless you count that of Mother Superior. What there are are a lot of laughs, expressed simply, laughs and experiences that even 47 years after publication, you can identify with ... teenage pranks and pratfalls, school uniforms, and institutional food.
April 6, 2017
While I have read the source material for many of my favorite films, it was only with my most recent viewing of The Trouble With Angels that I took note of the book. Life With Mother Superior is an amusing and engaging story of four years in an all girls Catholic high school.
Each chapter is self contained, but told sequentially. I am amazed that someone saw this episodic book as good film material, but each succeeds on their own level. Interestingly, the film selects stories from the book, but does not find it necessary to add material.
I hope Mary Clancy was a successful nun.
Each chapter is self contained, but told sequentially. I am amazed that someone saw this episodic book as good film material, but each succeeds on their own level. Interestingly, the film selects stories from the book, but does not find it necessary to add material.
I hope Mary Clancy was a successful nun.
July 24, 2011
I read this book years and years ago. Hilarious - and then the movie with Hailey Mills I think? I'm sure I saw the movie on TV since the book came out the year I was born!
February 7, 2014
I quite enjoyed this read. It read more like a young adult novel than a memoir. Granted, a 1960s young adult novel, but a young adult novel none-the-less. :) It was dated, obviously, and there were some things mentioned in the story that I had to look up, but that didn't detract from the stories she told.
It was fun to read about the mischief her and Mary got into, and see how nicely they transformed her stories to the film.
It was fun to read about the mischief her and Mary got into, and see how nicely they transformed her stories to the film.
March 24, 2009
This humorous book, originally published under the title "Life With Mother Superior," is loosely based on the author's parochial school experiences. It is also the basis of the very funny Haley Mills film, "The Trouble With Angels," starring Rosalind Russell.
March 25, 2015
An entertaining memoir of a childhood spent in at Catholic boarding school. Lite reading, fun and enjoyable and a glimpse into life a couple generations back. Found out about this book after watching the movie The Trouble With Angels. The movie follows pretty closely to the book.
October 25, 2016
This is a sweet coming of age in an all-girls Catholic high school comedy. Yes, it was the basis of the film, The Trouble With Angels.
April 17, 2013
This book has SUCH a twist ending! I never saw it coming. Perfect book for teenage girls everywhere.
February 24, 2015
favourite book as a teenager and ex convent girl!
February 10, 2016
I read this over and over in my early teens. I really liked it. It's been years now since I picked it up.
October 18, 2014
This should actually be 3.5 stars. It's not a favorite or an excellent read, but it's fun. Especially for having been written in the 60s. If I would have read this as middle schooler or high schooler I would have loved it! I think their hi jinks is fun, I really enjoyed Mother Superior and I think thAt it would actually be a much better movie than a book! (Not often I say that)
June 14, 2012
This is the book the film "The Trouble with Angels" was based on. Anyone who had a catholic education by the "Sisters" can relate to this book. A fun look back at school days in the catholic tradition.
December 8, 2019
Most of the vignettes translated into scenes in the movie, all of which were improved in the process in my opinion. The movie is full of lighthearted mischief-making; the book had a cynical meanspiritedness that surprised (and disappointed).
February 24, 2010
I read this a long time ago. I remember it was very very funny!
July 28, 2011
This book was right up my rebel without a cause alley self in the late 60 s!
March 1, 2012
Too bad she was so naughty. Well-written account of a girl attending a Catholic girls' school.
January 10, 2016
I always like memoirs about school days. Much better than the movie. Duh!
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October 11, 2015scathing brilliant idea.
October 11, 2017
Recollections of life in a boarding school, which gets a lot more interesting when nuns are brought on board.
June 6, 2023
I've been trying to find this book for years! Ever since I saw the classic film adaptation, The Trouble with Angels (1966), starring Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills. The only copy of it I ever found were scripts of a theatrical adaptation. Finally, through my inner library loan system at work, I could obtain a copy and finally read the original material of a favorite film from childhood.
The book was initially titled Life with Mother Superior. This book can either be called autobiography or biographical fiction. Not sure which. The library I got it from shelved it in biography. It's told from the point of view of the author, Jane Trahey, and tells various stories of her life as a teenager while going to an all-girls catholic school just outside of Chicago in the 1930s.
Jane is a troublemaker and it's no wonder she befriends Mary Chancey on a train who is smoking and tells a passenger that's next to her, who disapproves of children smoking, that she's really really a midget. This sets off the two performing various pranks and getting into all kinds of mischieve while dealing with the nuns and having to face the grand high nun of them all, the Mother Superior.
I have to say I really did enjoy this book. I think it was because of the anticipation of receiving it after so many years of searching, but also I wanted to see just how close it followed the movie, or should I see how close the movie followed the book? About two-thirds of the book made it into the film. The book is told in a series of short stories, rather than an overarching plot (unless you can call four years of high school leading up to graduation a major arch).
Stories about using wrong names, and smoking in projection rooms that cause the fire department to arrive, to the realization of death are all within these pages. It is dated by today's standards in some aspects, including a chapter that deals with a theatrical production about Abraham Lincoln and how Jane had to perform in blackface because she was cast as a slave girl. But beyond those things that are of the context of the time period in which it came out, it's pretty readable and amusing.
