title: Laughter in the Dark by: Nabokov, Vladimir published: 1932 read: 2023-03 preview

Of course we all know Nabokov by his most famous book. And through this book one finds that such difficult topics as that book covers need study. This book is such a study, a prequel to Lolita, and still quite innocent. Sugar daddies, beware!  You may think twice after reading this book.

Here, Albinus, who lives in Berlin with his complacent wife Elisabeth and their daughter Irma, is well off and leads a boring life.  He wants more excitement, more passionate sex, and decides to get a young girl to give him that.  Albinus being quite timid and not used to snugging up to women takes a long time to find what he’s looking for, but ends up with a cinema usher, Margot.  She must be 18 or thereabouts, and knows how to play her frivolity to get from Albinus what she wants.  Which is, out of her drab life, away from poverty and her abusive family.

Short version: she succeeds.  Longer version: go read it yourself.  Quite a few complications along the way, both for Albinus, Margot, and of course also Elisabeth.

What more can I say?  It’s Nabokov.  I have some friends who did not really enjoy reading Lolita.  They might enjoy this one more, perhaps, because here at least the women have the upper hand.  And so, the end is tragic.

I never knew how blue blueness could be. What a mess life has been. Now I know everything.