Being Lolita was a difficult read.

Maybe it was the gut wrenching part of the author's life and how it forever transformed her, or something that happened in life that I'll never be brave enough to speak on a public platform. For now, I have convinced myself that I have healed. And that's all there is to it. 

Basing their bond on Lolita and Humbert, Mr. North goes on to convince the vulnerable seventeen-year-old Alisson to believe that a relationship with her English teacher would be her getaway to creative freedom and empowerment. The lonely Alisson finds solace initially in the charismatic high school English teacher, but soon the unhealthy relationship dynamics between the duo evolve into extreme abuse and exploitation.
Here is a girl who has been trapped inside for years, and in her half-formed state, she has been made into a tool of gratification for a grown man who aims to capitalize on her every thought and being. Here was a girl who needed help and couldn't muster the courage to speak up for years.

Despite how harrowing it was, Alisson emerges as a woman who strives to rewrite the narrative that was snatched away from her. She writes in a raw and direct tone, and there's no great literary writing to hide behind like Nabokov's. There's only torment and taking back what she was robbed of.