A review by bernieem
Being Lolita: A Memoir by Alisson Wood

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This was Allison's memoir - about her "love story" that she had with her teacher in high school, to later when she realises that this wasn't a love story.  This memoir gave me a perspective on how grooming and abuse can happen. 

 "Beauty plus pity, is the closest we will get to art" 

I found her perspective and thoughts as a teenager really interesting - we get to see why this happened, how she was groomed. She wanted to be understood and heard, especially considering her history with depression and mental illness, and how people perceived her. At the time it felt like the teacher was the only one who saw her, and maybe that's what enticed her and fought to get his attention so much in high school. It was disturbing to see how the teacher manipulated her with his words, actions, and how he made her think that the abusive relationship in Lolita was a love story that reflected theirs as well.

It was inspiring to learn that she ended up teaching young girls later to teach them what a healthy relationship is.  Her re-reading Lolita and slowly realising over time that the relationship she had with the teacher was abusive was really fascinating. I got a lot of insight from this.

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