'Lolita' 'The Chocolate War' 'Auschwitz'

June: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
“She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at School. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.”

Lolita is the story of a paedophile Humbert Humbert and the object of his obsessions Dolores Haze, who he calls Lolita, from how he met her, through the events of their life together through to the events that finally land him in jail. As the story is written by Humbert as he awaits trial this story is more about Humbert than Dolly, especially as our view of Dolly is seen through Humbert’s view of his Lolita.
I’m unsure about this book, although it might be one to improve on rereading. Although I liked parts of it, Nabokov did a great job of portraying sex without actually describing it, I also felt like it went on a bit too long. Humbert is an interesting character, he basically has Lolita trapped and although at times he seems sorry for his actions, he never stops. It would be interesting to see Lolita’s view of events and how she feels about Humbert but as the victim we never find out what she thinks. Our only view of her is tainted by Humbert.


July: The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
“The poster showed a wide expanse of beach, a sweep of sky with a lone star glittering far away. A man walked on the beach, a small solitary figure in all that immensity. At the bottom of the poster, these words appeared – Do I dare disturb the universe? … Jerry wasn’t sure of the poster’s meaning. But it had moved him mysteriously.”

The Chocolate War is the story of the Trinity School annual chocolate sale and Jerry Renault, a new student who refuses to take part in the sale. The novel deals with school politics between the students themselves and between the staff and students. Jerry initially doesn’t sell the chocolate due to an ‘assignment’ given by the schools secret society the Vigils but when his assignment ends Jerry continues to refuse to sell.
I didn’t really like this book. I understand the whole pack mentality, the wanting to be different, to make something of your life, to not be your parents but this book just didn’t handle it all that well. Jerry’s motives seem confused, like he himself isn’t entirely sure why he’s doing what he is.
I have no problem what so ever reading sex but the masturbation and the woman only being seen as sexual objects in the book seemed unnecessary, it felt like it was just shoved in and had no real bearing on the story or the characters. Okay, I have no idea how teenage boys think and I can understand the belief that you need to fit in but I’d like to give them a bit more credit that this book which seems to largely paint most teenage boys as obsessed with sex and violence. According to wikipedia (I know) this book has “been identified as one of the best young adult novels of all time.” I don’t think this is true. The main reason this book is still selling so well, it was published in the 1970s, in my opinion is because of the hype surrounding its censorship.


August: Auschwitz by Pascal Croci
“At the Dawn of civilization, the Christians declared: ‘If you remain Jews, you shall not live amongst us’ In the High Middle Ages the secular leaders decided: ‘You shall no longer live amongst us.’ Finally the Nazis decreed: ‘You shall no longer live.’”

Auschwitz is the fictional story of Kazik and Cessia during their time in Auschwitz-Birkenau as they relive it for the first time while hiding after being accused of being traitors in Yugoslavia in 1993. There is no happy ending. The message of this book is clear and spelt out in the epilogue, just because this happened in the past doesn’t mean it is the only time this has happened or will happen, ‘other crimes against humanity are, no doubt, waiting to happen’.
This book is not for the faint hearted. The illustrations are life-like making some scenes all the more powerful, in particular the scenes that deal with the gas chambers. A double page of smoke with dialogue describing what happens within the chamber only to turn the page and be faced with a full page illustration of the bodies and gaunt faces of the dead isn’t exactly the most pleasant thing, especially when followed a few pages later by a pit being filled with the emaciated bodies of the dead about to be burned. While a good book which gives insight into the daily lives of prisoners in the camps, the story is told rather awkwardly, although the author claims the disjointedness is done on purpose. That said I commend Croci for going for the realistic approach and not pulling any punches. As evident by the section after the end of the story he did a lot of research into the concentration camps and talked with a number of survivors. No matter how the story turned out you can tell he put a lot into it and truly wanted to learn as much as he could about the Holocaust and pass on the stories of those who suffered in the Concentration camps.

“And how long have you been keeping all this to yourself?”
“For fifty-two years! I’m telling you – before, no one was interested in any of that…”
Maurice Minkowski, witness from Auschwitz-Birkenau.