The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World

One of the top five adult buzz books at BookExpo this year was Sarah Weinman's The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World. I nabbed myself a copy and was hooked as soon as I started reading. Sally Horner was a young girl -- not even twelve years old, who was coerced into running away with a man four times her age. A simple act of youthful rebellion -- stealing something from the dime store -- set off a series of events that removed her from her family for two years and pushed her into a nightmare that would define her life.

It might seem odd to many of us that a young girl could be "kidnapped" but not picked up and hauled off. She went with Frank La Salle (a name among many he used) willingly because he told her that he was an FBI agent who required her to come with him on a road trip to avoid being arrested and telling her mother for the petty theft. We as a society underestimate the fear and the power that adults have over children, and how likely it is that children feel obligated to those in power will do what they say, even if they get a creepy gut feeling that they shouldn't. (I will put a plug in here to say that teaching children compliance as opposed to autonomy contributes greatly to being picked as a victim by predators -- they know to look out for this type of child who willingly goes along and fears getting in trouble for "telling.") Ten years ago I would have not believed that Sally went along so willingly with a convicted child molester; a decade, some degrees, and a lot of reading later I understand how easy it was for La Salle to take her and convince her poor mother that he was the father of a classmate.

Sally's time with Frank is only known somewhat, although there are details from witnesses who knew them in the neighborhoods in which they lived. The long-term effects of her ordeal, though, were not to be seen, as she died young in a tragic car accident. Her experience didn't just affect her, however. It affected her mother and sister, and her friends that she had both before the experience and after. However, the most wide-ranging impact Sally's kidnapping had was on the public at large, as she served as an inspiration for Vladmir Nabakov's Lolita. While he would deny it until the day he died, Weinman's detailed and painstaking research shows that he was quite familiar with the story, even weaving details too small for the public to recognize into his narratives.

This book was gripping and I couldn't put it down. Weinman is an outstanding narrative non-fiction writer and she tells a tale that is winding and confusing in as close to a linear manner as she can, while still keeping us totally involved in the story. It reads like a novel until  Weinman brings you back out of Sally's story and reminds you that Nabakov was living a parallel life at the time. It is the best way to tell Sally's story; otherwise, it's incredibly difficult. She was sexually assaulted the entire time she was gone, and she was captive to a man who worshiped her in the creepiest way you can imagine. Weinman has crafted a gorgeous retelling of a time in a young girl's life that was horrific, yet iconic. It's well worth sinking your teeth into and getting to know the other side of a book you may know, whether you like it or not.

I need to read Lolita now, as I have never read it. I never had a desire to, but reading Weinman's take on the book and her deep connections to Sally's story makes me intrigued as to what my take of the book would be. Will it be a sordid tale that makes me shiver, or will I despise Humbert Humbert in the way that Nabakov possibly intended his audience to feel toward a man who is clearly a sexual predator? I love a good unreliable narrator, so I will look out for it soon on my next few jaunts to the used bookstore.

Elizabeth Warren: Her Fight. Her Work. Her Life.

Elizabeth Warren: Her Fight. Her Work. Her Life. by Anotonia Felix is a new biography out on Senator Elizabeth Warren, and this one focuses specifically on Sen. Warren’s work and how she came to be such a staunch consumer advocate. 

Elizabeth grew up in Oklahoma, the middle-class daughter of two parents who tried to give her and their three sons a “regular” life. That was until her father suffered health issues and her family went into financial dire straits. Her mother, who didn’t believe women should work unless it was necessary, went to Sears and took a job to keep her family above water. Elizabeth fought her tooth and nail to go to college. From there, to now, was a long road full of gusto, grit, and gumption. 

This biography was overall fantastic in that it provided me, the reader, with an intelligent yet accessible summary of Sen. Warren’s work in bankruptcy law. It’s a complicated subject, and one that is easy to tune out of when in books due to a lack of comprehension. I am one smart cookie, but I get bored when I can’t understand. The big advantage this book has is that Felix breaks down complicated legal concepts for the average reader. She does an incredible job — I now have a much stronger understanding of Sen. Warren’s work and why she is the advocate she is today. 

Elizabeth, always a bright and intelligent child, gave up on college early to marry her first husband. Reading this I wanted to scream into the book, “NOOOOO STOOOOOOPPPP.” We know how brilliant she is and where she is going, so it would all turn out fine, but it broke my feminist heart to watch her make this decision for the reasons she made it. It was important to me to read her story and understand how she became the lawyer and advocate that she is. 

One particular note of importance here is that Felix has done an incredible job of making Sen. Warren’s research and academic work on bankruptcy research accessible for the masses. It still wasn’t simple, but it was laid out clearly in layman’s terms so that we can understand the how and they why of the senator’s academic trajectory. It was so clear, in fact, that I’m going to keep this book to reference it when I need a jolt remembering Sen. Warren’s work and the reasoning behind it. 

Felix has painted an incredibly empathetic portrait of Sen. Warren, and I might have been easily swayed if I were less of a skeptic. I happen to be a fan of Sen. Warren as a woman, an academic, and a politician. I also would expect nothing less out of her biographer than praise. However, at times — most notably the final notes of the book — Felix is a little starry-eyed when writing about the senator. It’s not enough to be bothersome, but it is something that I noticed while wrapping up the book. 

I have already recommended this book three times and I just finished it. It’s well worth a read about the woman behind the watchdog.