Book Review: Being Lolita A Memoir by Alisson Wood
Alisson Wood is a 17 year old high school senior who agrees to meet after school with the young and attractive English teacher to assist with evolving her writing voice. With his fanatical obsession with Vladimir Nabokov’s book ‘Lolita’ as his often referred to and coveted guide, the teacher sets his predatory sights on Alisson. Alisson grapples with the ills of adolescence while also navigating her way through an abusive relationship with her older lover.
This was a reading experience like none other I’ve ever had before. Being a high school student during the time period in which the author encountered her wolfish teacher, I found I was naturally putting my 17 year old self (my senior composite picture included above) in her shoes.
Through Alisson’s words, I questioned my own mind and abilities to overlook and go into the opposite direction of a handsome male teacher’s subtle grooming tactics. Knowing my own insecurities, vulnerabilities, and earnestness to please others at the time, I understood how one could artlessly succumb to such promise and magnetism.
Alisson’s heroine redemptive account provides a strong voice to those who feel less than human and more like another uncounted number. Alisson provides a hand to those that find themselves under the thumbs of their abusers, lifts it up off of them, and creates a path to uninhibited truth and solace.
Though the topic is dark and excerpts are indigestible at times, it, too, serves an important literary piece that I think all should read and discuss in order to identify the signs for help and aid victims in valiantly leaving their abusive situations.
Read. This. Book.
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-MLW-
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