Being Lolita, Alisson Wood
Being Lolita, Alisson Wood
2 Rating(s)
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Being Lolita
A Memoir

Author: Alisson Wood

Narrator: Alisson Wood

Unabridged: 6 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/04/2020


Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

A dark romance evolves between a high schooler and her English teacher in this breathtakingly powerful memoir about a young woman who must learn to rewrite her own story.

“Have you ever read Lolita?”

So begins seventeen-year-old Alisson’s metamorphosis from student to lover and then victim. A lonely and vulnerable high school senior, Alisson finds solace only in her writing—and in a young, charismatic English teacher, Mr. North.

Mr. North gives Alisson a copy of Lolita to read, telling her it is a beautiful story about love. The book soon becomes the backdrop to a connection that blooms from a simple crush into a forbidden romance. But as Mr. North’s hold on her tightens, Alisson is forced to evaluate how much of their narrative is actually a disturbing fiction.

In the wake of what becomes a deeply abusive relationship, Alisson is faced again and again with the story of her past, from rereading Lolita in college to working with teenage girls to becoming a professor of creative writing. It is only with that distance and perspective that she understands the ultimate power language has had on her—and how to harness that power to tell her own true story.

Being Lolita is a stunning coming-of-age memoir that shines a bright light on our shifting perceptions of consent, vulnerability, and power. This is the story of what happens when a young woman realizes her entire narrative must be rewritten—and then takes back the pen to rewrite it.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"Being Lolita is an unflinching depiction of grooming and a searing indictment of exploitative teachers, but most of all it’s an act of redemption—a powerful realization of Wood’s vow 'to do the little I can to make sure what happened to me doesn’t happen again.'"— Susan Choi, author of the National Book Award-winning Trust Exercise

"Wood reminds us that stories still have the power to change the world. This is a fascinating story of survival and purpose, yet it is also a story of interpretation. How we read the world changes how we live in it. A fantastic debut." — Garrard Conley, author of Boy Erased

About Alisson Wood

Alisson Wood is an award-winning writer whose essays have been published in the New York Times, Catapult, and Epiphany. She holds an M.F.A. in fiction from New York University. Alisson teaches creative writing at her alma mater and at Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop. She is the founder and editor in chief of Pigeon Pages, a New York City literary journal and reading series. Alisson was a winner of the inaugural Breakout 8 Award from the Author’s Guild and Epiphany. Being Lolita is her first book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by *TUDOR^QUEEN* on August 15, 2020

3.5 rounded up to 4 Stars I was intrigued when I first saw this because I had admired the book My Dark Vanessa about the same topic in recent months. There were so many similarities it was uncanny, but this is an actual memoir. Ironically enough, I enjoyed the fictionalized My Dark Vanessa a tad more......more

Goodreads review by daniella ❀ on October 19, 2022

i lost count of how many times i said "what the fuck" out loud. check trigger warnings if you want to read. 4.5......more

Goodreads review by Melissa on August 27, 2020

This book was written by a friend, and former classmate. I am so proud of her to finally be able to tell her story. This book is well written, but difficult and sickening to read. It was bittersweet to be brought back to my senior year, and difficult to hear proof of what I knew was happening all al......more

Goodreads review by Adam on June 12, 2020

More TK closer to publication on Wood's excellent memoir - she has a knack here for unraveling difficult truths w poetic, literary writing. The story of a high school senior being seduced by her teacher is often harrowing, a page-turner, which makes the story's uncanny parallels w/ Nabokov's work al......more

Goodreads review by persephone ☾ on May 20, 2022

"That moment in my body when the teacher put his hand on my knee to comfort me was the understanding of all of that - that in order to be attractive, irresistible, to be worthy of notice, was to be both beautiful and in open need, to be damaged" absolutely devastating, i feel sick to my stomach......more