I did find this book to be a fun almost YA read about Catholic school girls and I enjoyed the short story breakdown, though some of the less than steller stories I kind of struggled through to get to the next one. That's the trouble sometimes with books that don't carry an arching plot. Some stories are hits and others are complete misses. But overall I am just thrilled that I was finally able to read the original material to a movie that I still enjoy watching from my childhood. Sadly this book is out-of-print. My rating - 3/5
The book was initially titled Life with Mother Superior. This book can either be called autobiography or biographical fiction. Not sure which. The library I got it from shelved it in biography. It's told from the point of view of the author, Jane Trahey, and tells various stories of her life as a teenager while going to an all-girls catholic school just outside of Chicago in the 1930s.
Jane is a troublemaker and it's no wonder she befriends Mary Chancey on a train who is smoking and tells a passenger that's next to her, who disapproves of children smoking, that she's really really a midget. This sets off the two performing various pranks and getting into all kinds of mischieve while dealing with the nuns and having to face the grand high nun of them all, the Mother Superior.
I have to say I really did enjoy this book. I think it was because of the anticipation of receiving it after so many years of searching, but also I wanted to see just how close it followed the movie, or should I see how close the movie followed the book? About two-thirds of the book made it into the film. The book is told in a series of short stories, rather than an overarching plot (unless you can call four years of high school leading up to graduation a major arch).
Stories about using wrong names, and smoking in projection rooms that cause the fire department to arrive, to the realization of death are all within these pages. It is dated by today's standards in some aspects, including a chapter that deals with a theatrical production about Abraham Lincoln and how Jane had to perform in blackface because she was cast as a slave girl. But beyond those things that are of the context of the time period in which it came out, it's pretty readable and amusing.
I did find this book to be a fun almost YA read about Catholic school girls and I enjoyed the short story breakdown, though some of the less than steller stories I kind of struggled through to get to the next one. That's the trouble sometimes with books that don't carry an arching plot. Some stories are hits and others are complete misses. But overall I am just thrilled that I was finally able to read the original material to a movie that I still enjoy watching from my childhood. Sadly this book is out-of-print. My rating - 3/5
April 1, 2023
The Trouble with Angels is a personal favourite movie with a terrific cast (Rosalind Russell, Hayley Mills, June Harding) and a fantastic screenplay which had everything from warmth, humour, profound insights about feminine friendships and faith... So I naturally had to read this. There are some very funny incidents, and the fact that it was written in a breezy, conversational manner makes the book a quick read for a Saturday morning over coffee.
I enjoyed it but something kept my sentimental self from giving it 4 stars.
The book pales in comparison, narrative-wise to the film. Not only were the characters barely given any sort of depth and development (beyond the descriptions of physical growth of the girls over the years), Mother Superior herself was not the Mother Superior which I'd imagine would have inspired a whole book. Beyond a few incidents where Jane "realises" the nuns were real women—the Cecil Beaton reference to a young, handsome portrait of Mother Superior was a good one—there wasn't much emotional growth in the book but it's probably because it's written from the POV of a schoolgirl with no insight to the nuns' lives the way the film portrayed.
Other "boarding school" books had richer portrayals of schoolgirl life, such as Mallory Towers, and maybe a more detailed book which doesn't skim through years of school life via rough sketches might have worked better and given this book a longer literary lifespan independent of the film. I'm only saying this because it turns out that the book is more fiction than factual memoir so Trahey would have had the creative liberties to tell a better story than was we have.
Perhaps Rosalind Russell's unparalleled portrayal had made the Mother Superior depicted in the book pale in comparison (more a testament to the writing than to the actual real-life inspiration).
I can't help but think that I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't seen and loved the film beforehand.
Most people who would bother to read this book today would have come from the film, though, so any advice to "read before you watch the film" would probably not be relevant. That said, there are some bits in there worth reading and I would still recommend this to anyone who loved the film. If you want to skip this, rest assured the best parts are already part of the film, with much stronger writing.
I enjoyed it but something kept my sentimental self from giving it 4 stars.
The book pales in comparison, narrative-wise to the film. Not only were the characters barely given any sort of depth and development (beyond the descriptions of physical growth of the girls over the years), Mother Superior herself was not the Mother Superior which I'd imagine would have inspired a whole book. Beyond a few incidents where Jane "realises" the nuns were real women—the Cecil Beaton reference to a young, handsome portrait of Mother Superior was a good one—there wasn't much emotional growth in the book but it's probably because it's written from the POV of a schoolgirl with no insight to the nuns' lives the way the film portrayed.
Other "boarding school" books had richer portrayals of schoolgirl life, such as Mallory Towers, and maybe a more detailed book which doesn't skim through years of school life via rough sketches might have worked better and given this book a longer literary lifespan independent of the film. I'm only saying this because it turns out that the book is more fiction than factual memoir so Trahey would have had the creative liberties to tell a better story than was we have.
Perhaps Rosalind Russell's unparalleled portrayal had made the Mother Superior depicted in the book pale in comparison (more a testament to the writing than to the actual real-life inspiration).
I can't help but think that I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't seen and loved the film beforehand.
Most people who would bother to read this book today would have come from the film, though, so any advice to "read before you watch the film" would probably not be relevant. That said, there are some bits in there worth reading and I would still recommend this to anyone who loved the film. If you want to skip this, rest assured the best parts are already part of the film, with much stronger writing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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