An Education

by Nick Hornby

Book Overview

An Education is Nick Hornby's Oscar-nominated screenplay of Lynn Barber's life Based on Lynn Barber's extraordinary memoir, An Education is set in the early 1960s and tells the story of a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594484538
• ISBN13: 9781594484537
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

I will break your heart

"An Education" is the heartbreaking coming-of-age story of Lynn Barber (who is renamed Jenny). Jenny is a teenaged Brit, growing up in the very proper early '60s (this is before the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, and Pink Floyd) She finds an older lover in David, her cello teacher. He introduces her to Paris, the refined life... he was basically the metrosexual before such a term was invented. He is a charmer... and a player. He distracts her from her academic life. Jenny is a mere teenager at 16;David is (supposedly) a mature 38. They enjoy a brief, passionate love affair. It's an expertly written screenplay, and in the end Jenny is tragically and devastatingly blindsided. After David has played fast and loose with her emotions, she comes to see what he really is--an overgrown boy. *SPOILER ALERT* It turns out David has a wife and 4 year old son. Jenny is heartbroken for the wife David failed to be man enough to acknowledge- and that she was deceived. David definitely lacks High Fidelity "An Education" is a poignant, powerful story. The ending had me tearful. It's that powerful. Hornby understands the human heart and the human condition.

Recommended. Will she wreck her own life, and just how badly?

In a whirlwind tour of expanding horizons, the plot suspense centers around the question: Will she wreck her life, and just how badly? I give this screenplay-book 5 stars, for 3 reasons: (1) the spot-on description of a teenage girl (Jenny) getting to know people who are exciting, glamorous, and worldly and who have different values and ethics than her family. She is not honest when discussing them with her parents, and not entirely honest with herself. (2) Although very entertaining, there are some major life lessons in this book, some more subtle than others. Because of this, it seems a good gift for teen girls, although I know some women in their 40's who still haven't figured out some of the lessons. (3) The writing is much better quality than most screenplays (although that is faint praise, because most screenplays are so bad). Reading this took me back in time to my teen years; I remember having many of the same thoughts and attitudes as Jenny. There but for the grace of God ... A quote from Hornby that describes Lynn Barber (and Jenny) as "a suburban girl who's frightened that she's going to get cut out of everything good that happens in the city". This book is set in the 1960's in a household that seems conservative today. Younger readers may be surprised by the parents' attitude towards young marriage, and the widespread expectation that respectable married women would not have careers or educational goals. This book is inspired by a memoir by Lynn Barber, reworked by Nick Hornby into a screenplay version, with some fictionalized details. I have not yet read the complete memoir by Lynn Barber, but plan to.

Coming of Age Told Wonderfully

Jenny wants to be anything but ordinary. In this coming-of-age story, she dreams of a world full of music and dance, while in reality she's stuck in 1960s suburban London. That is until David, an older man, walks into her life and takes her on a whirlwind of a journey, where she loses not just her innocence but a bit of herself at the same time. Hornby's script is excellent, truly showing a middle-class London from yesteryear and wonderfully drawn characters inhabiting the streets. The characters are vivid and interesting, always with a motive. And the diary, which is included with the script, offers an interesting inside look at not just the writing process, but the creation of the film.

Oscar Worthy

Nick Hornby's adaptation of Lynn Barber's memoir is beautifully written, and I think it will probably win best adapted screenplay this year. This publication of the screenplay also includes two extra essays by Hornby about the making of the film, and showing it at Sundance which are welcome. I wish though that we had gotten a slightly less polished draft. It fits so closely to what is in the actual movie that I have a feeling it was retrofitted a little for publication, which is nice for those who just want a transcription of the movie, but for those more interested in the transition from page to screen and the changes that need to be made it may be a little slight (the addition of an alternate ending notwithstanding). Still it is a masterful screenplay of one of the year's best movies.