Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ridgewaygirl 's review for:
During the period when Vladimir Nabokov was writing his best-known work, a high profile criminal case was in the newspapers. Eleven-year-old Sally Horner was abducted and kept captive for twenty-one months by a man who told her he was an FBI agent. Her escape and return home were cause for much media attention at the time and, in The Real Lolita, author Sarah Weinman examines what happened to Sally Horner as well as what the Nabokovs were doing during that time, and what Nabokov knew about the case. She looks at the details of Horner's ordeal that made it into the novel, as well as the Nabokovs's denials that there was a connection. Weinman finishes up with the history of the novel's publication and of the subsequent movies and adaptations.
This was an interesting book. Weinman was working with few hard facts and managed to make the most of it. I read the original long article she wrote on the subject and suspect that the material was more suited to an article than a book. Still, I enjoyed learning about Nabokov's life and work during his years in the United States and the photo of the author in shorts, marching along with a butterfly net was delightful. Weinman has put together a few anthologies of mid-century noir fiction and that is where her real strength lies, but this book was a diverting holiday read and there's no doubt that Weinman has an eye for interesting historical events.
This was an interesting book. Weinman was working with few hard facts and managed to make the most of it. I read the original long article she wrote on the subject and suspect that the material was more suited to an article than a book. Still, I enjoyed learning about Nabokov's life and work during his years in the United States and the photo of the author in shorts, marching along with a butterfly net was delightful. Weinman has put together a few anthologies of mid-century noir fiction and that is where her real strength lies, but this book was a diverting holiday read and there's no doubt that Weinman has an eye for interesting historical events.