Lolita

A big thanks goes out to my boyfriend, Chris, for researching the closest branch of the Chicago Public Library, in relation to my house. I found out there is a location only 5 blocks from my home, at the end of a dead-end street! So I walked there last night and registered for a library card.

My commute has been brutal lately and I thought listening to books on tape might help ease the torture of driving during rush hour traffic. So I checked out the book Lolita.
Has anyone else read this before?

I've never read Russian literature before and I wasn't sure if I would like the style of writing. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I wished my drive was just a little bit longer so I could finish listening to the chapter.

The story is about an older man who develops a sexual obsession with little girls. His interest begins when he is a teenager and continues on into his adult life. He eventually falls in "love" with an eleven-year-old girl named Lolita.

The book is hauntingly beautiful and repulsive and yet I find myself eager to continue on with the story. The narrarator talks about dressing up prostitutes in little girl outfits and how he enjoys lingering at playgrounds in order to feel surrounded by little girls. It's quite disturbing. But his descriptions of landscape, people, thoughts, etc. are so poetic there were times, this morning, when I forgot what he was describing. I forgot that the beautiful cotton dress he was describing in such great detail is up against the skin of a nine-year-old girl.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the book in all it's grotesqueness. And I'm glad my commute feels a bit more productive.

Thanks, Babe. :)

*I just re-read this post and realized I switched from past to present to past tense like a billion times. I tried to clean it up but please don't judge my writing skills based on this blog's postings. I type this stuff out so fast I barely even have my thoughts together when I blog.*