Hi Alex!
Although some schools offer quite significant discounts for paying upfront for lessons in advance, the general consensus is that this is not a good idea as you may not get any of your money back if the flying school was to go bust!
Private flying as you say is certainly very expensive, but if you are motivated enough to learn to fly and get your licence you will find a way to do it I always think. Perhaps consider going to the States to do it a bit cheaper and then doing the some training over here to familiarise yourself and get comfortable with the differences. Several bursaries and scholarships are available from organisations such as the Air League and GAPAN (although I'm not sure how old you are - most of these have an upper age limit of around mid 20s).
You shouldn't worry about stall recovery - It's not a scary or aggressive manoeuvre - just involves pitching down and simultaneously applying full power (and then rolling the wings level if necessary). It's all over in a flash and not a overly difficult or unpleasant experience. Your instructor will demonstrate and teach you all this so don't worry if it seems a lot to take in at first.
The final questions is something only you can answer properly! My advice would be to carry on with the research your doing, visit a few local flying schools to have a look around and chat with the instructors/students, and have a trial lesson or two. After that everything ought to be clearer to you and your instructor can properly answer any of your questions.
My instinct would be to just go for it and give it a try...you'll probably love it! There's also gliding to consider as an alternative which is cheaper than powered flying and in many ways just as rewarding if not more so!
Hope that helps! 
Last edited by Tommo89; 2nd August 2010 at 17:35.
Reason: spelling