It was hard to get excited about this prescribed reading at school that my 16-year-old self simply didn't care much about as it contained everything I hated about real life; school, bullies, untrustworthy adults and teachers who insist they know your capabilities better than you do (I had undiagnosed ADHD and yes, I'm salty).

The story is about the power teachers have over their students, particularly the limited power of females in the 1930s, particularly their beauty and charm. Brodie's ideals are problematic yet also progressive, and the danger of those ideals getting passed down to impressionable young girls is given a particular spotlight. That said, every individual has their own power too - even naive female students - and Brodie learns the hard way what misplaced influence can do to ignite that power.

I suppose there is something to be said about being given this as prescribed reading as a teenager as it does contain a lesson to question everything and thus remain uncorrupted by potentially immoral or corrupt teachers. It was wasted on me as I'd already learned the lesson from real life, though not specifically from teachers, just from unreliable and immoral adults in general.