Small Room [Paperback]

The main character and narrator is a young woman named Lucy Winter who has just ended her engagement and is teaching because she can't think of anything else to do. Happily for both Lucy and the reader, her intelligence, caring and gift for teaching quickly propel her to the forefront of the emerging conflict.

The gift of this book is the questions it raises about the process and goals of teaching. How and when to foster and encourage brilliance? What allowances, if any, should be made for extraordinary ability? How to support students without becoming embroiled in their lives? How to get students excited about learning and thinking for themselves? And above all, how much of yourself to give as a teacher? All these questions come and go and come again throughout the book, offering a rich and varied look at what it means to be involved in the process of education.

The problems with this book have to do with the limitations of its characters. They are all in turmoil in one form or another, and their issues seem to be magnified by the fact that they are forever getting together to have a few drinks and talk things out. Their dependency on alcohol and cigarettes in order to loosen up, get to the bottom of what they are feeling, steady their nerves, and exchange confidences with one another is so striking that the modern reader can't help but think addiction. While the use of these two "habits" are clearly stage props in one sense, the need to use them raises questions about how Sarton saw human interaction. It also gives the book a slightly muddled and hazy quality at times.

Despite its limitations, however, this is a book that is well worth reading. Expect no final resolutions to the tough questions she raises, but plenty of satisfying food for thought instead.

the fact that this book even pointed toward these questions is seriously in its favor, and for that i gave it four stars. the book, however, had some serious drawbacks.

weak points: often the questions, these vitally important questions, were not asked so clearly, as there was often a shroud of vagueness around them. no surprise, the characters asking these questions almost ALWAYS were drinking, or even drinking heavily, when doing the asking and exploring. they struck me as mostly numb people, and could only access life's seriousness when loosened up by alcohol. even with alcohol as sarton's ally, she never really uses her characters to tackle these questions at any sustained depth, and as such, the deeper answers are only hinted at and lurk in the shadows. for this reason, the book drags on, and often mires in questions of morality. and none of the relationships in the book are really founded on bedrock; even with the couple that fights throughout the book and "makes up" at the end, their reconciliation, presented as permanent, just comes across as temporary, because neither partner has ever really accessed the deepest parts of their beings. their reconciliation, which sarton presents as profound, comes across more as shallow, created for the sake of keeping the reader happy (or numb, in the dark), very hollywood. and while the main character is sympathetic, much of what i find appealing in her is based on her instinct, and not in any increasing consciousness on her part. she stills comes across as an underconfident wet noodle, even by the end of the book, despite the powerful roles she has taken on, or should i say, fallen into.

all this said, the book was tightly written, very believable, and gave me a view into a very realistic world...but a shallow yet pseudo-deep one that i'm not particularly interested in entering...but which i think may sarton still is. i think she feels this world she's created IS in fact deep. sadly, i think it's only as deep as she's capable of going.

Once at the college, though, the main character must deal with series of questions--what is the proper relationship of a teacher to a student, how much of oneself must a teacher share with her students, what moral responsibilities does a teacher have? One of her students is one of the star scholars of the small college, but while she seems to demonstrate real scholarly excellence, she is clearly unhappy. When this student plagiarises an essay, the main character must decide: should she let the rules proceed, and see the girl expelled for cheating, or should she concern herself with the extenuating circumstances of the girl's depression.

This is the kind of book where there are many, many scenes filled with thoughtful conversations, rather than action. I enjoyed these conversations, though, since they all relate to these questions about teaching, learning, the scholarly life, the privileges of excellence, etc.