Full disclosure, I have never really been interested in Lolita. It’s one of those novels that one feels one MUST read because of the place they have been given in the canon. Maybe if I had not known much about it I would have lasted a bit longer. However, the few times I tried to read it, I did not get past the first few passages. No amount of prose can get me past the fact of what this book is. No film can use visuals to try to tell this story in a way that doesn’t make me cringe. So when I found out about The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman, I was surprised by how curious I was about it.
The Real Lolita is one part true crime, one part literary history. It combines the story of eleven year-old Florence “Sally” Horner who was kidnapped by Frank La Salle, a middle aged mechanic. He took her across the country and…well…it took two years for her to be rescued so do the math; with the story of Nabokov as he wrote the manuscript for Lolita. Weinman ties the story Sally with the behind the scenes of one of the worlds best known novels. I found myself engrossed with both stories. This little girl and her survival, and a writer who shaped this and other stories like it into a story that in any other context would make most balk but would end up as a “classic”.
No amount of prose can get me past the fact of what this book is. No film can use visuals to try to tell this story in a way that doesn’t make me cringe.
The story of Sally Horner was what kept me going the most. Her exploration into what she went through, the use of what we know from Sally herself as well as data from other surviving kidnapping victims to workout what could have been going through her mind. It was draining but you wanted to hold on to the end. Even knowing she would be found, it felt like an unending and grueling experience to go through. Every time Sally seems to have an out. Every time La Salle lies about being an FBI agent who could arrest her for stealing a 5¢ notebook at Woolworth’s. Through it all, there is a sense of foreboding. And a clear point of who the protagonist of the story should be- Sally Horner.
Humble Opinion: Sally, Lolita, and me
In contrast to how Lolita is written, Weinman makes it clear that the protagonist of the real story is Sally. Where Lolita focuses on Humbert, his thoughts and feelings, Weinman focuses on trying to understand what this little girl was going through. Indeed, this is what for me made it so much of a better read than the novel. Weinman even starts by pointing out how many people have this issue. How so many want to celebrate the book, but know it means celebrating Humbert.
There is also a lot of discussion in the book about Nabokov’s intentions. Vladimir Nabokov would argue that he did not make Humbert a hero. He would say that the reader is not supposed to sympathise with Humbert. But a reading of the book, or watching of its adaptations, it’s hard to accept this. The 1997 version in particular is guilty of this. It goes out of its way to make Dolores seem as the one pushing everything. Humbert is a victim to the wiles of a child. And because the book is from Humbert’s point of view…the only reading we have is what he tells us.
In contrast to how Lolita is written, Weinman makes it clear that the protagonist of the real story is Sally. Where Lolita focuses on Humbert, his thoughts and feelings, Weinman focuses on trying to understand what this little girl was going through.
You can’t simply tell us your narrator is not the reliable. Authors have to show this as well. Show us your protagonist giving us reasons to not trust everything they say. And yes, not all unreliable narrators are bad people. There is a moment in the book where Weinman talks about how Sally stoped submitting to La Salle. We are told off a conversation with a friend, how in it she realized she was doing something bad. Until then, Sally would have been an unreliable narrator. If the narrator of Lolita had been Dolores, that makes it a whole different story. However, she is not. Nabokov had the choice of who was the narrator. Weinman instead tries to in a way rescue the girls. She wants to put them in the center of the story. And again, this is what makes it a better read for me.
Some Final thoughts…
The parts of the book where we focused on Nabokov and his writing process were a bit slower. But what kept me going? How there was a constant feeling that he was being called out on his pretentiousness. Weinman doesn’t outright say it. And it might have been the audiobook narrator coloring it too. Or my own opinions as well. But it seemed to me that the book did not hold back the punches on him. This is seen mostly when he either has to argue Humbert is not a hero, or to say the connection to Sally Horner is a coincidence. In both aspects it seems Nabokov was so defensive, it could be its own post on the myth of originality.
Personally, I highly recommend this book. But with the detail that it is a difficult read. However, if you want to give it a try and have a taste for good true crime stories, The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World is extremely good and super well written. If you are a fan of Lolita and Nabokov I also highly recommend this book. The process of creation of what is one of the most well know novels in the world is well worth the read as well. But most importantly, it is great to finally give Sally the recognition that her fictional counterpart has, as well as giving Dolores the humanity she was denied.
Featured image an undated picture of Sally Horner, found during the investigation of her kidnapping, from Hazlitt.net.