“Being Lolita” by Alisson Wood

Book cover found on Indiebound.

“I had to accept the fact: this, in all its difference from my fantasy, this was what I wanted” (135).

It’s not difficult to guess at the plot of this memoir from its title—a girl develops a relationship with a predatory high school teacher, only fully realizing years later that his so-called love was rooted in manipulation.

It’s obviously uncomfortable and even horrifying at times, but the short chapters and succinct language make the distressing parts more digestible.

Even so, I had to put the book down a couple times to catch my breath and reflect, and I can only imagine how triggering it might be for any readers who have experienced abusive relationships.

Nevertheless, Wood’s writing style also helps to make a tragic story intensely readable. I was reminded of Meg Cabot novels or similar young adult books in how absorbing and authentic to a teenage girl’s voice it was.

While I found this voice too overstated in its youth sometimes, using clichéd figurative language or simplistic closing sentences of chapters, it more frequently created a wholly engaging and believable narrator. This incisive writing feels simultaneously unique and instinctual, with descriptions like “I felt swallowed” (64) conveying her reticence to open up about her history of mental illness and alienation from her…