written This book is very well written and I would have given it four but the title is misleading.
There is only a couple of chapters devoted to the subject of Sally Horner, The rest is devoted either to Lolita, or the author of Lolita: Vladimir Nobobov, Having decided to read this before reading Lolita to get the true crime it was loosely based on or which according to Weinman without evidence inspired the ending I didn't feel it either ruined the plot of Lolita or taught me anything about Delores Haze, Lolita's true fictional name.
When it starts to get interesting it meanders off onto for instance: the detective's date of birth, where a description of where he was born, his childhood, background, where he grew up etc.
I feel this is because, as Weinman tells the reader there are little documents or records about Sally.
So what she does is say "this could be why this happened" or "perhaps she was thinking/feeling" or "according to similar cases.
" Due to the lack of facts I had to wonder what on earth possessed a publisher to approve this title in the first place And to the point, why did Weinman think she could write an entire book filled with guesswork and information about other crimes and individuals unrelated to Sally This is not true crime, nor is it a reportage about Sally, it's of a wandering glance into the author's own state of mind, who on several occasions condemns Nabokov for doing the very same thing when he wrote a novel inspired by the cases of real kidnap rapes of girls bu paedophiles.
When we all know thatof novels are inspired by our real life experiences, Crime fiction especially. By the end of the book I was asking myself what the point of it was, I could probably write a hundred books myself about true crimes if they were based on facts found in newspapers, interviews with people who may have knew the person or whom just wanted their turn in the limelight to tell me what they heard on the grapevine in the throws of gossip, and what is publicly known both on and offline in library records and register offices.
I really did enjoy reading this book and learning what it had to say, I must say if you are just a casual reader, have never read Lolita or are just curiousit is overkill.
The Real Lolita is a tour de force of literary detective work, Not only does it shed new light on the terrifying true saga that influenced Nabokovs masterpiece, it restores the forgotten victim to our consciousness.
David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower MoonVladimir NabokovsLolitais one of the most beloved and notorious novels of
all time.
And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real life case: theabduction of eleven year old Sally Horner.
Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation,The Real Lolitatells Sally Horners full story for the very first time.
Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishingLolita.
Sally Horners story echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves.
By diving deeper in the publication history ofLolitaand restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novels creation,The Real Lolitacasts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.
A brilliant true crime meets biography, Really insightful, and will send you down a Wikipedia hole the minute you finish, Beautifully written and haunting. Quite interesting, a reasonable read,
There is only a couple of chapters devoted to the subject of Sally Horner, The rest is devoted either to Lolita, or the author of Lolita: Vladimir Nobobov, Having decided to read this before reading Lolita to get the true crime it was loosely based on or which according to Weinman without evidence inspired the ending I didn't feel it either ruined the plot of Lolita or taught me anything about Delores Haze, Lolita's true fictional name.
When it starts to get interesting it meanders off onto for instance: the detective's date of birth, where a description of where he was born, his childhood, background, where he grew up etc.
I feel this is because, as Weinman tells the reader there are little documents or records about Sally.
So what she does is say "this could be why this happened" or "perhaps she was thinking/feeling" or "according to similar cases.
" Due to the lack of facts I had to wonder what on earth possessed a publisher to approve this title in the first place And to the point, why did Weinman think she could write an entire book filled with guesswork and information about other crimes and individuals unrelated to Sally This is not true crime, nor is it a reportage about Sally, it's of a wandering glance into the author's own state of mind, who on several occasions condemns Nabokov for doing the very same thing when he wrote a novel inspired by the cases of real kidnap rapes of girls bu paedophiles.
When we all know thatof novels are inspired by our real life experiences, Crime fiction especially. By the end of the book I was asking myself what the point of it was, I could probably write a hundred books myself about true crimes if they were based on facts found in newspapers, interviews with people who may have knew the person or whom just wanted their turn in the limelight to tell me what they heard on the grapevine in the throws of gossip, and what is publicly known both on and offline in library records and register offices.
I really did enjoy reading this book and learning what it had to say, I must say if you are just a casual reader, have never read Lolita or are just curiousit is overkill.
The Real Lolita is a tour de force of literary detective work, Not only does it shed new light on the terrifying true saga that influenced Nabokovs masterpiece, it restores the forgotten victim to our consciousness.
David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower MoonVladimir NabokovsLolitais one of the most beloved and notorious novels of
all time.
And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real life case: theabduction of eleven year old Sally Horner.
Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation,The Real Lolitatells Sally Horners full story for the very first time.
Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishingLolita.
Sally Horners story echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves.
By diving deeper in the publication history ofLolitaand restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novels creation,The Real Lolitacasts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.
A brilliant true crime meets biography, Really insightful, and will send you down a Wikipedia hole the minute you finish, Beautifully written and haunting. Quite interesting, a reasonable read,
Sarah Weinman is the author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit amp Obsession Ecco,, Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of thes amps Library of America, and Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives Penguin.
A National Magazine Award finalist in Reporting, Weinman has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and New York, among other outlets.
She lives in New York City,