I can't say I enjoyed this book (trigger warning for manipulation and abuse) but I did think the author was intelligent, insightful and told her story in an eloquent way. I read this as library recommendation of "women in translation". Springora grows up in France and describes her adolescence. I did enjoy translating rudimentary sentences to French and was able to reason "beautiful schoolgirl" as "ecoliére belle" which gave me a cosmopolitan, continental pride. I think she hit the nail on the head pegging him as an ephebophile, someone who is attracted to puberty and adolescence ("the only thing G. was able to love in me was a fugitive, transitory moment: my adolescence").

Interesting thoughts on Lolita: the idea that the book was more self-loathing and remorseful than my memory serves. I remember it being explicit, lascivious and explicit. Did Humbert not feel entitled and tempted by Lolita? The description of G feels exactly like how I remember Humbert: a filthy, manipulator of an extreme predator.